Ordered my seventh tire of the year, A Bridgestone 120/70 Evo T30 for $105. Can't tell much difference between the T30s and the PR4s except for $$$.
How many miles did you ride this year?26,378 so far. Year ain't over yet. But that was not all on the Concours, I have three other bikes.
27k miles and 7 tires? I think there is a problem somewhere.? Explain.
We're just wondering if there were seven tires needed on just the one bike, or did you end up needing tires for all the bikes, that all happened within the year... 4K miles per tire on the 14 would be some fast wearing tires or strong right wrist. If some for all the bikes needed tires, then seems within reason, as I have gone through tires on various bikes that all needed replacing within a short period of time...Okay, see y'alls point, I owe some clarification. 18,000 of the 27,000 was the Concours, 4 rears and 3 fronts. But I've only just ordered the 3rd front, expecting to need it before the year is out. So really just 6 tires have carried the C14 18000 miles. But since they were on two wheels it was actually 36000. A couple of tires were changed maybe 1000 miles early due to long trips coming up and not wanting to worry about running out of rubber on the road. So the average is more like 6000 per tire. Not great but better than some who post here.
Well that made my brane hurt...Yeah, but I did ask. He answered in clear, plain English, but like he said, that 6K miles a tire still ain't great, but better than the under 3K I got from a Duke 690. Why I no longer have it.
Okay, see y'alls point, I owe some clarification. 18,000 of the 27,000 was the Concours, 4 rears and 3 fronts. But I've only just ordered the 3rd front, expecting to need it before the year is out. So really just 6 tires have carried the C14 18000 miles. But since they were on two wheels it was actually 36000. A couple of tires were changed maybe 1000 miles early due to long trips coming up and not wanting to worry about running out of rubber on the road. So the average is more like 6000 per tire. Not great but better than some who post here.
In all seriousness, it motorcycle tire life does seem to be a northern / southern US loction thing, at least for us on the east coast. Your reports of very modest (compared to my experience) tire life seem fairly typical while several of us in the north can get 15K or more out of a set of tires. Of course riding style makes a difference but it seems to come up often enough that the much more rapid tire wear is in the south. It kinda' makes sense too 'cause you folks ride in both higher temps., and have higher temps. for longer in the year. And I personally do my very best not to ride a motorcycle once it hits 80F and higher because I find it so uncomfortable- I would rather take a cage and use the A/C. All of that plus I have seen photos of tires used in the deep south and they look like they are partially melted and making little rubber balls at the edge of the contact patch (Easy Boys!) while I have never seen anything like that in this area (southern New England) on any street bikes. Methinks the heat, and perhaps your local road material(s), are abrading your tires away....
Brian
I think you're on to something especially with the road materials thing. In Tennessee, for example, they tend to use a substance that comes up somewhat of a brownish-red color which is different than Missouri's straight black. The texture of the asphalt is different too -- very smooth while driving, but if you look at it closely, the asphalt seems like it's got a very strong grit substance to it.
Putting my Farkle list together.
No. 1 is tires.
No. 2 is the ECU flash.
No. 3 is a slipon -- ain't decided which yet.
No. 4 is Canyon Bars.
No. 5 is some kinda cruise control. Still researching.
There's a whole lotta stuff on this list. Mama ain't gonna be happy...
BDF, if we stopped riding when temps rose above 80, we would ride a couple months a year. Mid 70's to almost 80 by Tuesday. A few cooler days and then back up to upper 70's by next Tuesday. We do have lots of coarse rock asphalt roads, as well as concrete highways with 75MPH speed limits. Lots of long straight roads, that eat the centers off the tires, too.
I would love to see 15K for tires on any one of my bikes, but 7-8K is average for my touring bikes and less for the sports ones. I got almost 9K on a Dyna recently, which was amazing.