Left hand turns cover more distance than right hand turns hence more wear to left side of tire.
wayyyyy back before the "crash" of the original site, I went thru and posted calculated distances the bike travels thru pretty much every scenario a tire travels, on 2, 4, and divided highway lanes, around various radii common on highway systems.
I found that even though there IS a difference in time spent on a left hand curve, the distance travelled DOES NOT corrolate to the marked wear percentages we see on our treads. When you see tires with almost no wear on the right side, and the tread worn out on the left, based on the calc's I posted then, (highest "differences" were actually in town,city traffic, on 2 lane streets, where the distance travelled was about 20% more for left turns) comparatively distances spent on the left side did not jive with the 50% more wear.
This coupled with the tire wear observed when I wrote the comparo, and the pronounced road crown I travelled on in Va. at the time... I say it IS road crown.
multiple sets of my treads.
another set
and yet another set
more sets
i've only scraped a peg once on the C14 (in 6 years), and it was on a right hand turn.... and I don't have chicken strips.(now)
I have my last set of tires in the garage, they look the same, so out of 5 sets of discarded tires so far, with new ones on currently,
I say road crown.
I found the data I wrote back in 2010, before the "crash of the old site", it is mathmatical, and does support that the distance travelled around a turn does not support the wear we see...it's a direct response to that damned article written saying it can't be crown....
here:
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."it's a good read, and has some merit, but I still don't buy his whole shpeil...it doesn't explain
a 75% difference in my tire wear unless you tell me I make a great amount more left turns than right,
and that don't wash in my commuting, seeing as EVERY freeway exit/entrance here is a RIGHT
hand turn....and I abuse them at great excelleration/decelleration vectors....
based on hypothetical 2 lane roads, with 10 foot lanes, and centerline radii of various dimensions,
the following will show distance traveled riding 4 ft off the centerline (to either side, left lane or right lane) compared to riding the exact edge
of the road both right, and left hand turns
rad@centerline-----4ft off C/Rt----4ft off C/Lft------- % diff---- R edge----L edge-------% diff
------60ft-------------87.9 ft----------106.5 ft-----14.3%--- 78.5 ft-----110 ft------40.12%
-----100ft------------150.8 ft---------163.4 ft-----8.4%---- 141.4ft-----172.8ft----22.2%
-----150ft------------229.3 ft----------241.9 ft----5.5%---- 219.9 ft----251.3ft----14.3%
-----200ft------------307.9 ft----------320.4 ft----4.1%---- 298.5 ft----329.9ft----10.5%
I try to ride in that "4 foot zone" when safe, in an attempt to keep tire wear down,
this still does not explain why I have 75% more wear on my tires left side.
Roads that are lower speed (35mph rated), with tight turns(50-60 ft rad.), in MY State,
tend to be highly crowned and seldom banked as a deterrant to speeders. On larger radiused turns
with higher speed ratings, and less crowning they are basically flat, I still never get leaned over that far at posted speed limits
to warrent the tire wear I see.
I still blame it on highly crowned & tight radius turns.
ymmv"
