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Tire life ?

R_W_B

R_W_B

Senior Member
My Stepson rides a 1500cc Kawasaki Vulcan bagger. He is replacing his rear tire only 8 months after putting a new one on previously. He is running tubeless tires. If you look at the mileage instead of age, he is getting about 6,000 miles a tire(rear). He and his wife ride 2up and usually both saddle bags full and luggage on the back rack.

Is this normal tire wear ?
 
Riding 2 up with luggage puts extra stress on the rear tire, which causes them to wear faster. I can usually get about 8-10K out of a rear tire... as long as I'm riding alone.
 
Tyre wear depends on the compound of the tyre and how hard it is used
a few years ago when i was younger i rode a more sporting motorcycle to match the handling and performance of the bike i fitted an appropriate tyre and got abour 3500 miles for the rear and 7000 for the front and i needed new brake pads when the tyre was worn
however on my softail i have about 10000 miles on the bike in my ownership and replaced the tyres as the sidewall had started cracking
Having justed fitted avon tyres i am hoping for better wet grip than the dunlops i removed, in my climate wet grip is more important to me than tyre mileage

Brian
 
Had a 1999 Nomad and my brother has a 2003 Nomad, riding like we do and avg 6-8000 mile a year the most I ever got was 8,000 miles, my bro with wife only gets 6,000 miles. NORMAL.
 
With the stock Dunlop and the Michelin's I replaced them with I get about 7,000 miles before needing to be replaced and more miles than not are 2 up. Hope that helps :D
 
I got 10,000 out of my stock Dunlop rear tire. Put a Metzler on and it lasted 14,000 miles. Both tires had plenty of tread left, with the exception that the center of the tire was worn flat due to my daily commute being on the super slab. (yes, tire pressures were kept up to manufacturer recommendations).
I"m currently on my third rear tire, but it's only got about 2000 miles on it.

FWIW, I like the performance character of the Metzlers way better than the Dunlop.
 
One thing overlooked a lot of the time is tire load range for the application. The 1500 Kawasaki Vulcan may be a touring bike...but I would use a little math to determine if you are not exceeding the capacity of the bike, a major symptom generally not noticed is very short tire life...an overloaded bike is really hard on tires and hardware.

http://www.hdtimeline.com/general_tips/26506-safe_weight_calculator.html

As Brian said, mileage is only one performance element regarding tire quality and life...wet weather, high temperature, sidewall/tread internal ply materials and rubber compound design all play a role in this. Also the type of roads, rough or curvy and actual trip lengths also play into the life.
 
Thanks for all the excellent replies. They give us more insight into all the variables.
 
Tire life is definately depends on how you ride! Hard riding wears them out faster.....I don't push my bike at all and have 8,000 miles on the stock mich scorchers and have PLENTY of life left in them. Figure I'll get 12,000 out of em and have replace mid summer this year.
 
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