• Ciao Guest - You’ve landed at the ultimate Guzzi site. NEW FORUM REGISTRATIONS REQUIRE EMAIL ACTIVATION - CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER - Use the CONTACT above if you need help. New to the forum? For all new members, we require ONE post in the Introductions section at the bottom, in order to post in most of the other sections. ALWAYS TRY A SEARCH BEFORE STARTING A NEW TOPIC - Most questions you may have, have likely been already answered. DON'T BE A DRIVE-BY POSTER: As a common courtesy, check back in and reply within 24 hours, or your post will be deleted. Note there's decades of heavily experienced Guzzi professionals on this site, all whom happily give endless amounts of their VALUABLE time for free; BE COURTEOUS AND RESPECTFUL!
  • There is ZERO tolerance on personal attacks and ANY HYPERLINKS to PRODUCT(S) or other competing website(s), including personal pages, social media or other Forums. This ALSO INCLUDES ECU DIAGnostic software, questions and mapping. We work very hard to offer commercially supported products and to keep info relevant here. First offense is a note, second is a warning, third time will get you banned from the site. We don't have the time to chase repeat (and ignorant) offenders. This is NOT a social media platform; It's an ad-free, privately funded website, in small help with user donations. Be sure to see the GTM STORE link above; ALL product purchases help support the site, or you can upgrade your Forum profile or DONATE via the link above.
  • Be sure to see the GTM STORE link also above for our 700+ product inventory, including OEM parts and many of our 100% Made-in-SoCal-USA GTM products and engine kits. In SoCal? Click the SERVICE tab above for the best in service, tires, tuning and installation of our products or custom work, and don't miss our GT MotoCycles® (not) art on the BUILDS tab above. WE'RE HERE ONLINE ONLY - NO PHONE CALLS MADE OR RECEIVED - DO NOT EMAIL AND ASK QUESTIONS OR ASK TO CALL YOU.
  • Like the new V100, GuzziTech is full throttle into the future! We're now running on an all-new server and we've updated our Forum software. The visual differences are obvious, but hopefully you'll notice the super-fast speed. If you notice any glitches or have any issues, please post on the Site Support section at the bottom. If you haven't yet, please upgrade your account which is covered in the Site Support section or via the DONATE tab above, which gives you full site access including the DOWNLOADS section. We really appreciate every $ and your support to keep this site ad-free. Create an account, sign in, upgrade your account, and enjoy. See you on the road in 2024.

Weird tire wear pattern - anybody want to read the tea leaves?

Status
Not open for further replies.
jwtucker

jwtucker

V11 Sport 4 Life
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
229
Location
Philadelephia
On my way home from a multi-day trip today, and noticed (with the help of the angle of the sun) this. Anyone run into such a pattern before? Seems to be more prominent on the left side. My wild speculation is uneven loading of the panniers, but I suppose it could be anything from pressure, suspension, or maybe even defective rubber? I’ve seen scalloping before, but this looks different.

On a related note, what are folks favorite tires these days for the V85TT? I’m thinking of going for something that’s more of a “street knobbie” along the lines of the Anakee Adventures.

IMG 6464
 
If it helps UK motorbikes always wear a flat bit on RIGHT-HAND side of the tread (& mine always go scalloped as well).....reason for LHS in your case (RHS in UK case) extra wear is that road camber, roundabouts etc all put more pressure on the LHS of the tyre on average.
 
Agreed. The left hand side of my old front tire was worn a lot more than the right.
I tend to corner faster and harder in left hand turns as well.
 
Yeah, its not the difference in left/right wear that bothers me, but the actual pattern of the wear on the left side, which looks like distinct bulges in the rubber. It was sort of startling to see, and to my eye almost looks dangerous to continue riding on (I will be replacing these tires, in any case).

I've been through a lot of different tires on various bikes, and I've never seen a wear pattern like this before.
 
Agree they look worse than mine...but it's hard to read tea-leaves based on pictures of them !
Mine (Griso) has some scalloping, but no deep stuff like yours looks...
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0790.jpg
    IMG_0790.jpg
    62.6 KB · Views: 5
I’ll take a swing at it, based solely upon the 1 photo…

IMHO: The pattern you are experiencing is due to a multi-factor condition. This is not a single issue outcome.

First and foremost, you are running your tires significantly under inflated.

Next, the wheel is hopping. If you have a rebound setting in your shock(s) it is set too resistant and the tire is leaving the ground and then slamming back into it rather than remaining in contact with the ground.

If you don’t have this type of suspension, look at the weights on the wheel.

There is a 50:50 chance the wheel was mounted but was never balanced.

If it was balanced, almost certainly you have more than .75 ounce in weights and I will bet they are all on the left side of the rim.

When you have more than 3 x .25 oz weights, they should be equally distributed to each side of the rim, both centered to each other and equidistant from the center line of the wheel.

Third, you, like most riders, clearly favor left-hand corners. You like to turn it on, coming out of the left handed apexes but not so much the right.

Most riders do not feel as comfortable accelerating out of the curve with their throttle hand down.

So, now lets check my answers. Probably got them all wrong…😆

What is your tire pressure right now?

What kind of suspension do you have?

Is the tire balanced?

If so, how many weights, where are they and what is the total amount of weight?

🤔🫣😆
 
They are the OEM tires (just under 9K miles on them). I'm assuming the factory balanced them. I'll have to check to see if the weights are still actually present.

Could be pressure... maybe. The manual says for the rear to use "40.61 PSI (280 kPa) (2.8 bar)". But then it goes on to CAUTION that if you are using "anti-skid wheels" (whatever the F those are?) then you should reduce the pressure "4.35 PSI (30 Kpa) (0.3 bar) at the rear." If anyone knows what "anti-skid wheels" are, could someone clue us in? My assumption is that it was a terrible Italian translation for off-road tires.
With that said, when a manual only gives one specific pressure value, I generally consider that to be the maximum pressure, for a completely loaded bike. As such, I normally set my cold pressure to 38 PSI at the rear on this bike. At the time that I took the photo, I checked the pressure (warm) and it was ~41 PSI. If it was low, it wasn't by much.

The shock does have rebound adjustment, although off the top of my head I'm not sure what it's set to. I vaguely recall touching it at some point early on after getting the bike, and not since. So, maybe a factor.
 
Do those bulges if that is what they are, hard to see what they are from the picture, go all the way around the tire? Or are they just in this one location?
kk
 
In my 1.5+ million street miles (until I stopped counting over a decade ago), most of the time it is (as mentioned), road crown and/or pressure related. Suspension definitely plays a part, including spring rate (if not correct). On rare occasion, tire construction and loading. That looks like a Dunlop, yes?
 
I agree with the above, but, with the proper pressure touch those bulges with your finger. If soft you have air between the tire carcass and the rubber. If so, don't ride it. The manufacture will warranty it if it's worth your effort. I had that happen on a front Conti RA III with 10000 miles on it and that is 3000 more than I usually get. JMHO.
 
Vagrant said:
I agree with the above, but, with the proper pressure touch those bulges with your finger. If soft you have air between the tire carcass and the rubber. If so, don't ride it. The manufacture will warranty it if it's worth your effort. I had that happen on a front Conti RA III with 10000 miles on it and that is 3000 more than I usually get. JMHO.
Click to expand...
I did consider these might be bubbles, but they don't seem to be. They are solid lumps.
 
A couple of tires ago (Griso 11) my front looked like that after 8k km. When we replaced it, we looked inside, and there was signs of "delamination" in the tire's belts. Serious cupping. It affected the steering big time, and was good riddance in the dumpster.
Bridgestone T-30. The T-32 (2 generations later) seem to wear normal, and I expect better results. So it could simply be a flawed tire.
I have a compressor in my shop, so keep a close eye on psi.
 
Vagrant said:
I agree with the above, but, with the proper pressure touch those bulges with your finger. If soft you have air between the tire carcass and the rubber. If so, don't ride it. The manufacture will warranty it if it's worth your effort. I had that happen on a front Conti RA III with 10000 miles on it and that is 3000 more than I usually get. JMHO.
Click to expand...
This is what I was getting at. Looks like a defect in the tire.
kk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top