What If?

[donsobeck]

After some long touring trips on U.S. and Interstate highways the left center of my tires are toast. That is to say cupped so bad that it looks like a different layer of rubber was showing. Would it not be nice to have the manufacturers add a belt of reinforcing rubber or belt in this area for bikes in the U.S.. Just a thought as we know that the crown of the road causes this.

DON

[joegottberg]

Of course, if successful, it would result in less tire sales, but, may be offset with increased market share.

I think the key is the rubber formulation. I am frustrated with 6-9K tires (@ well over $100.00 per), but, I've never had a blow out and for the most part felt grip in the corners.

Reduced rolling resistance, grip (in all weather) and life, pick two only. ;)

Joe

[ironbuttwannabe]

I've only had 1 cupped tire. That was the 880 that was on the LT when I bought it. Two years ago I went on a 8,000 mile trip mostly on interstate and never had cupping issues with my 1100LT. I've found its better to run in the left lane.

[RonKMiller]

Hey Don -

Road crown is not the cause - the angle simply is not there.

Motorcycle Tire Wear (http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/tirewear/)

The only way I can 'figger out how to take care of this problem is to ride 6 months here and 6 months in England. ;)

[sparky_k1200lt]

I had heard it was due to turns. Here is example in city driving:

Driving on right side of road, a right turn into the rightmost lane would be a very short turn, typically done at quite slow speeds. (low tire wear on right side)

A left turn into leftmost lane would be a wider turn...longer path, and most likely more acceleration during the turn. (more tire wear on left side).

Highway driving would involve a longer path for left curves, and shorter paths for right curves. A typical Interstate highway is 2 separate roadways ( one in each direction ) with an unpaved area between them. If crowned, one side of each would slope left, the other slope right. If the tire wear was due to the crown in the road, would riding in left lane would put wear on the right side of the tire?

[CalLT]

Adding mass or even assymetric frictional materials to one side of the tire sounds like an excellent prescription for some truly weird-Alice handling. No thanks.

[Woolly]

Reduced rolling resistance, grip (in all weather) and life, pick two only. ;)

Joe

I'll only pick one - grip (in all weather)

[ldbikin]

I've had zero cupped tires once I put ohlins on the bike...at 24k, now at 88k, still going strong, still have my mirrors even after hitting pot holes and still have no weird tire wear, including cupping, just FYI for your comparo pleasure.

[meese]

Nice map, Neil. But I gotta ask, do you have something against corners? :D

[ironbuttwannabe]

Nice map, Neil. But I gotta ask, do you have something against corners? :D

I was driving tonight on my 1100. yes it has better wind protection than the stock 1200 on the stock windscreen, especially now that 50 degrees feels cold. YES, I do have something against corners. They are way too short, not enough of them, and they make me go faster. As far as the map all those states have been marked in less than 18 days riding. My job kind of restricts me. Drove staight home from Idaha with a 2 hour nap in Nebraska with 3 strands left on my clutch cable. I thought I was going to be straned in Idaho because for some stupid reason they think its not profitable to be open on Mondays. I had to be home on Wed. So I thought I was going to be stuck going to a stealership and giving my bike away to buy a new one. But it made it all the way home on those three little strands shifting from 1-3-5 and coasting only into gas stations. But the 1100 still lives and no one will buy it because they think 89,000 is too much for a bike. Stealership will only give me 2,000 on a trade in.

As far as the cupping, around here it works better to drive right at the white line because the semi's pack it down and it evens out the crown in the road, that is where I usually drive. I'm not even commenting on our cheap county, chipping and sealing everything becuase that eats up my tires.

Sorry for the steam blowing. I just want a new bike and am not going to give away a perfect bike. I'm going to see how many perfect miles this beemer has in it. I've got 50,000 trouble free already, so hopefully I can see that 200,000 turn.

P.S. I would never want to go into your state unless I had this:)
http://buggs.marentes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008klr.jpg