Showing tire cords - only 100mi left to go....

[bahill]

Ive got Pilot Road 2s, managed 10k miles out of em now, and last night of 3k mi tour, 120 miles from home port (where new ones sitting, all ready for mounting)....do I ease them home tomorrow or do I really have to stop and swap for someone else's retail priced replacement skin!?

[NoRRmad]

Ow. I'm not a tire expert -- at all -- but if I were in your shoes, I'd check the pressure, and make sure it was exactly on spec. I'd ride on local roads in the right-hand lane and stay under the speed limit. I'd watch very carefully for potholes. I'd stop occasionally just to brush debris off the tread and see if anything's getting worse. But I'd ride 'em in.

[sweatmark]

Front tire showing cords or steel? Then you're crazy to ride any further.

Back tire showing? Then go for it.... unless you're riding fast or heavy or via roads with nasty surface like chip-seal.

I would do it (and have done so, as my avatar suggests)... but not a good habit.

[riceburner]

Just take it very easy for that last stint.


be aware that a cop following will be able to see the deterioration easily.

[sjbmw]

My goodness, what a difficult question to ask... and answer.

If that tire blows at speed, remember everyone on this board said to rent a 19.99 a day UHaul, and haul the bike the last 100 miles.

I would be riding that thing at 25mph the entire distance, looking for a safety exit every 100 feet.

good luck, and please report back that you are fine, and all is well.

[Boxer]

tap..tap..tap..tap...WE'RE waiting!

Okay, did he make it home or not? I say he did... and is working hard to get those new tires installed before letting us know.

[towerworker]

Hope he arrived home safe. Proper antifreeze servicing will prevent this from happening.

[bahill]

All turned out well here, many thanks....Im one of those frequent plane/train/auto/BMWR1150R travelers, and dont always get to correspondence in time!! apologies for not confirming all went well....

Gingerly made my way back, and no probs whatsoever - appreciated the support for making that judgment call...

Tire (down to cord remnants thereof) was PR2s that I had gotten close to 14k out of in 15months... for them...

My takeaway: wont underestimate miles left to to replacement in advance of next road trip though... A little challenging sometimes with my current around-the-US touring style (ride, drop, flyout, fly back, repeat...) this trip was DC-Seneca Rock, entirety of Blue Ridge Parkway, the Tail of the Dragon, drop in Greenville, all at once....yes knowing that I should have replaced before I left DC.....

[towerworker]

A close friend had a very similar experience--in his case he wrapped his tire (circumference) with duct tape (the 200mph variety I might add!). I think he was 70 or so miles from home. Got home safely. Would NEVER do that on a front tire. It's bad enough on a rear.

[ron prior]

Glad ya made it OK!...but isn't 10k kinda low on miles? I just put a set of Conti-Attacks on mine. Sure hope they do better..alot better!

[Dr. Strangelove]

10k is pretty average I think. Some can get another couple of thousand, but they're on the right side of the bell curve.

I just got 10664 to wear bars on the rear...PR3s; Front has some left.

John

[grwrockster]

You guys in the US are lucky - if I got 7.5k out of any rear tyre, let alone 10k+ I'd be ecstatic! Maybe (despite brand/model hoops with same names) I can't help wondering if compounds are harder in the US, or road surfaces less abrasive (or both) than here.

We have a minimum tread depth here too so once the wear bars are showing you're asking for a fine and 3 points on yer licence (and 12 points is a licence suspension) for a bald tyre here too - and the police pull over a lot of bikes - a disproportionate amount of bikes by far. Although I might get another 500 or even more miles out of a tyre if I ran it down to the cords, it's just too risky to run an illegal tyre over here.

I have done it in the distant past though a few times - and I would've run home on it too!

[ron prior]

I must ride more gently. With the exception of one set {Avons} I've had much better mileage. 15K+

Ron

[Dr. Strangelove]

If you're really after mileage try the ME 880 s
I got 13-14 on a set or two

performance does suffer a bit, but only a bit.

[wncbmw]

You guys disappointed with only 10K miles amuse me. If I get over 7K out of a tire, front or rear, I am overjoyed. Usually, I get more in the 6K range for a rear and a little more for the front.

Probably the downside of riding curves a lot. I'll take the downside.

My enthusiasm accelerating out of said curves probably has something to do with it also.

[michelsmith]

Ok so I guess the middle is a bit worn as well..

[Dr. Strangelove]

You guys disappointed with only 10K miles amuse me. If I get over 7K out of a tire, front or rear, I am overjoyed. Usually, I get more in the 6K range for a rear and a little more for the front.

Probably the downside of riding curves a lot. I'll take the downside.

My enthusiasm accelerating out of said curves probably has something to do with it also.

Prolly! show off! But if you're riding curves a lot, wouldn't that tend to even the wear, spreading some of those miles out to the sides rather than the middle?

I am not disappointed at that mileage, but just an observation.
And that 10664 has been since 5/14/11. From the way they wore at first I thought they'd go farther. It does make an expensive hobby/whatever more expensive. The front now has about another 1400 and still has some left.

[Airman]

Ive got Pilot Road 2s, managed 10k miles out of em now, and last night of 3k mi tour, 120 miles from home port (where new ones sitting, all ready for mounting)....do I ease them home tomorrow or do I really have to stop and swap for someone else's retail priced replacement skin!?

You're not getting your money's worth unless you take them to the steel. (Kidding of course)


I was a little disappointed as the previous Pirelli Diablo Strata gave me a couple of thousand more miles. This one has about 12k on it. I rode it to work for a week waiting for the new tire to come in, about 100 more miles. I was almost universally condemned for continuing to ride on that tire. I figured there was little chance of it blowing out, but of course it is pretty thin and I could have gotten a puncture.

The PR-3s I replaced them with are excellent by the way. We're moving into the rainy season here, so I'll have a chance to try them in some heavy rain.

[fpgirard]

I'm at 10,000 miles or so on my pilot 2 tires and not even the tread markers are exposed. Wear is even across the tire. Maybe I'm not riding hard enough? I need to step it up.