Some tire talk - tire changers and tire wear

[hjsbmw]

My front had scalloped after 13k or so and the rear had a minor flat wear in the center. I usually keep factory recommended pressure but the mechanic told me to simply run 35ish in the front and 40 in rear (in other words the pressure was too low). I put 500 more on the front before I could get it in and the scalloping seemed to have ebbed a little and the bike did feel better with slightly higher pressure.

I'd like to emphasize and confirm what daveyator said. My new front tire started developing an uneven wear pattern somewhere around 2k miles: difference between left and right and somewhat bumpy surface, both visible and noticeable by touch.

I started inflating the tires with an additional 2psi, that is, 34psi on the front and 38psi on the rear versus the respective factory recommended 32/36psi. The wear pattern practically vanished, and the tire looks and feels almost smooth again. I have 3.5k miles on the front tire now.

Just for the record, scratch what I said. It turns out my old tire gauge was off and showed the pressure too high, hence the observation that over-inflating was a good thing. With a new digital gauge I find that 32/36 feels just right.