Another Front tire wear picture

I am just so disgusted that 4900 miles is what I get out of the OEM front.

Had the same problem with my 06 FZ1, but 6k..

ANGEL ST's are on deck this week..

Yep . . . that's what my original tire looked like . . . switched right away to Michelin PR2's and love them . . . on about my 3rd set of them and have more even wear

That's ugly. I bet you get some good front end shake on decel if you let the bars go at about 45ish. It gets better, my OEM Bridgestone looked something like that at about 4400 miles. I was a bit worried that this bike was going to cost me a fortune with constant tire changes. I'm real happy with PR2's as are alot of other Forum members. I've got about 7500 on my front PR2 and it has a nice even wear pattern. I figure it will go about another 1000-1500 before I replace it with the same.

BTW- When I stopped in the stealership to ask for their thoughts, they said "must have loaded up too much weight in one of the saddle bags....."

When I pointed out the symmetrical uneven wear on both sides of the center ridge he said "must have loaded up the bags unevenly on two different trips"

Then he laughed and said "I heard of a guy who actually weighed his bags to make sure they were the same weight".

(I didn't even smile when I said "I DO weigh my bags")

My question is really this: Is this a dual compound tire?? My pressures are set before EVERY RIDE. Why would the center ridge stay while the sides wear away?? I am not an expert twisty rider.

HelzBelz said:

My question is really this: Is this a dual compound tire?? My pressures are set before EVERY RIDE. Why would the center ridge stay while the sides wear away?? I am not an expert twisty rider.

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If that's the stock Bridgestone I don't think it is a dual compound, but I could be wrong. Mine did the same thing and flat spotted real bad after a 2500 mile tour of the west. When I got home the bike handled like a truck and it had that nasty flat spot down the middle. The wear pattern was also not very symmetrical, much like yours. I took it out on some of our local twisties and just flogged it. After some fun and hard ridding I was able to wear most of the flat spot off and the tire had a nice round profile again. The bike also handled well again. I think that tire just is not up to snuff for the weight of the FJR. The PR2's will also flat spot a bit if I'm not doing a nice even mix of straight and twisty riding but nothing like the stock Bridgestone.

Do you dive into the corners, grab the brake and then power out?

If the front forks are not setup correctly for your weight, the side will cup as the tire bounces off bumps in turns. Also tire balance can cause it.

Roy Epperson said:

Do you dive into the corners, grab the brake and then power out?...

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Uhhhhh, Yeah!!!

That's why I bought an FJR instead of a GoldWing.



You guys West of the Mississippi are spoiled. East of Ol' Miss. we're damn lucky to ever see 4k miles on a set of tires.

HaulinAshe said:

Roy Epperson said:

Do you dive into the corners, grab the brake and then power out?...

Click to expand...

Uhhhhh, Yeah!!!

That's why I bought an FJR instead of a GoldWing.



You guys West of the Mississippi are spoiled. East of Ol' Miss. we're damn lucky to ever see 4k miles on a set of tires.

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We've already established that tire wear is dependent on road surface, road temp, and obviously how aggressive you are with the throttle/brakes. I am in Austin Texas, ride all year long, and ride in extreme heat. My short rides are about 200 miles and I don't ride like I'm on a scooter.

While some guys are constantly on the forum bragging about the high miles on their tires as a badge of honor- those of us who take advantage of the power/torque and awesome abilities of the FJR aren't ashamed to say that 5K miles is about all we get.

For those of you who really want to save money, sell your FJR and buy a scooter :bye:

Well you're a quicker learner than I am ......

Here are my first three BTW-021 ...actually the only three of that POS tire that I ran. I buy in bulk and didn't realize how bad these are.





(uuuhhhh and yes my suspension was correctly set up and tires were balanced) The FJR is heavy and can be tough on tires ...but the BT-021's are really bad.

Talked about numerous places including here(clicky)

OK, that does it.

Who sh$t in the fantastic guy's corn flakes.

Fess up.

Oh hell! I totally missed that he's complaining about BT-021 fronts. Those things are total POS on the FJR. Might work fine on a Ninja, but they ain't made for Fat Joy Rides. We get maybe 1,500 miles on a BT-021 around here.

FantasticJohnR said:

We've already established that tire wear is dependent on road surface, road temp, and obviously how aggressive you are with the throttle/brakes. I am in Austin Texas, ride all year long, and ride in extreme heat. My short rides are about 200 miles and I don't ride like I'm on a scooter.
For those of you who really want to save money, sell your FJR and buy a scooter :bye:

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And it is dependent on the suspension setup! If you're grabbing brake late in the turn and powering out, it's even more important for the suspension to be setup for the rider, not factory default and is independent of the make of tire. Then if the tire is a POS, it will get eating up even faster.

HaulinAshe said:

Oh hell! I totally missed that he's complaining about BT-021 fronts. Those things are total POS on the FJR. Might work fine on a Ninja, but they ain't made for Fat Joy Rides. We get maybe 1,500 miles on a BT-021 around here.

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Ya, I didn't think anyone picked that up and why I brought it up .....I think i'm the only one stooopid (notice 3 O's stupid) enough to run three of those things.

Roy Epperson said:

[And it is dependent on the suspension setup! If you're grabbing brake late in the turn and powering out, it's even more important for the suspension to be setup for the rider, not factory default and is independent of the make of tire. Then if the tire is a POS, it will get eating up even faster.

Click to expand...

Roy Epperson said:

Do you dive into the corners, grab the brake and then power out?
If the front forks are not setup correctly for your weight, the side will cup as the tire bounces off bumps in turns. Also tire balance can cause it.

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Roy, after you run a BT-021 you won't be suggesting that guys can't ride or their suspension ain't set up ....this tire really sucks --trust me.

Roy Epperson said:

Do you dive into the corners, grab the brake and then power out?
If the front forks are not setup correctly for your weight, the side will cup as the tire bounces off bumps in turns. Also tire balance can cause it.

Click to expand...

Roy, after you run a BT-021 you won't be suggesting that guys can't ride or their suspension ain't set up ....this tire really sucks --trust me.

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John,

I'm not saying that "guys can't ride or their suspension ain't set up" My point is regardless of the tire, if the suspension isn't doing the correct job, the tire is going to wear faster, and the more aggressive you ride, the more important it is for the suspension to keep the tire in contact with the road. If the tire is a POS, it will go faster and as it wears, riding style, road surface and weather, and suspension will cause it to go faster.

I had BT020Fs on my bike when I got it. And it looked bad after 2,000 miles (of riding in the "flat lands of" the Sierra Foothills. Got the suspension adjusted and it slowed the decay. I changed them several thousand miles 'cause I didn't want deal with them on a 5,000 mile trip to Colorado.

Roy

Roy Epperson said:

Roy Epperson said:

Do you dive into the corners, grab the brake and then power out?
If the front forks are not setup correctly for your weight, the side will cup as the tire bounces off bumps in turns. Also tire balance can cause it.

Click to expand...

Roy, after you run a BT-021 you won't be suggesting that guys can't ride or their suspension ain't set up ....this tire really sucks --trust me.

Click to expand...

John,

I'm not saying that "guys can't ride or their suspension ain't set up" My point is regardless of the tire, if the suspension isn't doing the correct job, the tire is going to wear faster, and the more aggressive you ride, the more important it is for the suspension to keep the tire in contact with the road. If the tire is a POS, it will go faster and as it wears, riding style, road surface and weather, and suspension will cause it to go faster.

I had BT020Fs on my bike when I got it. And it looked bad after 2,000 miles (of riding in the "flat lands of" the Sierra Foothills. Got the suspension adjusted and it slowed the decay. I changed them several thousand miles 'cause I didn't want deal with them on a 5,000 mile trip to Colorado.

Roy

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I'm saying I don't care how good or bad your suspension is or how aggressive (or not) you are ...the 021 (not the 020) is a piece of shit tire and making inferences from it's wear is not an accurate way to judge one's suspension set-up or 2nd-guess one's riding style. I agree with your point generically, ...but in reference to the 021 which is what this thread is about I don't think the suspension or riding style critique is relevant or fair.

The 021 is a proven piece of shit tire.

HelzBelz said:

My question is really this: Is this a dual compound tire??

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NO,it is not. and neither is the PR2 ....FRONTS we're talking. Yes the rear are dual compound but not the front.
A few years ago many of us went through a lot of drama with this tire, and because the rear behaved fairly decent we blamed all sorts of stuff on the front ---but finally enough data was collected and the reality is that it's just a really shitty tire.

didn't mean to cause a fuss..lol.

Pretty sure suspension is set pretty good for me- read the thread over and over and ran similar settings as other guys my weight, and I do think that riding style contributed as I did come from an FZ1 (and FZ6). I know this because my AVG MPG has gone from 35 in the first few months of riding the FJR, to 46ish lately.

I did experience similar wear on the BT021's that came on the FZ1.

To make my case even tougher to analyze - first 4k was done in my previous home state of Montana (actually while touring Oregon, Idaho, Norther Cali, Utah, Arizona, NM, Colorado, WY) The next 900 were done in NY, VT, and a tiny bit of NH.

So based on all of this, and all of your inputs - This tire sucks, I need to change my style a bit, and I need pr2's most likely but lets see how the Angel ST's work first.

How do you like that!- I'm wrong again...I thought the front PR2 wuzz a dual compound...

https://www.michelinmotorcycle.com/index.cfm?event=pilotroad2

New rubber compounds and updated profiles (many brands) conspire to make tire comparisons difficult. Add to that: the differences between OEM-spec (code/letter suffix) and off-the-shelf tires -- and it may get even worse?

From Sportrider's July 2010 issue: "note: there are some bikes that come equipped stock with (insert brand here) rubber, but those are OEM-spec tires with different construction and compounds than the off-the-shelf versions."