Cupping on my front wheel

[AdamWebber]

My rear tire has nearly worn out after 11k miles so I bought a new one. The old one still has a couple thousand miles on it. But I didn't notice that my front tire had also worn out until later. It has cupping on the side treads. The center is fine. I put Michelin Anakees front and rear at the same time. I would have expected 20k miles out of the front.
What causes this? I've never experienced cupping on any other make of bike. This happened on my K1200RS as well. Is there a way that I can prevent it? Is this normal?

[Schtum]

The "cupping" you describe is perfectly normal; especially if you like to lean on the brakes a bit while you're turning in. The GS' Telelever front end certainly encourages that sort of behaviour and allows you to brake right up to the apex if you're so inclined.

However, 11K miles with the possibility of 13K out of a rear tyre would be shooting for the moon for me. Granted the Scottish roads that I ride on are much more abrasive than most of Utah's asphalt - yes, I have toured around a great deal of your fine state - but even so, I get something in the order of 4.5K miles out of rear and perhaps 8K, if I'm lucky, out of a front.

So, in summary, you're getting great mileage out of your tyres. You may, however, not be using all of the bike's performance but that's up to you.

[mikec]

I've got 12,000 miles on my '09 GSA that I purchased in December of last year. After the break-in miles, I rode it from NC to CA and back. In Ventura, I knew I couldn't make it back to NC on the original Tourances, so I swapped the tires after 4200 miles (The had about another 1000 miles left on the rear) for a set of Anakees. They lasted about 8,000 miles. I'm trying a set of Conti Trail Attacks now. I've sure heard about the cupping but have never seen it on any of my machines. You're getting great service out of your tires and I envy that! At 63, though, I'm too old to change my riding style.

Mike

[marc]

20 K on a tire? In my dreams :-)

When I had an RT I was happy to get 6K.

For the GS to date:

Rear:
7K Dunlop
9K Tourance
11K Tourance
9K Tourance
11K Tourance
9K (and still going) Trail Attack

Front:
12K Dunlop
12K Tourance
8K Anakee (removed with tread left)
10K TKC-80
9K TKC-80
6K (and still going) TKC-80

[marc]

And now I'm going to move this thread to the Tires sub-forum

[AdamWebber]

Well after inspecting the front tire for a bit I think that I have discovered what is causing the cupping on the tread. Michelin Anakee tires have a cross-tread pattern. The tread is wide with thick grooves for some off-road travel. In the center of the tire where the left and right grooves meet, there is less rubber in contact with the road. As a result the rubber wears different. The left and right portions of rubber must take up the slack and therefore wear out in these spots adjacent the center grooves.
Since my recent discovery of tread wear and Marc's post on distance traveled, I think that I am going to trade in the front Anakee for a Metzeler Tourance. I like the tread pattern and I hope that I won't have cupping like I do now.

[skychs]

I got over 8k miles on my last Anakee II's. The front still had a couple thousand miles left but like everyone else it started cupping. The dealer looked at the front and just said its normal. I kept the front as a spare.

I love the tires and I just installed another set on my 07 12GS.

[gdayjr]

2005 model R1200GS.

Same story. Front has 8000km on it, maybe another 1000 to go. Worn real funny on both sides, Rear three quaters worn.

Is it just me or do modern tyres wear out way to quick?. I ride the bike pretty well, on the twisty roads of Sydney, maybe the tyres capabilities are greater than mine, because the bike has never as much as twitched in bends, but 10, 000 km on a front?. I could understand that distance in fast track work, but why do they make tyre compounds on road bikes that soft?
I sell tyres for a living, and if car or 4wd tyres wore out at an equivelant rate, there would be hell to pay.

There must be a tyre for this sort of bike that will last a lot longer than that. The performance and grip level would be just as good with a harder compound, and the mileage a whole lot better.

The hunt goes on, it's out there, i just gotta find it.