1100rt tire wear

[aardvark]

I have a 1998 1100rt purchased used from a 87year old who has had 1000+ or so machines. His latest 1200rt. Both my front and rear tires are wearing out on the left side before the middle or right side. The front seems to wear more than the rear. I also have a sensation of riding as if the bike is leaning slightly to the left. If anyone out there can advise me of this situation, please help. Is anything wrong with this motorcycle? Everything about the machine seems just great except this. Thanks AArdvark. :wave :wave

[tommarinelli]

:D Probably just the normal left side wear due to the crown of the road. Very frustrating, but unfortunately, pretty normal. Drives us all crazy.

Whatever that 87 year old is taking, i want some of that.

[jellenberger]

I have a 99 R1100RT and had similar issues with the front tire and wear pattern. I thought it was the crown on the road too but Charlie at Morton's BMW in Fredericksburg, VA told me it is the weight of the exhaust system. That makes as much sense to me as anything.

[danp]

I too have a '99RT and experienced the same front tire wear. My first tires were Metzler Z2's and the front lasted only 5500 miles before the scalloping on the left side became too severe to keep the tire. My second set were Michelin Macadam 100X's and again the front tire was toasted at 5500 miles. I now have Michelin Pilot Roads and the wear pattern has just started to show very slight scalloping at 6300 miles. If the wear continues at the rate it has, I expect to get about 8000-9000 miles out of this tire. The down side of the Pilot Road tires is that they howl in a turn. I've gotten used to it, so it doesn't bother me. I keep the front & rear tire pressures as 40/42 which also increases front tire life on an RT.

Dan

[dgbarclay]

I too have a '99RT and experienced the same front tire wear. My first tires were Metzler Z2's and the front lasted only 5500 miles before the scalloping on the left side became too severe to keep the tire. My second set were Michelin Macadam 100X's and again the front tire was toasted at 5500 miles. I now have Michelin Pilot Roads and the wear pattern has just started to show very slight scalloping at 6300 miles. If the wear continues at the rate it has, I expect to get about 8000-9000 miles out of this tire. The down side of the Pilot Road tires is that they howl in a turn. I've gotten used to it, so it doesn't bother me. I keep the front & rear tire pressures as 40/42 which also increases front tire life on an RT.

Dan
I just replaced my Pilot Roads due to the howling. One summer of riding with this constant howling of the front tire between 50 - 60 mph was too much. I got 6K miles out of the Michelins. I went with Metzeler ME880's on my 99 R11RT. So far so good.

[Mr. Frank]

I have a 99 R1100RT and had similar issues with the front tire and wear pattern. I thought it was the crown on the road too but Charlie at Morton's BMW in Fredericksburg, VA told me it is the weight of the exhaust system. That makes as much sense to me as anything.

The exhaust is on the left which actually helps. A more likely explanation is the weight of the single sided swing arm and rear drive on the right which causes a bias and drift to the right on most BMW's. To compensate you are constantly pushing on the left grip which is essentially a left turn to go straight. Packing heavy stuff in the left bag while touring helps a little.

Other arguments which apply to all motorcycles are the crown in the road, the fact that many people are more comfortable leaning left allowing for a greater lean in left turns, the better visibility around left curves allowing more speed, and the greater distance of left curves because of the greater radius. Given that the weird left side tire wear is so much more common and severe on BMW's suggests that these latter explanations are insufficient.

[sportridertex]

My BMW has the same left side wear, my Kawasaki doesn't, I don't think it's road crown causing the weird wear, I think BMW, can't build a straight bike.

[PUDGYPAINTGUY]

I have a 1998 1100rt purchased used from a 87year old who has had 1000+ or so machines. His latest 1200rt. Both my front and rear tires are wearing out on the left side before the middle or right side. The front seems to wear more than the rear. I also have a sensation of riding as if the bike is leaning slightly to the left. If anyone out there can advise me of this situation, please help. Is anything wrong with this motorcycle? Everything about the machine seems just great except this. Thanks AArdvark. :wave :wave


Hi there aardvark, welcome! Don't worry about the tyre wear, in Fairbanks you only have another 2 weeks before you have to put the studs back in the tyres anyway right?...lol

[PacWestGS]

Humm, I'd do a string check at home and check the alignment between back and front tire to see if the frame is straight. If that doesn't look good to you take it in and have a shop look at alignment.

Could just be the roads as others have said, but that is weird.

Take more 'right' turns in life.... :laugh

But seriously, check the forks and make sure they didn't get out of wack causing your front tire to out-track all the time. If the pince bolts were loose and your forks slipped you could have an out of alignment bike that's always in a right turn....


Doc

[bdiver]

How about checking this page out.

http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/tirewear/