Uneven Front Tyre (Tire) Wear

[Simon_SA]

Long time no see.

My R3 has done about 12000 miles and recently I inspected the front tyre, to find that
the tread wear is noticeably greater on one side. (Don't remember which)

What could cause this?

Riding style?
Incorrect bike assembly?
The tyre itself?

Any ideas guys?

Thanks

 

[RatBoy]

You're not a NASCAR guy are ya? Always turning left?

It would be one explanation for excessive wear?

 

[Simon_SA]

I guess I favour left handers...... will check which side the wear is greater.....

 

[Simon_SA]

Wear is greater on the rhs! ??

 

[CADFather]

Another quick question is, which side of the road do you drive on? Since you have more wear on the right side of the tire, I'm going to bet that you drive on the left side of the road. This is just a theory mind you and no hard science involved also no tires where harmed in making this theory. If you drive on the left when you take a right hand turn you travel a greater distance than the same turn to the left thus the right side of the tire will wear faster than the left. Normally you also carry more speed in longer turns. The opposite would be true if you drive on the right side of the road. Some people claim the road crown is the culprit, but most roads in the US anyway are crown to such a small degree that the wear, if off center is negligible if any. There is the possibility of a weak spring in the front end, but the likelihood of that is very slim. I hope my feeble attempt to help does just that.

 

[Big Goaler]

Was talking to a coworker about this. He rides a Gold Wing and has the same type of wear on his front tire. A big bike phenom?

 

[T-Rex]

R3 Tire Wear

The tires on my R3 were replaced around 9,000 miles. The fron tire was "cupping" and the back tire was just getting a little to bald. A long-time garage owner told me that the front tire cupping was due to improper inflation; however, I always kept the proper air pressure in the tires. He then suggested that perhaps I should put an extran two lbs of air in the tire to prevent cupping. On the new tires I have an extra two lbs of air pressure and the tire seems to be wearing evenly. Hope this helps.
T-Rex

 

[Simon_SA]

Several of those comments are correct, as it turns out.

Spoke to my dealer today............

The basic reason for the uneven wear is ROAD CAMBER (or crown). It makes perfect sense. When riding in a straight line, the right side of the tyre has more road contact than the left if you are in a country that drives on the left, like we do.

Also, as someone mentioned, this phenomenon is much more pronounced on heavier machines.

thanks for the input guys.

Problem solved.

 

[CADFather]

Have a friend sit on the bike and hold it upright on the road and look at the worn area on the tire, I would almost bet that the worn area on your tire does not contact the road while going in a straight line. That much road crown or camber would present problems for motorcyclists as well as 4-wheeled vehicles for going straight.

 

[gnasher328]

Front tyre wear

Have to replace my front tyre at 5.5k with the wear you describe.
Yup, reckon its roundabouts and camber, I have had the same with car tyres but you can change them round.
Gnasher