Uneven Front Tyre (Tire) Wear

[monsterider]

While the corners wearing out or cupping the tires is interesting, one would be turning alot of corners as compared to straightline riding. I find most of my riding to be straightline and on the right side of the road mostly. And while I do make turns, the mileage in turns is minimal compared to the straight miles. Therefore I'm guessing it's the crown of the road scrubbing off the left side of my tire.

 

[CanberraR3]

While the corners wearing out or cupping the tires is interesting, one would be turning alot of corners as compared to straightline riding. I find most of my riding to be straightline and on the right side of the road mostly. And while I do make turns, the mileage in turns is minimal compared to the straight miles. Therefore I'm guessing it's the crown of the road scrubbing off the left side of my tire.

I confess that I can't really see how you can wear out the sides of your front tyres by riding in a straight line unless the road crown is something like 45 degrees. Surely even a pronounced road crown is only going to wear 1/2 an inch or so off centre. Any extra wear beyond that can only be caused by cornering, IMHO. Unless your front tyres only have wear down the middle, you've been cornering; that's what causes the most wear on a front tyre (unlike the rear); not the straight line riding even if that makes up 99% of your riding.

 

[08nzrocket]

Another possible

not too sure if this thoery will hold water but my front is wearing worse on the right side as alot of others, This may be caused by my preference to counter steer when turning to the right (seems more natural) which has the front wheel on a very slight angle causing scrubbing on the right side...........just a thoery

 

[zimtuff]

Just my theory but it is illogical to say that uneven wear (ie on one side more than the other) could be caused by underinflation.

I disagree. When the tyre has low inflation,a greater portion of the tyre touches the road and if the road is cambered it wears one side even more,because of the curvature of the tyre.
You can see this in action when riding behind bikes with wide tyres that dont have their tyres inflated enough.

 

[zimtuff]

I confess that I can't really see how you can wear out the sides of your front tyres by riding in a straight line unless the road crown is something like 45 degrees. Surely even a pronounced road crown is only going to wear 1/2 an inch or so off centre. Any extra wear beyond that can only be caused by cornering, IMHO. Unless your front tyres only have wear down the middle, you've been cornering; that's what causes the most wear on a front tyre (unlike the rear); not the straight line riding even if that makes up 99% of your riding.

I tend to lean over further and faster on LH turns and I am more timid on RH turns but my front and rear tyre are both worn more on the RH side.

When you look at the tyre from the top it easy to imagine the road must have a huge camber to wear that way,but you have to remember the tyre changes shape and flattens out as it comes into contact with the road.

 

[Danny]

Worn Tyres

Have come to the conclusion that you are right about the road camber. I do most of my riding in the country and some road wear and camber is so obvious and I usually ride in the same position on the road. Yep its the camber alright. Will have to start moving locations on rides now so I can get a few more Kms out of the tyres

 

[zimtuff]

not too sure if this thoery will hold water but my front is wearing worse on the right side as alot of others, This may be caused by my preference to counter steer when turning to the right (seems more natural) which has the front wheel on a very slight angle causing scrubbing on the right side...........just a thoery

Next time you see 30 bikes all lined up,walk along behind them and you will notice they all have some wear on the RH side and the wider the tyre,the more pronounced it will be.
They cant all be countersteering the same way.

Watch the bike in front on your next ride and you will notice that most of the time the bike will NOT be perpendicular to the road and if you look even closer you will notice that most of the time they will be riding on the RH side of the tyre.
I say "most of the time" because sometimes the camber is reversed,usually on bends, to get the water to flow one way or another.

 

[STRIPES]

Next time you see 30 bikes all lined up,walk along behind them and you will notice they all have some wear on the RH side and the wider the tyre,the more pronounced it will be.
They cant all be countersteering the same way.

Watch the bike in front on your next ride and you will notice that most of the time the bike will NOT be perpendicular to the road and if you look even closer you will notice that most of the time they will be riding on the RH side of the tyre.
I say "most of the time" because sometimes the camber is reversed,usually on bends, to get the water to flow one or another.

As in places where they drive on the right side of the road.

 

[captain jack]

At last I have found this again. Check it out:-http://www.rattlebars.com/tirewear/index.html