Im gonna guess it is due to the roads you ride on being crowned that way.........
higher in the middle of the road so that rain/etc will run off to the sides.

Very common on touring bikes or sprtbikes that get a lot of highway miles possibly due to commuting etc.

 

I'm resurrecting this thread cause I just noticed the same thing on my front tire.

BTW - R1Budha - your explanation doesn't make sense - if it was due to the crown on the road, the wear should be on the left side of the tire, not the right.

To make matters weirder, I can/usually lean harder on left turns than right turns, so you would think the wear should be to the left of centerline, not to the right.

Could my forks be uneven? How would one go about checking this?

 

It cant be related to the lenght of the forks;those are hydraulics,so both legs would level themselves automatically (think about it!)

I wouldnt bother myself too much about this since when you can start to notice that of a difference,its perhaps time to change it anyways!

 

i tend to wear out my left side more than my right. My thinking was that I could see more of the long sweepers so I give more gas and lean more thus more wear. I ride mostly canyons and don't stunt at all so I don't know if the uneven wear and squirrely stoppies are related.

 

skanky, dstevens said; I noticed the front tire was worn on the clutch lever side. therefore R1buda is right. the crown in the road would cause that to happen on the clutch LEVER side. Ive had it happen on my CBR954 from commuting 75 miles a day. Hasnt happened yet on my R1, still too new!

 

You probably simply are faster in (or breaking harder into..) left turns...
This is quite common, as you can see further in left turns.
The street crown is to insignificant to make a visible difference on a straight line.

 

You probably simply are faster in (or breaking harder into..) left turns...
This is quite common, as you can see further in left turns.
The street crown is to insignificant to make a visible difference on a straight line.

You see, here's the problem - the wear is on the RIGHT side - opposite the clutch lever (sorry if I mis-read the original post). This is opposite what would be expected for road crowning, and opposite what would be expected if I were going into left hand turns harder, which I do. (Doesn't everyone? ).

I can't imagine the forks being at different elevations to the point that it would cause wear like this - doesn't seem possible given the axle would set it pretty darn close to horizontal already.

Anyone else have some ideas?

 

You see, here's the problem - the wear is on the RIGHT side - opposite the clutch lever (sorry if I mis-read the original post). This is opposite what would be expected for road crowning, and opposite what would be expected if I were going into left hand turns harder, which I do. (Doesn't everyone? ).

Well, maybe the righthanders are your prefered ones then...
Allmost everybody has a strong side.
It may also simply be that on your prefered road there are couple of fast righthanders...
It can't be caused by the fork, no way. The wheel would have to bend to one side, what it can't. Even if the two sides were unballanced, they still work as a whole.

 

Well, maybe the righthanders are your prefered ones then...
Allmost everybody has a strong side.
It may also simply be that on your prefered road there are couple of fast righthanders...
It can't be caused by the fork, no way. The wheel would have to bend to one side, what it can't. Even if the two sides were unballanced, they still work as a whole.

No way am I stronger on my right-hand turns. Hell, there arent even enough good twisties around here to cause much wear on the sides at all, which makes it even more strange.

What if the brakes were only working on one disk?

 

Could your top and bottom triple trees be out of alignment? Just a thought, slightly tweaked one from the other, twisting the forks to one side?

 

Could your top and bottom triple trees be out of alignment? Just a thought, slightly tweaked one from the other, twisting the forks to one side?

Most likely,that would only make your front wear much faster in the middle.

 

Do you ride in the street much? If so, think about your typical right turns vs. your typical left turns. Your left turns are generally done at a higher speed or higher rates of acceleration/deceleration than right turns. Typically, when you make a right turn it is a quick, tight turn (at an intersection or into a driveway) whereas your left turns are crossing the entire width of at least the lanes going in the opposite direction.

 

or think of this......
it still could be road crowning.
especially if you commute on four lane DIVIDED roads.
meaning that two lanes in one direction, with a grass median.
if you ride in the left lane (fast lane cause yer passing the cager foos)then it could still be the cause since the road would be crowned from the centerline both directions........

could be a cause......

 

Do you ride in the street much? If so, think about your typical right turns vs. your typical left turns. Your left turns are generally done at a higher speed or higher rates of acceleration/deceleration than right turns. Typically, when you make a right turn it is a quick, tight turn (at an intersection or into a driveway) whereas your left turns are crossing the entire width of at least the lanes going in the opposite direction.

Yet again, another reason why this would explain more wear on the left side of the tire - completely OPPOSITE of what i have on my front tire. I'm thinking more along the lines of misalignment at this point, but who knows. Maybe my right-turn form is such that it causes the front to wear more? Maybe pushing on the clipons too much and re-correcting? I dont know. I think i'm pretty smooth with both left/right, but I don't try to *think* about it when I'm doing it, you know?

 

or think of this......
it still could be road crowning.
especially if you commute on four lane DIVIDED roads.
meaning that two lanes in one direction, with a grass median.
if you ride in the left lane (fast lane cause yer passing the cager foos)then it could still be the cause since the road would be crowned from the centerline both directions........

could be a cause......

The only way it could be crowning is if I spent more time in the opposite lane (oncoming traffic). All the roads here are 2-lane.

I do pass a lot of cars... maybe you have something there

 

Have you checked your suspension settings. Preload, rebound and compression steeings and make sure they are set the same, right and left? You can Also us a zip tie, tied to the shaft to mark the compression of the suspension after a hard ride.

Im not sure if this would solve your tire problem, but its worth a try to see if your suspension is set correctly. And if its not set correctly it may be your problem.

 

Thomas - that's a good thought, but is it even possible for the shocks to articulate more/less per side? That would mean the axle would have to become UN-perpendicular to the forks, which it's not allowed to do (because of the way its mounted)?

BUt, to your credit, no, I haven't checked suspension settings. It's one of my goals this summer. The bike rides great, but I may just be used to it.

 

Thomas - that's a good thought, but is it even possible for the shocks to articulate more/less per side? That would mean the axle would have to become UN-perpendicular to the forks, which it's not allowed to do (because of the way its mounted)?

BUt, to your credit, no, I haven't checked suspension settings. It's one of my goals this summer. The bike rides great, but I may just be used to it.

Well, that sounds about right, It was just a thought. Im not a suspension expert. But if either your rebound or pre load was set up different from one side to the other it may cause the front tire to rail harder and be more aggressive turning one direction over the other due to the different settings.

The bike may feel fine, but there may be extra weight distrubution to one side of the bike versus the other to compensate for the different pre-load, rebound and compression setting. May be minor enough that its not noticable when riding the bike, but over the course of 2000 miles little by little it may result in causing some extra wear on one side of the tire.

Well, as i stated before, im not a expert by any means. Just had a idea in my head and thought id share it with you Skanky.

Good luck with your tire though, id be interested to find out the problem if you do end up finding it.

 

Thanks Thomas. I'll post some pics if I can. I'm almost at the point where I'll need to replace the tire anyways.

 

Another possibility is if you do alot of two-up riding and your rider leans off to one side to see ahead. You will compensate by leaning the bike a little the other way causing uneven tire wear.

 

Another possibility is if you do alot of two-up riding and your rider leans off to one side to see ahead. You will compensate by leaning the bike a little the other way causing uneven tire wear.

Nope. No passengers for me.

 

Hey - update.

Just had my bike in the shop to check out this problem specifically and guess what???


















Nothing.

They found the bike to be in almost perfect alignment. The right clipon is a little bent (from my wreck last winter) but I already knew about this. The mystery continues...

So, maybe it is purely psychological/physical. They did say they checked the forks (oil level) and everything was within spec. Basically, they couldn't find anything physically wrong that would cause this type of wear.


EDIT: Forgot to add, I have a new set of pilot powers on the front and rear both, and am going to the gap in a month. Maybe I'll be able to tell something after that trip. I'm sure I'll wear SOMETHING out during that time... lol.

 

My front tyre went to shit with uneven wear and wore out the same time as my rear.

I expected to get twice the life out of my front.

I put it down to braking.