[videovalk]

I'm trading my Valkyrie for a new 1800 gl, and was wonder what the expected rear tire life under normal driving conditions is?

Thanks Ken F.

 

[Bulldog]

Ken,


Best guess would be between 9K and 12K. A lot depends on how you ride, type of surface you ride on etc.

The numbers above are what I have experienced.

Bulldog

 

[DaleC]

Less than your Valk, but the increased excitement, exhilaration, cornering ability, performance and riding comfort will make it all seem a good trade off.

DaleC

P.S. Of course you could keep, both and have the best of both worlds, which is actually a better idea.

 

[cycledude]

in 93,000 miles I have worn out 5 sets of tires, lowest mileage was 16,000 highest was 23,000.

 

[Neil-In-Tucson]

I am averaging about 20,000 per set of tires. Have tried Stone, Lops and Metz. Scratch the Lops, though, because of their bad wet pavement behavior. I'm not real aggressive, but not real timid either.

 

[Tanker]

I presently have 13,000 on my rear stone and counting. good for another???? miles. only got 10,500 on my first one...too low of air pressure. I now run 38 psi rear...but I ride one up. this is giving me a better footprint then when I was using 41 psi. wear pattern is much better with the 38 psi..one up riding. my first stone i ran like 36 psi i think it was...then the front cupped so bad..i upped the pressure on front and rear...rear to 42 i think it was. well, that wore out the middle of the tread..was too high a pressure for one up riding. I have been running 38 like I said, and the wear pattern is really good. and I am guessing that i have 3,000 to 5,000 left on tread.

 

[Buck Yellow Wing]

IMHO Ditto on all the coments. Pressure seems to me to be half of the equation then comes rider style and loading of the bike weight wise.
Am just about through the oem tires with 9K on the bike. I'm changing the pressur a bit lower in front 36 psi and back 38 psi . The rear tire and front both have heavy cupping running front at 39 psi and rear at 41 psi. Mostly I wore out the center with less than 1/32 " left before the wear bar.

Checking the tires with a standard tread depth gauge (Napa stores or good parts house) works better than an eyeball check. The tool is self explanitory and costs less than $3.00.
On a 1965 Mustand with standard belted tires I got 63K of wear not even rotating just watching the tread depth and adjusting the air pressure.

Oh #ell I talk too much.

Buck Yellow Wing :lol: 8) :lol: :yw1:

 

[Buck Yellow Wing]

IMHO Ditto on all the coments. Pressure seems to me to be half of the equation then comes rider style and loading of the bike weight wise.
Am just about through the oem tires with 9K on the bike. I'm changing the pressur a bit lower in front 36 psi and back 38 psi . The rear tire and front both have heavy cupping running front at 39 psi and rear at 41 psi. Mostly I wore out the center with less than 1/32 " left before the wear bar.

Checking the tires with a standard tread depth gauge (Napa stores or good parts house) works better than an eyeball check. The tool is self explanitory and costs less than $3.00.
On a 1965 Mustand with standard belted tires I got 63K of wear not even rotating just watching the tread depth and adjusting the air pressure.

Oh #ell I talk too much.

Buck Yellow Wing :lol: 8) :lol: :yw1:

 

[Fred H.]

Again, this is kinda like trying to compare gas mileage. Too many variables.

For example one guy above noted he got 16-23K miles on five sets of tires.

I have run through 6 sets of tires. My low mileage tire is 6.5K (Bridgestone) and my high mileage tire (Metzler) was 11K.

So I guess it is safe to say that you will get somewhere between 6.5K and 23K miles on a set of tires.

Also, some guys don't change tars till they are showing threads. I try to do mine when they get to the wear bars.

If you don't think riding style doesn't have a big impact on tire wear, think again. How you shift, clutch, brake, corner and accelate all play into the equation. So does road surface temperature and many other variables.

Obviously, I ride my bike a bit more aggressively than most. I caught this disease early in life and have never been able to fully get rid of it. However, I don't scrape the handlebar weights and mirrors in turns nearly as much as I used to. Maybe I am slowing down in my old age.

 

[Red]

In my experience, you're going to get about the same tire mileage as you did with the Valk.

 

[CouchRocketDave]

Another thing that seems to get overlooked when discussing tire mileage is the type of road surface that you normally ride on. Superslabs are for the most part (relatively) smooth, back roads around here are "tar and chip" construction - not too tire-friendly. However, it is normal to get 60-80k out of a set of car tires around here in the flatlands of NW Ohio because of the general construction of the roads.

Just for the record, I got around 12k on my original set of Stones; working on the second set now - it looks like it will be similar.