Tyre Scalloping .

I know we taked about front tyres wearing on the right hand side due to road camber .But today i checked my front tyre after a run which it felt
like it didnt want to turn .The PR2 was badly scalloped on the right hand side .When you rubbed your hand over it it was high,low,high,low all the
way round .I have had this before but never this bad. On certain angles it looks like a 50c piece (well you get the idea )
Any idea, or anyone else found this with PR2 fronts.? There is tread left but i think its R.S.

Scalloping usually occurs at the front - this is because the front tyre has to do the most work when it comes to steering and braking.
All tread distorts under braking and steering load, and will distort even more if the compound is soft and/or the tyre pressures are low.
As you brake the tread distorts backwards, and ends up wearing the leading edge of each tread block.
Were you doing a lot of hard braking into right handers in particular????
Note that camber of roads will affect tyre wear to some degree. Were the roads particularly cambered or chopped up????

If you want to reduce this effect due to the tyre squirming under side load and during braking, increase your pressure and see what happens. Increased pressure will stiffen up the carcase and reduce the distortion (squirm).

Scolloping (some people will call this type of wear cupping, I know I do) can occur when the damping properties of the shock absorber are not suited to the spring or are on the weak side which causes the tyre to skip instead of remain in contact with the road surface.
There are a number of other reasons for this kind of wear from tyre pressures as rabid said to loose/rooted head stem bearings

I 'm confused why this tyre is so much worse (PR2) than the others before it .(different tread pattern )
I'm going to have to get a new tyre but am shying away from the same.Dont like to blaim the tyre if its something else .
Pressure constant 36psi ,easy on brakes ,s\head bearing fine. Left hand side of tyre 40% worn ,Centre 50% worn ,RHS buggered.
Its quite noticable to see by eye ,i see if i can get it in a pic.

Could it have anything to do with wheel alignment ? Tyre balance out ?

How many KMS

Not sure ,i had it put on in Hobart so didnt write it down .Tasi to QLD and a bit more 7 to 8 thousand .

Bit hard to pick up in a photo but.

gus wrote:I 'm confused why this tyre is so much worse (PR2) than the others before it .(different tread pattern )
I'm going to have to get a new tyre but am shying away from the same.Dont like to blaim the tyre if its something else .
Pressure constant 36psi ,easy on brakes ,s\head bearing fine. Left hand side of tyre 40% worn ,Centre 50% worn ,RHS buggered.
Its quite noticable to see by eye ,i see if i can get it in a pic.

Could it have anything to do with wheel alignment ? Tyre balance out ?

Alignment will do it, as will a wheel out of balance or worse still a rim out of round.
Any shimmy in the front prior to noticing the scalloping?
How many secondary road kms??? The dual and three-lane carriageways have a much flatter camber than the single lane carriageways, and putting in lots of clicks on secondary roads will wear your RHS more, rather than wearing a flat patch centrally.

Remember, the more rubber you lose from one half of the tyre through (say) the road camber, the worse the balance is - you essentially have a lighter RHS of the tyre, so when it spins the physics of it mean that the tyre is trying to equalise its weight along its rotational axis, and that will distort the carcase because all the weight tries to fling towards the rotational axis (ie if there is more weight on one side that weight will try to centre itself). That's about as clear as I can make it..........

All my front tyres have worn this way

Dunlop 208's??? OEM
Michelin Pilot Road 2CT
Bridgestone Battlaxe 021

Just fitted a Bridgey 023, will let you know if this wears any different, but highly doubt it. I think it come down to what has already been stated, road camber & trail braking as tipping it in on such a heavy bike will obviously accelerate the wear on the RHS.

Don't they feel terrible when they are like that. A new tyre makes the bike feel so much lighter and agile. I have also felt the skip as has been stated here on the new 023 rubber whilst pushing a little hard, I think the front suspension needs someone to rebuild and valve it for me.

Yeah its certainly not the fist one ive had one go like this (just the worst ) or the only bike its happened on . May be just the roads around here and the softer side these days .Will go left fine but doesnt like right . At first i thought it was me and kept telling myself to "loosen up ". After running
my hand over tyre i realised its not me.

My OEM front which I changed at ~5500kms didn't show this kind of wear from what I remember but in hindsight it probably could have gone a few more thou without problems (rear was below wear markers tho and I'm not 100% convinced that having different brands is a good idea)

My Bridgy 021 front did this kind of thing after ~7000kms and gave me the impression that I was shit at going right. According to the bridgy website the 021 is not a duel compound tyre from what I can tell but I think there are some riders out there that think it is. I don't think the front 023 is a duel compound tyre either, the rear is tho.

Next I got a bridgy 016 front (didn't want to mix and match brands as the rear 021 still has plenty left) which is a duel compound tyre according to what the website says, but that is not the reason I got it. I wanted a bit more on the sport side to increase my confidence compared to the 021 which I found "ugh" at some times. After ~3500kms so far, I still like the 016. Wear is even across the tread area even tho I do more commuting than other riding and when I do non commuting style riding I don't go that nutz anymore as seen by the 1/2 to 1 inch chicken strips at both ends. I think I will get to about 5 or even 7tho kms before it's time to swap it out. I should add that I think the 016 sticks very well and is pretty dam stable compared to the 021. It can get a little squirmy at the first roundabout out of my place in the wet (about 200meters away) but after that is good. It does seam to track a little at those joins in the road (WA has them going the same way as the road, right where you want to sit in the RH wheel track) if there is a fair height difference, but IMO not as bad as the worn 021 it replaced

Gus my PR2 front has about 13-14,000km on it and you have seen the roads I ride on. It's slightly more worn on the RHS but I think its still following the profile. I reckon 36psi is a bit low. I have always ran mine at 38psi (40 rear) The front forks are as they were when delivered. About middle I guess and with 24,000km on them.
Its possible you got a crook tyre but I reckon its weight + PSI + speed (turning right) + road camber.

Note: I reckon I turn right at a much higher average speed because of where I ride I often cant see through the left handers plus commuting.

I got over 11000km out of mu OEM 021's. The front had a bit of a scollop on the r/h side showing more wear. There are so many threads around saying the same thing! They're not a light bike and put a fair bit of weight through that front end.

I've just put some 023's on both ends & didn't realise how crappy it had gotten with the worn tyres. Now it rolls onto it's edge real smooth.
It will be intersting to see how the 023's hang in there. They seem ok in the dry........but you can still get them to move out a bit under heavy throttle like the 021's.

I won't be surprised if they chew the r/h side out as well.

It sounds like Jake Wilson time Gus

Gus - I've been checking out Dynabeads and reducing / eliminating cupping is claimed when they are used. They seem to be the bees knees according to reviews from people who use them.

I think that the weak front springs cause the 1250 to use too much front tyre, as I am pretty sure Gus is running max preload at the front can only suggest reducing the rear preload to shift the balance aft.

Well spotted D.