Tyre wear

[Woodman]

Who can tell me/ has theories on what wears tyres out the fastest.

Tar or gravel ?

I know its hard to tell cos we tend to ride a mixture.
My personal opinion is that gravel does cos its like sandblasting/sandpapering the tyre.

Interested is all.

[JATZ]

I know it's not much help Woody, but....... the rear on the DR hasn't worn at all over the last 6 months, so it's lasting pretty well

[YellowDog]

Tar seal is by far the least wearing on your tyres.

[bart]

Ummmmmm.....heat has a lot to do with it also. I'm picking tar.

Low tyre pressure and tar is even worserer.

[That looks like fun]

It depends on the tyre revolution to forward propulsion ratio . the ratio is normally higher on gravel

[bart]

It depends on the tyre revolution to forward propulsion ratio . the ratio is normally higher on gravel

Do you mean skids?


I like skids.

[That looks like fun]

Almost, skidses is a part of the stopping to traction, over the weight to slope ratio, multiplied by the square root of the tree you are braking to avoid ratio

[Tony W]

1234567 tar

[bart]

Almost, skidses is a part of the stopping to traction, over the weight to slope ratio, multiplied by the square root of the tree you are braking to avoid ratio

You can do skids with the throttle in go mode also. Or is that called roosts?

I like roosts. Roost mutton is my favorite, but roost chicken is OK too.

[Box'a'bits]

You can do skids with the throttle in go mode also. Or is that called roosts?

I like roosts. Roost mutton is my favorite, but roost chicken is OK too.

You been doing what to chickens when. Ewww. Must be a Wairarapa thing....

[That looks like fun]

Roost beef is a cow

[MXNUT]

Ummmmmm.....heat has a lot to do with it also. I'm picking tar.

Low tyre pressure and tar is even worserer.

If we are talking about knoblies,( proper ones ) then i would defo have to go with the black stuff overheating them and wearing them out the most.

[CrazyFrog]

If we are talking about knoblies,( proper ones ) then i would defo have to go with the black stuff overheating them and wearing them out the most.

Yep, tar wears more with heat build up and especially if you're carrying any kind of load or riding heavier bike. On my DRZ, knobblies last much longer than the KTM 640 which has more weight and power.
I find the gravel tends to shred them more tho .... also directly proportional to the skiddy factor. Mmmmmm, skids

[warewolf]

Inappropriate pressures and/or tyres is a bigger killer.

To wit, this tyre was destroyed in a sub-500km day: Maungatapu, Altimarloch & return, Patriarch & return, home via Maungatapu (wasn't game to go via the Whangamoa tarseal).

We suspect that running it at 29psi - to stop it melting on the tar - stopped the carcass flexing so the rocks broke the knobs off at the base.


It really depends on the terrain (ie what do you mean by "gravel"?) vs the tyre vs pressure. NZ tarseal (esp. mainland) is very coarse so tends to chew up any tyre on any bike. Nelson area has lots of rock: that tears up MT21s but T63s survive much better. Lowering the pressure on more road-oriented tyres wears them faster than more dirt-oriented tyres at higher pressures.

Sometimes more weight can be an advantage. Eg the Triumph Rocket III does faster drag-strip times with a pillion, as they stop more wheelspin than they load up the bike. That same tyre pictured above did a two-up return trip through the Rainbow - at times not hanging around when chasing down the leaders of the race - and that barely made any impression on the tread. Ditto the Nelson-St Arnaud return trip on the tar.