Front tire cupping

[AKBob]

I have owned several Yamaha bikes over the years and now the Super Tenere. I love the bike. However, it seems to share a common problem with all the others I've owned, front tire cupping.

I'm running Kenda Big Block tires on it, and have only about 4,300 miles on them and the front tire is so badly cupped I need to replace it. I've been running 40 lbs front tire pressure and traveling about 3% off road and 70% just to get there. Anyone else or am I stuck in a parallel universe that specializes in front tire cupping. Anyone find a reason or cure?

I apologize if this has been worn out on this forum but am new here. bob

 

[trikepilot]

My guess is that since you are running a very soft compound front knobby on a bike that is likely 800+lbs once it has a rider on it - this is "normal" if not better termed as "expected."

I have beat the crap out of a K60 front that has way lower tread depth and much harder rubber for over three rears now with no cupping.

 

[Bushyar15]

The following is based on my experience with other motorcycles and tire wear. YMMV....

I found that on other motorcycles I've owned/raced, cupping of the front tire was caused by loading the front tire going into corner forcing the front tire to scrub off speed... meaning not getting off the brakes early enough so the bike isn't weighted on the front tire. So trying to get all your braking done, and getting back on the gas to even the weight out between front and rear wheels helps reduce cupping...

Could also be other things, but this is what comes to mind all things being equal....

 

[~TABASCO~]

Just as Trikepilot just said, this is normal for a tire like the Big Block with 4300 miles.. You might get a bit more if your easy on the front brake the whole time. Other wise its that 'type' of tire. If you want a bullet proof tire that is a 50/50 tire that would DEFIANTLY be the K60.. Many customers get 20+ K miles out of the front, including myself. I've ridden the K60 for several years and have just recently tried the BB.. The K60 is a better 50/50 tire (IMOP) and you can run it MUCH harder on the street. You can rail on the K60 all the way out to the edge of the knobs like here on my bike.

 

[oKLRider]

Not a big block, but similar tread. This is a TKC I just pulled off with ~8k miles on it. They ranged from gravel, dirt, hard twisties, and heavy braking.

The pics are after a ~1400mi trip to Indianapolis and back. Thought it had just enough tread to get back, so I didn't change it prior. Ended up being closer than I thought!

From this angle it doesn't look so bad:

This view? Not so much:

Still, even at 6-7k miles, I would've been happy with tread life for this heavy a bike and that type of tire.

Edit to add one more view:

 

[Bushyar15]

Thats pretty impressive use of the whole tire!

Just as Trikepilot just said, this is normal for a tire like the Big Block with 4300 miles.. You might get a bit more if your easy on the front brake the whole time. Other wise its that 'type' of tire. If you want a bullet proof tire that is a 50/50 tire that would DEFIANTLY be the K60.. Many customers get 20+ K miles out of the front, including myself. I've ridden the K60 for several years and have just recently tried the BB.. The K60 is a better 50/50 tire (IMOP) and you can run it MUCH harder on the street. You can rail on the K60 all the way out to the edge of the knobs like here on my bike.

 

[Squibb]

Guys, those tyre close ups look like a horror story. Must have been fun destroying them though.

My understanding is that cupping, from road use at least, is caused by either the rider pushing the front hard, incorrect wheel alignment or an under damped fork allowing the wheel to skip over the road surface. This assumes that the tyre is of reasonable quality & has correct cold pressures applied. I guess the same would apply on dirt roads if you push on hard.

I have experienced the problem first hand recently, with a BMW K16 - the half worn front tyre (Metz Z8) was wrecked in 500 miles as the front ESA shock suffered a seal failure. It was very progressive - the bike is a heavy beast & the shock is concealed under acres of plastic, so the problem crept up on me somewhat.

The worst case I have ever seen was a guy from Romania on a Bandit 6. He had come over to stay in Austria, to do the Grossglockner, Stelvio & Nockalm, on a soft dirt road tyre he had been using over winter. After a few days riding the mountains with most of us on sports bikes, his tyre was pretty much like a cross between the pics above & an overheated Moto GP wet/rain tyre. It wasn't just cupped, it had melted on the edges. He couldn't afford to change it, so had to cut back on the fun in the hope he could nurse the thing home.

Keep it upright.................. KEN ::26::

 

[squarebore]

Not a Kenda but really weird wear as well. Big bike that is easy to load the front end I guess.

 

[14kmtnman]

That last picture looks almost like my 2002 BMW RT front tire. I always wound up with some cupping & a kind of flat spot in the middle. On that bike, it was always 1 rear to 1 front. New tires made a huge difference in the way it rode & handled. I only have about 3300 miles on the stock tires & they are starting to cup a bit. I guess I will have to change my riding style.

 

[Topgear]

OP, pretty much the same situation for me as well. I have the newer formulation Kenda Big Block tires on mine right now with a little over 4,000 miles on them. About 2,000 of those miles were at interstate speeds. The front is severely cupped, and I'm looking for another replacement as well. I typically ran at about 40PSI on the front and 42 on the rear. There were some sections that I lowered to around 18/20 for off road sections, with some other highway in between sections, but I would air back up once back to camp. I guess I got my money's worth out of them, but with even wear, they would probably have lasted much longer. I'm half tempted to just swap in a new front to see how much more life I can get out of the rear.

I ran K60's before the Big Blocks, and I also had cupping on the front tire, though not as severe. I also got at least 10,000 miles out of the set, but on road handling felt better with the Big Blocks to me. There's also the price difference...

I'm still up in the air about my next tire. May just burn through a set of Shink 705's to see how they fare and weigh my options down the road.

 

[BravoBravo]

Front tire cupping is very common on large, heavy motorcycles. My 1999 Kawasaki Concours did the same thing. The stock front tire on my Super Tenere (Metzeler Tourance EXP) was cupped very badly when I had it replaced a week ago at 15,500 kilometres.

-Bruce

 

[tubebender]

The wear of block tires is just part of life. More corners, more brakes, scuff off the leading edge of the blocks more than the trailing edge.

All you can do is be sure of correct air pressure to minimize, enjoy the ride, replace when worn out, enjoy the howl while cornering, as it is imminent with blocks as they cup.

And RonH nails it :exclaim:

 

[ExTriumphExp]

Not a Kenda but really weird wear as well. Big bike that is easy to load the front end I guess.

Hi Square bore....This wear pattern is not uncommon with this particular tyre (Metzeler Tourance EXP) EVERY triumph Explorer I have seen with this tyre fitted has shown the same wear pattern, but NOT every S10. These tyes also cause stability issues on the exploder especially when crossing white lines, again I tried this on an S10 at 80mph & there was MO signs of instability.
I changed mine on my Exploder to Metzeler Tourance NEXT, these are a significant improvement over the EXP type. I have recently tried Avon Storm 3DXM on my Exploder replacement (Tiger Sport) & these transformed the handling of that bike, sadly it didnt help the other issues. Suffice to say when i come to fit new tyres to my S10 for the road they will be the Avons, I cant recommend these enough, fantastic in the wet & the contact patch get wider the further you lean over. Better still there Anglo American owned....., and nor made in China.

::003::