I'm the kind of person who gets a bit of satisfaction out of using something up completely. I don't even throw away a grease rag made out of an old pair of underware until every square inch is black. I have 8,000 miles on my stock tires and the tread is still just barely visable on the rear. I had it in my mind that I would run it until it was perfectly bald and then call it used up.

The tires feel fine on the highway but I do feel the back sort of "jog" over a skip when doing low speed manuvering. I noticed this same thing happening on my old cruiser when the tire was about out of tread. The rear tire seems to corner as well as ever when the bike is leaned over but I have been playing it cool a little bit on that just to be safe. My main concern is safety at high speed. This tire has taken too long to ware out and I can't resist the temptation any longer. I'm doing 100+ on it every ride - only on dry roads, of course. Any chance the tire could disintegrate or something when running on low tread at high speed? IOW, is it still rated for 100+ mph?

Should I just do a 3 second burnout on it and have be done with it?

Rook

* Last updated by: Rook on 6/11/2009 @ 8:00 AM *

8000 miles on a stock stone bt014?
If so, you may hold the record for that one.
The speed rating is factored on the construction of the tire, and the material it is made out of, not the tread. On the other hand, with little tread makes for a shorter length for a nail to travel through.

Only do a burnout with vid in hand is use a second pair of hands.

I'm at 2/32 of an inch measured in the middle at 2800 miles. That would be considered worn out legally.
New shoes are going on Friday for a up coming 2K+ trip in a week.

Rook its not worth it change the tires you will be shocked how much better the feels and handles with fresh tires. Don't forget tires play a role in how well the bike brakes. If you got 8k out of the stock tires or any tires for than matter on a ZX14 you more than got your moneys worth out of the tires.

I had tires on the bike that looked fine. I knew that I was going to have to change tires in the next 500 mniles or so. A buddy and I take off on a 200 mile ride and stop and the buddy says you may need air in your rear tire. We stop at a shop for air. The guy says hey you had better come look at this. There was a slick spot about 3" long in the middle of the rear tire. I bought a tire on the spot. Got home and bought a front tire too. If not for my friend I may have had a very bad day.

Don`t chance it, get new rubber.

Rook wrote:

I don't even throw away a grease rag made out of an old pair of underware until every square inch is black.

jeeez...and I thought I was cheap!

I have 8,000 miles on my stock tires and the tread is still just barely visable on the rear

That is a record Rook, do you ride that thing or push it? Seriously bro, that's one area in which I won't cut corners, your life is literally balancing on a few square inches of tire patch. I like to push my tires hard in the corners, old tires get hard and "greasy" feeling on corner exit i.e. the back end feels loose. You gotta ask yourself, is it worth going down and cratering your ride over a couple hundred bucks worth of tires? Treat yourself to some new Dunlop Qualifiers or Michelin 2CTs...you'll be amazed, tires have a bigger effect on handling than any other single factor (except maybe riding two up with 1bad on the bitch seat)!

Kruz

* Last updated by: Kruz on 6/11/2009 @ 9:53 AM *

Thanks for replies, everyone.

Kruz wrote:

That is a record Rook, do you ride that thing or push it? ...

^^I know, I want to use that tire up but I'm starting to get a complex over this!!LOL Nobody gets anywhere near what I got out of my rear tire and it makes me think I must be way too soft on it. I don't know what I'm doing but it seems to me I'm riding about as fast as anyone I have ever seen on the road. Maybe it's just the gentle take offs. I haven't spun the rear at all except for a few times. That's got to be the hardest thing on tires.

Well, we'll see if I can't ware out the new BTO-16s I have faster than the stockers. I really have to ware the stocker down to zip first.

Second pair of hands for video burnout is a given. I'm still trying to decide how to hold the break, clutch and throttle at the same time. What do you do, rev the bike to ~6K them squeeze the front brake and dump the clutch? Probabley safer for me to forget the brake and do some hard starts to lay down a few squakers. Maybe I'll do the burn out on the next set when they get old.

Rook

TIRES ARE YOUR LIFE... SO HOW MUCH DO YOU CARE FOR YOUR LIFE?????????????

I got 5000 out of the original BT-014 and 4000 out of the second (flies out prolly had something to do with that I reckon). 1500 out of my first Dunlop Qualifier (nail hole did me in and I wont plug a sport tire). No smoking burnouts for me but lots of torque (throttle = tire wear). You must be babying em, speed doesn't wear em out, throttle does. I've seen stockers go bald in a little over a thousand miles.

Kruz

The thing is that circumstance can change in the middle of a ride to the point where you might wish you had that tread.

I had a set of tires on my RX-8 that I was trying to stretch out until they lasted past some benchmark I had established - the tires were shot but I was still able to get to and from work. I didn't feel there was an issue. Until it snowed here and suddenly even 10 year old beater cars are able to get around and I'm stuck with no traction.

Not that you're going to try to ride in the snow... :) The point is that road conditions change, and you don't always get a chance to know ahead of time.

I learned my lesson, I still want to be frugal but I'm going to be more critical about my decision about where the replacement happens. The decision should be based on the merits of the tire, not some arbitrary unrelated goal.

Ride Safe,
-Dennis

^^Good logic Dennis. I doubt it's going to snow here for a while but it could rain and there is always dust somewhere. There is plenty of tread left for cornering but a guy never knows when he's going to need road contact for straight line braking in the rain. No tread = hydroplane. It's a risk. Still, no greater a risk than riding 120 mph with perfect tires, I don't think.

Rook

Rook, do yourself a favor, get new tires ASAP. Nobody can beat prices of these guys

http://www.motoxoutlet.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=337

Steve's right...THE cheapest

You deserve an award for getting 8k outta the stock rear I can't imagine what you'd get out of an avon storm
And for burnouts what I do is lock the front brake...stand up off the bike, and just feed the clutch out with aggressive throttle till she starts to spin then watch the smoke roll, and rubber collect on your undertail and swingarm I had a friend that cooked his tire till it blew, the tire cords let loose and tore up his tail section and scratched up his swingarm.....and he lost 2nd gear with an ugly mid-burnout shift

* Last updated by: BadinBlack on 6/11/2009 @ 6:09 PM *

Must be using helium in those tires.

Lordy Rook, 8K on a rear? Sure your ridn’ a ZX14 & not...

Get 'Em, ROOK!

Get 2K more out of them. Goat for it!

Da Fuck, Whip! Heap dip, sheep dip, deep shit the shits with the photo?

youve given me a mileage to shoot for. bought my 2nd 14 with 2800miles on it and it was babied. now its got 4800
with the stock tires and still good tread. of course ive been real easy on this one. ride about 100 miles a day so 8k will be up at the end of summer. provided i can stay away from the nails.

Hub wrote:

Da Fuck, Whip! Heap dip, sheep dip, deep shit the shits with the photo?

Mercy Hub...dis Whips goat free.

HAHA HA! My dubious honor to be the tire milage king of ZX-14hood! I know I was Very easy on them the first 4000 miles but after that, it seems like they should have worn faster. I would have guessed they had 1000 miles left in them When Spring came but not 2000. Maybe I just got some tires that came from a good rubber tree.

Steven wrote:

Rook, do yourself a favor, get new tires ASAP. Nobody can beat prices of these guys

http://www.motoxoutlet.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=337

If those guys are offering free shipping, I paid a few dollars more than their price. My new BTO-16s were $268 shipped free and are now sitting in the living room smelling like rubber.

Rook

I have 4300 on my rear tire and its garbage.
I just ordered a new set of Conti's.

8,000 MILES???? good god, i've got ~4300kms on mine and i'm already thinking about swapping tires, the rear has a nasty flat stop but at least I haven't hit the wear indicator.

I've seen a bunch of people raving about the Conti Road Attacks (or were they the Sport Attacks?) but I've also been thinkin about just replacing the rear with another stocker to get my through the season...

Da Fuck, Whip... Now that looks like a cock ring to me, ya dick head... Is sticking out!

I've seen a bunch of people raving about the Conti Road Attacks (or were they the Sport Attacks?)

Road Attacks. -bg