Crowned road in the north

[billsim]

Replaced my original tires last fall at about 10,000 miles. Went with the new Dunlop Elite 4's because they supposedly have better center wear. Have been happy so far but just noticed that my front tire is wearing excessively on the left side, while the rear looks good on center, left side and right side. Have put about 12,000 miles on these so far. So today I stopped at the dealer to question if they did something wrong when installing the tire last fall or if my forks were the trouble. The mechanic smiled and said that it is common on Goldwings and heavy bikes in the north. He pointed out that the roads up here are crowned pretty high and that causes the left side wear.
You guys probably already knew this but I never even thought about it.
Going to get a new set so that I have some traction this winter.
Just wanted to share.

[53driver]

Wow.
I know our training bike tires always wear more on the left because we turn more to the left during the course.
Never heard about it affecting "real-world" tires though....
Verrrrrrrry interesting...

[JGF6B]

Interesting. I ride in NH, VT, and MA all the time and my front tire always seems to wear on the left more than on the right. Noticed it on my F6B, FJR, and now on my F6C (with only 3k miles). I was always trying to figure out if I was taking more left turns; never considered road crown.

[jm21ddd15]

I have read about the left wear on the tire. Also, have read that in Europe, the right side shows more wear, as they drive in the other lane. The typical road crown, is 2", for a 12' wide lane. That is just for referrence, as different road builders, do it their own way.

[billsim]

Makes me want to turn the front tire around to wear out the other side......

[olegoat345]

Guess it's the "crown" in the roads.. not so much here in FL. no snow or salt to run off .

[2wheelsforme]

Makes me want to turn the front tire around to wear out the other side......

It will work backwards. By mistake once put my front wheel on backwards and did not notice for several hundred miles. I never saw any adverse affects.

[oldxtreme]

I have the same front tire wear pattern on my VTX 1800. Heard all of the reasons such as road crown, turning speeds, fork issues, tire pressure, etc. Haven't noticed it on the F6B yet but only have about 12,000 miles on it with 8,000 put on flat roads going out west. Lot of twisties but not much road crown or turns, so maybe that is the reason of the wear pattern.

I notice that there is not much mention about the Metzler tires on this site. However, the Metz's are one of the preferred tire on the VTX. I have always run Metz's on the VTX and usually get about 20,000 miles from them. Granted, they are ready to change out when I do replace them. The front is always badly cupped when I finally pull it off.

Do the Metz's not preform well on the Goldwing? Weight is not that much different but the X does have a lower center of gravity than the F6.

[billsim]

I usually run low (36-38 PSI) air in the front to soften the ride a bit. I think I will up the pressure to center the wear a bit more.
Might be a contributing factor.....

[cueman]

Try 40-41psi. works for me. cueman