016's front tire.

CANONFUJI

CANONFUJI

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Observation, I just got back from 150 mile ride. I check my bike before parking, the tires chain ect. I took a look at the back tire first for nails then the front, both were clean. What grabbed my attention was the amount of tread or lack of tread compared to the back tire I had to look more than once to see if I was not mistaken. This is the first set of 016's on my bike I have 85,500k @ 81,700 that's when I put them on. My rear tire has plenty of life left, the front has half the tread life of the rear. I don't know about any one else, but 80% of the time I have gone through 2 rear tires before I change the front, the 20% is due to tire damage.

My question is, has any one warn out a front tire before a rear tire and is that a common occurrence regardless of brand.

This is my take on what's going. Since I have switched from the M3 I have better front end feed back, I seem to drop the bike deeper and faster in the corners, that's the only logical thing I can come up with.
Any feed back would be great.:smokin2:
 
va_rider said:
the BT016 front comes brand new with 5/32" of tread.... so... they don't put a lot on there for you to start with.... but, it does last a good long time...
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Cheer's. Va.
Just had a word with Billy, He said just about the same thing, more tread on the rear tire than the front.
 
I'v always 'almost' gotten two runs on a front for every rear tire, but the BT's are fairly sticky, and it wouldn't be that unusual, heak you'v got around 4k on it, it's a goodly amount of miles I'd say, though it's a front. still.....you getting any feathering ? ie. swoop-edging on one side of the tread, worn-down on the other side......?? I'm thinking that your mabe expecting more than you actually should get on the front, especially if you'v been agressive on the braking on it. I'd say it's about right........ compared to all the tires I'v been through, and they were on a Buell with the known 'Massive' braking ability, not unlike the FZ1.
 
Gohot229 said:
I'v always 'almost' gotten two runs on a front for every rear tire, but the BT's are fairly sticky, and it wouldn't be that unusual, heak you'v got around 4k on it, it's a goodly amount of miles I'd say, though it's a front. still.....you getting any feathering ? ie. swoop-edging on one side of the tread, worn-down on the other side......?? I'm thinking that your mabe expecting more than you actually should get on the front, especially if you'v been agressive on the braking on it. I'd say it's about right........ compared to all the tires I'v been through, and they were on a Buell with the known 'Massive' braking ability, not unlike the FZ1.
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It's hard to say seems it's my first set of Bt 016's, the rear tire looks fine, plenty of tread left. The front tire shows wear on the left side, not to the point of replacement. I was on the gas in the corners Saturday temps in the 40's stuck like glue. What Va mentioned about the tire depth makes sense seems the left and right side of the tire only show about 3/32 of a difference in wear.

As for 4k on the front I don't ride that aggressive any more, that would mean only getting 2k on the rear. That's 5 rear tires in 10,000 miles I average 11 to 12k( in the last 2 years) a year I would go through 3 to 4 rear and 2 or 3 front tires normally.
 
Thats a currious thing, showing wear on one side predominantly. My Michelin that I just took off the front had one side predominant wear on it, I believe it was the right side. Hmmm.... wonder the cause?
 
Gohot229 said:
Thats a currious thing, showing wear on one side predominantly. My Michelin that I just took off the front had one side predominant wear on it, I believe it was the right side. Hmmm.... wonder the cause?
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The uneven ware on either side of the tire, I would say for me is i seem to push harder in the left hand turns, you might favor the right handers.
:stunta]:
 
Up date on the 016's

Well, I ended up wearing out the front tire before the rear. So this is the first set of tires I have had to replace both tires and not my norm of 2 fronts to 1 rear.
I have to say I was very pleased with them. The best set that I have ridden on this bike so far. I now have 2ct's on them from last summer, they felt fine, not as confident on them as the BT016's, still better than the M3.

While I was in Ca I put a set of 016's on the Zed 1000. I have to say I love how easy they make riding the Kawi around the mountains, faster, great feed back, excellent grip. No more front end, also rear moving on me like the last set of stock tires. Any way, I will know by summer If I'm going to ware out the front before rear tire on the Kawi as well.
No matter, if it keeps me up right, who care's.:smoking:
 
After using the BT-021's for a few years, with the usual 2 rear tires per front, I tried out the BT-016's. (I usually go through an -021 rear every 3 months and a front every 6 months)

The -016's are wonderful tires that offer buckets of confidence, however, the lifespan was horrible. The front wore out first in a bit over 2 months of riding.

At that time, I took the wheels in and just took off the remainder of the rear (which had another month of riding left in it) and replaced the front with a BT-021 and the rear with the BT-023.

The -023 was awesome. While an -021 would have been at end of life in 3 months, the -023 showed very little wear after 4 months. (Then I sold the bike)

Would I buy -016's again? Probably not, because I ride too much to worry about replacing a front tire every other month. If I was using it for track days, it would be worth while, but the new Sport Touring tires have enough grip to meet my needs and provide longer lifespan.
 
Ok glad to hear it was not just me. I will stick with them on the Kawi, seems it's not a bike I will be riding on long runs due to it not being no where near as comfortable as the gen 1. I may sick with the 2ct's on the FZ1 If the milage is over 4k on the front.:eek5:
 
Zed 1000

CrazyBiker said:
You have a Z1000 too?
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I have the 04. I picked it up last summer while I was in Ca working. only had 970 miles, mint. $3800. Took a look, ask him why he was selling for that price, he said his wife needs some thing with comfort. LOL.

Yes, :cry: LOL he was full of it. I found out a couple of days later, the bike had a problem at half tank. I called Billy and he told me to check the lines, might be an airflow problem. called another buddy, he said check the tank and the gas filter. That was the problem. I removed the tank and filter, it had around a hand full of rust in the tank. Cleaned it out and ran perfect since.
I have 5050 miles on the bike. I should have the bike in NY by spring if all goes well. Still have to say I love my old bone shaker GEN FZ1 :tup:eek:ver the ZED1.
 
You guys are just crazy with the front wearing out first. When I did the ride with Billy and them I ran the BT-o16's on my Blackbird and have to say that they offer gobs of confidence. But like most others the mileage just was not there, even for a performance tire. I can get close to 3000 out of Pilot Powers on the bird and was only able to manage 1800 out of the BT-016's. Of course maybe I was riding harder since my confidence was higher. Either way, I have never wore out a front tire before a rear unless it was a flat:eek:
 
Dragonslayer said:
You guys are just crazy with the front wearing out first. When I did the ride with Billy and them I ran the BT-o16's on my Blackbird and have to say that they offer gobs of confidence. But like most others the mileage just was not there, even for a performance tire. I can get close to 3000 out of Pilot Powers on the bird and was only able to manage 1800 out of the BT-016's. Of course maybe I was riding harder since my confidence was higher. Either way, I have never wore out a front tire before a rear unless it was a flat:eek:
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What are you doing up posting at 4:28am??? You are hard on tires because your roads are crap in MO. :)
 
I talked to Bridgestone about the BT-016 since this is the new tires on my bike for this season. They told me to pay extra attention to the tire pressure. Recommended on the FZ1SA (the European Fazer with ABS) was 2,5 BAR in front and 2,6 BAR rear. That's a bit lower and more equal than what's recommended from Yamaha (2,5 and 2,9).

By the way, it's normal to wear out left side of the tire. Of some reason most people ride harder in curves going left rather than right.
 
Since most of the world drives on the right side of the road, right hand turns have a smaller radius than left hand turns and you are able to push harder on a larger radius turn.
 
I am currently running the BT-016. I have never had a tire feel so confident right after being mounted. I think break in for me was 35 miles. They have amazing grip and amazingly fast wear. I've had the front tire ball up on the sides and I'm not really that fast. I don't know if I will run them again, but not for grip reasons. these things stick even after running Q2's
 
I don't think the wear is that amazingly fast... I tend to get great mileage out of these... And now with the BTO16 saturating the market.... I'm excited to try those out as well... The word on the street is that they used a slightly longer lasting center compound... But out of the regular BT016, I've been very happy with the wear and the mileage I get out of them...
 
va_rider said:
I don't think the wear is that amazingly fast... I tend to get great mileage out of these... And now with the BTO16 saturating the market.... I'm excited to try those out as well... The word on the street is that they used a slightly longer lasting center compound... But out of the regular BT016, I've been very happy with the wear and the mileage I get out of them...
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Just a estimate but I think mine will be done by 2000 mi. Just for a reference point I put them on at 11,600.
 
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