Tire life/mileage expectations

Folks
2006,R12GS. Current mileage is 5520. Just completed the 6000 service for a trip. I used a tread depth gage on the tires, to see what kind of life I can expect. (I am new to BMW's and usually got 17-18000 miles on a Harley rear and 42-43000 on a front). I measured 4mm on the OEM front tourance and 6.5mm on the OEM rear. My Metzler book shows original tread depth of 5mm front and 9mm rear. By my math, I should expect 18,789 miles on my front and 16,331 mile on my rear.
Does this seem reasonable?
It does seem more than what I have read on this forum. Thanks. Max

Wear every wear

You are right it in having high expectations on tire wear. But wait if your on a GS there are a couple of different ways you can wear the tire out . If your on sand most of the time you probably smooth over all the sharp edges, rocks you gouge or chunck the tire, super slab you flat top it.
Depending on the Harley you owned they are very different from BMW's. Beemers can turn in harder so their tire design shows it. Also weight has something to do with wear. A new gas dry weight is 439 lbs. Harley Sportster 1200 565 lbs. dry.

I used 501/502 Battlewing Bridgestone tires this summer and got 11K out of both. When I changed them I had mileage left over, but I wouldn't have made it out of Canada (Yukon and BC), so I got Tourances in Anchorage AK.
I did Haul road as well as the Campbell and other off-road rides on the Battlewings. I met another GS rider from Anchorage on the same tires and his were almost toast at 5500 miles.
What I am saying is that tire life depends greatly on the roads ridden and how you use the throttle. Stop and go traffic will wear out a rear tire faster too as you are accelerating a lot more vs slabbing for 4K miles.
Weight and temperature are also big factors as is tire pressure. I can't emphasize enough that it is important to check them DAILY. Changing altitude like I did on my summer trip also changes their pressures and being anal about it is not wrong at all. Just remember that bikes only have two tires.

The Tourances I have will not last as long as the Battlewings btw. I can already see the end of the line for them.....
Just my 0.02 cts. YMMV.

updated info

I now have 10200 miles on my oem tourances.
The front is at 4m of tread, the rear is 5 m of tread.
If my math is correct. I should get about 30,000 miles on the front and 17850 miles on the rear. I know there are many variables such as asphalt compound and rider aggressiveness. But these are my numbers and I like it. Although I still plan to swap over to ME880's when the time comes.
Max

It seems many tires have a greatly accelerated rate of wear as the rubber wears off.. almost a non-linear wear. I usually end up changing tires - especially my back one - when it starts to square off. I like how round tires feel..

maxscycle said:

I now have 10200 miles on my oem tourances.
The front is at 4m of tread, the rear is 5 m of tread.
Max

Click to expand...

Since your August post indicated 4mm of front tread left after 5,200 miles, it seems as if you have used no front tread whatsoever in 5,000 miles! I had something similar happen once and discovered I had a defective tread wear gauge!

BTW, are you allowing for 2mm as the minimum tread depth (although some folks now recommend 3)?
Tom

Mine checked before they completely worn out, I replaced them around 14K. Big improvement in ride quality. The front still had plenty of tread left but the increase in handling and peace of mind made it well worth the investment to change them.

MJuskiw
Akron Ohio

Tire life on a 06 12GS

By my math, I should expect 18,789 miles on my front and 16,331 mile on my rear.
Does this seem reasonable?


Update.......I now have 18411 miles on my factory Tourances.
The front is between 3/32 and 4/32 of tread. No where are the treadbars showing?
The rear is at 3/32 of tread on most of the circumference. But one area is at 2/32 of tread. (Must have been where I turned off my abs and left a 40 foot skid mark for training purposes)
They will get changed in Aug, prior to a 5,000 mile trip.
I have a set of ME880's waiting to be installed.
max