Tires, how worn is to worn?

[Coastvoyager]

In my 30+ years of riding I cant recall ever getting anywhere close to 10K from a tire. 6k give or take seems to be the rule of thumb for me. I have to ask when some get 12 or 15K or more from a tire, what does it look like at that point? I swap before all the tread is gone to be safe and avoid a potential flat. Im sure curious what a high mileage tire, that is about ready to be swapped out looks like to some of the members here. I realize some really don't have much grooving to start, so a thin carcas would do little to feed my curiosity. Geez, starting with a new set of Metzlers Lazers on a 02 T sport Dyna, and in under 5K the rear had large patches of threads showing. For me Metzlers give the poorest longevity, then Avon's, Dunlop's, Pirelli Night Dragons which were fantastic handling, and then Michelins were tops.This is just street tires mind you since some of us sure use multiple bikes.

[voyager55]

Many ride until the wear bars are showing

[cushman eagle]

I use them until I see the wear bars starting to wear.I changed my front E-3 on my Voyager this summer with 17000 on it.The rear has 20000 on it and it looks like it has 2-3000 life left on it.

[gan]

I remember getting 25K out of Belted Dunlop Elite IIs twice, but non-belted only 17-20K (It isn't worth the added $100 now, IF you can find them). Wear Bars for me, also.

[dmwoost]

The service manage at the local shop say go until you hit the ware bars. I would think after that point how well does it grip and deflect water.

[Me Again]

If your only getting 6000 miles out of some of the brands you mentioned there is a number of things it could be.
First is you change them as soon as you notice a little wear.Which is fine ,but I think you should give those tires to a friend so they can get the other 10000 miles out of them.
Second is that you buy the bottom line from the brands you list ,considering the brands you list I doubt that's the case .
Third and what I think may be most likely is you run your tires seriously low on air . Most of the people on this forum say to run the tires at max tire manufacturers rating and may drop some for a particular handling issue .
30 years ago getting 5000 miles on a tire was considered decent ,but now anything less than 10000 is unacceptable .
Before I get to much flack for this I will admit that the tires installed on new bikes are not the greatest and tend to be worn out much earlier than what you probably replaced them with.

[voyager55]

If your only getting 6000 miles out of some of the brands you mentioned there is a number of things it could be.
First is you change them as soon as you notice a little wear.Which is fine ,but I think you should give those tires to a friend so they can get the other 10000 miles out of them.
Second is that you buy the bottom line from the brands you list ,considering the brands you list I doubt that's the case .
Third and what I think may be most likely is you run your tires seriously low on air . Most of the people on this forum say to run the tires at max tire manufacturers rating and may drop some for a particular handling issue .
30 years ago getting 5000 miles on a tire was considered decent ,but now anything less than 10000 is unacceptable .
Before I get to much flack for this I will admit that the tires installed on new bikes are not the greatest and tend to be worn out much earlier than what you probably replaced them with.

[duckman]

I also ride the E3s until the wear bars. I'm glad to see that Cushman changed the front this summer with less miles than the rear. My front is on track for the same situation. It's about wore out and the back is ready to go. This is the first time me or my Dad have ever changed a front before the rear when they were both installed at the same time. Is there a logical reason other than the front rubber is not as thick as the back? I'm a conservative rider.

BTW this is my first set of E3 and they ride very smooth, really like them. I agree with the consensus here that these are super. Maybe Dunlop will give us a discount for all the bragging we do on their tires... Previously I've had Dunlop's D404 that lasted a very long time but not exactly smooth.

[ghostler]

Got about 11,000 on my Pirelli MT66 Routes. I figure about another 1 or 2k, may be 3k on rear to reach bars. Underinflation and also depends how aggressive one rides. If one is really pushing corners and hard on acceleration, braking can lower tire mileage, IMO.