[The CyberPoet]

A quick question for you long distance riders... Being that MC tire life is 6-8K miles, how are you guys logging so many miles without changing tires?

Depends on the brand/make of the tire, the tire pressure settings and the power-output of the bike (mixed with the throttle-habits of the rider).

I typically get about 12.5 - 14k miles on my Metzeler Z6's on the Kat 600's before I'm down to the grooves at the rear, and know they won't go down to the threads until at least 16k (Malloc was riding thread-bare ones at 18k ). Keeping the tire pressures optimized helps a lot too (higher for longer trips; check the pressure every morning when road-tripping).

A power-house like a Busa, ZX14 or a GSXR1k can eat a set of sports tires in 2500 miles; moving to a sport-touring compound can double that. As the torque goes down (kat instead of a Busa/ZX14/1-liter sport bike/etc.) and the throttle action drops (steady long-distance riding for example doesn't accelerate a lot), the lifespan of the tire climbs.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[t-high 7]

A quick question for you long distance riders... Being that MC tire life is 6-8K miles, how are you guys logging so many miles without changing tires?

I put a set of Dunlop Battlax Bt245 (I think...bike is in shop but i'm almost positive that's what they are) right before the trip and I'm still riding on them. The front tire has plenty of miles to go, but the guy from the shop said the back tire would last me another 2-3 thousand before i needed another one. But, as CyberPoet said, it all depends on tire pressure/power/riding conditions, etc.

[djct_watt]

Thanks for the info guys! I can't wait to do my own long distance ride.

PS, I noticed that you also hit the San Francisco Bay Area! A lot of great roads along HWY 1! Let me know if you're ever in LA!

[t-high 7]

haha seeing as I live over in NC, I doubt I will be back that way. And I hate the San-Fran traffic, easily the most dangerous place of the trip in my opinion.

[djct_watt]

Trust me, LA traffic is worse!

[Zepp]

Sounds like a really nice trip. I'm really jealous. I wish I had more vacation time to do something like this. It would require me to miss the Rally, which isn't going to happen. Some day I hope to go on a cross country ride.

[uniquelyme]

Great Pics...thanx for sharing....

That sounds like a nice little bonding experience. You should make it an annual thing now..

[Salz07]

Looks like a blast!!