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[MorbidBBQ]

I was recently the only electric motorcycle at the local National Drive Electric Week event.

One of the other EV drivers there asked to take my 2013 Zero S for a spin.

Afterwards he mentioned that there was scalloping on my front tire.  (A funny kind of uneven wear)

My tire pressure is good, and I recently adjust the suspension.

I have the Pirelli Sport Demons.

They also seem a bit more worn than I would expect for a light motorcycle.  I used to get 8kmiles from a rear tire and 12k from a front on my Yamaha FZ6.

Im only at 3k miles and both tires look like they will need to be replaced in ~1500 miles.

1) Anybody have input on scalloping?
2) What tires are you running?
3) What kind of range are you getting on the tires?

[Richard230]

Scalloping is very common on some types of tires that have a lot of grooves in the tread.  Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires are noted to scallop about half way through their life, as an example.  I have Metzeler Z8 tires on my BMW R12RS and they are wearing very evenly at 7,500 miles.  No scalloping at all.  The front is almost down to the wear bars and the rear looks good for maybe another 2K miles.  But they have a very different tread design than the PR4 tires.

The stock Road Whiner tires on my 2014 Zero S have held up very well. The rear is almost worn out at 10K miles, but the front ribbed tire still looks almost new.  No scalloping at all and it looks good for another 10K miles.

It has been my experience that if you are experiencing scalloping, increasing the tire pressure to the maximum recommended by the vehicle or the tire manufacturer will help to reduce scalloping. On my BMW that is 36 psi for the front tire and 42 psi at the rear.  That is a typical tire pressure recommended by most tire manufacturers in their fitment literature pamphlets for most brands and types of motorcycles that run radial tires, which need to run higher tire pressures than bias-ply tires.