On this trip to South Texas, I kept hearing a high pitch winning sound at 70-75 MPH indicated with vibration coming from my scooters front-end. At first I thought the tire was going flat and asked Gary to look to see if it was as we rolled. He responded with "It looked OK" and we went on. The high pitch noise kept on to the point of where I needed to pull over to look. So the group pulled off the road. Bill and I looked the tire over and sure enough the tire was developing un-even wear with high and low diamond looking spots on the tire surface. We went on and I ignored the tire noise and viberation for the next 2 days.

Well yesterday I ordered a new Pirelli Diablo scooter tire from the local bike shop. I believe this new tire is going to make a BIG difference for me and the way the scooter feels.

Just for you information, this was the stock Honda tire and has 14,200 US miles on it and ran the Honda sugested tire pressure of 28-29 psi for that tire. I just wish I could have gotten more miles form it, but it just was not in my cards.

Pirelli Diablo here I come!!!!!

Original tire going 14.2k miles sounds pretty good, in fact way above average from what I've read. I've also got a set of Pirelli Diablos, but mine are waiting for next Spring.
What about the rear tire? Are you going to match it to the Diablo?

bigbird,

When the rear Hoop wears out, I'm going to the darkside with a Sumitomo tire.

"Denis tire was in great shape with PLENTY of tread left, except for the cursed diamond pattern."

It might have had plenty of tread....But it was not right and the vibation would cause screws and bolts to come loose that would lead to more problems down the road.

Question for you Dennis.

Do or did you use tyre, sorry! tire sealant in your Bridgestone front?

The reason I ask, I always do and have never encountered the tyre condition you describe. I wonder if this phenomenon is particular to the Silverwing as I ran my last Burger on Hoops up to 18k+ miles per front tyre.

I will certainly look out now for the diamond pattern when I get above 10k miles.

Hi Doug,

No, the tire has always been run dry with no sealant ever used.

Hey Bill,

Your right, I could have run the tire for more miles. I just didn't like the noise and the vibration. I do like things nice and neat.

Sounds like normal cupping to me. Not unusual, in fact I've got a pretty well cupped rear tire on the rear of my SW with 7500 miles. Every rear tire I've had on my Goldwing has cupped, it's just what happens with weight and stress on the tire. Heavy bikes cup tires more rapidly than lighter ones and hard throttle and brake use accelerate cupping. Even smooth rubber tires will cup or more correctly 'scallop'. Take look at this link from Rattlebars on the subject of motorcycle tire wear, it's equally applicable to the SW which is actually a pretty heavy bike when you consider the small tire and 500lbs empty weight.

http://www.rattlebars.com/tirewear/index.html

I agree with Bill. This not normal cupping. I have seen cupping on the tires of Gold wings. This is something else. This diamond shape, raised pattern, seems to rise out of the tires center line. The noise and vibration I get is not on curves, but on straight roads. Quite annoying!

Here is a drawing of the locations of the raised diamond pattern that goes around the tire.

Thank you for the warnings. I just crossed 10k this week and I'll be on the lookout.

Hi All,

Just got the Pirelli Diablo installed and....WOW, WHAT DIFFERENCE!!!!! SMOOOOTH as silk and no dam tire BUZZZZZ. Yeah, A big difference!

I really LOVE my Pirelli Diablos, They are Smooooth like you said Dennis, and they grip so well in low or high speed curves, and they track down the interstate like a charm....

My bridge stone hoop has the same wear pattern and the same noise .It has about 6000 miles on it . I got 20000 out of the last front tire . I don't like the noise but I will run it at least until spring .

I'd love to know how you guys get 14k OR 20K miles on your front Hoops?
I'm looking at replacing my front tire pretty soon now, and it has about 12K on it, with, I might add, no problems at all, and yes I do use RideOn in it.

I've already got the Diablo waiting to replace it, just for comparison, not because I've been unhappy with the Hoop. But if you can tell me how to get so many miles out of ANY front tire, I'll do it.

Oh, and I routinely run a higher psi, like 30 or 31 up front. And just for information, I do run the Sumitomo on the rear.

My last tire wasn't a hoop .It was ICR or some thing like that it was original
tire .It also had the same wear pattern . i think it has some thing to do with balance .

I will try more air ,when I am in Texas in march . That should help with the noise .

So Bill, are you suggesting that if I ran my tire at, say, 35psi, I might enjoy a lifespan of maybe 25K miles instead of 12 or 13K? Wouldn't that be great.

I'm certainly willing to try it. 27K miles. Unbelievable.