Tire wear

J

jeff96

Well-known member
I've noticed fine cracks in the tread of my newish (5000km) tire. I think a lot of it came after some hard riding on some logging roads. The tires have otherwise performed well for what I use them for, but in light of the wear, I'm wondering if I should switch brands.
I don't want to start a 'what tire should I buy?' thread. My question are what causes these cracks? Is there any drivetrain issues I should look for? Wrong tire for the bike? Just normal wear and tear?
The bike is a CBR250R ridden with some spirit. Just finished a ride with lots of gravel and highway miles. The tire is a Kenda K671 Cruiser stock size
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How old is the tire? Whats the date code on the sidewall say?
 
yes, would agree it's a good idea to check the age

this is the description of those tires:

Kenda K671 Cruiser ST Tires



  • New, aggressive tread design provides excellent traction and performance in wet and dry conditions
  • For touring, cruiser and sport bikes
  • H-rated for speeds up to 130 mph
  • Wide contact patch for superior traction and increased mileage
  • Tubeless
not possible to have a tire that's good for those 3 things
and they do not look they'd be gravel road friendly
maybe use them normaly for street riding for a bit
see if they clean up, I see no safety hazard with them

but I'd think they are probably meant for a much heavier bike
 
I'd also check the date code. If they were actually old stock that you got stuck with that could explain the unexplained cracking. Where did you buy them?
 
When I raced BMX back in the day, Kenda's were that tire that "could" do, but you avoided it if possible. I would LOVE an old set of K-rad's though. If that applies to moto's, I would probably pick up a more trusted brand next time. I have some super cheapo Duro tires on my Magna (I think it was 65 for the front and 90 for the rear, new!) and after 10000km they have micro cracks in the sipes but not on the tread. They definitely don't feel like the Diablo II's I came off of last time I won't buy cheap tires again. Just about down to the wear bars too. If the date code says more than 5, toss em.
 
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I got them from Fortnine. Can't check the date right now but that's a good idea. They seem to be wearing more smoothly since the trip; again, I think it was from the logging roads and tire spin off of rocks.

I had hoped the deep aggressive tread would be better for gravel?

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I'd say that's normal wear for a heavily loaded bike running harsh gravel roads on a tire not designed for it. You should see the chunks that get ripped out of knobbies on high speed gravel and rocks.

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Looks normal to me. ST tires have a transition area from very hard in the center to soft at the edges. This works for cruisers and STs as they spend more of their time upright -- the hard center extends tire life -- and some of their time on the sidewalls, where the softer compound adds grip. It's not aa Kenda thing, I see it on my Road Pilot 4s and Metzler Tourtec tires from time to time.

This is a normal condition for ST tires. It's made worse by over inflation, over loading, and running on uneven surfaces -- all things you likely experienced if you did a rough road tour. I wouldn't worry.
 
Thanks for the replies. In retrospect there was lots of places where the tire would spin then grip (or vice-versa) on rock. I'd never seen a tire wear like that before, but I'd never done over a 1000 km on gravel roads either. In the end, I think the Kenda was a good choice; dirt cheap, handled water really well, gravel about as well as can be expected, and has still got enough tread for the rest of the season

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