At what mileage did you buy your first set of replacement tires?

I've had my 2021 RT for almost 3 years, and I'm just short of 12,000 miles. I plan on getting an appointment for an oil change and service and wondered about tires. The two front ones look like they are still brand new. The rear tire looks a bit worn but still has what appears to be a lot of tread left. I don't baby the RT when I am riding, but I don't claim to be the most aggressive rider. I probably spend the most time riding at speeds of 55 to 65, and have yet to have the nanny kick in. I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and get a new rear tire put on since I am bringing it in for service anyway.

My opinion(everyone has one) is wait until the rear is worn in the center and "needs" replacement, and install three NON Kenda tires. One does not have to look to far past all the weights required to balance a Kenda tire, to see they are not a very high quality product. My experience with Vredesteins and Federals, is you can run them without balancing, and they run smoothly.

I run Vredestein Quatrac 175/55R15s on my two RTs and one has a General Altimax rear, and next fall the second one will get a General or other car tire out back when it comes out of summer storage in Arizona.

Snoking gives good advice. Unless you have a tire giving you problems, let them run their course. The back tire is gone when the center is worn. You will still have plenty of tread on the edges, but you won't be able to access it when riding because the center section balloons out and that's what you end up riding on, hence the wear. Your tire is not over inflated, that is the wear characteristics of the Kenda on the Spyder. Like you, I don't ride very hard either, and my fronts lasted until 25,000 miles and still looked good, but by then they had aged out. I run Coopers on the front and a Pirelli that is no longer made on the rear.

Just changed rear to General Altimax 45. Center of tire had wear bars showing. 5800 miles. Fronts will be good for a while yet.

2015 RT. My rear Kenda was gone at 6000 miles. I replaced all the tires at that point with auto tires. Tire life depends on more than just mileage so everyone's results may differ.

I just had mine swapped not that long ago. I made it to ~15K miles on my originals. The rear was starting to get slick center that is mentioned above in post #3. The fronts were worn, but not horrible. Decided to just swap them all within a couple of weeks of each other. I put the Ryken Raptor on the rear and have the Quatrac's up front.
I've had the complete set up for a couple of weeks.

At 12,000-ish miles on my '22 S2S, my rear tire was worn in the center. I put a General out back and went ahead and replaced the fronts with Vredsteins, even though they had decent tread depth left. I was anxious to see what all the talk was about. I'm glad I did and I'm looking forward to our trip in June more than ever.

2000 miles, tired of shaking mirrors and bike not tracking straight... I put some Quatrac's on the front, all fixed now, quite a difference... The OEM tires really suck! A local shop did them for me, just got it serviced at 3000 miles last week. $454.00 for the service and inspection. I have a good dealer 20 minutes away.

An answer from the "other side."

I used Kenda's on all but two tire changes. Both "other brands" never got tested out in full because I sold both machines before the tires wore out. I have bought tires for Seven Spyders and 200,000 assorted miles over the whole bunch.

That said...My experience on all other tire changes...fronts got close to 20K before needing to be changed out. Rears with the exception of one (the soft rubber 2014 version--8900 miles), most got 15K miles before wearing out. I always ran 26# in the rears. Two pounds less than recommended. This allowed the tire to balloon less. I would not change them if you do not have to.

The general consensus on the site is to dump OEM and go to "other" brands. The choices are many if you choose that route. I could never change our Spyder tires out by myself. The dealer I bought five from was a no non-BRP tire man...so I was stuck there. Moving down to AR, I got brave and replaced with other tires on two of my machines.

I also consider myself to be a non-agressive rider. No one will ever accuse me of burning up my tires. :yes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vito1943

I've had my 2021 RT for almost 3 years, and I'm just short of 12,000 miles. I plan on getting an appointment for an oil change and service and wondered about tires. The two front ones look like they are still brand new. The rear tire looks a bit worn but still has what appears to be a lot of tread left. I don't baby the RT when I am riding, but I don't claim to be the most aggressive rider. I probably spend the most time riding at speeds of 55 to 65, and have yet to have the nanny kick in. I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and get a new rear tire put on since I am bringing it in for service anyway.

---

~~~7700 miles on my 2021 RTL (Love the sorta white w/black paint). Rear tire is OEM, looks like it hasn’t worn but, never got a baseline tread depth so I’m judging wear by eyesight. If I were you, keep the rear tire on there until it actually wears out, but that’s what I would do. It’s your money, if you want a new rear tire then by all means replace it if it makes you feel good knowing you’re good for another 12K smiles

I ended up replacing the OEM front tires not long ago strictly because I rode on the left front tire for 3 miles while it was totally flat and by doing that, after airing it up back home, it was no longer balanced so I made the decision to replace both fronts with Quatracs (Vredestein). I initially aired these two new front tires to 18 PSI each. My only complaint is, the ride isn’t as soft as it was using Kenda’s yet I’ve read here I might be able to get the soft ride qualities I’m lacking now by lowering the air pressure to 15 PSI in both front tires. Admittedly, I struggled with the decision whether to go with new OEM front tires or, go the route I did by installing dark side front tires. The local dealer offered free tire installation buying OEM tires but, they won’t install dark side tires on Spyder hence, I’d have to install the aftermarket tires myself or look for a shop to do the install for me. I did the R&R on my own using hand tools. Never again. Although a few here routinely replace their Spyder tires using hand tools, I found the experience cumbersome despite the fact I’ve been installing all the tires I’ve ever purchased for all of my motor bikes since 1974

Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.
It’s ever too late to have a happy childhood

10K to 15K miles, is the general rule/life of the OEM Rear Tire. My rear tire was replaced around the 10K miles. The center was bald/slick.

Enjoy your Ryde Times. ....:thumbup:

Agree with all the above, your choice, if it ain't broke... I changed my OEM rear with just over 10k for the Vredestein, what a difference. The fronts are still good at just under 15k.

18031 miles on the front
8716 miles on the rear

2013 RTL with Factory Kenda at factory pressure, 10,856 miles, mostly two up, fronts last until 20,000 or so.
2018 RTL with Factory Kenda at factory pressure, 8,150 miles, mostly two up, everything replaced with Vredestien's.
2013 OEM Kenda at 4 years and 10k+ looked like this (replaced after hydroplaning incident).



2018 OEM Kenda at 5yrs (one year of me owning and riding), only 8,150 looked like this. Replaced before any hydroplaning incidents... ;)