I am picking up a 2017 T120 on Saturday from Wellingborough Triumph, 8500 miles on the clock. Spoke with them yesterday, they told me they have replaced the front tyre as it was less than 3mm tread. Very kind of them. They haven't replaced the rear tyre. I do not know what tyre they have put on the front. I don't know if these are original tyres. Two questions: (1) Would it be sensible to replace the rear tyre as well? my thinking being why would one tyre wear more than the other, perhaps the rear has 3.5mm tread left and so does not meet their replacement criteria, I do not know this. (2) How long would one "run in" the new tyre before I practice my Rossi like cornering skills Sage and sound advice sought from the great and good on here. Or anyone else who wants to offer an opinion. The author reserves the right to ignore all such advice and decide his own fate
Hi Rob, here's my two penneth : 1. Yes of course it would be sensible to change the back tyre as the front one has been changed. There will be more grip on the front with the new one and as it's done 8500 mls and assuming it's on it's original rear it's time for a change. Normally as you know you'd get more wear on the rear, I usually work on two rears to one front. It's all about how hard you work the engine; if you are caning it often you'll have lots of hot/cold/cycles as well as the mechanical on the back tyre. 2. Assuming the weather is dry, so you can use your bike enthusiastically, I would say between 50 to 100 mls will see your new tyre(s) properly worn in.
Hi RobH, in answer to the first question, you will get a lot more mileage from a front tyre (around double the rear) as it is the rear tyre that the power drives through to propel the bike causing faster wear, if the dealer says the rear is fine then be happy with that, you will see wear indicators on each tyre which when starting to get flush with the rest of the tread will tell you when its time to change. Regarding the second point I would say give yourself around 100 miles or so to run a new tyre in gradually increasing your lean angle over that period.
Hi Rob and welcome. Got to agree with thebiglad and Bryf here, it could be that the rear was changed already as they normally wear faster. At 8500 miles I would have been onto my second or third rear, obviously depending on tyre type. I normally go through two rears to a front. The only thing I’m a bit anal about is that both tyres are the same make as I’ve had some weird handling before with mismatched tyres.
All the above makes eminent sense, of course I would expect nothing else here. While we are on this topic (thread), I had not realised that spoke wheels = tubed tyres = cannot be repaired at roadside. Now in years of riding i have personally not experienced a flat tyre on the bike, not tempting fate at all here. But I have always carried them there foam based tyre fixer doo-dah aerosol things. Tried in on my mate's bike once but the puncture was from a broken bottle and it had slashed a huge gash through the tyre, so no hope of fixing it. Anyway, do the foam doo-dah things work with tubed tyres?
My front usually lasts double the mileage of the rear. A new tyre, i take it easy for the first 50ish miles or till the releasing coat has worn off. Take it easy on corners and hard braking. I've replaced tubes on the side of the road before. A struggle but it can be done.
Bike comes with roadside recovery, so it will be someone else's job! Get my hands dirty?! with this manicure !!!
Surely that must be a warranty issue, weaving above 130mph? I doubt if I could hold on at that speed!
I ended up changing the rear on my T120 within a month of getting a new front - as soon as the front was changed I had a noticeable wobble which was eventually remedied by replacing the rear too. Of course that doesn't mean it'll happen that way to you! Either way I hope the bike gives you as much pleasure as mine still does
Just purchased a 2016 Street Triple with 8500 km and, similar to you, it required a new front to pass the safety inspection. Bought it privately so I had my local Triumph dealer look at the rear. They told me it still had a good amount of life left, which surprised me. I was also thinking about immediately putting on a matching new rear but really want Michelin Road 5's instead of the stock Pirelli's, so happy to sacrifice the newer front when the rear expires.
