Ride twisty roads like hell.
I wore out the shoulders of my previous front tire before the center tread. Infact I still have the old front wheel with the tire on it, and you can see there's basically no tread left on the shoulder, but there's easily thousands of miles left on the center tread.
But because I ride twisties so often and my rear tire was dead, it was changed out anyways.
If you arent spenting at least a few hours a week tearing up twisty roads like a street Rossi on a harley, you're going to get flat spots.

My cruisetec rear, when I get off the bike after shredding twisties for an hour, you can feel how sticky that shoulder tire compound is. It's almost like old duct tape feeling sticky. Wont stick to the wall, or pick anything up but you can tell it wants to cling to things.
My tires are wearing pretty even even with the excessive straight line miles Iv'e been doing lately.
Also I made sure to align my forks properly. That probably helps too.

 

So is it simply a matter of getting the tire rubber itself to the optimum temp? It's not contact patch cause we can't measure that. Temp guns are pretty cheap and accurate... So on any given day, any given ambient temp, the proper rubber temp is 150F say... That corresponds to a given pressure at a given ambient temp which will equal a proper starting pressure to get to the tire temp when riding?

So if I took my temp gun... And I knew where I started for pressure and temp... And I go ride, and I'm only at 140F tire temp, then I need to let some air out, and if it's 160F, my pressure is too low.... So pressure rise 10%/20% psi rise, correspond to a temp rise... But that is the point that regardless of anything else, when ride and warmed up your rubber temp should be at ideal temp, or ideal temp range?

I have Ohlins F/R and I'm happy where it's at... Where Big Bear said I want it... But I'm really motivated now to get it all dialed in with me getting some miles in and getting new treads.

 

Ok an update. 46k miles on my bought new Sport Glide. Been through a couple fronts several backs two brands prior to the Cruisetecs. Hands down best tires I’ve had on it yet.

Road feel dry or wet is good even as they age a bit and get some miles on them. Definitely grippier than OEM and the others I’ve tried. Also pretty quiet & smooth. Wear rate for my more aggressive riding style has been good also. About 8k miles on them with 135hp/134tq. I will definitely stick with my Cruistecs for the Sport Glide.,

 

If your objective is to obtain the perfect temperature as per something you read on the internet, yes. Achieve it, be happy with it, and to hell with how the bike actually rides.

On the other hand, if you're after performance, like optimizing handling and cornering speeds, by all means record temperatures and conditions, but also how the tire works and how the bike feels. Work towards achieving optimal handling, and find from that what tire pressures are giving you that optimal handling. There is a reason racers spend so much time on the track while not racing. It's all in pursuit of that optimization. Optimization of the bike (or other vehicle), and themselves.

Do understand that there are many variables that come into play, beyond merely tire temperature and pressure. Weather, which is more than outdoors temperature, surface conditions and materials, riding style, etc. What works well on a race track on a nice weather day isn't the same as what works well for cruising down the highway.

Heck, if you're skilled and sensitive enough, you'll find the subtle differences that cause it work better in "this corner" at tire pressure X, while "that corner" works better at tire pressure Y. For conditions in all corners, even on the same race track, aren't the same. Then you start finding that balance between all the conditions and what tire pressure gives you the best overall lap times, even if that means you're going slower in a particular corner or two.

 

Sure, I get that, and thank you. I was just trying to understand if actual rubber temp was the underlying point. And if that is it... It won't be a specific "x" it will be a range... And then with that there is a place where you prefer to be for you, and then yes what ever that is will be a compromise over a given range of conditions because not every surface will be the same over a giver track or ride. And even then, experienced riders know what colder and hotter tires will do and what they have to do to compensate.

 

Uh no?
Im not sure where this came from.

Riding twisty roads a lot will get rid of flat spots and evenly wear the tire.

 

When I was racing on the track (amateur fun times) I learned about all those tire tricks and tips in the 1980s. After that I was trying to do the same on the street. And I used to hit the road at 4:30 Friday and return after riding through a couple states on Sunday night. Lots of different road surfaces, topography and weather. I was driving myself nuts trying to apply the track methods to a traveling motorcycle experiencing changing conditions.


Now I pretty much just run 36/40 and get good grip across my riding. Since I have installed the SYKIK TPMS on my 2019 FLHTP, I get a pressure and temp reading. Pressure reads 2 PSI higher than my gauge shows. So I set it by my air gauge and not the TPMS. But I do see the temps and pressure rising. Max cold PSI on the Metzler 888 is 40 PSI, and I'd like to run 42. But at 40 PSI I not have over 14,000 miles on my tires and they are well above 5/32 still.

 

Um, no, what? I didn't say anything about tire wear so I'm not sure how your responce relates to my question.

 

Because my post that you replied to was in direct response to this

I was telling Gordon how I keep my front tire worn evenly.

 

Dude, you're right, my bad. I thought I replied to your other one. Woops.

But I wasn't asking specifically about that, even though that's confusing. I was just speaking generally... So do you agree it's just about tire temp itself? That's the thing we are trying to get to?