Flat Spots

[themeatmanlandry]

Can you tell when your rear tire develops a flat spot?

Please include what type of bike and your experience level.

Thx.

[jgreth]

There... I dun voted.

[Clint]

Well, I try to ride in the twisties. Geography and topography conspire against me.

[themeatmanlandry]

A little background: a family member who also rides turned his nose up at me when I mentioned how irritating a flat spot in teh rear tire is. He acted as if I was putting on airs by saying that I could tell when that flat spot got to a certain point.

Carry on.

[tricker]

does my suburbia hell count as twisties?

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by themeatmanlandry

A little background: a family member who also rides turned his nose up at me when I mentioned how irritating a flat spot in teh rear tire is. He acted as if I was putting on airs by saying that I could tell when that flat spot got to a certain point.

OK, you have me thoroughly confused......not too hard, I'll admit but...........

Actual flat SPOTS on tires are kinda rare and what does experience or twisties have to do with it ????

Are we actually (trying to) discuss a flat RING around the center of the rear tire ??

[jgreth]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

OK, you have me thoroughly confused......not too hard, I'll admit but...........

Actual flat SPOTS on tires are kinda rare and what does experience or twisties have to do with it ????

Are we actually (trying to) discuss a flat RING around the center of the rear tire ??

Yeah he's talking about the flat center of the tire when you commute for a long time and never take it out to lean hard.

[Clint]

Well, most of us consider the the relevant characteristic of the tire to be its profile, or more accurately its cross-section, whereby the term "flat spot" is perfectly suitable.

[drgibson]

A flat spot is what you get when you lock up the rear brake allowing the pavement to grind the tire down in one spot. This is usually done as an act of sheer panic by inexperienced riders trying to avoid what they feel is certain death.

Wearing down the center of the tire while leaving the outsides like new is often referred to the Chicken Strip. This also is much more common amongst inexperienced riders who lack the ability to actually lean their bikes, except to put it on the side stand.

[Clint]

I have to partially disagree. Chicken strips are unmarked areas on the edges, where the tread has never met the road. I'm an edge-to-edge rider, but I get severe flat spots by the end of a tire's life. It's the nature of the roads here to disallow uniform wear.

Rare is the street rider who doesn't develop flat spots (plural because it occurs on the front, too).

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

Well, most of us consider the the relevant characteristic of the tire to be its profile, or more accurately its cross-section, whereby the term "flat spot" is perfectly suitable.

R_I_G_H_T !!!!

Only in Minnesota is a "spot" 2 inches wide and 40 inches LONG!

(Otherwise known as a STRIP.)

[drgibson]

Geez for some odd reason my tires wear fairly evenly, grented there is about a 1/2" chicken strip since "M" has her limitations.

[KD57]

I ride a Harley, I can't even tell if it has air in it or not.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by themeatmanlandry

He acted as if I was putting on airs by saying that I could tell when that flat spot got to a certain point.

I'll bet his riding style is "straight line Granny" or else he changes his tires at the first sign of a little wear.

How could you NOT realize that you are going over a ridge every time you lean a little bit ???

A couple of bikes ago, I bought one with a back tire that was BALD in the middle and had what felt like square corner ridges. At low to moderate speed, it was almost fun, kinda like a carnival ride. When I realized that I had almost ZERO traction when it climbed that ridge, I got new tires the next day.

[tricker]

I'll have to change my tires this spring before any long riding... got a really bad flat area in the middle.. . Didn't do too much "twisties" riding cause well there really aren't a whole lot in my area and i mainly used my bike to drive to work. drive straight 8 miles, turn onto interstate, drive 5 miles, park.

[Don M50limited]

More prominently seen on sport bikes with softer compound rubber.

[themeatmanlandry]

Originally Posted by tricker

I'll have to change my tires this spring before any long riding... got a really bad flat area in the middle.. aka chicken strip as you call it. Didn't do too much "twisties" riding cause well there really aren't a whole lot in my area and i mainly used my bike to drive to work. drive straight 8 miles, turn onto interstate, drive 5 miles, park.

No a chicken strip is the unused portoin of the tire's outer edge. I always have chicken strip to some extent.

In the car world, I guess flat-spotting tires is technically skidding them so hard that they develop a flat spot. My fault, I hadn't thought of that.

I just assumed that everyone else hated those flat spots as much as I do and knew what I was talking about.

[B-Rex]

Yanno, I thought about this question last night because I have to honestly say that I'm not sure If I've ever felt a flat spot on a street tire. The only time I can remember feeling one at all was on my dragbike's rear slick. And that was only after a particularly violent shutdown where I nearly stood on the rear brake before smacking into the "wall of tires". Of course that rear tire was toast and it cost me well over a $100 (1970's dollars!) to get a new one and to get it mounted.

So, truthfully, I've only felt a flat spot once and I have no idea if I'd recognize one now on street rubber.


B-Rex

[Clint]

Are you talking about flat spots as Landry defined them, or what ER describes? It's almost impossible to not get a flat spot on a street tire. You're generally either riding straight or leaned in a turn, wearing the center or the side at your preferred angle of lean. The transition area gets worn less than either of those. Sometimes it's hard to see the flat area. Run your fingers around the tire's section and you can feel them. Racetrack tires get a triangular shape because they're at full lean 95% of the time.

When I got back from my 4400 mile trip out west in '06, I had a hexagonal shape to the tire. There was the flat spot in the center, and two flat spots on the sides. I was either slabbing it straight ahead or at full lean 90% of the trip. I could see it if you looked down from above at the back of the tire, and I could really feel it with my fingers.

[B-Rex]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

Are you talking about flat spots as Landry defined them, or what ER describes?

I'm referring to Landry's description. As I recall, the slick would make a slight thump each rotation at slow speeds and then make more of a low frequency vibration at higher speeds. It was unnerving as it felt like it was making the rearend hop a tiny bit.

As far as the center wear on a tire, I have to say that I'm not sure I can feel that other than progressively worsening loss of traction under certain conditions (i.e. wet surfaces and slick spots).

B-Rex