[Phatboy]

Tire cupping... what is it? How can you tell if this is happening?

Phatboy

 

[hot_shoe_cv]

It is usually a series of flat or slightly concave spots around the outer edges of a tire tread. Often caused by underinflation. Be aware that the suggested tire pressure given in the owner's manual is often less than it needs to be to prevent cupping. I had been running the suggested psi of 36 lbs and had cupping in both tires. After replacing both tires with the same OEM's I raised the psi to 40 and have had no sign of cupping after several thousand miles.

 

[vaporgas2000]

what hot_shoe said.
also when you are riding you might hear a whinning noise coming from the tires.

 

[Ron.Wade]

tires

There is a lot of good information on tire wear on the Delpi Forums Kawa section. Do a search for "tires" for the past 6 months.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/kawvulcan/

 

[drace]

Most of the time it is caused by improper tire pressure. It usually is on the front. The front tire is not as solidly mounted to the bike as the rear. Once it starts there is no stopping it. Before you holler that you keep it at the factory pressure be advised that 2 lbs. of pressure can make a difference as well as tread design. As the tire moves over uneven surfaces, it "crawls" over small imperfections in the road and flexes. As it repeats itself it "cups". If you watch an extended front end chopper you can see this happen. Tire imbalance is another way to cause it. The tire is hitting the pavement unevenly meaning it hits harder at certain spots on the tire.

 

[Phatboy]

So I shouldn't be trying to jump it over patched potholes????
Tire pressure was 36. I checked again and it had dropped to 34 so I bumped both tires to 40.