As a rule of thumb, you can get about 3,000-15,000 on a motorcycle tire with average use. On the other hand, you can destroy a set of sport motorcycle tires in even less than 100 miles on a track day! This means how many miles a motorcycle tire lasts depends on a variety of factors such as the quality of the tires, your riding style, performance of the bike, road conditions, and so on.
If you want to learn more about these factors and figure out how to get the most from your tires this post is for you.
Without further ado let’s drill into the details and consider the main factors that play in role in the lifespan of a motorcycle tire!
Factors That Affect How Many Miles You Can Get on a Motorcycle Tire
How many miles can you get on a motorcycle tire? We get this question all the time and the answer is “It depends.” There are so many factors that affect the lifespan of a motorcycle tire, but the most important ones are as follows:
- Type and quality of the tires
- Type and performance of the bike
- Your riding habits
- Road and weather conditions
- Storage and maintenance
Let’s take a closer look at each!
Quality of the Tires
When it comes to the available miles on a motorcycle tire, the rule of thumb is that the higher the performance of the tire, the fewer miles it will get.
This is why touring tires last much longer than special motorcycle racing tires.
However, keeping safety in mind it’s highly recommended that you always use good quality, higher performance tires on your motorcycle even if you don’t have an aggressive riding style.
Tires keep you on the road, so they need to heat up as fast as possible and provide the best possible grip.
Type and Performance of the Motorcycle
Other major factors that heavily affects the lifespan of motorcycle tires are the type, the weight, and the performance of the motorcycle.
As you might assume, the higher performance engine your motorcycle has the fewer miles you can expect to get on its tires. Additionally, the heavier your motorcycle is and/or if it routinely pulls a trailer will also shorten the lifespan of your tires.
Therefore, high-performance street bikes can wear out their tires faster than any other type of 2-wheeler. The tires on these motorcycles typically last last about 1,500-7,000 miles.
In contrast, the tires on lighter touring bikes should last about 10,000-15,000 miles.
Your Riding Habits
Would you like to get the most out of your motorcycle tires? Then you should be lighter on the throttle!
It’s commonplace in the biker’s world that the more aggressive your riding style, the fewer miles you can expect to get on your tires.
That’s why you can ruin a set of sport tires on a single track day. On the other hand, with reasonable usage, you could ride on the same tires for an entire season!
What’s more, with some burnouts you can virtually destroy your tires in minutes. Yes, contrary to popular belief burnouts are bad for your motorcycle as they can damage it in many ways!
If you do a lot of starts and stops, you can also wear the tires out much faster. Long highway miles are always much easier on tires.
This is why tires last much longer on the smaller commuting bikes compared to their high-performance siblings designed for adrenalin rushes.
Road and Weather Conditions
We can’t forget to mention the weather and road conditions.
In a warmer climate you can expect higher road temperatures, which heats up the tires, resulting in a shorter tire lifespan. However, warmer tires also offer a better grip. As they say, “something for something.”
The surface of the road also plays a big role in this picture. Grooved concrete and chip seal roads are prone to eating motorcycle tires much faster since they have such a rough surface.
Tire Maintenance and Storage
If you do not want to change your tires very often, you must pay attention to their maintenance. The most
Important steps for tire maintenance are as follows:
- Maintain the recommended tire pressure
- Make regular visual checks
- Ensure wheel alignment
- Proper storage
How Many Miles Can You Get on a Motorcycle Tire?
As we’ve discussed above, many factors affect the available miles on motorcycle tires. However, it’s safe to say that you can get about 3,000-15,000 miles on a motorcycle tire depending on your riding style and the performance of your bike.
For your convenience, we at PowerSportsGuide have done the research and gathered some real-world numbers.
The chart below will help you to get some idea about how many miles you can expect on a set of tires!
Available Miles on Motorcycle Tires [Chart]
| Your riding style | Small bikes and scooters | “Average” bikes | High-performance sport bikes |
| Gentle | 15,000-20,000+ | 10,000-15,000 | 5,000-10,000 |
| “Reasonable” | 10,000-15,000 | 5,000-10,000 | 3,000-5,000 |
| Aggressive | 5,000-10,000 | 3,000-5,000 | 1,000-3,000 |
Again, these are pretty average numbers based on the experience of many riders. Keep in mind that you can get more or fewer miles from the tires on your bike under various circumstances.
For example, DOT race motorcycle tires can be destroyed in less than 100 miles, but with gentle riding you can expect more than 15,000+ miles on a lighter touring bike.
It’s also good to know that the tire on the rear wheel always wears out much faster compared to the front wheel tire. It’s not uncommon to get twice as many miles on the front tire as on the rear.
Instead of a specific number of miles, motorcycle tires should be replaced before they wear down to the legal wear limit, or if they show signs of aging or other types of damage.
Are you wondering how long motorcycle tires last? Keep reading!
How Long Do Motorcycle Tires Last?
How long do motorcycle tires last? This is another common question of many riders, and with good reason. As a rule of thumb, motorcycle tires last about five years since rubber ages over time. This is why the majority of tire manufacturers recommend replacing both tires after five years.
If you use the same set of tires for more than five years (which is against the manufacturers’ recommendation!) best practice is that you have them inspected by a professional every year.
A general rule is to never use a motorcycle tire for more than ten years, even if it hasn’t reached its limit and appears to be in a good condition.
Conclusion
If you are lucky, you can even get 15,000-20,000 miles on a motorcycle tire, but you can completely destroy it on a single track day or with some burnouts.
This is because how long motorcycle tires last depends on many different factors such as the type and quality of the tire, your riding style, the weight and performance of your bike, and the road and weather conditions.
What’s more, besides the condition of the tire its age is also very important.
Since rubber is prone to aging, manufacturers advise not to use a motorcycle tire any longer than 5 years. (But if you do, make sure that you have the tires inspected each year by a mechanic and don’t use them for more than 10 years.)
As a final word, don’t forget to frequently check and maintain the recommended tire pressure to get the most out of them!
References:
https://www.bikebandit.com/blog/how-long-should-motorcycle-tires-last
https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/do-motorcycle-tires-have-shelf-life/
https://www.michelinman.com/howLongTireLast.html
