It depeds on what compound it is. What is the tire? Most sport touring tires would do that and more with what’s showing if it’s uniform wear. Sport tires, maybe not.

Do you know how many miles are on the tire now?

 

Tires are Metzeler Roadtec Z8. I think its classified as a sport touring tire. It has less than 10000 km on it (both bought at the same time). I was worried about those little cracks.
I guess its alright then.
Thank you for your respond.

 

If it's holding pressure, yes. If not, either plug it or bin it! Tread looks ok.

 

Its holding alright. No pressure lost.
I guess its good then.
Thank you for your response.

 

The obvious thing is to look at the wear bars in the tread. From the one I located, there's still a fair amount of wear left.

Look at the rest of them. When the tread wear comes down to being flush with the wear bars it's time to change. But I don't see those tires being any problem for at least a few thousand more miles or kilometers. Run 'em.


As for holding air, a new tire that has a small puncture won't hold air and an old bald tire may hold air for five years or more. So you see, holding air isn't the big deal.

 

Interesting. Didnt know that thing about new and old tires.
Anyways, thank you for your time to analyze.
✌

 

The tire seems pretty fine in the photo, but you have to examine it overall.
In addition to all that was mentioned,

- Check for dry rot. When rolling the motorcycle (put a friend to flatfoot it to add weight) check the sides for cracks where the tire meets the ground.

A reference for dry rot,

The dry rot will probably not be so obvious, this is why you should roll it.

- Check for bubbles. This is the redest(!) of flags. It means the thread underneath has snapped.

A reference for bubble (car tire, but it doesn't matter),

- Check for punctures, even if it holds air. In this case, the only trip that you should do with your bike is to the tire shop

A reference for puncture (car tire, but it doesn't matter),

(Image source)

- Check the ABS. This IMHO is the most revealing test. If in normal conditions, dry asphalt, warm tires, the ABS takes longer and longer on hard braking to stop the bike, then it is time.

No reference photo for this . Go to an empty parking lot.

 

Thank you very much for all the info and time you put into this.
Tires were fine and they served well on the way back.
I think it will be mostly city ride now before new ones. Or not, we will see. Anyways, thank you. ✌

 

Yeah I should have pointed out to look tires over closely. The fine cracks in the tire pictured and the small cuts were presently no big deal.

At a Honda seminar we had a Bridgestone (and former Dunlop) rep talk about tires. He pointed out the small cracks are from the tires drying out at the surface level, the rubber compound has waxes for preservatives in the rubber. They dry out, plus if using any kind of serious chemical based tire cleaners or dressings can also accelerate the drying process. He gave show cars as examples, the tires often look shiny and black, but up close they may be cracking without even being used.

He said if cracks are deeper like some posted above and the cord is visible, do NOT ride the bike until new tires are installed.

One interesting point, when he was in Germany at a tire seminar at Continental, "the boys" got curious... just how much pressure will a tire take? Yep, they had to play. Being at Continental's plant, there was a tire cage and lots of room. They hooked up a high pressure line with a remote valve to the tire and cranked it up. When it finally went bang, I forget what he said was the exact number, but 285 psi stick in my mind... and it was the rim that broke! Crazy!

Oh and one other item to share. The width of tires in a given size, like 130/80, can vary like ±5 mm. So one brand may be closer to 125 while the other is closer to 135. We saw that one time at the shop where I worked. The owner had a 130/80 Bridgestone on the back of his CB900F. When it wore out (which was fast, being the sport compound) he put on a Metzler 130/80 ME-1 on the bike. The difference was HUGE. I think the Bridgestone was more like a 140 and the Metzler was like a 120! We also saw the same thing with front tires back then. The OEM tire on a Nighthawk S was a 110/80-16 Dunlop. When replaced with a Metzler ME-33 the tire had to be the 120/80-16 which was almost identical size to the Dunlop.

When buying tires do take a look at any information on the sites of the manufacturers, some will give the inflated diameter and width in actual measure, not just the sidewall numbers. They will tell the range of rims the tire fits on and the one it was measured on. Dunlop is good about that, I think Bridgestone is too, but it's been a long time since I did anything other than find out about rim size fits for a 160 and 170 width tire, because I wanted a narrower rear tire. The 170 worked for the rim width. I just hate spending big bucks on wide tires that are not needed for street use.

I know, everyone thinks bigger is better, but smaller quickens handling and having a rear tire that services a 120 hp sport bike is a bit of overkill on a 68 hp 700 (per Cycle World dyno test of the FZ-07). Not sure if I want to go to a 110 on the front because it would require front fender relocation to look right. I know the Zephyr 550 I rode and fairly hard, had a 110/80-17 that I switched to a 110/70-16 to quicken handling and it was running a 140/70-18 on the rear. Never had a worry and really think that combination would work really well on the XSR if the rims could have fitted the rear. But no. I have to stick with the 170 and save a bit with about equal wear.

 

Wow. I never researched tires at this level. What would you say is best option for xsr700 then?
I use metzeler roadtec z8 and so far they have been great. I only did a little bit of gravel at very low speeds. I usually ride in the city (daily commute of 15ish km) and sometimes having fun at weekend in the corners. Also I just did 2800 km trip through Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.
But, I wouldnt call myself hardcore rider. They give me quite good feeling and security in getting angle low. I would say its good grip, and also they are great for rain riding. But, this is my first bike, first tire change etc. I would appreciate any great info. I think I will have to get new ones anyway soon so.
Cheers. ✌

 

I considered it, but don't know if the wheel would work. There's an ebay seller showing them around $175, not too bad, but I'd really like to know if it would fit first.

Anyone know will the cush hub and brake rotor along with the rear axle of an XSR700 fit the rear wheel of an MT-03?

 

I would suspect you might need some custom spacers, but would not be surprised if the axle diameter is the same. There is a complete wheel with axle on Ebay as well. But taking a $300 risk isn’t prudent w/o some research first!

R3 uses the same wheel. If you have any motorcycle wreckers in your area you could likely find a wheel to measure.