Modern Buddy

Good morning Genuine Buddy fans. What are you folks getting for rear tire life?
I just replaced my Kenda with 8,274 miles on it. I bought two pre-pandemic from Revzilla for $23 each w/ free shipping. I wish I would have ordered a couple more. i think I got my money's worth. I would normally run it down a bit further, but we're doing a 70 mile round trip mountain ride tomorrow.

I seem to recall if I got 9000 I was doing good, but it's been a minute so I'm not 100% sure. I could get 12,000 on my Liberty but that's a much taller wheel. Could squeeze 15,000 if I got lucky for the Liberty. But don't worry, I'm re-entering Buddy land soon! My worthless input will soon be back on this forum.

Is that a Kenda K413? If so I got like 2,800 - 3,500 miles on a rear. I didn't get a lot of miles out of the k413 and I didn't like how it rode so I stopped buying them.

In general I usually try to get 4,000 miles out of a rear tire, over 4,500 is really good, and 5,000+ is great. I have gotten over 9,000 on a stock tire.

I have run a bunch of Kenda K329 tires in 3.5x10 and usually got 4-4.5k and was happy, and the price was great. I think I was getting 4.5-5k on Michelin S1. I also remember getting around 4.5-5.5k on the Pirelli Angels(and they ride really nice), these are still my current favorite tires(but I was buying them for $30-36 so at the new prices they might not be as good of a buy.) For the last few years I have been running Shinko SR 009 and getting 4-4.5k on a rear, they last a decent amount of time but they don't ride that great(they were super cheap though.)

I should add that on some of the lowest mile tires happened when it was extremely hot, 90 degrees F air temperature(road temps were 120-140 degrees when the sun was out.) At high temperatures tires get eaten up. When it's cold tires last much longer.

I run lower tire pressure than a lot of people, 27-29 psi in the front and 29-31psi in the back. I like a smoother ride and more grip.

One last thing I have seen is that a bald tire still has a lot of miles left in it. There can easily be 1,000 miles between a tire going bald and the cords showing. I used to push tires way closer to the cords then I do now. I do a lot more long rides and I don't want to risk a bald tire failing 50-100 miles from home.

It is the K413. I usually run 35 psi in the rear and 32 in the front. I'm with you about squeezing every last ounce out of a tire. I tested how tough it was with a small all. It punched through very easily. I've hit 11,000 miles on the rear with a k413 on my Yamaha C3. Problem with running them that long is you can ended up stranded by a shard of safety glass in the road or a stiff thorn.

We get about 5000 miles on a rear tire on our Buddy 125. We have been running Continental Zippy1's the last few years which seems to be a good tire for the Buddy. In fairness, we never run a tire down to bald rubber, let alone exposed cord. We think about changing out a tire when we hit the wear bars. Scooter tires are not so expensive that we are willing to take extra risks with them. After all, those little patches of rubber are all that is between you and eternity.

DeeDee wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:32 pm Good morning Genuine Buddy fans. What are you folks getting for rear tire life?
I just replaced my Kenda with 8,274 miles on it. I bought two pre-pandemic from Revzilla for $23 each w/ free shipping. I wish I would have ordered a couple more. i think I got my money's worth. I would normally run it down a bit further, but we're doing a 70 mile round trip mountain ride tomorrow.

You do know that you can lean into turns, right?

I ride stupid aggressive, I usually wear the sides out around 4k. I run Pirelli Angel tires exclusively, they're extremely grippy and let me ride the way I ride even in the rain.