I have been riding Motorcycles for 50 years and every time I get to ride a bike shod with Dunlop's it scare's the life out of me .Tyre technology has changed markedly in 50 years as you would expect , the Tyre's I use now are Metzler Sportec M7 RR , these are now super seated by the M9 RR .They were developed By Metzler and Guy Martin at the Isle of Mann. I have found them to be good in all conditions and get good mileage out of them. After many discussions with other motorcyclist's the conclusion I have come to about the wear pattern you are getting with the front tyre is due to pushing the front end into corners .Older sport bike's ie Ducati's you rode them from a more rearward position making them light in the front end , this in turn wore the sides of the front tyre flat through cornering . Modern bike's have more or less have equal weight distribution ,50/50 , putting more weight on the front end so you get the flat sided wear pattern you are experiencing .

Yes, I did some research before I saw your video and came up with the Metzlers as well.

the wear pattern could be just a problem because of the dunlops. I remember when I first picked up the most expensive dunlops for street motorcycles and they were nice for at least 3000 miles then my buddy said go for metelzer. i was really happy with the Metelzer. the dunlops were too hard and eventually cupped on my front wheel where the metelzers had zero issues.

I fitted Metzeler Roadtec 01 SE on my 2021 Z900. The OEM Dunlops were pretty much done anyway and were just horrible in the wet. The final nail in the coffin was when the rear started to step out when I pulled away from a green light at 1/4 throttle. The Metzelers are overall superior tyre by quite a large margin. They are a bit more expensive than a set of Roadsport 2s, but I'd wager that the increased longevity more than makes up for it. BTW, my front tyre had done the exact same thing and I only use the recommended pressure of 36 psi front and 42 psi rear.

It's funny how i posted a video today about these roadsport 2 tires and described how awful they are along with experiencing the same front wear pattern as the OP then came across this clip. My rear lasted only for 3k miles too. I never liked Dunlops and always happily used Michelins. Can't wait to slap on those power 5's

The wear pattern is normal, every sports bike I have had looks like that way back to the early 90s and would be wary of going to a tyre fitter who did not know that..its just as Mark surmised , extra force going thru the tyre when turning in....

I have a 17 Z9...my stock fronts ended up having odd wear as well and at the end had a pretty sharp profile...was also losing air with them despite having no leaks after testing.. I fitted the roadtec 01 (non se) and absolutely love them...i am now trying out the road 5...and will be going back to the roadtecs... The road5s and roadtecs are very very similar....but i find the road5s tend to be a little more lazy to lean into corners whereas the roadtecs just love to lean into corners...

Just put on the Metzler m9 rr on my z900 2020. I know they were expensive but the grip i got is amazing.

I have Michelin Pilot Road 5 and I have never had any slippage on them....had only once in a year a bit of traction control problems because of squidding on the black ice :)), other than that they are quite great. Another friend with a z900 had the same experience and can confirm.

Hello, I have a Kawasaki Z900 rs and rapidly changed the std tires with the Michelin road 5…WOW??!! What a difference 🙏🏻🙏🏾 Got the Michelin Road 6 on my KTM SA S. Started with the Michelin road 3 long time ago, You might have to pay a bit more but You get so much more in safety and Fun 🧐😀😀😀👍🏻👍🏾

You may have solved my issue! My Z900 has just over 2k miles on it. Within the last week or two, the handling has been a bit squirrely. I am not an aggressive driver, so to me it seems like the handling is like hyper sensitive and unstable. I checked chain tension, rear wheel alignment, loose hardware etc. But cannot pinpoint the issue. Of course I looked at the tires, but not that closely as they still seemed to have plenty of tread. I relooked at my front wheel after watching this video because too also noticed that it seemed thicker in the middle than on the sides. In fact, it feels like a band of rubber around the center section - very similar to what you showed. Going to do a much better inspection in the daylight on both front and rear tomorrow. Did you ever find out the cause? Thank you.

I also noticed the same tire wear on my bike, when enquired I was told ,if one does many highway miles the concave road can cause uneven wear , it made sense to me , since all other components have been checked out. Hope this helps. How many kilometers did you cover before the change ?

I have a 2017 z900 I run Avon Evo sports and I love them , it's a very personal thing bike tyres and I've never liked Michelin's.

When I bought my Z900 new in 2020 I had the OEM tires replaced by Michelin Road 5's immidiatly. Whoever decided to put Dunlop Sportmax tires under that sporty kind of a bike must be not riding himself, i guess. The Road 5's are not too bad, but they are not what I really expected from a Michelin just alone for the road feel. They lean in heavier than others and can loose traction with low temperatures in wet conditions with what I experianced myself. (Old but still a stupid sometimes, riding too fast and brutal for the road conditions... ;) ) But the Road 5's are still going strong with already 15k kilometers on them, so that's a plus. So I will try the Metzeler M7's or Michelin Sport 5's next. I have M7's on my MT-09 and absolutly love those, great tires, even in the wet and cold conditions . Will they last as long as the Road 5's? I don't know, because choosing sport tires instead of touring kind of tires that most probably will not last that long... apples and pears, difficult choice to be made... On my former '14 the M7's still had ample profil (50% -60%) after a good 8k kilometers, so... we will see.

How are these holding up Mark? Does the front tyre still have the same wear patterns. Also what are they like in terms of grip in the dry and wet?

I would have thought that this wear would be normal as these sorts of tyres use harder rubber in the middle for longevity and softer rubber at the sides for better cornering grip.

I just bought my Z, and I have heard the Dunlops that come with the bike are terrible. I have a bunch of bike related questions for you, if you don't mind.

Hey Mark, I put a set of Michelin power 5 on my Z, and the ABS light is on all the time now and the KTR is going off in both modes, when I turn it off it's fine is it just the tires? Or did I screw something up?

Chris said Road 5’s, then you said pilot 5’s ? My front road 2’s wore a bit like yours, I ran slightly lower pressures , but I think it’s the dual compound, the centre is harder, ? Suspension can also cause this. My road 5’s have been fantastic, great grip and quick to warm up, and last really well, 7,000 miles.

To me, it’s the best tire I’ve ever tried on my Z900 Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV. Ok, I have a completely different driving style, I see it in your tires, but the mileage is not as important to me as it is to me that the tire will not betray me when I am on an extreme incline. With my driving style (aggressively) I cover 5,000-6,000 km with Pirelli.

Which metzelers did you get?

Jajaja

Yes, the Dunlop is very bad, but this is very ugly in my opinion, but Ok man. 😄