I know quite a few of you ride quite hard, and have replaced tires (some several times); but I thought I would post my findings. I got in on the free Pirelli Angel GT front tire promotion, but I'm not ready for new ones yet.
It did get me thinking about how well the stock tires were wearing. So I went and actually measured them. The OEM's are 5/32 from the sidewall edge to the sipe as it moves tword the center. The center sipe measures 4/32nds. Which is what I figured, since quite a few of those miles are highway. The New Pirelli's are 8/32nds deep, in any groove.
This means to me that I am a little more than halfway worn on the rear tire, and means I should be in good shape to buy a second metzler and run that with the original front. With all my other bikes I have been able to go 2 rears to a front. I am at 4600 miles on the bike.
One thing that gets me, is people saying the OEM tire is junk; or wears out too fast. I can understand if it doesn't handle well, or rain traction is poor, but based on how mine is wearing; I couldn't be happier. I read a lot of posts that say this thing eats tires and that I probably wouldn't get more than 3K miles out of it. Happily this is not the case.
If I rode it like I stole it, and was on a racetrack; I could see. But long gone are my days of trying to get a knee down on the street. And as such, I ride in F-2 mode almost exclusively. Why not let the computer save your tire? Is the extra .2-.3 tenths of a second on the street all that important? I guess, not to me. Its got plenty of power, and I've never even had it on - KTRC OFF.
So Hub (and others), where you were posting about tire life in the thread where you were giving your impressions of your new '13 bike; if tire wear is an issue, ride f-1 or f-2.
Say what you want, I'm a sissy; I know it. I only get the rear OEM tires worn down to the elephants trunk or so, leaving around 1/4" of unused rubber. I still have all the fun I desire.