I think that’s the big thing here. Keep pushing a cupped tyre and it’ll feel fine and in theory, the longer and harder you push it, the cupping will not get any worse and start to wear evenly. Ride it at a normal pace (in the wet for example), and that’s when you’ll feel the difference. This is because the cupping has created high and low points in the contact patch. Push hard and these flatten out. Run slow and it’ll start to feel like riding knobblies on the road.
I understand the sentiment but that's a lot like saying "I'm not going to replace my squared off rear tyre because it's not worn out at the edges." The number of rear tyres I've binned that are squared off due to half the tyres life being spent on motorways doesn't bare thinking about, and when you can see 3mm to 4mm of solid tread at the edges it is a little galling to have to throw it away. But hey, that's motorcycling. Welcome to the club. I think that if you're getting through at least two rears (maybe three if you don't brake using 4 fingers all the way back to the bar at every set of lights) for every front then you can't complain too much.
Wow, no nothing like that range on a front tyre, probably another 1500/2000 miles on the front compared to the rear. Back to the scalloping; I just think it's poor tyre performance, if the front needs replacing when there's plenty of life left in it. I changed my rear tyre this morning and getting back to a lovely round profile feels great. What a shame our roads are in such bad shape that it's hard to really enjoy the fine handling!
