I have an 08 with 80,000 miles on her. I believe I have had 21 tires put on (mostly rears) & it needs two more right now. Of the 21, 2 were from flats. I have 2 new Dunlop's ready to be mounted when I have the time. I ended up purchasing a No Mar unit with the balancer to see if I could get close to 5000 miles on a rear tire before they were so badly cupped I had to take it off. Now I can balance the wheel, rotate the tire so I can reduce the weights etc. I check the air pressure every couple of days. Tried various air pressures, Dyna Beads etc. In my case I strongly believe cupping is directly related to an increase in aggressive cornering along with deteriorating road conditions. The economy has left most of our roads in very poor condition, their are pot holes and patches overlapping patches. In other words very few roads have a new flat surface. Frost heave season can be brutal for all types of vehicles. I practiced cornering techniques using the DVD called 'TWIST of the WRIST 2' by Keith Code and I dramatically increased the speed at which I enter and come out of a corner, in other words I'm now making my bike do what it wasn't intended for and the cupping is one result. Maybe I just sucked and this practice brought me up with the pack, I don't really know. I'm talking trashed tires in 2,500 miles not 10 to 15,000 mile. I used to have an occasional front tire cup but it was usually after it had 10,000 miles on her. At 41,000 miles I replaced a set Bitubo's with a new set and my tire mileage went to hell on the rears. But that is the same time I changed my riding habits. I will keep them on until I no longer feel safe with them. I believe if you drive your bike like a car and try to make them last your tire mileage can increase significantly, but the fun level is gone for me at that point. I also installed the True Track, installed different motor mounts, changed swingarm bushings, adjusted the neck bearings and did the alignment using the YouTube clip from Glide Pro. While I get to go smoother & faster with less effort the tire life has not been solved. I tried Metzlers 800's and they were worn faster than anything I have ever seen. I have never had a rear tire go 10,000 miles and I would be ecstatic to have one go that far before cupping. It's also possible that tire manufacturers are playing around with different compounds to get an edge on the competition. I don't think for a minute that manufacturers are concerned with mileage, it's stickiness for sports riders and cost cutting for the rest. If I play hard I will have to pay for it. I enjoy riding this bike in the manner I do, I'm not trashing the gearbox it's not fast compared to other bikes. I learned to position my body to reduce scrapping stuff but it still happens. I basically learned how to enter a corner carrying more speed safely, something I could not do repetitively before. I'm certainly in no danger of scraping a knee with these bikes, if anything I save my brakes but go through tires. Wish I didn't but what the heck can we do?
I have been trying to solve this issue for a long time. With very few if any replacement choices and tires not being cheap do they really have to fix the problem? They are an exclusive size and in some cases we are stuck with what they make for us. I have to say I'm out of things to try.