Originally Posted by
PeteHski
That's a debatable comment but I meant that it looks like this tyre may have been running with an unusually wide, square contact patch i.e. at very low pressure. This may or may not be the reason for the sidewall issue. But since it's an isolated patch of damage, it's probably damage from road debris or perhaps a kerb.
Not really debatable. Tire wear (scrubbing of rubber from the tire) is due to the force applied from pedaling. There is a tiny amount of wear from braking forces, but a front tire will die of old age long before it loses enough rubber to be worn out. Since, for a given rider, pedal force on the tire is consistent, lower pressure means a larger contact patch means less scrubbing force per unit area means slower tire wear. Basic physics combined with basic material properties.