Motorcycle Tires/Tyres - What brand & type do you use?

[totalmotorcycle]

Help us out. We are going to be constructing a Motorcycle Tire/Tyre Guide (like we do for our 2004/5/6 models) for all our visitors at Total Motorcycle and would love your help.

What Motorcycle Tires/Tyres - What brand & type do you use?

Do you like Bridgestone Spitfire S11? or maybe Pirelli Demons?

Why we ask is so we can have standardized categories and brands to easliy navigate the Guide.

Thanks for your help,

Mike.

[gsJack]

Didn't check any brand since I've had Avon, Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Kenda, and Metzeler tires on my bikes.

My present tires are the Avon AM51/52 bias ply tires and I wore out a set of Avon AV45/46 sport touring radials last year so maybe I'll go back and check Avon. Over the many years and many thousands of miles I think I've probably had more Dunlop replacement tires and Bridgestone OEM tires.

I'm liking the Avons best at present for my current bikes.

[scan]

A couple thousand miles ago I picked up a pair of Conti-Road Attacks. They were "billed" by the sales dude as tour/sports tires having the characteristics of longer wear than sport tires but more stick than touring tires. They perform well, but have slipped on wet roads on a pretty hard lean with a bit of power. More my mistake than the tires though - I should have taken it a bit easier considering the rain. These tires also seem to grip well under hard acceleration on dry pavement and I can feel the tire spin a bit sometimes, and the bike stays controlable. They are wearing out quite a bit though and at 10000 miles a year I will wear them out soon. I need high milage tires I guess and less hard cranks on the throttle.

I wonder about those Avons of yours gsJack - what's the life like on those tires. I've heard good things about Avon and they also seem well priced. I guess I'm less concerned about stickyness and more concerned about long wear.

Thanks Mike for this poll - it is a good topic for the knowledgable to share with the Padwan learners here at TMW. Who has the high milage tire that still provides reasonable grip?

[Gilfy650a]

currently Kenda Challengers, which i might add performed extremely well today, i was able to keep up with my friend dan on his 01 suzuki bandit S, we were both leaning REALLY far over so i guess they work pretty well.

I plan on going with Michelin pilot powers when i get my SV

[Toyuzu]

I'm on my second rear Bridgestone BT45. They are sticky, and perform very well, but don't expect too many miles out of them. My first was gone in 3200 miles. Those of you who remember my little blow-out story - that was a Kenda Challenger, and it only went 200 miles. Not the tire's fault though.

[Wizzard]

Currently running a 15" Avon in the rear and a 21" Bridgestone in the front . This is a good combination for me and Miz Thang .
Regards , Wizzard

[Skier]

My Rad has a set of Metzelers on it, front and back. ME330 and ME550, respectively. They are touted as next-gen bias-ply tires with excellent wet grip, and they seem to perform wonderfully in the wet, but I don't have anything to compare them to. They are decently priced and I hear nothing but great things about them, so I'll keep using them.

[CentralOzzy]

Tried them all (pretty much) & Dunlop seems to be the best (Pardon the Pun) all round Tyre.

[gsJack]

A couple thousand miles ago I picked up a pair of Conti-Road Attacks. They are wearing out quite a bit though and at 10000 miles a year I will wear them out soon. I need high milage tires I guess and less hard cranks on the throttle.

I wonder about those Avons of yours gsJack - what's the life like on those tires. I've heard good things about Avon and they also seem well priced. I guess I'm less concerned about stickyness and more concerned about long wear.

I've averaged over 15k miles per year for the past 21 years on my bikes and used to run only Dunlop or Metzeler touring tires on the rear of my 400-750cc bikes. Got about 25-30k miles on the K291s-K491s and 15-20k on the ME88s. Picked up the pace quite a bit on the GSs and no longer wanted to live with the traction level of the touring tires so went to the radials. Got about 14k miles on the rear with a Z2 and took the AV45/46 Avons off with about 13k miles on them. The front was pretty badly out of shape but the rear was not quite to the wear markers yet. I generally replace when I hit the first marker. I think the AV45/46s were the best tires I've tried on the GSs, but my radial experience is quite limited by what's available for my 3.5x17 rear wheels.

It's kinda oranges and apples comparing tire milage on a GS500 with a Zerex, I don't get much power scrubbing on my tires, but I've turned the front rotor blue a couple times in the mountain twisties. A friend I ride with occasionally traded his Zerex in on a SV1000 last year and now has 13k miles on the OEM Michelin Pilot roads and will go about another 1k till he changes them. He has ordered another set of Pilot Roads, they seem to be giving very good milage for him on the SV. I'm considering trying the Roads next year.

My tire log for the 02 GS is rather short, OEM to AV45/46 to current AM51/52 Avons. Here's the tires I've tried on the 97 GS which has just over 80k on it now:

http://members.aol.com/jcprrp/97GStirelog.txt

[mswarrior]

Bridgestone Battlax