Preferred tire brands/types.

Message

#1 Post by **yoda731** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:49 am

Hey, folks. My '81 CX500 has a brand of tires I've never heard of-- Cheng Shin. Anyone have any thoughts on these? I googled them, and it looks like they are cheap Chinese tires.

Is that necessarily bad?

I am inclined to put on a new set of tires before I start hitting the streets in a month or so (maybe longer...), even though the tread on these tires is still pretty good. My gut feeling is to go ahead and shell out for a set of name brand tires I know are high quality. Would I just be wasting money?

Having said that, what are your recommendations for tires, as far as brands? I am specifically interested in good street tires, that can well handle the frequent rain in Orlando as I am bound to get caught in it.

Also-- I've read on this forum, I think, to take it easy on new tires as they have some factory coating on them that has to be worn off before they get consistently great traction. Is that correct?

Thanks!
JC

ZooTech · #2 Post by **ZooTech** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:00 am

I put a nice set of Dunlops on my CX500 that did really well. In fact, after the engine blew I gave the front tire to my buddy with the GL500i and he's still using it.

As for the coating, yes, you need to take it easy for 50 miles until the release agent wears off.

camthepyro · #3 Post by **camthepyro** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:01 am

I don't know, but I'm interested in the responses as well, I need a new rear tire.

ZooTech · #4 Post by **ZooTech** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:13 am

camthepyro wrote:I don't know, but I'm interested in the responses as well, I need a new rear tire.

A Dunlop Qualifier should do nicely on your NightHawk, Cam.

flynrider · #5 Post by **flynrider** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:22 am

Around here, we always called Cheng Shins "rim protectors". As tires go, they're not much in the performance departmartment, but they are cheap and they do wear well.

They wear well because they use a fairly hard rubber compound. If your mission is normal city riding, or long straight highways, they'll do the job.

I opted for something a little stickier. If your wheels were built for bias ply tires, you might want to check out Bridgestone's BT-45 Battlax tires. They have a dual compound that sticky on the sides, but harder on the bottom for better wear. I have 'em on my Nighthawk and they're still looking great after 6K miles. I think they'll beat the last set of Dunlops which lasted 9K.

camthepyro · #6 Post by **camthepyro** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:15 am

Ok, I'll look into both of those when I get the money to buy a new rear tire, thanks.

runsilent · #7 Post by **runsilent** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:51 am

ZooTech wrote:
camthepyro wrote:I don't know, but I'm interested in the responses as well, I need a new rear tire.
A Dunlop Qualifier should do nicely on your NightHawk, Cam.

What! No, way! The Qualifier is Dunlops latest supersport high performance radial that replaces the D208ZR.

Actually the old Qualifier, the Dunlop K627 was a pretty good tire and would have been a good choice way back in it's day. Strange how they reuse these names on such completely different type tires.

Strange as the coincidence may seem, yoda's CX500 and cam's NH 450 both have the same size wheels and Dunlop's recommended fitment for them both is the same. Their GT501 in 110/90/19 and 130/90B/16 sizes. These are very good sport bias tires and should give OE tire life at least and handle good both wet and dry. I had a GT501 front tire on one of my GS500's and it was the most responsive bias ply tire I've had on a bike till I put my current Lasertecs on.

Like the GT501, the BT45 is also a good tire; but both of these are getting a bit dated compared to the newest bias tires from Metz, Pirelli, and Mich; their Lasertecs, Demons, and Actives respectively. I wore out a couple sets of BT45's on the GS's and then put on 2 sets of the Z4/Z2 sport touring radials followed by the AV45/46 ST radials from Avon. Now the Lasertecs I'm running are as good as any of them handlingwise, just won't last as long as the sport touring radials.

camthepyro · #8 Post by **camthepyro** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:36 pm

How much should I expect to pay for say, a single rear tire, and to have it put on? (unless it's easy to do myself, but it doesn't seem like it)

runsilent · #9 Post by **runsilent** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:50 pm

Since the title of this thread is "Preferred tire brands/types," I wanted to mention a couple other types of tyres but got called to dinner before I finished my previous windy post.

I already mentioned the better handling bias tires that I currently prefer. The GT501, BT45, Lasertec, and Demon in your 130/90/16 rear size run $87-98 ea plus shipping from AMT.

http://www.americanmototire.com/

The Dunlp D404 and the Bridgestone S-11 tires are longer milage tires that also provide decent handling, not real sporty but as good or better than OE tires for sure. These tires sell for considerable less than the sporty types above. You can get a 130/90/16 rear S-11 for $63 or a D404 for $48 plus about $10 shipping from Chaparral:

http://www.chaparral-racing.com/Chaparr ... se&GiftID=

I used touring type rear tires for years on the 4 Hondas I had before the current GS500's. Very long lasting but not what I want in handling now. I got 25-30k miles on my 400-750cc bikes with the Dunlop K291/K491 tires and 15-20k miles on the Metzeler ME88's. I want a tire now that will run as fast in the wet as it does when dry.

camthepyro wrote:How much should I expect to pay for say, a single rear tire, and to have it put on? (unless it's easy to do myself, but it doesn't seem like it)

I bought my first bike in 1984 at age 52 and mail ordered tires and mounted my own tires for about 10 years. Got out the tire irons and changed them the same way we changed car tires in the gas station back in high school. No machines to do it then.

I gave this up about ten years ago when I thought I was gonna croak changing the last one on a very hot August Day. I still pull my own wheels and take them in for tire changing, wouldn't ride a bike someone else put the wheels on.

Around here it costs about $20-30 per wheel to get mail order tires mounted locally if you pull the wheels. Others have mentioned as low as $10-15 per tire in other parts of the country.

JC Viper · #10 Post by **JC Viper** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:02 pm

I had a pair of Dunlop 404 tires on my Vulcan and they're great for a while but a little after 6-7000 miles the tires aren't so hot when cold and or wet. Currently I have a Dunlop F11 qualifier front with a Dunlop K627 rear and work great in heavy rain and the occasional hard packed dirt road but I started seeing a good amount of wear now at 6000 miles. Maybe next year I'll try the Continental Milestones since they have a silica compound for better grip in wet or cold.

The Dunlops are quite pricey but not too bad and work well and maybe the Bridgestones Spitfires might be good too.