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Alright, I figure this is worth typing out, so let's talk about tires for a bit. First: A disclaimer: I am not a rep for any tire company, and I'm still far from an expert. I've run a variety of tires at trackdays and races, as well as street riding, and spent some time in schools learning about compounds, construction, and profiles, and have experienced the differences on the track, as well as listened to the opinions of other riders as they changed brands. The intent of this thread is to help riders understand the difference and potential gains for between different brands of tires, and to give people some idea of the different types of construction and setups, and how that will translate to rider feedback. None of this should be taken as gospel, or the One Truth of tires. It's just what I've learned over my years of riding. If I've missed something, made a mistake, or skipped over something you feel is important, please, bring it to my attention. If you'd like to cross post this elsewhere, feel free to do so, just credit me and let me know via e-mail, PM, or the thread so that I can improve it with other people's feedback. What do the numbers mean? When dealing with tires, you will often see alphabet soup on them, for example: 120/60ZR17 Michelin Pilot Power First, the 120 is the width of the tire in milimeters. The 60 refers to the height of the tire, as a ratio of width. So the tire is 120mm wide, and 72mm tall. The ZR is the speed rating, in this case, 149+MPH. The 17 refers to the rim size, in this case, 17 inches, a fairly standard sportbike front tire size. The other main number of note on the tire is the date code, example in the box below:  The first 2 letters are the week that the tire was made, the last 2 are the year that it was made. This tire was made on the 3rd week of 2005. If there's only 3 numbers, it was made before 2000, which means the tires are ancient and should be replaced immediately. On motorcycle tires, the numbers are usually in their own oval without any letters preceeding or following. When should I replace my tires? If they show any cracking or splitting, or if they are more than 5 years old. Tires will lose grip over time, even if they're just sitting, as they age and dry out. This can be especially dangerous to novice riders who don't have the experience to know that their tires are done, and inevitably ends up with them crashing, sometimes multiple times, before realizing that it's not that they're doing anything wrong, it's that the tires have turned into stone masquerading as rubber. Check your date codes, you'll be amazed at what is sold as "new". What sizes should I run? 120/60 or 120/70? You will have no problems running the 120/70. The taller profile will improve contact patch while leaned over. The only thing to be aware of is that you may have to adjust your fender to get the tire to clear. Just check the tire for any signs of rubbing after you put it on. Check again after your first ride, as tires do expand somewhat under use. How much wider can you run the rear tire? In general, not more than one size up. For those with 160 tires on the rear of their bike, looking for a "fatter" look, do not go over a 170 profile. A 180 will be squished on the rim and will flatspot and wear quickly, as well as reduce contact patch while leaned over. For track use, some makers offer 190s for a 5.5 inch rim and 200s for the 6 inch rims. Tire size in this area will often turn into personal preference, try the sizes recommended by your tire guys. At worst, you'll learn you don't like it. What pressure should I run? There's not one catch all answer here. Each motorcycle will recommend a different pressure. Some bikes can recommend as low as 26F/26R, others can recommend as high as 38F/42R. In general, the baseline that most agree on for standards and sportbikes running modern radials on the street tends to be around 32-34F/34-36R, depending tire construction and the weight of the bike. The big bikes will run higher pressures to compensate for the additional weight. Tire Construction Tires can vary in 2 major ways. The first is sidewall stiffness, the second is profile. Sidewall Construction Brands that have a soft sidewall: Metzler, Pirelli. Brands with a stiff sidewall: Dunlop, Michelin. Bridgestone is an intermediate construction. So...what does that mean to you as a rider? Soft sidewall tires will flex more as they encounter imperfections in the road. This additional squish zone will act as an additional damper in your suspension, which can make bumpy roads and tracks feel smoother. This can also help calm down bikes that are set to be particularly twitchy, as the tires prevent minor bumps from getting through to the suspension and chassis. Especially noticible while leaned over, where your suspension is at it's least effective. Soft sidewall tires will also flex more under load, increasing the heat that the tire builds up through use. Most soft sidewall tires will run higher pressures as a result. If you're running a soft sidewall tire, sometimes you'll find that under heavy use, the tires start to feel numb, or under commuting use they wear and flatspot quickly. If you discover this behavior, bumping up the pressures will often solve the problem, as chances are good that the tire is overheating. Pirelli Diablo Corsa 3s are particularly well known for this, prefering pressures of 34F/36R even for track use, and sometimes upwards of 36F/38R for street use, even on supersports. Stiff sidewall tires will provide more feedback from the road in every way. They don't have the insulating effect of the softer sidewall tires, and as a result can exacerbate twitchy handling characteristics. Michelin and Dunlop race tires can run as low as 18R in some cases. Profile Construction There are 2 types of profile construction: Triangulated and rounded. In general, the tire profiles by maker look like this: Triangulated tires: Michelin, Dunlop Rounded: Metzler, Pirelli, Bridgestone Triangulated tires will help the bike feel lighter on it's feet, turn in quicker, and respond well to midcorner line changes. Some will feel that triangulated tires feel flighty and more prone to headshake. Rounded tires will require more steering effort, but will also hold a line more consistantly and tend to feel more planted, and can help calm down a bike that's prone to headshake. Mid corner line changes will require a good amount of input to the bars. Some will consider these tires "sluggish" and "heavy". Compound In general, you want to use the hardest compounds you can get away with. On the track, using softer tires when you can't exploit the grip will just result in quick wear and inconsistant grip levels as the tires go off. The major exception to this is the front tire on low HP bikes, where you'll probably be running the softest compound no matter what, as there's simply not enough hard braking to push the front into needing a harder compound. Your tire vender will have the best advice given the conditions and the track abrasiveness. For street use, it's worth taking into account that more street/track oriented tires will tend to perform much more poorly in cold/wet conditions than sport touring tires. This also applies when the tire has not been brought up to temperature yet, and is another reason that it's prudent to stick with sport touring tires if your bike is going to see commuting more than the track. Sizes, revisited Different brands of tires can have significantly different physical sizes, even if they're both marked as the same size. Ideally, you measure both tires, inflated and on the bike, and see how much things have changed. Some will religiously adjust their ride height for these changes, some will not. I tend to leave settings alone and go out there and see how the bike works before changing things. Breaking in tires Cold tires are slick. New cold tires are doubly slick. There is no longer any mold release used in the molds, however, the tires still have a very uniform surface out of the molds which will reduce available traction. On street use, one decent ride where the tires get warm and you slowly work up your lean angle will have your tires completely broken in. The trick is to slowly increase lean angle so that at no time while you're leaned over is your entire contact patch in the smooth section of the tire. On the track, I've tossed on new tires, done the warm up lap, and gone racing. The very abrasive nature of a track helps the tires break in much faster. If your tires will come up to temp in a lap, by the end of the second lap your tires will be more than ready to go. Heating up tires The most common claimed reason for crashes is usually "cold tires". However, there's more to it than that. Not only do you tires have to come up to temperature, your rims and suspension must come up to temp as well. Cold suspension will react slowly, causing harshness, poor handling and potentially a loss in grip as a result. A hot tire on a cold rim (for example, on a windy day with tire warmers) can cause what feels like a sudden loss in available grip when the warmers come off and the rim begins to leech the heat out of the tire. With that said, a cold tire crash is actually a failure of the rider to accurately account for the conditions, and never the fault of the tires. How do you know if you have the right pressure? What you're looking for an increase in the range of 5-7 pounds from cold to hot. If you're getting too much increase in pressure, you need to boost your pressures to reduce the amount of flex in the tire. If you're getting too little increase, you need to reduce your pressures in order to get more flex and heat in the tire. While rubber balling up on the tire is fine, you don't want any tearing or gouging in the tire. Tearing and gouging can indicate either a problem with suspension, pressure or tire compound. Consult your local suspension expert and tire guy. Weaving to heat up tires Bullshit. Motorcycles simply do not generate enough cornering load when weaving to build heat in the tires. The only way to get tires up to temp is to flex the carcass, with heavy throttle and brake use. If you want to get your tires warm, don't weave back and forth but instead run up and down, accelerating heavily through first gear and braking heavily. You will still see riders weave for 2 reasons: To feel out the bike, and to scrub off the tires. Heat Cycling Each time you heat cycle your tires, you leech out some of the internal oils that help a tire stick to the ground. Now, this is not a concern for the all but 1% of street riders, who will probably already be aware of this. I know a very select few who do nothing but ride twisties, and ride them hard. Usually their fronts start to go off at around 5k, while they still have what appears to be good tread on them and they're almost done with their second rear tire. On the track, the primary use of tire warmers is not to keep you from ending up on your head on the warm up lap, but to prevent heat cycling. By using tire warmers, you can help extend the life of your tires. However, you also have to be aware that you can cook your tires by leaving your warmers on high all the time. Personally, I don't use tire warmers. If it's sunny, I park the bike with the sun as full on your tires as possible. I've discovered this allows me to be more comfortable on the warmup lap. That doesn't mean I ignore my warm up lap, it's just an easy thing that helps keep the tires warm. When I'm racing, at my 2nd call I'll go do laps in the hot pit, accelerating through first/second gear and braking hard. After 8-10 passes, my tires will be mostly hot, after doing my outlap at around 85% speed for the first half and 95% speed for the second half, the tires are completely warm and I can go hard straight off the launch without worrying about things. This is probably overkill, but I like the security and the additional time to warm up my tires and suspension, as well as the time on the bike to feel everything out. Mixing and Matching Tires Mixing and matching tires is usually fine, as long as you have the awareness of what you're doing. Ideally, you want to mix tires that have a similar design and construction, so try and group them according to sidewall stiffness. You will change the handling of the bike by doing this. It may be a positive change, it may be a negative one. It's up to you to safely feel out those changes. I have tracked my SV with a Dunlop 209GP (Euro) on the front and a Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa on the rear. Doing this taught me more about how tire construction affects a bike than any words or explanation or paired set of tires ever could have. I could get on the gas and feel very clearly the difference between the stiffer front tire and the softer rear tire. In my case, it maintained a lot of positive feedback from the front for confidence while trailbraking while removing what I felt was unneeded feedback from the rear, as well as keeping the bike more stable and less twitchy over bumps. This was at an A group pace. I don't know how noticible the differences are going to be and how much gain someone would see from doing this at a slower pace. As long as you have some understanding of what you're getting into (I knew I'd feel the rear move around differently from the front), there's nothing wrong with mixing and matching tires. The only other words of warning about mixing tires I'd mention is that some makers claim that their tires have specific siping on the tires that are designed to work together as a matched pair to move water out of the way. If this is true, I've never ridden hard enough in the rain to notice, but it bears consideration. Plugging vs. Replacing Tubeless Tires On this front, I feel it's fine to patch a tire internally. However, I'd avoid plugging something near the sidewall. I've helped people limp home with the rope type plugs in their tires, to some success (they got home, it usually still leaked some air). Other people will disagree and say that any plug is asking for trouble. I'd be fine with a plugged tire for commuting or casual twisty use. I wouldn't use one on the track. I have seen people use plugged tires in the C group on the track without any problems, however. Tire Choices (Street) My general recommendation for daily riders is Sport Touring tires. If you've got a bike that's doing double duty on the track and street, or is purely a weekend pleasure ride, then Street/Track tires are a good choice. Tire Choices (Track) For C group, as long as your tires area in reasonably good shape, you can run just about anything. For your first trackday, Sport Touring tires are fine, although you'll probably have more fun with some Street/Track tires. Once you move into the B group consistantly, my recommendation is to run at least DOT Race tires. While a skilled track rider can ride Street/Track tires at an A pace, they're not pushing their limits, they're going to be well within their personal limits and will be able to handle the tire potentially misbehaving and sliding around. As you improve, you won't have to worry about suddenly exceeding the limits of the tires after a particularly good session and having them go off on you, perhaps with drastic consequences while you are pushing your limits. The other advantage is that DOT Race tires go off much more smoothly and slide more consistantly than Street/Track tires. Bias Plies The only Bias Plies left are pretty much the best of the bunch, so if you've got a bike that still runs them, you pretty much can't go wrong with any of the offerings from major tire makers. I'm partial to Pirelli Sport Demons, personally, but have seen the 250 guys absolutely hauling rear end on the bridgestones as well. The rest seem to be lower in popularity for whatever reason. Tire type rundown Pirelli Sport Touring, newer design to older: Diablo Rosso, Diablo Strada, Diablo(OLD) Street/Track Diablo Corsa 3 DOT Race Diablo Supercorsa, Dragon Supercorsa Metzler Sport Touring Z6 Interact, Z6 Street/Track M3, M1 DOT Race Racetec Michelin Sport Touring Pilot Road 2, Pilot Road, Pilot Sport(OLD) Street/Track Power One, Pilot Power 2CT, Pilot Power DOT Race Power One, Pilot Race (They make the Power One in both a "street" and a "race" compound) Dunlop Sport Touring Roadsmart, D220 Street/Track Qualifiers, 209F DOT Race 211GP(Euro/Ntec), 209GPA (Euro/Ntec), 211 (US, non-ntec) (Although the 211 (US) is technically a "newer" tire, the Ntec is the prefered tire) I covered the tire types from memory, so apologies if it's a bit off, feel free to correct me. Anyone who's got anything additional to contribute, has questions about things, please post up 
Z3n fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Jul 24, 2009 |
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Jul 22, 2009 06:33
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aventari posted:Do dual/triple compound tires last that much longer? IME they do and their worth the extra money. Thoughts? Also how long do tires usually last on a 600? 1000? There's a lot more factors than simply saying "multi/progressive compound tires last longer". The new Power Ones have 3 compounds, yet they aren't going to last as long as a 2CT as due to softer overall compound choice. The 2CTs are actually the same compound as the Pilot Powers in the center, so you would have gotten the same mileage out of a single compound tire in that case. There's also tire pressure to take into account. The higher the pressure, the less the tire will heat up, deflect, and wear. And finally, another major factor on tire wear is simply how aggressive you are with the throttle. Trackdays don't have a major effect on tire life as typically you're wearing out the center long before the sides, and you spend the majority of your time roasting the sides at a trackday, not the middle. Allow me to also add: I am not a rep for any tire company, and I'm still far from an expert. I've run a variety of tires at trackdays and races, as well as street riding, and spent some time in schools learning about compounds, construction, and profiles, and have experienced the differences on the track, as well as listened to the opinions of other riders as they changed brands. The intent of this thread is to help riders understand the difference and potential gains for each person between different brands of tires, and to give people some idea of the different types of construction and setups, and how that will translate to rider feedback. There's a number of things I haven't posted on yet, things like heat cycles, mixing and matching tires, suspension setup changes as a result of changing tires, etc. that I'll get when I've got some time. Spiff, what pressures are you running? You can try boosting them to maybe help avoid them squaring off. Or just say gently caress it and do burnouts. It's also worth noting: OEM tires, what you get on your bike out of the factory are almost always a harder compound than the tires you'd buy off the rack. Especially in the case of really soft DOT Race level tires, they're a special compound designed to get more the 2000 miles or so you'd get out of a DOT Race tire under street use. I was sad when Cheng Shin decided to pull out of the tire market too...On the vintage bikes we'd run almost exclusively the cheng shin tires. My avatar is me on cheng shin trials tires on the 75 CB200 dragging a knee on pinehurst. They're great tires for old school bikes. Z3n fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Jul 22, 2009 |
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Jul 22, 2009 16:18
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aventari posted:Thoughts? Also how long do tires usually last on a 600? 1000? I'd say it's more in how hard you play with the throttle than the size of your engine. I got close to 6500 miles out of my Pirelli Diablo Corsa 3s on my 929, including a trackday, but on my ZX6E I tended to only get around 3000-3500 miles. I also ran my pressures too low on just about everything until the 929.
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Jul 22, 2009 16:23
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Sick_Nukes posted:How do you feel on the subject of using race take offs for street or trackdays? I've done it, I don't think it's the end of the world. You have to be aware that you may have compromised grip until they get up to temp, and that in a lot of cases you simply can't run the pressures that you'd normally run with those tires on the track, but they'll work. ranathari posted:What, no Bridgestone love in the OP? BT-021s are amazing sport touring tyres that balance good grip with great longevity, especially if you do a lot of upright motorway miles. I've tried BT-016s too and they're really good for fast road riding; they warm up quickly and give shed-loads of grip. I have zero extended experience with modern bridgestones. Only experience I have is with teh crappy old OEM battlaxes I had on my E when I first got it. Horrible tires. Haven't run them on the street or the track for any reasonable amount of time yet, so no opinion, good or bad, on them.
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Jul 23, 2009 22:04
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Silver posted:SHUT UP, Z3N!!!! Yeah too many god drat words, even for me. Trying to proof read that poo poo is agony. I updated things a bit in the OP. Feel free to post it where ever, all I ask is that you give me credit and link/e-mail/PM me where you're reposting it, so I can keep an eye on it and improve it with people's feedback.
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Jul 24, 2009 05:55
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Retarded Pimp posted:Anyone have any experience with either Slime or Dynabeads? I used tire slime in my 250 once to stop a very slow leak. It was effective enough. It makes a huge, absurd mess if you change your own tires though.
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Jul 27, 2009 22:12
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ick pik posted:No love for those of us that go incredible amounts of miles on the interstates and never get too crazy in the corners? It's a motorcycle, tires are the 2 very small contact patches keeping you connected and in tune with the road. If you want to increase mileage out of your tires, be gentle on the gas and brakes, and keep your pressures on the high side of the spec that's comfortable for you. You can replace a couple of tires every 10-20k, or you can take the risk of ending up off the side of the road or under a car when you hit the wrong circumstances all at once...
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Jul 27, 2009 23:27
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frozenphil posted:Am I crazy for not trusting the IRC tires that came stock on my bike? I haven't felt any reason to be concerned about the tires, but the Internet seems to believe I will die. The internet tends to get very strung out about using anything but the best tires. As long as you ride with the understanding that your tires aren't going to allow you to maximize the cornering and braking performance of your bike, it's probably fine. However, considering that it's your first bike, I'd recommend getting them changed at some point, simply because you (probably) lack the experience to know if they're really bad or not. It's amazing the things that I've seen people pull off on bikes with horrible tires just because they didn't know any better.
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Jul 30, 2009 19:32
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slidebite posted:Question regarding this: That section is sort of a broad overview oriented more towards the more extreme examples of tires (slicks/DOT Race tires and heavily track oriented street tires). In those realms, the tire companies have really stuck to their design styles over the last decade or so. Construction qualities and materials will vary depending on the desired use of the tire, but in general, as a result of the trickle down of technology from racing to street use, you see the same sort of design principal (tires with more flex or tires with less flex) carried out across the entire range of a company's tires. If they've dumped a lot of time into a tire design that flexes and grips well, they're not going to just abandon it for a different construction. They may modify it, but in general those tires brands fit into those catagories. The difference in size doesn't really reflect that much in the construction. Construction tends to be consistant across sizes in the same model of tire. Otherwise you'd end up with the front of your bike feeling different from the back of your bike.
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Jul 30, 2009 22:04
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The ravens are shinko's "Sport touring" tire. I've heard mixed reviews, and wouldn't touch them unless I could get them both for 150$, mounted and ready to go.
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Aug 4, 2009 17:29
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bung posted:My favorite online seller for moto tires is Tire Express. I ordered a set of Conti Road Attacks on a Monday and they delivered that Wednesday. Their shipping is free on tire orders over $100. http://www.swmototires.com/ is another good option. Not affiliated with them, but their prices are good and free shipping with 2 tires.
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Aug 5, 2009 05:21
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The MT75s (Sport Demons) are excellent tires. The date code's not the thing that reads "LAB 2003". It's going to be 2 or 3 numbers in an oval.
Z3n fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Aug 10, 2009 |
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Aug 10, 2009 04:29
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Nerobro posted:Now on the car tires on a bike thing... I don't really see the problem with running car tires on the back of a bike. Yeah, you've got a square tire, at least in my experience, once it's up on an edge, they handle just fine. And given that it's the back of the bike, having a little less traction is a lot less disastrous than the front. The problem with a square tire is this: The more you lean it, the more you reduce your contact patch. And once you lose it, and it starts to swing out, your chances of recovery are even lower as you reduce your contact patch more. The batbike also drove up a wall and did a backflip. Pointing at movies as a safety guide is pretty stupid. With that said, I'm sure that there are plenty of people that do it and simply do not corner their motorcycles, and probably don't ride in the rain, either. If conditions are always good, and you're a relatively sedate rider, than it's not instant death or anything. But when things go wrong, you hit some gravel, I'd rather have my tire working with me at increased lean angles, rather than against me. If you've ever seen a picture or a video of a motorcycle tire deflecting under load, you'll get some idea of how scary that video is. You can bend the sidewall of a motorcycle tire nearly double with a soft sidewall tire and a powerful motorcycle, increasing the contact patch a huge amount. Watching something like that where when you lean on the gas, the contact patch gets smaller just makes me cringe.
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Aug 10, 2009 15:13
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Nerobro posted:Contact patch size is more defined by sidewall stiffness and tire pressure than carcass shape. Car tires can have some really soft sidewalls. That said, you're going to end up with some wacky contact patch shapes with a car tire on a bike. "I" wouldn't do it. I was just trying to say it's far from suicide, especially if you chose a reasonable width tire (like a 130 or 140). The video posted of taking a 30mph marked corner at 45 isn't anything remarkable (my rule is thumb is taking marked corners at double the posted speed..) but it does show that the bike is sane and navigable. The batbike never even really leaned over that far. Certainly not as far as you can get on even the cheapest chinese knockoff tires (say, shinko advances?), that's the thing and the problem with a setup like this...it'll work totally fine until you end up on your rear end. In fact, the bike will probably feel more "stable" as you have to induce some pretty serious steering effort to get it leaned over. I'd imagine the batbike was the same way. We are both agreed on that it's a bad idea, I think we're just stuck on semantics here. I just really don't think it's sane to mount a car tire on a motorcycle outside of an emergency situation. There's too many things that could happen where the tire's gonna fight you rather than work with you. I sort of wish I had the nerve to mount a car tire on one of my bikes and then go flog it around to see what it was like. Plus, those guys are running cruisers with limited lean angle and really, really wide rear rims, I think they're running something like 220s or something like that.
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Aug 10, 2009 15:32
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Nerobro posted:Square tires give me a really weird feeling while riding. I've had the "ahem" pleasure of riding square tires three or four times. It leads to some really wacky steering feel. I'd never do that willingly. I thought the biggest tire out there was still the crazy like, 330 that they put on the back of some custom chopper. And yeah, they look totally absurd. But if you compare them to a car tire...  I've discovered that you can "reround" the profile of tires that have been squared off by riding them them on the "ridge" for awhile. My ZZR1200 had badly flatspotted tires, and after about 80 miles of aggressive twisty riding, they would hold a line without wiggling or requiring constant bar input, but they're still really sketchy if you try and really kick them over, as you've just effectively moved the ridge farther up the tire. I've had the same thing happen on my g/f's SV when she was commuting on it. The other thing that cars don't deal with is changing the contact patch the way bikes do. The cornering forces may be similar, but the way it rolls on the tire won't be the same at all. You'll never approach the level of angle on the tire that you get on a bike in a car. I also don't think that a car, even one of similar weight, is going to put the same level of cornering forces on the tire. Even an econobox like a Festiva can pull vastly more cornering load than a motorcycle. Furthermore, whereas a car tire can spin and slip a little and have it not be a huge deal, when a motorcycle tire starts to slide it's always a big deal. If they'll pay for the repairs and replacements to my gear, I'm willing to crash a bike to figure out what the edge of grip is like. 
Z3n fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Aug 10, 2009 |
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Aug 10, 2009 16:49
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JebattoRocket posted:One of the batbikes had what looked like Super Swamper TSL's (dualies maybe?), which I had on my jeep at the time. They are lovely on the road and supershitty in the rain. Totally stupid. All modern bike tires are radials. Bias plies are really only being produced mostly in oddball sizes for older bikes with narrow rims, when it comes to streetbikes.
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Aug 11, 2009 02:25
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OrangeFurious posted:My bike has spoked wheels and valve stems that shoot straight up from the center of the rim. It is a pain in the rear end to feed a gas station air hose through my spokes to get an angle where I can inflate the tire. It can definitely be done. I've got angle ones on my trackbike. I'd just have a shop do it for ya. Edit: http://arizonamoto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SWMT&Category_Code=SprtDmn Free shipping, may be cheaper.
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Aug 12, 2009 00:01
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Nerobro posted:He's got tubed tires. He'll need to buy tubes with angled stems. Those don't exist as far as i'm aware. According to this, the thruxton 900 has tubeless tires.
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Aug 12, 2009 16:55
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Methusulah posted:Tires arrived today. They look pretty amazing, will probably get them on Saturday. Is there anything I should know about taking the wheels off and putting them on? IE- Brake pads/pistons, bearings, axels, what-have-you? Does anything need to be re-greased? When you have the brakes off the rotors, don't pump the brake lever, as you can force the pistons out of their seats. No fun. Also, don't hang the brake calipers via the lines, it's not good for the connectors on the lines. I'd also repack the wheel bearings as well as feeling them, they should slide smoothly. If they don't or feel clicky, you need to get some new ones. Besides that, it's pretty much as infinotize says.
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Aug 18, 2009 23:07
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Dubs posted:How do you guys feel about mismatched tires? I thought I replied to this, anyways...I pretty much cover this in the OP. You'll be fine. You may need to run lower pressures than you would elsewhere to get good grip out of the tires. On the questionable use of tires like that on a "light" bike, my SV doesn't significantly outweigh a DRZ and is set up with super aggressive steering geometry without an issue. Z3n fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Aug 21, 2009 |
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Aug 21, 2009 15:24
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I'm not exactly sure what the GPRA-10 corresponds to in the US, but it looks like it's a track tire for smaller displacement bikes? I don't think we even get that out here... What sort of riding do you want to do? If it's more road stuff, I'd get the PR2s, if it's general hooliganery, I'd probably go with what you already have, if you like it. The first generation pilot powers are also a good tire that can be found for cheap, but be aware that they have a very triangulated profile and could make an SM feel unstable. Continential is just breaking into the US market, Maxxis is Cheng Shin, and Avon seems to be far more popular in Europe than in the US or elsewhere.
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Aug 21, 2009 16:52
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Terminus Est posted:It isn't the square profile that scares me, it is the fact that car tires are designed to last 20-80 thousand miles. That is some hard rubber. Even the sport tires are too hard. People who do this, especially in the videos, are those who are hiking boot wearing fools without any sense beyond the cent. What amazes me is the people who insist that gardening gloves are as good as riding gloves when it comes to abrasion resistance. 
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Aug 22, 2009 19:17
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UFS207 posted:Question for you guys buying tubeless radials online: It's definitely possible, but it can be difficult. The biggest thing I'd be concerned about is breaking the bead, from that it'd just be careful slow going to make sure you don't destroy the rims. The dealerships are just making their money on tires like that...it's gougey as gently caress, and what some tend to do. I have a friend who did a set on his R1 with just hand tools. Thread here.
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Aug 23, 2009 15:34
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Tindjin posted:Darkside riders (their nickname) have been popular with the heavy bikes for a long time. Goldwings and harleys have been doing it it for a looong time. It's actually better these days with symetrical high performance tires than it ever was. I've ridden an FJR with a car tire on the rear and you get used to normal riding within a few miles. spirited riding is completely doable and safe but requires more steering input to get into it and hold your line. Nothing dangerous and very similar to the wide motorcycle tires so popular today with customs. I still wouldn't trust one to come back after a slide like a motorcycle tire. The more you lean it, the more it reduces contact patch. Dragging floorboards is a lovely way of judging lean and stick. The guy who wadded it into a wall on our ride on sunday had used nothing but the rear brake for quite awhile and hadn't had any problems with it, it doesn't make it a good idea. The tire isn't similar in the slightest to the wide tires you see on customs. It's using a much harder rubber compound, a different design for belts and plies, and is simply not designed for that use, not to mention the complete and total difference in profile. It's lucky for the people who ride these tires that their bikes don't lean over that far, and they can't ride off the edge of the tire...
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Aug 25, 2009 22:12
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VeritableQuandary posted:I'm going to be needing new tires soon, and I have a quick question. I've read lots of good things about Avon Distanzias, but I have a strange front tire size. I need a 110-80R18, and that means I would need to mount a "rear" Distanzia backwards up front to fit. Someone on ADV has the same bike with the same setup and likes it, but I wanted to hear your take on it. Why not just buy a tire that actually comes in that size for a front? Are you going to be doing a bunch of offroading? Distanzias are popular because they allow you to trek off the beaten path and not be completely overwhelmed. With that in mind, it seems like ADV riders have their own contigent of squids who think that if a sportbike's tires touch dirt, the bike will immediately burst into flame. Up what most people consider dirt (fire roads and hard packed dirt), you can run just about anything up with some respect to the conditions. Hell, our very own Tsaven is running a virago down dirt roads like no one's business. The only tires I've ever run backwards have been track tires that have a design that allows them to run backwards without destroying the belts. If you absolutely had to, it's probably not the end of the world, but...why? Just run a tire that comes in the right size. Z3n fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Aug 27, 2009 |
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Aug 27, 2009 15:30
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Linedance posted:not sure whether to put this in the questions thread or the tire thread, but since it's a question about tires, I figure here's as good a place as any. Aren't the pilot road 2s like, 300 pounds for a set in the UK? Is your trip going to be more slab or more twisty? If it's more twisty, I'd consider springing for the Road 2s, but if it's gonna be mostly upright stuff I'd get the Avons. You shouldn't have any problems running a 120/70-17 on your front tire, if you wanted to get the roads. From everything I've read, the Storms are very popular sport touring tires over there, and if they're 50% of the price of the roads, even if you replace them before the road 2 you'll still be saving quite a bit of money.
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Aug 31, 2009 19:29
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I'd go with the roads at that price, honestly. I thought they'd be more expensive. You can run the 120/70 and probably won't notice a difference from the size difference, just the difference from the PRs profile and construction. I don't usually notice the difference because I'm changing tire compounds/brands as well as size.
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Aug 31, 2009 22:38
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Xanieth posted:Does anyone have any experience with Shinko tires? I need a new set but $350-400 for a good set of Dunlops is really going to hurt my wallet right now. What are you planning on using them for?
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Sep 2, 2009 00:43
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Xanieth posted:Just going to and from work mostly, but on some longer rides as well. The roads here are mostly straight-aways with gentle curves. If you're not going to be using them for any sort of aggressive riding, I've heard decent reviews on the Advance 005s from casual riders. I wouldn't trust them for anything aggressive. However, you can pick up a set of Pilot Road2s online for around 300$. http://arizonamoto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SWMT&Category_Code=PilotRoad2 I'd strongly push you in the direction of those instead, they're a much more trusted/well known brand. Other tires to look at would be things like Metzler Z6s, Pilot Roads (the original, if you can find some that were made relatively recently). Can you mount and balance them on your own or for cheap?
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Sep 2, 2009 01:38
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Xanieth posted:There's a local shop around here that will mount and balance for about $40. I'm leaning toward the Shinkos right now just because I just bought this bike and it still needs some work to be tip-top and I'm sort of strapped for cash right now. Plus, the tires on it right now are drat near slicks now so if it rains I'm hosed. That seems reasonable enough. Inspect your shinkos very carefully for any weirdness when you get them, make sure they haven't been damaged in transport and that everything looks good. The shop should check them over too, but it's one of those things that's always good to check. Don't pay more than 200ish$ for the shinkos.
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Sep 2, 2009 04:34
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Spiffness posted:I thought everything shinko ever made was complete and utter poo poo. Ehh, from what I've heard the street tires are fine, because you simply don't push them that hard. The slick/DOT shinkos will go off on you though. They're super popular for drag racing though, because they're cheap as hell and soft. I used to scoff at cheng shin tires until I rode a set of their trials tires on a KLX. Yeah, they're soft and they wear fast, but they stick drat well. If he's only planning on riding the advances for a few months as a new rider, he'll probably be fine.
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Sep 2, 2009 05:27
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philkop posted:Random tire question. Noticed my tires were getting low (scooter, still should apply to bikes) so I stopped to fill them up. As soon as I filled them it was as if i was riding a whole different bike. Everything felt better. But the thing is it seems like it wants to turn. My bikes only happy when its on its side through a turn. I was thinking maybe the center of my tire is worn off so its easier to ride on the side as if in a turn. Maybe this is a common phenomenon. Either way I'm probably overdue for some new tires, so with my next check il get some. They get harder to turn, not easier, when they flatten out. But I'd guess that you had spent so much time fighting the bars because of the low PSI that when you filled it back up to a proper spec, it felt like it always wanted to turn because you weren't relaxed and off the bars.
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Sep 8, 2009 15:23
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the walkin dude posted:Anyone have experience with IRC? I got the IRC Road Winner front tire, sadly tossing the punctured Pirelli Sport Demon off the '98 Ninja that I just bought. I'd recommend waiting on the Pirelli just because then you've got matching tires front and rear. I don't know how the IRC is going to interact with the profile of the Pirelli, probably not a big deal, but why risk it? RichBomb posted:I'm stuck on Long Island for the next year and the prices out here for mounting a tire are just outrageous. Original pilot roads can be found for cheap. philkop, your tires should be fine. Just keep an eye on them, as running them deflated can cause damage to them.
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Sep 9, 2009 04:36
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Chairon posted:Got my tires Today. I spent a couple of hours going to every department store, Auto parts store and hardware store in the town and not a one had any tire tools. I ended up grabbing a couple of slim crowbars which i'm going to take a grinder to and MacGuyver up my own. I'll install them tomorrow, since i've got Friday and Saturday off from work. I've used everything from pledge to soapy water.
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Sep 18, 2009 18:07
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Xanieth posted:What's the word on using seconds as street tires? I have a pair of Bridgestone Battlax BT-002's that I got for free, manufactured about June/July 2007. The tread on them is still about a 1/4", but there's melted rubber pellets all over them. Are these tires still good to go or should I just toss them? Depends on the usage and the tire, but for street use, they're probably fine. Are they the RS or the race tires? Just be careful with them in the rain and while they're warming up...sometimes track tires are really slick before they start to heat up.
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Sep 30, 2009 23:56
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Xanieth posted:They're the race tires. Is it worth replacing month-old Shinkos with these, or maybe saving these for later? I'd personally prefer them over the Shinkos, but that's my 2c. I'd also be saving/looking for some street tires...track tires are, after all, designed for the track and are less than ideal when it comes to street riding in anything but good conditions. They'll still stick alright, but they're going to have a hard time displacing water and coming up to proper temp without the heavy acceleration and braking that you usually get on the track.
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Oct 1, 2009 00:16
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Blakeem bin Bustin posted:My track bike needs a new rear tire. The NESBA tire guy has Dunlop 209 GP-A's right now. The tires currently on my bike I believe are Pirelli's equivalent to the GP-A's, the Diablo Supercorsa's or something. It's at the shop right now so unfortunately I can't go confirm that. Anyway my question is would it be ok to run the Dunlop on the rear and the Pirelli up front? You're mixing a soft sidewall and a stiff sidewall...it's going to cause different handling characteristics at the front and the back of the bike. It may feel a little funny, but it's not going to cause you to crash. I ran the reverse setup (pirelli rear, dunlop front) because I liked the additional feedback from the stiff sidewall front and the way the pirelli rear slid/went off, and went quite quick on it, but I don't know how i'd feel about the other way around. The front's going to move quite a bit more because the sidewall's going to deform as you load it up, whereas the rear tire's just going to stay stiff and not deform much. Could be a big deal, could be minor, really depends on your riding style and what you like out of your tires. I'd just go with the dunlops front and rear if you can afford it. See how you like stiff sidewall tires. If you don't like it, you learned something about tires, and if you do, then you learned something about tires and have tires you like. Spiffness posted:Looking for an opinion by resident tire expert...  Click here for the full 912x684 image. Looks like you've got some minor issues with rebound. You can see that you've got a smooth area (the blue) that indicates that the tire isn't being pushed as hard there, and the buildup on the back part of the siping (the red) shows that you're having some minor issues with rebound that are causing the ridge. Nothing major though, tire looks well used and good. Maybe overheating a little but that's hard to tell without having some understanding of what your cold to hot increase is. Looks good though. If you're running consistent times on the asphault, I'd try dialing in or out a click of rebound damping (it's hard to tell exactly what you should be doing without seeing the tire and the wear), and seeing if it wears better or worse...either way, it still looks drat good and I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.
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Oct 12, 2009 02:37
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Taisa posted:I'm a total tire noob, and feel like my stock tires are at the beginning of the end. I have 8300 miles on them, and I ride an 08 r6 (meaning I've been on these tires for over a year). Your front looks pretty squared off, and the rear looks like it's about done. Unless you're going to do trackdays, I'd run a sport touring rear and a street/track front. Or sport touring front/rear. Depends on how you ride and how often you want to replace tires.
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Oct 14, 2009 03:10
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Taisa posted:Currently I'm commuting about 30 miles a day, 5 days a week. No track days, as it's my only transportation for the moment so I can't afford wadding it on a track. May as well go with sport touring front and rear then...they'll handle commuting better. No need to get them up to temp for max grip, coming up to temp quicker, etc. Plus they'll last longer.
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Oct 14, 2009 04:02
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 23:27 |
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What sort of emergency braking were you practicing on the side of the tire? Occasionally you'll hit something that'll take a minor gouge out of the side of your tire, it's not really anything to worry about if it's not that deep. Getting some funny wear on the rear tire during emergency braking practice is pretty normal, you're usually doing a lot of heavy acceleration and braking and that abuses the tire a bit.
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Oct 18, 2009 15:12
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