best tires

I have new bridgestones but haven't had the bike outof the garage yet. Carbs apart again....

 

I have had real good luck with a performance CHALLENGER rear tire. Onlyt one I have had to replace so far. Stay as far away from SHEN-CHIN. My 700 could not stand them.

 

how about on a 650?

has anyone tried wider tires?

what do u'all recommend on a 650 seca?

something not soo slick and good for rain!

 

I have a Chin shin CZ Marquiz 100/90 19 on the front that came with the bike. It has been very well in the rain but have had a real bad problem with uneven wear.
I replaced the rear with a challenger 130/90 16. This has been a very good tire for me. I am like the post man, I ride rain or shine daily about 30 miles a day. it has been on about 6 months and is just now starting to wear flat in the middle. It is also starting to have a brake problem. It wants to slide when I get aggressive on the rear brake.
I will update on the new pair coming soon.

 

I'll throw my reccomendation in here for Avon tires (tyres I guess - they're British).
I've had an AM-21 Roadrunner on the back of my bike for about 8 years & 35,000km now and this is one amazing tire. When I had to change the front, I would have bought another, but couldn't find anyone selling the Avon's.
These Roadrunners make wonderful tires - long tread life, sticky enough that I've never been able to break it loose without oil or a lot of rain, and fantastic handling.

 

RE: Wider tires

I know everyone is obsessed with this in all biker circles - but honestly it's mostly hype and very little use. A bigger tire is for putting more horsepower to the ground, and a slightly larger contact patch for REALLY REALLY high speed turns and extreme braking situations.

A larger tire weights more, costs more, and doesn't really help you - stick with stock sizes unless you find stock sizes inadequate or unavailable.

RE: Tire selection
I ride a maxim 650 fairely aggressively and on some pretty long rides. After a few different tires I've settled on the dunlop GT 501's. Very nice tire, deep groves to throw off the water, and sticky... I can check my logs but certainly out over 10,000 miles on the last rear tire.

I've ranted about this tire before - if you check the archives you'll probably find it. Search may also find it. GT501.

 

Tire notes that I found quickly:

http://xjbikes.com/archive_forum/t430.htm

http://xjbikes.com/archive_forum/t578.htm

 

yer i finnaly ended up buying the bridgestone spitfire's

they were the only ones in my size anyway!

and they're doing great soo far!!

 

Oh right - what were the sizes you needed again - a 17" rear tire or something different?

 

I've tried several tires and I'm sold on the Michelin Macadam. They are sticky enough for track days, yet I was getting 11,000 + miles out of them on my 550. Much improved ride and traction over the Bridgestone Spirtfire/S11, Dunop GT-501 and Avon.

In this pic, the tire just finished its second trackday and already had about 5,000 street miles on it. I took the pic to show that even sport-touring tires can get plenty sticky if you get enough heat in them.

 

Nice job on that tire - I got my front doing that in NY... the rear gummed a bit on the sides, but the front got melted.

Macadam's you say...

 

woot said: something about my tires!! lol

rear was 120/90 18 and all else i could find were

challengers 130 80 18

so i stuck to spitfires!!

i rarely speed much anyway :roll:

 

Took me too long to remember we have different rear rims... 16" for me.

18" is such a strange size... don't see many that size, probably why tires are such a bitch.

I don't speed so much as enjoy the scenary and matching the engine sounds to my mood... Twisties make me happy - on the slab I don't speed far too much attention...