Choosing Favorite Tires

When my bike was recently inspected, both tires passed, but the front one was starting to experience dry-rot. Is this really a threat? I am assuming that I am going to use up all the remaining tread pretty quickly anyway...

So the questions for us today are;

Dry-Rot: Big deal or not a big deal?

What are your favorite tires? (Size and Use, What bike etc,)

Should you pump tires up to the PSI indicated on the tire or what the Yamaha manual calls for?

Jonathan

 

dry rot: the best thing that could happen is a flat 20 miles from home. the next worse thing could be fatal

brand: i bought a few sets of Kenda tires because i'am a cheep s o b
i didn't pay a lot and don't expect a lot, never had any problems

air: go with the yamaha book for standard sizes, the tire will be labeled for max load

 

Agreed with the air, go with the manual specs.

Let me now what you decide on, will probably need to replace mine next year...

 

I am in the same boat, need new front tire.
What am I looking to pay.
Have not done any riding or shopping so I am in the dark.
Its nice in the dark
Seriously what cheap front tires are recomended and how much
Sorry Time for jacking the thread.

 

This is what I had in mind. People to throw out what their favorites are and maybe why. That way I don't have spend way too much on a set that would be overkill for what we need on older XJ's. Some things are rocket science in the jumps they have made since 82, but tires are not them I think.

 

well i had some dry rot on my back tire (not to mention a mismatched front tire) when i bought mine 2 weeks ago, so i decided to get new tires.

i searched the site and it seems a few people are using the Bridgestone s11 spitfire. i got a set shipped off the internet for about 100 bucks (for my seca tire sizes anyways).

 

Dry rot or damage of any kind on a motor cycle tyre, replace the tyre.

I'm running Kenda front and Shinco rear. Cheap but do the job OK. Put 5,000 Km on them back half worn, front way less than half. Good for those on a tight budget @ NZ$88 front and NZ$110 rear you probably won't pay more than US$100.

Seem predictable, OK in the wet and have not had a tyre skip out.

Disclaimer, I ride like a nana so don't know what they would be like at warp factor nine on the twistys

 

the last set i got was for my bmw and i couldn't bring myself to put kenda's
on it, so went with bridgestone spitfire, not much more money
they seem be wearing well, and balanced easily and go around corners faster
than i do

 

I had Spitfires on my maxim, They were okay tires but a little loose in the rain. When they wore out i swapped on a set of Dunlop Gt501's. $110 front and $148 rear. Excellent tires. Good ride and great in the wet weather. I have about 3k on them now and they show no real signs of wear. Parts still have the little rubber ends sticking up.

A friend of mine bought a set of Metzler Lasertec's and put them on a CX605. He also much perfers them over the spitfires he also had. They were about the same price.

 

Heard lots of good reports for the Spitfires on a local forum. Avons also are a popular choise for those who want more out of the corners!

Tyres are expensive here, guys riding late model bikes import tyres from he USA and still save a couple hundred!

Tyres are one of those things that it is best to spend as much as you can afford on, but even the cheapest seem to be OK these days. I have a very limited budget though, heck that's why I have a 24 year old bike (and car)!

 

I have the Dunlop GT501 front and back, and I am very happy with them.

 

Interesting post/topic.

I posted recently on this - my ront tyre was completely bald and sometime we become a little used to the slow deterioration of tyres and the changes in handling to the bike.

With a rounded and bald front tye steering was heavy and a little vague.

Put a new Bridgestone BT45 on the front and wow...what a difference. Apart from teh fact the old one (Dunlop) was way gone, the Bridgestone after a short running in ride early on a Sunday, proved to be just the ting for my XJ900.

I'm sure there are good brands of tyres, expensive brands of tyres, but the Bridgstone's are reasonable, look good and work really well.

 

yeah i was kinda worried about rain from the s11's tread pattern. it doesnt look like it has water channels

 

I have run both the Dunlop K491 Elite II's and 591's and have been very pleased with the performance of each. The Elite II's got me plenty of milage (average of 20K miles for each rear) while the performance 591 got me about half that. Metzler Lazer tires aren't a bad match either. I am not a corner-carver so I can't not attest to the handling on anything other than regular street riding. I've also inherited a CB650 with Chen Shins on it. Rolling garbage, rather blunt but true.

 

As 'sorta mentioned' above Bridgestone BT45's are pretty well THE best tire available in these sizes.. Given that the contact patch on a Moto is Tiny! And mix'n matching is err.. Illegal (for pretty obvious reasons) in many places.
NOT the place to save your $$. Skin is far more expensive.

 

I have had a Dunlop Qualifier European tread pattern tire on the rear this year and I can honestly say it has been the best wet/dry tire I have used yet. This thing grabs like no tomorrow no matter how hard you lean. The fun is over in the rain though when the wear indicators show. It has a tendency to act like a slick as soon as they do.
The Chen Shing Marquis are yet the worst I have tried. They wear very unevenly and become very quirky after only a 1000 miles or so. I have a zig-zag pattern going down the center of the tread that really makes the bike shimmy like no tomorrow. If you like riding on the road with lower body parts puckered, Chen Shings are for you.

 

Robert:
define "rolling garbage" , must be some pretty glaring deficiency
how much tread, age of tire

 

Very happy with my Bridgestone BT45s. About $75 each from Chaparral Motorsports (with free shipping if over $100).

I mainly ride interstate, so I wanted a dual-compound tire to (hopefully) get more mileage out of them. Have about 9000 miles on them so far, and still going strong.

Not a corner carver, but they seem to have good grip.

Herb

 

I've got a set of ChenShin Barracudas on mine. After about 3K miles I have to say they are great on good dry pavement. Very sure footed - can easily ruin foot pegs with them. Wear seems to be good.

They do seem to fight crossing wide expansion joints between lanes on a lane change. It's bad enough I try very hard to avoid changing lanes to the inside on a curve.

I'm a fair weather rider. The one time I got caught in the rain (after dark!) I found the tar they fill Michigan cracks with a bit unnerving. Not sure how much was the tires and how much was new rider paranoia.

I mounted them myself and they were very well balanced. I ended up with 1/4 oz weight on the rear and no weights on the front.

Next time though I'll get something with a bit knobbier tread (these are practically slicks) in the hopes they will be more sure footed crossing those joints.

Overall though I'm very satisfied and think I got great value for a set of tires that cost well south of $100.

 

When I am carving the local canyons I need the sticky dunlop gt501's. However when I need the long distance wear proof commuting tires I will go with a set of Conti touring tires. So far I have over 11,000 miles on the rear and it looks like it will go another 10,000 miles. When I had the Dunlop 591 rear on there it looked like it was almost bald after 3000 miles. These have been on the Seca Turbo which isnt any lightweight, at over 500 lbs dry on a narrow 120 rear and a 100 front. So far I like the conti tours with the exception of the front tire, that thing is cupping like crazy and will probably get replaced in the next few thousand miles or most likely the cheap bastard that I am will wait until I get another set in 6 months. They have held up fairly well even in the turns, Went for a few canyon runs and never had a slip. I would really like the chance to go out and push them to see when they would slide, but the thought of having that pig on top of me has made me slow down 8O
Now if I could just get a really good tire that gave me great grip in the corners but wore like iron, that would be my tire of choice. I havent found that one yet.
As for the cheng shing tires, I would never use them. Years ago when I worked as a motorcycle mechanic, I have had the pleasure of changing and attempting to balance those oval tires. They always took longer to balance than any other tire out there. Just remember this, is your life worth the few bucks you might save from some unknown or cheaply made tire??

Sean