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Favorite tires


Guest bmidd

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I believe it. I have 5000 miles on my stock tires and the rear is still round with adequate tread. I'm not sure it'll make 7700 miles, but at the current rate i should get to 6000-6500 with no trouble. And I'm not exactly ginger on the throttle.
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I have used Pirelli's, Bridgestone's, Michelins and Dunlop's on different bikes over the years. The D222/Roadsmart 2 has been my first touring tire and I am very impressed with it. When the front wears out I am going to try the Pirelli Angel GT. The stock rear was over half gone at 2500 miles, so I replaced it early since I was leaving for a 3k mile ride.
2015 FJ-09
2006 Triumph Daytona 675
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I have used Pirelli's, Bridgestone's, Michelins and Dunlop's on different bikes over the years. The D222/Roadsmart 2 has been my first touring tire and I am very impressed with it. When the front wears out I am going to try the Pirelli Angel GT. The stock rear was over half gone at 2500 miles, so I replaced it early since I was leaving for a 3k mile ride.
I had the Angel GT's installed on my FZ09 when I burned up the stockers, had both front and rear installed. I actually didn't care for them all that much in the corners. They sure did last a long time though!!!! 
I'll probably look into getting a PR4 this time around.
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I have gone with PR4 GTs as there were no standard PR4 in stock they have been fantastic in fact wear wise a little better than the standard road 4s ,have never had any problems with them would recommend them great bit of kit ....I do in excess of 550km per week in all weather and in the wet is where they really shine :P
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I had the Angel GT's installed on my FZ09 when I burned up the stockers, had both front and rear installed. I actually didn't care for them all that much in the corners. They sure did last a long time though!!!! 
I'll probably look into getting a PR4 this time around.
Good to know!  The corners are where it matters.Cheers 
2015 FJ-09
2006 Triumph Daytona 675
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On my TDM I worn 2 sets of Metzeler (>20000km / set), 1 set of bridgestones (<16000km and glad they didn't last longer, worst tyres I've ever had)
And 2 sets of Michelin PR3 (> 20000km/set, best ones on the TDM)
My MT-09 tracer , I have MPR4 from the start. The D222 are, according to my dealer, only useful as a rimsaver. Most of his customers had them replaced.
 
I keep my tyres somewhat hyperinflated. 3.1 bar instead of 2.8 rear and 2.9 instead of 2.8 front. Doesn't do much for comfort, but keeps wear and tear limited, and the tyres stay rounder.
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I have been through a slew of tires on my FJRs. I think I have settled on the PR4s in the standard spec. I had a set of GT spec PR4s that were toast at 5K. I replaced them with a set of non-GT spec PR4s and I am at 7K and they still look darn near new with very little cupping or flattening showing. Before we leave on our trip next summer I am going to put a brand new set of PR4s on both bikes. Will be a good side by side test, although my son is only 150lbs on the FJ vs my 235 on the FJR.
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Done just over 3,000 miles on the stock D222 tyres on my bike.... I doubt i'll even get to 4,000 before the rear is illegal.
Not happy with this sort of wear rate at all.
Thinking about putting some dual sport tyres on next. I like the look of them, they handle well enough for me and i get decent mileage from em.
I was very happy with the Conti Trail Attack i had on my S10, so i may give em a go on my Tracer if i can get the sizes.
 
Anyone else used dual sport tyres on the 09 ?
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Done just over 3,000 miles on the stock D222 tyres on my bike.... I doubt i'll even get to 4,000 before the rear is illegal. Not happy with this sort of wear rate at all.
Thinking about putting some dual sport tyres on next. I like the look of them, they handle well enough for me and i get decent mileage from em.
I was very happy with the Conti Trail Attack i had on my S10, so i may give em a go on my Tracer if i can get the sizes.
 
Anyone else used dual sport tyres on the 09 ?
As you probably already figured out doing a search on this site, the stock Dunlops do not last that long. I got 4,000 miles out of mine, but my riding is 80% twisty and the roads have chip seal (abrasive!). The front will last about 6,000 miles. I went with the roadsmart II tire on the rear when the stock wore out, and then on the front when that stock tire wore out. I only have about 2,500 miles on the RS II rear tire now, but it appears to be wearing much better.  
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Bikes:
2015 FJ-09, Seat Concepts seat cover and foam, Cal Sci medium screen, rim stripes, factory heated grips, Cortech Dryver tank bag ring, Modified stock exhaust, FlashTune with Graves fuel map, Cree driving lights, Aux power socket.
2012 Street Triple type R (Wifes)
2007 FJR1300 (Sold!)
 
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Done just over 3,000 miles on the stock D222 tyres on my bike.... I doubt i'll even get to 4,000 before the rear is illegal. Not happy with this sort of wear rate at all.
Thinking about putting some dual sport tyres on next. I like the look of them, they handle well enough for me and i get decent mileage from em.
I was very happy with the Conti Trail Attack i had on my S10, so i may give em a go on my Tracer if i can get the sizes.
 
Anyone else used dual sport tyres on the 09 ?
As you probably already figured out doing a search on this site, the stock Dunlops do not last that long. I got 4,000 miles out of mine, but my riding is 80% twisty and the roads have chip seal (abrasive!). The front will last about 6,000 miles. I went with the roadsmart II tire on the rear when the stock wore out, and then on the front when that stock tire wore out. I only have about 2,500 miles on the RS II rear tire now, but it appears to be wearing much better.  
 
 
The Roadsmart II will be a contender when i need a rear, which will probably be next spring. I'll see what their prices are like compared to others when i need em.
 
 
 

 
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D222 stock tyres are not available on the retail market - I bought a rear Roadsmart 2 to pair with the part worn front. Works well
 
No loss if the D222s aren't available retail, if you ask me. While they aren't even close to the worst tires I've ever used (that goes to the MeZ4s circa 2000-2004, which were lousy in cold weather, lousy in wet weather, extra lousy in cold and wet weather, kinda ok in warm weather as long as you got them good and warmed up) they are still only so-so. Not bad in cool and wet, which was nice in the spring when I picked up the FJ, but they don't shed water as well as Michelin PR3s (which I like a hell of a lot in all conditions) or Pilot Power (still my favorite front), and I'm not a fan of their edge grip -- pretty squirrelly, although they did the job well enough right down to dragging hard parts.
 
For riding style, I prefer tight and twisty - the tighter and twistier the better - but realistically I only get to do that kind of thing while on tour, maybe 2500 miles in a typical a year.  Day to day is more highway and city riding, so I square tires off pretty fast if they're not dual compound.  I'm tame as hell in the city, too many things want to kill me.  On tour I used to think I was a pretty slow rider but apparently over the years of riding the Daytona I got quite a lot faster.  Still not fast-guy by any stretch, but only the truly fast guys are losing me in the corners these days.
 
I mention all that because my tendency isn't to ham-fist the throttle, and I think that goes a long way towards preserving rear tire life.
 
The D222s are still on the bike at just shy of 5k miles.  This year I did a lot more touring than commuting, in excess of 3,000 miles, mostly loaded heavy one-up.  (Not a lot for the long distance guys, I know, but family and job cut into riding. :-)  Even so the rear is just hitting the wear bars.
 
I had expected/intended to replace the D222s with my preferred Pilot Power front and PR3 rear, or perhaps both PR3s depending on mood and inclination and stock availability, a month ago but a near total lack of riding this fall means there was still a little meat left so I'm waiting for spring. The front is still in pretty good condition, I could probably get another 2k miles out of it, I just don't like it very much.
 
While my recent preference has been for Michelins I was also very happy with all the BT0XX tires I ever ran too, and wouldn't hesitate to get another set. My feeling is that the Michelins do a little bit better in extreme wet, but both brands/models are excellent in a broad range of conditions.  The PR3 front seemed to square off less fast than the PP or any of the BT0XXs, but my perception was that it was easier to lock up under braking.  The longer wear and better wet weather performance of the PR3s outweighs ultimate braking performance in my mind, but it's a near thing.
 
A good many friends like the Angel GTs, and I think they're a lot cheaper than any of my preferred tires.  I've not tried them myself so I can't offer a comparison. Given that I'm riding dirt much more often on the FJ than on my previous Daytona 675 (not a great dirt bike, but sometimes that's where the road goes :-) I have also considered getting something with a bit more dirt capability, but it's so hard to give up that edge grip on a bike like the FJ which is so lively on the street. Maybe I will give something else a try after I replace the suspension with something that doesn't knock teeth out on rough roads....
2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate)
2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.)
1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.)
2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.)
2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.)
 
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back when I was all street I fell in love with the Michelin Power 2ct's. Amazing road tire, got 7-8k miles on them and the grip was amazing. As I'm much more dual-sporty these days, and will be taking teh FJ on some milder forest service roads I'm thinking Anakee 3 for the next set.
 
I have already had the stockers on packed dirt and gravel and they seemed ok...
2015 Red FJ 09
2013 WR250R - little boy blue - sold
2012 DL650 V Strom - sold
2007 FZ6 - sold
1986 FJ600 - sold
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I tend to stay mostly on the pavement. I think the PR4 is better for tire mileage and in the rain and the Angel GT is better in the corners. I would not stray from either of those tires on any of my bikes.
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