Best Tires in 2020

[banderso]

Ah, new chain, sprockets, and tires..

A great combination....

It was 92 degrees here today. The last 75 miles was warm. 

Southern Indiana isn't like N GA. At least in GA you get into the mountains where it's cooler....

You know, there's a temperature where speed doesn't cool much... haha... but I keep trying....

See ya

bill

 

[2and3cylinders]

I'm a born Hoosier and no the twang and humidity that you can cut with a knife and the farm roads with the high tension wires running along I'm buzzing ozone at night with clouds of bugs are the days

[Bimbim18]

+1 for road 5s. 

Just replaced my stock tires (6500 miles) with them. Mounted and balanced myself. The stickiness is definitely there and digging my fingernails into the tires I can definitely feel the center will definitely last. I hadn't really pushed it but the grip is definitely impressive. There's a round- about with paint on it on the way to work that my tires always wanted to slide on it (why would they do that). Not even a sense of it wanting to slide. And definitely grabs the road in the rain still.

[denveryzf]

On 8/24/2020 at 5:07 PM, 2and3cylinders said:

I got a check but I think I got about the same out of my RS3 but they really needed it sooner and I don't know if you saw it when I posted up I was seeing chords on the rear hahaha

The T31 ones are nice any new tires nice I just hope I get the mileage I'm looking for out of them with my new 520 chain and sprockets (2nd set of 520 in 41k) that I put on at the same time I lubed the swing arm and linkage cleaned up the bike rerouted the chain oiler

got to stiffen up the front though in this hot weather, it is like Florida here

 

I did this a couple of times on my '05 FZ1 and it wasn't too bad. Did you run into any snags with the FJ? Mine is a GT, but I assume they are pretty much the same, aside from swing arm length and minor difference in shock design?

Edited August 27, 2020 by denveryzf

[2and3cylinders]

9 hours ago, denveryzf said:

I did this a couple of times on my '05 FZ1 and it wasn't too bad. Did you run into any snags with the FJ? Mine is a GT, but I assume they are pretty much the same, aside from swing arm length and minor difference in shock design?

No issues but I installed a like new link arm & 3-way connector assy to save time off eBay for $35 shipped and will clean and grease my 40k mile set for next time.  The old grease turns into was that hold in place the needle rollers, which when cleaned have to be carefully reset in the new grease.

[betoney]

10 hours ago, denveryzf said:

I did this a couple of times on my '05 FZ1 and it wasn't too bad. Did you run into any snags with the FJ? Mine is a GT, but I assume they are pretty much the same, aside from swing arm length and minor difference in shock design?

Its not an issue after you figure out the disassembly process the first time, after that its quite simple.  I do mine annually and can do swing arm and shock linkage bearings and have everything reassembled within an hour.

[2and3cylinders]

2 hours ago, betoney said:

Its not an issue after you figure out the disassembly process the first time, after that its quite simple.  I do mine annually and can do swing arm and shock linkage bearings and have everything reassembled within an hour.

It takes me an hour just to get the wheel off and clean /wax everything but I'm anal.  I maybe could do in 2 hours but I replaced the tire, chain and sprockets as part of the overall job. I don't see why to do it every year unless you ride a LOT in the rain and over 30k miles a year. Mine could have gone either season and I was at 40k.

Question, while on the center stand when I tighten the axle nut,  the swing arm pivots upward about 1/16" like there's slop in the shock linkage assembly or upper Razor-R mount. It did it before and after the work.  Maybe I'm just expecting too tight of tolerances in a mass produced contrivance.  Cumulatively, between the 6 bolt pivot points it's inevitable that there'd be some slop...?  Try it yourself and please let me know. It will do it after the axle nut is tensioned, so you don't need to loosened first, or does it take a lot of torque.

[betoney]

8 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

It takes me an hour just to get the wheel off and clean /wax everything but I'm anal.  I maybe could do in 2 hours but I replaced the tire, chain and sprockets as part of the overall job. I don't see why to do it every year unless you ride a LOT in the rain and over 30k miles a year. Mine could have gone either season and I was at 40k.

Question, while on the center stand when I tighten the axle nut,  the swing arm pivots upward about 1/16" like there's slop in the shock linkage assembly or upper Razor-R mount. It did it before and after the work.  Maybe I'm just expecting too tight of tolerances in a mass produced contrivance.  Cumulatively, between the 6 bolt pivot points it's inevitable that there'd be some slop...?  Try it yourself and please let me know. It will do it after the axle nut is tensioned, so you don't need to loosened first, or does it take a lot of torque.

All of my bikes have had that 'slop' - maybe a few millimeters, dirtbikes as well, even after brand new shock, swingarm and linkage bearings.

You are correct, my schedule of greasing the bearings every Winter is probably overkill but it gives me something to do while the weather is crappy so I am ok with it.  👍

[Tripletrouble]

On 8/23/2020 at 2:31 PM, andz said:

So this morning out on a ride around 90km from home I hit something on the road and the rear immediately went flat. Luckily it was a straight road in traffic so only doing around 60km/h.

The tyre can't be saved so tomorrow I have to shell out for a new pair.

I'm still running the stock Dunlops and am leaning towards Michelin Pilot Road 4 as I had them on my Fazer and they felt good but are the 5s better? Worth what is sure to be a difference in price?

I've only done around 9,000km on these tyres so I'm a bit miffed that I have to buy new tyres so soon.

For me, stock Dunlop’s were crap in the damp, gave no feeling at front and wear relatively quickly. Don’t be miffed, you’ll be glad they have worn out when you put roads on. 4’s are great, they can wiggle a bit coming out of corners but you get used to that. Warm up quickly, great grip in wet or dry, compliant over bumps and good wear for a grippy tyre. Best thing I’ve done to bike was put these on.  5’s, the tread collects gravel and throws it out at whoever’s behind you. Less wiggle out of corners, but I wouldn’t say they are a big difference over the 4’s, if you can get some cheaper 4’s with a recent date on. Do check that date, it makes a difference as rubber gets hard with age. 

[andz]

On 8/28/2020 at 10:35 PM, Tripletrouble said:

For me, stock Dunlop’s were crap in the damp, gave no feeling at front and wear relatively quickly. Don’t be miffed, you’ll be glad they have worn out when you put roads on. 4’s are great, they can wiggle a bit coming out of corners but you get used to that. Warm up quickly, great grip in wet or dry, compliant over bumps and good wear for a grippy tyre. Best thing I’ve done to bike was put these on.  5’s, the tread collects gravel and throws it out at whoever’s behind you. Less wiggle out of corners, but I wouldn’t say they are a big difference over the 4’s, if you can get some cheaper 4’s with a recent date on. Do check that date, it makes a difference as rubber gets hard with age. 

I put PR5s on almost a week ago as I couldn't get 4s anywhere.

I can see why the tread would chuck stones, that's a wide groove.

 

[Tripletrouble]

Ok, it’s just my experience, enjoy your riding, sure you’ll find them an improvement.  36 on rear is better for me than 42(as book). 

[Clegg78]

This is a great thread!  I was about to pull the trigger on a set of Road 5's  (I've had Pilot Road 2, 3, and 5's on my past bike), but I wanted one that wouldn't fling gravel quite as violently as the Road 5's seemed to, and try something else.   Ended up ordering a set of Pirelli Scorpion II Trails.   Looking forward to trying them out.     I am heading out for a week long ride that takes me over some areas that are now calling for potential snow/cold rain when I am there... so.. I didnt want to mess with the 2000mi worn stock D222's on those roads. 

One comment I have is I read "I got XX,XXX" miles on a tire and it is great vs "I got X,XXX" on a tire and I hate how short of a life it had... is I would almost always pick the shorter life tire... faster wear on a modern motorcycle tire generally means more grip.     And in general tires for motorcycles are pretty cheap overall.    

Wanted to say thanks for the info on this thread!

[Michiel900GT]

I struggle a lot with cornering my Tracer. Still in doubt whether to take the loss and trade it in or keep improving things (at a cost).

Today I had the Hyperpro springs properly set up. But the guy who helped me said that they had at least 5 Tracer owners who had changed their springs and were very happy with it until.....they put Michelin PR5 on their bikes. After that they all thought that there was something wrong with the springs or spring setup. As soon as they switched from Michelin to Dunlop Roadsmart 3 things felt normal again. Sounds strange as the Michelin's get good reviews, but the guy really knows his stuff when it comes to bike riding behaviour.

Now, the funny thing is, a month or so ago the guy from Roadlok EU told me he really recommended Dunlop Roadsmart 3 tires. He said that Michelin PR5 was too wobbly due to a soft inner construction. And that Roadsmart would be better. I didn't take it too serious as he personally knew the Dunlop importer and I thought he was just making some advertisement.

But the Hyperpro guy doesn't sell tires. So he has no real interest in promoting Dunlop.

And I just couldn't figure out why my second Tracer GT gave me so much more cornering issues then the first one I owned. Until it hit me: the only thing that is different are the tires. 

So I might just go and try some Roadsmart tires, see how that goes. Apparently the Roadsmart has a stiffer compound and inner works which improves turning and cornering.

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by Michiel900GT
Typo

[betoney]

1 hour ago, Michiel900GT said:

Today I had the Hyperpro springs properly set up. But the guy who helped me said that they had at least 5 Tracer owners who had changed their springs and were very happy with it until.....they put Michelin PR5 on their bikes. After that they all thought that there was something wrong with the springs or spring setup. As soon as they switched from Michelin to Dunlop Roadsmart 3 things felt normal again. Sounds strange as the Michelin's get good reviews, but the guy really knows his stuff when it comes to bike riding behaviour.

Now, the funny thing is, a month or so ago the guy from Roadlok EU told me a month he really recommended Dunlop Roadsmart 3 tires. He said that Michelin PR5 was too wobbly due to a soft inner construction. And that Roadsmart would be better.

So I might just go and try some Roadsmart tires, see how that goes. Apparently the Roadsmart has a stiffer compound and inner works which improves turning and cornering.

I have heard several people mention that the RS3 were harder to mount - due to the stiffer sidewall?  I have never tried either tire but what he said makes sense if the Michelin have a soft sidewall construction.  It will be really interesting to hear your finding by just swapping tires.

[Stew]

1 hour ago, Michiel900GT said:

So I might just go and try some Roadsmart tires, see how that goes. Apparently the Roadsmart has a stiffer compound and inner works which improves turning and cornering.

 

I have Dunlop Sportsmax tyres on mine, which sometimes are branded as Roadsmart 3's.
They have not given me a problem, BUT... I can't feel anything from them. I reduced the pressures to 33f 36r and it helped a wee bit. I can turn the bike with it leaned over as far as I am comfortable with, which is pretty far.
But I will not be getting them again. In the wet I am being overtaken by pedestrians, as I just can't feel any grip at all.
Now, they may be gripping, but I can't feel it through my backside and my toes, and those are directly connected to my brain when riding.

I've done 2000 miles on them so far, and there is a ton of tread left, but the rear is squaring off a bit, despite the fact that I spend most of my time riding on twisty roads, so the bike isn't completely upright much of the time.

We all have different needs with tyres, and some suit one rider and not another. gl with your search. I'm dreading changing tyres, new tyres of a different brand/profile/pattern can make or break a bike's handling.