What tyres for the 8V.

My tyres are nearing the end of their useful life , so here's the start of a tyre thread......

On the 2010 8v are Metzeler M3 Sportecs, must admit I'm not overly impressed.
I've had Michelin Road Pilot 2CTs on my BMW K1200S which I liked, and am currently using Avon Storm Ultras on it now.
Had Pirelli Corsa Diablo's on my Aprilia Tuono and Benelli TnT , and Buell 1125R but they were all a fair bit lighter and was doing track days on them.
Looking for something that's a bit sticky, don't need to be pushed to warm up ( living in UK you know.....) but not silly soft.
Thoughts ?
Ta.

I've been running Michelin Pilot Road 3's on mine and they are just about shagged now after 18,000km. I'm going to be replacing them with Pilot Road 4's soon. Thde 3's have been very good but have squared off (back and front) in the last 3,000km due to too much highway riding.

I like my Dunlop Q3s but the rear only lasts 4000 miles (down to the threads)
I am looking for something that lasts longer. Without giving up grip? yeah, I know.   

I can't recommend the Pirelli Diablo Rosso II. I put a new set on in preparation for my trip and only got 3750 miles (6035 km) on them before I noticed cords showing in the middle of the Nevada desert 250 miles from a motorcycle shop...

I limped on over to Carson City, NV (240 miles   ) and had a Michelin Pilot Road 3 shoed on for the rest of the trip. I got 7700 miles out of the original Dunlop Qualifiers which probably had another 1000 left on them.

Loved the feel of the Rosso IIs, but I can't live with less than 4000 miles from a tire. What a disappointment...

I've got the Avon Storm Ultras. But of course, they don't stick. Rotten horrible things. The rear is too wide for the GRiSO 'cause it's almost a 190. And the bloody things wear horribly. I've done about 7000km on mine and the effing things still looks new. Curse the fates!

I have Dunlop Q2's on mine and the they don't heat up as fast as Michelin Pilot Power 2CT I've run in the past, and I miss the V profile on the front tire. The Q2 front tire is scalloping with very few miles on it which is really odd. My next tires might be Pilot Roads though since they will have a harder center compound for all the freeway riding. I liked the Q2's on my track bike. I do not have my front forks lowered in the triple clamps.

I'm taking the piss. I love my Storm 2 Ultra's.


just in case my subtle humor is missed...

Best tire for me was the Dunlop Roadsmart (on my 09) and got 8000 miles out of it. Gripped fine for such a heavy bike...
Of course, it's been replaced by the Roadsmart 2 and that tire gets only 4000 miles or so on the same bike, bullshit!!
I tried the Conti road attack and I got 6000 miles out of those. The grip was good too.
Dunlop Qualifier was about 5000 and 4000 for the Q2s.

The stock Metzeler on my Diavolo Nero is at 4100 miles at the moment but I can't see this thing going pass 5000.
Bridgestone Blattax 023 have good reviews for longevity and grip and I'll try these next.

Put Michelin Pilot Road 3s on mine after reading about them at Guzzitech and WG. Very pleased with the grip and the wear so far. They give me as much confidence as the Dunlop Q2s I used to run on my Versys, much more confidence than the original Metzlers. I think the PR3s are fantastic tires.

I have been given the recommendation to go Dunlop RoadSmart

Hi,

After the original Metzeler tires (sliding to much...)(did only 7000 km, 4375 Mls)   ,
I bought the Michelins Pilot Road 3. Perfect tires, good grip, nearly no sliding, save feeling in the wet   .
I managed 13000 km, 8125 Mls with them! Stil good grip, no flat look.  
The new Pilot Road 4 would even do more km's/ Mls.
So after some good thoughts about the tires, I went for the also new Michelin Pilot Power 3.
A bit softer, maybe even more grip, would also be good in the wet, faster warming up and good milage   .
I put them on yesterday evening, I haven't used my G12 since.

Ad B

Thanks Chaps.
Have decided to try the Michelin Pilot Road 3's , the 2's work very well on my BMW , so I'll give them a go.

My complaint with pr3 and pr4s is they start white lining and weaving in turns in the last 1/3-1/4 of their useful life... most Michelin tires do this these days though which is a shame they were fantastic tires for about 3,000mi, life wise I saw not difference between the 3 and 4. q2s are $200 a set delivered to the door right now so at 2500mile useful life (all feeling good Ill be running them a while)


wy anekee3s on the stelvio the front is toast in 4,000mi the rear looks to make maybe 6kmi

Speakin' a which, a few years back when the Tenni was introduced, I saw one in Germany at a dealership. That bike had OEM tires with a tread pattern that looked sort of like a flat-track or hypermotard pattern. Dirt oriented in other words. Anyone have experience with that tire?

Just curious.

(google-imaged it. Yep, big wide tread blocks, very old school in appearance.)

rustyrotor wrote:

Speakin' a which, a few years back when the Tenni was introduced, I saw one in Germany at a dealership. That bike had OEM tires with a tread pattern that looked sort of like a flat-track or hypermotard pattern. Dirt oriented in other words. Anyone have experience with that tire?

Just curious.

(google-imaged it. Yep, big wide tread blocks, very old school in appearance.)

Pirelli Scorpion Syncs, same as the Stelvio of that year.

DW

Beetle,

I was thinking of the Avon's in a 170 rather than 180 to quicken the steering a bit. Any thoughts on this? Are the 180's really measuring out at 190?

guzziownr wrote:

rustyrotor wrote:

Speakin' a which, a few years back when the Tenni was introduced, I saw one in Germany at a dealership. That bike had OEM tires with a tread pattern that looked sort of like a flat-track or hypermotard pattern. Dirt oriented in other words. Anyone have experience with that tire?

Just curious.

(google-imaged it. Yep, big wide tread blocks, very old school in appearance.)

Pirelli Scorpion Syncs, same as the Stelvio of that year.

DW

Yes, Pirelli Scorpion Sync. My G8VSE Tenni is still wearing those.

The front just shown TWI across the thread blocks at 21,000km (13,125 miles), rear still have 40% remaining thread to go.

drw916 wrote:

Beetle,

I was thinking of the Avon's in a 170 rather than 180 to quicken the steering a bit.  Any thoughts on this?  Are the 180's really measuring out at 190?

I measured the 180 at 188. So yeah, might as well be a 190.  It's really close to the CARC (doesn't rub though).

The 170 might be wider than it claims too?

Don't know about quickening up the steering. Raising the rear and dropping your forks would do a more noticeable job.

Scorp syncs long discontinued...thank god a 3500mi tire that weaves like a drunk bitch the last 1000mi.  but that was a sample size of 2 sets a vfr800 (same as ours size wise) and a dl650 which was a 150-17 and a 110-19.  (13,000mi on syncs, man traffic must move at a snails pace)

I tried the syncs at EBs suggestion they speced them a long time as oem (they considered them a 4,000mi tire), My first criteria for great tire is that it feels the the same or very close from start to finish...getting weavy and weird the last few k is un acceptable,  This is my primary beef with Michelin, the pr3 and 4 feel great to the last 30% of life then get weird as does every other Mich I have used.  Bridgestone tend to do the same.

..BUT the S-20 is a GREAT TIRE, and the T30 is wonderful to the bitter end and to top it off is cheap right now!  (I would have not recommended a bridgestone tire of any type 5-6 years ago)

the 170 will actually be flatter and slower to turn in, it is made for a wheel narrower than ours...do you ride in the rain?  I gave up on Avon due to some very unpredictable grip (not to mention them never seeming to catch after they start to slide)  small slides happen all the time but good rubber re-connects and Avons (any of them right now) just do not seem to hook back up when they start to slide,  I have noticed they seem to give little feedback when pushed but the last i have used were the storm 2, and 3ds,  I am ok with their vintage tires for the old bikes though (speedy and safety milage 2).  The distenzas were really really non grippy on the vstrom

Has anybody tried the new Pirelli Angle GT's    Got the GRiSO with a Shinko Raven in the rear and a Conti Motion in the front. I was hot-dogging it quite well with that combo but it was not too confidence instilling.. The Conti Motion is now done in the front and I really want to get her nice, sticky and longer lasting new shoes..

I was just thinking about throwing a 185 or 190 on my rear to slow down the steering a bit.
But I should wait until after I get the Falco sport touring clip-ons first.

DM

Pilot power for real sport driving, or if it should last longer and goes a bit slower pilot road 4

The Metzeler Roadtec Z8 in specification M for front and O for rear tyre are are very good tyres for long mileage. And the wet performance is also good.

I drive the tyre now for over 3500 miles an it is still 50% alive!

I just found this review

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So I thought I might try the Michelin Pilot Road 2.
Any comments??

DungeonMaster wrote:

I just found this review

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

So I thought I might try the Michelin Pilot Road 2.
Any comments??

I had PR 2s on my Shiver a couple of years ago and they gave excellent service - note the Shiver is much lighter than the GRiSO. The PR2s gave very good dry grip and lasted for nearly 12000 kms on the rear with no noticeable degradation of performance. However, if you ride a lot in the wet you might like to check out the PR3s or even the latest PR4s. It might also pay to check whether the 'superseded' PR2s you are interested in are old stock, which may or may not be an issue depending on how they have been stored.