Best all around tires

[Beemer67]

Hello all. Sorry if this topic has already been covered. Can you please tell me what tire sets you have liked and disliked (2001). I am about ready for a new rear tire. I just got the bike two weeks ago so I am new to VFR's. I do a lot of weekend Colorado canyon riding but mostly it is a daily driver to work. Thank you.

[kennymact]

;D Hello and welcome to the world of the vfr. I use bridgestone battlax bt 010 on the front and a 020 on the rear.The 010 is a sport tyre but the rear is a touring,it has a double compound which is supposed to be harder in the middle so you don,t get a flat spot so easily.I had a set of metzlers too which were very good but ended up going to the bt,s again-oh and be very carefull scrubbing it in...good luck 8)

[Jake]

Best compromise between traction (especially cold/wet) and mileage that I've found so far is the Michelin Pilot Road.


HTH,
Jake

[fyrmann]

I have to agree with Kenny. I live up in Ontario, Can. and ride with Battlax BT020 front and back. I've put about 16,00Kms (10,000) miles, and the back is in good shape for next year. Only problem is that they are a bit noisy when cold.
Good luck, Ron

[Guest]

I'm in love with my Maxxis SuperMaxx tires. I have yet to see any wear on either of them and haven't had them slip or feel unstable yet. I have used the entire width of the 180 rear tread, haven't made it too the sides strips yet, I live in Nebraska!!!
My front has about 4000 miles on it and the rear is at about 1000. I got a nail in the previous rear at about 3000 but it didn't show harly any sign of wear, I expect to get around 6-8000 miles out of them. They are cheaper than Pilots and handle better than a buddies Pilot Roads on his CBR. Another buddy has Pilot Sports on his 954 and I run from him through corners, but this is due to ability and inhibitions. He has went down now 5 times in the last year...Yeah seriously. Twice doing wheelies, Twice through corners hitting gravel in the early season, and once on a gravel road at low speed. He only gets about 4000-5000 miles on a easy riden tire, he's on his 3rd set this year and they need replaced. I gave under $300 for tires mounted and bal. for the Maxxis SuperMaxx. Ebay is the best place to buy I've found, for NEW tires. I personally don't like Bridgestone as both set I've had started cupping about 3000 and 3800 miles but had good tread left otherwise. I've seen others start cupping even quicker too.

[92yellowveefer]

Just to throw another option into the mix - I put on a set of Avon Azaros on my 91 and I friggin love these tires. Best all-around balance I've ever experienced. I've currently got 6,000 on the set, and am ready to retire them next season. I will absolutely replace them with a new set of Azaros.

Good news - there are so many great performance/mileage tires on the market today that it's hard to go wrong. Check out some of the write-ups on motorcyclist.com as well.

[RVFR]

Holy Moly another tire question got a love this subject, okay I'll chim in. You can't go to wrong with any of the tires less the chung chings type. I've run Bridgestones 56, 020, 014 all were great. If I was going to be put on the spot I liked the 56r but since they quite making that tire I've moved to the 014 which also worked well just got better millage out of the 56. Now that said I've moved on to the Pirelli Corsas as I'm in the mode to try something new, only have 400 miles, so far so good. I like the profile and read good things about this tire. it's also the rave in Europe. beside the Pirellis came at a great price do to the end of the season blow out special, so for me it was a no brainer. qustion now is the milage time will tell. good luck hope this helped

[KC-10 FE]

My vote goes to Metzeler M1's. I put them on my 89 Honda Hawk and I swear that bike is magnetically attached to the ground...

KC-10 FE out...

[RVFR]

Quick up date you might look into the new Dunlop Qualfiers If they would have been out back when I was needing tires I would've tried them on for size. Heard a many a good things Though I'm still sticking to my Pirellis for now.

[stephanon2whls]

The Setup:
It was finally time for a third set of replacement tires on my 2000 VFR800
last month. I've worn out two pairs of Michelin Pilot Sport tires after the
original Dunlop D204K tires. Each rear tire has lasted about 6000 to 6250
miles and I always change the front at the same time to avoid excessive
cupping even though there is still plenty of tread left on them usually. I
guess I'd say I am a mildly aggressive rider - the kind that likes full
throttle corner exit and wearing the edges of the tire when the road allows.
I'm not a smoky-burnout-hole-shot-from-every-light kind of hooligan rider.
I like to connect complex curves in roads with rhythm and speed. I ride
two-up about 1/8th of the time.

Switching up:
I was hoping to continue riding on the Pilot Sport since I had really good
luck with that tire, but Michelin discontinued that tire and now produces
the Pilot Power instead. I didn't feel I needed super sport tire at this
point - I don't track the VFR and I really can't/don't take advantage of all
the performance of a super-sport tire - even on spirited rides thru the S.E.
PA. On the other hand, I didn't feel like the Pilot Road was a sporty
enough tire for me.

So, I was in tire shopping mode again.... I looked at all the sport touring
tires out there including the popular Bridgestone combo VFR-listers rave
about. I ran across the Conti's and read their PR babble and figured I'd
give their Road-Attack tire a look-see. They have a Sport-Attack tire which
is more sticky, but I want to get some more mileage out of this set of
tires. I contacted a Conti PR/sales guy in the US and asked him to describe
how he sees the Road-Attack and Sport-Attack tires comparing to the Michelin
line-up.

Conti guy reply:
<<<SNIP>>>
Stephan,
I have attached detailed information on our Road Attack for your review.
Our new Sport Attack is comparable to Michelin's Pilot Power and if your not
going to take your bike to track day sessions I would seriously consider our
Road Attack which will sacrifice some grip in exchange for longevity.
Compared to Michelin's offerings the Road Attack falls in between the Pilot
Sport and Pilot Road in terms of performance, but leans more toward the
Pilot Sport.

Long story short Suzuki tested and approved via German homologation our Road
Attack for use on the GSX-R1000, thus it has very high levels of grip
however will also offer longevity. For a good tire review that gives a
comparison of the Road Attack to our competitors please check out
www.canyonchasers.net where you can read their latest test review.

I hope this information helps.

Safe Riding & Best Regards,
Greg Reich

Continental Tire North America, Inc.
Two Wheel Tires
Sales Manager/Motorcycle Tires
<<<SNIP>>>

If your interested in the detailed PR info for the tires (MSWord format),
contact me and I can email them to you. BTW, BMW has selected this tire for
the R1200RT as well.

Lacing up the new shoes:
Compared with the Pilot sport, the Conti's had stiffer sidewalls and the
rear tire was a good bit heavier - more than the difference in weight of a
worn tire vs. a new tire - the carcass of the Conti Road-Attack rear tire is
heavier. This concerned me a little as did the 1 1/4 oz of weight we had to
use to balance it - we double and triple checked the balance. If it matters
to you, the Conti's have a cool checkered flag sidewall decoration and a
neat looking tread pattern. Anyway, when I got the tires back on the bike,
it just so happened to be a near 60 degree day here in Northern Delaware in
January (go figure)... So off I went for a shake-down ride to scuff the
tires up a bit...

Miles of Smiles:
I now have over 200 miles on these tires (in January no less !) and I must
say I am impressed. The heavier carcass of the rear tire probably slows
down my 1/4 mile time (which isn't really important for me), but it helps
dampen road inputs better than the Pilot Sports. Intuitively, I would think
that the increased unsprung tire weight would make the rear tire skip a
little more over bumps, but the reality is both the front and rear Conti's
have a lot of enveloping power (ability to soak up sharp impacts) and are in
general more communicative than the Pilots were for street riding. The
increased enveloping power means that the tire can absorb more of the sharp
impacts than the suspension which means the tire spends more time hooked up
than skipping over little bumps/seams. The Conti's also have a much more
neutral feeling in that they require less handle bar pressure to initiate
and maintain lean angle through turns. I had to re-calibrate my
press-and-roll coordination because the VFR turns in more easily now... The
Pilot Sports would sort of 'stand up' the bike so-to-speak while the Conti's
allow you to transition from turn to turn quickly with less effort. The
perception I get is that it takes less lean angle and effort to corner with
the Conti's than it did with the Pilot Sports. Don't get me wrong here...
The Pilot Sport is an awesome tire and if they were still in production, I
probably would have bought another set just because I liked them so much,
but in a way I am glad that I had to try something different. The Conti
Road-Attack is a newer tire design with (IMHO) a better feel on the VFR. It
might not be a supersport semi-race tire, but that's not what I need. If
that's your bag, you might try the Sport-Attack which has a stickier
compound.

Only the miles will tell how the tires perform throughout the seasons...

LINKS:

Fugi's Factory. Small shop with personal service in northern Delaware. He
has a great tire mount/balance setup. Coats no-mar mounter and a snap-on
digital balancer. $20 per loose wheel or $35 per wheel if you drop the bike
off.
http://www.fugisfactory.com/

Conti Motorcycle Tires.
http://www.conti-online.com/generato.../index_en.html


Have a nice snowy day in the northeast !

-Stephan, 2000 VFR800

[BobbyKnobby]

I have been running the Metzler RoadTec Z6. I had run Dunlop in the past but with highway travel the tended to flat in the center quickly. Metzler Z6 has multi compounds, then centers have a carbon additive and last longer with highway miles.

Hope that helps

[VFRMike]

I have been running the Pilot Roads lately and must say I really like them. Have tried most other brands and combos can say that they've all been fine too. Difficult to go wrong with most tires it seems. Typical milage, regardless of tire brand, is 2500-4000 for my sport-touring tires. I've run with more a "true" sports tire but the milage is NOT good. Since the sport-touring tires are not slipping (on me) then why switch to a true sports tire?

VFRMike.

[OhioVFRMan]

I need a new rear tire too and noticed only one person in this thread mentions the Dunlops which come on the bike when new. Any comments on why you guys shy away from the Qualifiers would be appreciated! Thanks.

[reg71]

I need a new rear tire too and noticed only one person in this thread mentions the Dunlops which come on the bike when new. Any comments on why you guys shy away from the Qualifiers would be appreciated! Thanks.

I have never tried them, but I suppose if a deal came up that I couldn't pass up I would get them. A lot of riders who do more touring seem to like the Pilot Road. I tend to a little more sporty riding so I do the Conti Road Attack. They have been working well for me and they are competitively priced.

[Spike]

I have used the Dunlops and the BT020s -- greatly prefer the BTs. I started using the BT020s after a British mag did a tire comparo and actually used a VFR as the test bike (one of two bikes used), so it was very applicable information. I know I have seen the article typed up somewhere on this site too. Anyway, the BT020s were the tops, but very close behind (one point I want to say) was the Avons. Once I read that, I switched to the BTs and was very happy. Toyed with trying the Avons too, but never did. Now that Avon has just improved the Azzaros to the Storm STs, I am going to try them. Just ordered them last week, should be here on Tuesday.

MCN just did a review of the Conti's too, used an ST2 or 4 as teh test rig. The reviewer liked them. He too had been running the BT020s. Liked the Contis a little better. Also remarked that they were much easier to mount, if you do your own mounting, that might be an important consideration.

[OhioVFRMan]

I used Contis on my KZ 650 many years ago; liked 'em. Thanks for the suggestions. Seems the BTs have some fans.

[VFR4LIFE]

I used the Battlax BT-020's on my 1992 and they were great, long life tires, Upwards of 8000k on each before they were done. My 2006 has Metzler's now, not really sure what style but they are comparable to the BT-020's.

[mello dude]

If you are a knee dragger - go with the Dunlop Qualifiers. (I'm pretty well stuck with the Dunlops, I ride hard.) If your a distance sporty toury guy go with the Pilot Roads.

[Hondapitbull]

I had Dunlop 207's when I first got the bike then switch to metzlers after 2 nails were found in the rear tire.I rode on the metzlers for about 6 months and didn't like them.I have been riding on Michelin pilot powers ever sense and love em'!

[emon07]

I am up north in NYC and I need tires that will warm up when it gets cold, and I also want tires that have good traction in the rain. I am totally happy with Avon tires on my VFR and also have Avons on my Suzuki Inturder. I have had Michelins and Dunlops and they are both great tires. I have the Avon Tires - AV55(Front); AV56(Rear) and I like them a lot better than the Michelin Pilot tires. I have used the Perilli tires before and liked them, but the Avon tires stick good and traction in the rain is great.

[kajinvfr]

for my money the metzler m6 is the best i have used but it all gets down to personal favorites.i was sin louisiana and got a nail hole and the only tire i could find was a shinko.i had never heard of one but it was only $125 for a 180 rear and i got 6,000 miles out of it.now i am back with m6;s.

[Zerosum]

I jumped on the Conti Road Attack bandwagon last week. I only got to ride 20 miles on them, but they sure felt nice. Very light turn-in. I got the front and back tires for $270 including mounting/balancing.

[ZonaMan]

I'll second or third the Conti Road Attacks. I have 5000 mi. on mine and still have alot of tread depth to go. Sticky in corners too.

[Lance]

I'm happy with the Conti's also, a great tire for dollars.

[emon07]

I have consistenly heard a lot of good things about Conti tires. I have also heard they are very reasonably priced. I have respect for anything that is good and works properly. I feel that when you look at the top line of tires from the top manufacturers things to consider are what type or roads, how aggressive of a rider you may be and various environmental conditions where you ride - just mention a few things to consider. Bottom line with me is confindence in my equiptment and tires - kind of a subjective thing. Make mine Avons - meets and exceeds my needs. On the track I perfer Perelli and Dunlop tires for my VFR. The only tires I do not like is the Bridgestone - good quality but they do not inspire and confindence for me - just my two cents.

[Legs]

All of the tires recommended are excellent. I just put Battleaxes on the VTR 250 because they were the only premium tire available in that size locally.

I have a Pilot rear and Battleaxe front on my VFR, but for some reason, probably not based in logic, I don't really care for Bridgestone product.

[kx500guy]

I went with the maxxis supermaxx - I have run maxxis on my dirtbike for years and loved the results so I decided to switch to maxxis on my streetbike because I was sick of burning through the dunlops every 300 miles. I have about 2500 on them so far and honestly do not know the difference. I am not a track guy but I love to hit the corners hard and have wore it to the edge. Once I get more millage, I will let you know how they hold up

[Rob Mackey]

My current set up is Z6 Metzeler on the rear and Sporttec m-3 Metzeler on the front. I have big confidence with these tyres both wet and dry. The only time that they let go is when I do something stupid, then they only slide for a couple of inches then grip. With the wet weather grip I have had water coming off the front so hard it was hitting me in the thighs like somebody throwing a bucket at me. These tyres just grip. I must say the front was a Sporttec m-1 then, but the m-3 seems better in every other way. When I get caught in significant rain again I guess I will find out for sure. As far as distance. When I had M-1s on both end I got about 8000ks out of the rear, I think about 14000ks out of the front. Hope this helps.

[Spike]

I have used the Dunlops and the BT020s -- greatly prefer the BTs. I started using the BT020s after a British mag did a tire comparo and actually used a VFR as the test bike (one of two bikes used), so it was very applicable information. I know I have seen the article typed up somewhere on this site too. Anyway, the BT020s were the tops, but very close behind (one point I want to say) was the Avons. Once I read that, I switched to the BTs and was very happy. Toyed with trying the Avons too, but never did. Now that Avon has just improved the Azzaros to the Storm STs, I am going to try them. Just ordered them last week, should be here on Tuesday.

MCN just did a review of the Conti's too, used an ST2 or 4 as teh test rig. The reviewer liked them. He too had been running the BT020s. Liked the Contis a little better. Also remarked that they were much easier to mount, if you do your own mounting, that might be an important consideration.

I put the Avon Storm STs on the other day, and so far they seem pretty good. But, really early to say, 100 miles of commuting, no fun stuff.

[emon07]

I am a big Avon tire fan and will be ordering the Avons for my bike soon - keep me posted on what you think about the Avon tires on the VFR. Good Luck!