Best tires for the bike

Just bought my first bike an '04 VFR with 2100 miles. I assume the Dunlop Sportmax II tires are factory tires but they don't grip enough for me. any suggestions on the best tires for this bike.

 

Most like the Continental Road Attack. There are any number of tires better than the OEM. I'm thinking about Metzeler M3's for the Hawk GT next.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Michelin Pilot Road 2 are all the rage as of now....I put a Bridgestone Battlax BT021 on the rear last year and got a PR2 mounted on the front this year....
Very good tire so far, good feedback, grip and wear should be excellent since it is a dual compound.

 

I just put a set of Continental Road Attacks on before going to deals gap

OMG Huge! improvement!! bike feels 20 lbs lighter and drops into corners with more confidance than the dunlops

 

I put Avon storm ST's on a few months back and they perform great 4k on them so far and wear is minimal.

 

Like Mello said lots of Opinions, and if they work for you great! but I'll recommend Pirelli Corsas,

 

Second that on the Pilot Road 2's, they grip very well wet or dry and wear much better than the Pilot Powers they replaced. :first:

 

Lots of opinions here on tires. I recommend you doing research on tires. Ask your shops mechanic, see what is readily available in your area. Think about what kind if riding you will be doing etc. Touring, commuting and not too much aggressive driving you might be more interested in a touring oriented tire. Touring in the tire industry means long straight roads lots of miles. If you like the hitting the curves and are more aggressive you should look at a more sport oriented tire.
Touring style tires will give you longer wear less performance on the high end. Sport will give you less wear more performance at the high end. For the most part, any premium tire will make a big difference in your riding. One note, new tires are slick so be careful also tires can and do change the handling of the bike. Example: If you change form OEM tires to a sport oriented tire take it easy for a bit till you get used to the bike. The bike will turn in MUCH faster which you might not be expecting and could give you trouble if your not ready for it.


Examples of good sport tires would be; Michelin power pilots (2ct) or Dunlop Qualifiers.

Touring tires; Michelin power roads (2) or Dunlop Road Smart. ( Now given what I said above about touring tires, these tires grip at a much higher level than some would think It was a toss up for me when I bought new tires between Power Roads and Power Pilots [I got the Pilot 2ct])


I know a lot of guys use the Conti Attacks I just cant speak to them.

 

Bitterpil brought some good points, but to tail-back on his comment, I would like to bring to attention some other considerations.

When selecting tires, it is based on a list of compromises based on the fact that NO ONE TIRE does everything exceptional well. So you must first ask what exactly are you looking for in a tire and next look at the area where you are going to riding these tires at. Next look at your own riding habits (throttle and braking)

When looking at selecting tires, consider the following... grip, durability, weight, and profile.

1. Grip, self explained but not fully understood by many. Tire manufactures use wide variety of rubber matrixes to achieve a special feature to grip the surface. In general speaking, the softer the tire, the faster it will wear down, but most need to under stand the amount of heat cycles that some tire can have is limited. A heat cycle is when a cold tire is brought to temperature from riding and then cooled. Track specific non-DOT tires are a prime example of tires with a very limited heat cycles. That is why tires warmers are used on track. Right after a session, the warmers immediately go back on the tires to keep them from cooling. The reason for this, is to keep the tires from vulcanizing from a heating a cooling process which hardens the tire thus changing its grip.

Now to relate this to the everyday rider, do you need a superb tacky tire to grip the roads you ride on? Look at your tires now. How big are your chicken strips (the unused portion of the tread)? Sticky tires can be advantage during panic situations, but unless you have lots of cash to replace these tires on a routine basis (generally every 2-4k miles) this is something you will need to factor in when deciding on your tire selection.

2. Durability is one thing that those with limited check books look at to get their moneys worth. Once again, a problem exists with the high/ultra high mileage tires. They don't grip well especially during a full lean during a turn. Also, another characteristic of these tires is they do take some considerable amount to time/miles to warm up these tires to best handling performance.

3. Weight is something that most of us don't even consider when we select a tire. However is does really affect the bike in its handling. Weight of a tire effect to factor of physics...unsprung weight and rotational mass.

Unsprung weight is important to your suspension. The heavier the unsprung weight, the greater the energy it takes to change its direction. To understand this, use this for example- take two soda cans one empty and one full and hold one in each of your hands. Now try to simultaneously shake both of the 4 inches as fast as you can and see which one is the easiest to change direction. Get the point.

If you look at tire selections you will see a large range a weights for the exact same size tires from numerous tire manufactures. Tire design is one of the largest reasons for this. A touring tire will most often weigh significantly more than a track tire of the same size.

Rotational mass works on kinetic energy which can affect acceleration/deceleration. Heavier tires will take more energy to begin rotation and to stop rotation. However there is side benefit of a have heavier tires. When cruising down the highway, heavier tires can make maintaining a designated speed easier... but so does a loaded bike.

It may sound from what I explain that lighter tires are the way to go, but understand this, riding these tires can come with its own problem. Lack of protection due to casing design.

4. Profile is the shape of the tread of the tire. There are basically two types of profiles. Round and triangle. Which is best for you is based on your own preference. Round profile tires allow motorcyclist to lean at a consistent rate and have generally been consider as "more stable" than the triangle profile tires.

Triangle profile tires are designed to specifically to allow a greater contact patch while in a full lean. They also quicken the steering by allowing the bike to dive into a turn easier. At high speeds they may add a twitching feel while riding center up on the tire.

There are many arguments which tire is best for you, but we all ride for different reasons and have different skills. Like I mention before, it is a compromise. Just because your buddy rides one type of tire and suggests you should ride it doesn’t make it right for you. So many factors must be considered, but tires do wear out and we can replace them with something else.

I just wish I had extra set of wheels for different tires to match my personality.

 

I gotta give props to the Dunlop Qualifiers. I found them to be very confidence inspiring and I never had one slip. I got about 5,500 miles out of a rear and about 11,000 or so on the front.

 

i"ll have to 2nd the pirelli corsa tires, i've only had them 1000 or so miles. but daaymn they stick!!!!!

 

i went with dunlop roadsmarts and so far i happy with them. like mentioned they are a daul compound tire for the rear. good wear so far and no problem in the twisties. good luck making up your mind.

 

Hey thanks for the suggestions. I'm not a very aggressive rider yet. I love the twisty roads and that's what i'm going for.

 

re:jsalty

im not sure jsalty knows about tires but im sure hes an expert when it comes to abnormal incestual upbringing, what with that curious attraction of his towards dead little animals.

 

I made the mistake of putting on a 55 series instead of a 50 series as there was limited stock in my town and I bowed to a pushy salesman.

DON'T do that!

I am nearly tempted to switch it back for another 300 Bucks, but I'll suffer through.

There is a noticeable power drop, but it still hauls a$$. The power drop is unacceptable. My speedo is now out of caliber.

I will probably change the tire out early next year to get rid of the $#%@^ thing.

 

i've recently replaced my OEM Bridgestone's with Pirelli Diablo Stradas. great tires so far, very good stick in the corners. haven't ridden in the wet yet though.

 

Hi!

Has anyone experienced the Metzeler Z6 yet? I'm thinking of getting them, actually Z6 Interact.

-now I have BT020 and I don't like them at all...

 

I had the Bridgestones as well....ugh. Went to a Pilot Road 2 front last spring and this spring will stick on a PR2 for the rear. Cant say enough good things about 'em.

Sorry, no experience on the Metzler but as far as I know, that wouldnt be a bad choice either.

 

I had Metz Z6's on my VFR, but I prefer my new Shinko 009's...

Yes - True!

I have been a lifelong Metzeler fan and staunch supporter, generally preferring Metzelers over any other similar/comparable tire.

However, I found the Z6 Roadtecs to be probably the least impressive Metzeler I've ever used, and I've used practically everything they've made in the last 25 years, including ME77, ME99, ME55, ME33, ME88, and newer Metz's up to RennSports, and practically everything in between.

While the Z6's exhibited the typical Metzeler traits of neutral handling, predictability at the limit of adhesion and easy recoverability when pushing past their limits, and excellent rain grip, I found them to be generally wooden and lacking feedback, and their dry grip limit to be a bit lower than I had hoped.
It's perhaps a very good thing they were predictable and recovered well from over-limit forays, as their real limit was hard to feel.

Perhaps in the "Strange But True" category, I was very (very!) impressed with the Shinko 006's I tried last year : clicky --> (http://vfrworld.com/forums/general-vfr-discussions/15098-shinko-tires-test-review.html).

I recently replaced the 006's with Shinko 009's and I am again favorably impressed.
Although I haven't had the opportunity yet to experience the 009's on anything remotely resembling "clean, dry & warm" roads (daily year-round winter commuting mostly, with a few day rides on cool, damp roads), I am already impressed with their quick warm-up, good cold/wet grip, neutral/light handling, and similarly excellent feedback and responsiveness as with the 006's.
The Shinko 009's have been excellent on very, very wet roads including about 1/2-hour in a deluge on a very twisty road, during which I was quite comfortable, confident and felt little need to minimize lean angles at all; the tires were both warm to the touch and steamed a bit upon parking the bike...
I would expect the 009's life/mileage to be similar to the Metzeler Z6's, in the 8-10k range, from my own research of others' experience.

*I'm planning a short write-up of the Shinko 009's soon, when I've had a chance to push them a bit.

For my money, I'd go with Shinko 009's over the (I can't believe I'm saying this...) Metzeler Z6's.
Or the Shinko 006's for a bit grippier/sportier tire, at the expense of mileage (I got 5k from the 006's).

Shinkos may be inexpensive, but I can (& do) vouch that they are actually very good.