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Thought on tire brands/types?


Cheech

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It's time to find some new shoes for the 600RR, and I wanted to get a feel for what was working for everyone else when it comes to tires. I have a set of Metzeler Roadtec Z6's on the Katana, and I've found I can lean and corner MUCH better than the stock Macadam's. I know I probably won't trackday the RR much, so I'm after tooling around town and country riding.

Also, preferred tire vendors would be nice too. I've seen IP's price vs. everyone else and they are crazy.

Edited by Cheech
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I hear tons of shit about battleaxes? or something...

I'm not one to ask, I just buy whatever is cheap and OEM, but I'm slow and wide

You...or the bike...? :p

Bike looks good man. I was looking at one of the pics, compared too (i think it was Jrm's busa) the front tire is...rather small.

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Depends on what you want for performance/wear.

I'm a Bridgestone guy, and have tried most of their Sport and Sport Touring tires from the last few years.

The BT-002 Racing Street tires I had on my RR were phenominal. Literally never put a foot wrong in all the time I had the RR, but the wear life wasn't so great.

If you want a sportier tire with reasonable wear life, the BT-016 are quite good. I'm currently waiting for the Pilot Powers (which are quite good BTW) that came on the S3 to wear down enough to justify a set.

I have a set of the BT-021 sport touring tires on my FZ and absolutely love them. 5000 miles of sport touring (many with my wife on the back) and they still have good life left, and there's never been an instance where I've not had the grip I've needed for spirited street riding.

All that out of the way...pretty much any sporty street tire from any of the big names will be fine for street riding. Nowadays it's pretty tough to find a 'bad' tire.

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You...or the bike...? :p

Bike looks good man. I was looking at one of the pics, compared too (i think it was Jrm's busa) the front tire is...rather small.

Hey now, I'd rather be overweight and on a bike than skinny and not :-D

JRM's front tire didn't look too big yesterday, or I didn't notice it.

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Just messing with you bud. :D

Maybe it's just me, but the Vulcan front tire is a little thin. :dunno:

It is super thin, but that's the chopper/raked look, I like it, but after yesterday I see what everyone's talking about tires making a difference.

Back OnT, I'd let others with better knowledge post here. Fonz has a Honda... or is it a Harley? I dunno, it's black and orange.

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I put mich. Road2s dual compound on the Z. I love them.

Bike rode great yesterday on the WV trip. Even in all the rain no prob.

The Z guys on riderforums love them too. They were getting pretty high mileage out of them too. One guy had 11K+ with good tread depth still.

Good luck with the hunt.

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I hear tons of shit about battleaxes? or something...

I'm not one to ask, I just buy whatever is cheap and OEM, but I'm slow and wide

Yeah battleaxe BT45. Had them on my ninja and loved them.

High performance and long life from dual-tread construction

Silica compound improves grip characteristics - wet or dry

Dual Tread Compound (DTC) in the rear allows for longer mileage and stability from center, while edges offer grip and performance while cornering

Large crown radius for a large, stable contact patch

Innovative singular sidewall improves shock absorption and neutralizes handling

EDIT: I bought mine at Iron Pony

Edited by chevysoldier
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Depends on what you want for performance/wear.

I'm a Bridgestone guy, and have tried most of their Sport and Sport Touring tires from the last few years.

The BT-002 Racing Street tires I had on my RR were phenominal. Literally never put a foot wrong in all the time I had the RR, but the wear life wasn't so great.

If you want a sportier tire with reasonable wear life, the BT-016 are quite good. I'm currently waiting for the Pilot Powers (which are quite good BTW) that came on the S3 to wear down enough to justify a set.

I have a set of the BT-021 sport touring tires on my FZ and absolutely love them. 5000 miles of sport touring (many with my wife on the back) and they still have good life left, and there's never been an instance where I've not had the grip I've needed for spirited street riding.

All that out of the way...pretty much any sporty street tire from any of the big names will be fine for street riding. Nowadays it's pretty tough to find a 'bad' tire.

That's funny, some of the 600rr.net guys were going ape over the BT016's as well. The price on those is reasonable.

I'm mainly after something exactly what you have, something with excellent tread wear for Coshocton/Hocking rides, yet have some balls that can be called up when necessary. I really don't plan on doing a ton of trackdays, so soft sticky compound isn't what I'm after.

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i have the bt016s as well, though i got them before the special on 600rr.net. got them mounted and balanced for like $330ish when i just took them the rims at iron pony. they are cool because they are multicompound rears and dual compound fronts. the center of the rears are really hard for more durability and as you get close to the edge, they get softer.

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I had a set of stock Bridgestones on my bike that stood up to the test of time pretty well. They were a good all around tire. I switched to the Michelin 2ct's this year and so far I like them. You will probably get a wide variety of answers as to what tire is best. Sportbike track time is a good place for tires I have heard.

http://www.sportbiketracktime.com

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don't forget about the continentals, road attacks and sport attacks... very well priced. You're in columbus so buy them online and have someone local mount them for you if you're going cheep

i run the sport attacks and love them.. but i want to try the mich. tho.. just to see how different they are.

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Depends on what you want for performance/wear.

I'm a Bridgestone guy, and have tried most of their Sport and Sport Touring tires from the last few years.

The BT-002 Racing Street tires I had on my RR were phenominal. Literally never put a foot wrong in all the time I had the RR, but the wear life wasn't so great.

If you want a sportier tire with reasonable wear life, the BT-016 are quite good. I'm currently waiting for the Pilot Powers (which are quite good BTW) that came on the S3 to wear down enough to justify a set.

I have a set of the BT-021 sport touring tires on my FZ and absolutely love them. 5000 miles of sport touring (many with my wife on the back) and they still have good life left, and there's never been an instance where I've not had the grip I've needed for spirited street riding.

All that out of the way...pretty much any sporty street tire from any of the big names will be fine for street riding. Nowadays it's pretty tough to find a 'bad' tire.

got almost 5000 miles on my battlax BT 021's

barely showing ware. doin the twisties most of the time and these are on a 1liter vtwin ( i was told these thing eat tires, )

would get them again . love the duel compound for when i gots to boogie home on the super slabs!!!!!!

jimmyc

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Neg rep for another tire thread.. don't take it personally. ;)

Dayum.. denied. I have to spread the wealth some more before I hit ya' with the red hammer..

Would you rather I resurrected some 2 year old thread with outdated info? :)

I ended up going with the Bridgestone BT-016's. Got a decent deal on them, 230 for the set. Don't worry IP, I'll post another thread asking for mounting... :)

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Would you rather I resurrected some 2 year old thread with outdated info? :)

I ended up going with the Bridgestone BT-016's. Got a decent deal on them, 230 for the set. Don't worry IP, I'll post another thread asking for mounting... :)

Cheech,

didnt see the thread for MOUNTING :confused:

just kiddin....

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  • 3 months later...

I didn't want to start a new thread on tire brands and whatnot... but here's the latest test article that Motorcycle-USA did on DOT Race tires. Seems that the top four brands are almost equal - other than the Dunlops seems to wear the best, followed closely by Michelin then Bridgestone and Pirelli being the quickest to wear.

Now, due to time constraints, wear-factor is one area that wasn’t able to be fully addressed with this test, the exception being the Avons, which had to be double-stinted due to them only sending one set. And the results were apparent, as on Day 2 its times fell off drastically, losing several seconds. As for the rest, from previous experience the I can tell you the Pirellis tend to go off the quickest in high heat due to its soft carcass. Signs of this were even seen in the five laps during our test. Bridgestone falls in right behind the Italian buns due to much the same reason, while the Michelins and Dunlops top the pile. Of those two, the French rear drops off slightly quicker than the American rubber. I’ve raced both for 20-plus laps in both AMA and club competition and can give you extensive firsthand knowledge. That said, in no way is it a drastic difference; small at best.

If you want to READ the article for the test methodology, etc, go to page 1, but here's the page with the results:

DOT Race Tire conclusion

09_tireshootout_suzuki_streets.jpg

09_tireshootout_suzuki_willowsprings.jpg

Bottom line, you really can't go wrong with picking a good tire as long as it's from the top 4 brands. Now, I hope they run a straight DOT tire test in addition to this DOT Race tire test.

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