Hi,

Well, its time for new tyres on the bird.
Ive always been a Bridgestone guy but im also open to new experiences.

I want a tyre with a good mix of grip and mileage.

recommendations ???

I now have 4000 miles on a Pilot Roads rear, 2800 on the front. I had been running Dunlop D208s before.
The bike turns in much better, I think it sticks just as well and the wear is great. At 4000 miles with a D208, I would see cords, this tire isn't even flat spotted.

LOVE Diablo Stradas...... LOVE THEM!

WTF is a "TYRE"






I'm running the Metzeler combo right now M1 front and Z6 rear. Close to 5,000 miles and they are wearing great. They are fantastic in the wet, and plenty sticky for the twisties

Tyres is how we spell it in this part of the world.

Its our heritage as convict decendents.

John S

I put on a set of Dunlop D220's for my trip and they performed well, though I only got 6000km out of the rear before I was down to the belt but that was mainly because of the hot outback roads.

I would recommend a D208 front and D220 rear. The Pilot roads are supposed to be good as well.

I have some super hard Metzeler tyre on the back I put on in Alice Springs just to finish the trip and the damn thing skids under engine braking in the wet. I think I will end up using it as a burnout tyre and put something decent back on the rear.

The old saying to remember is that replacing tyres is cheaper than fairings and skin grafts.

Mick

I suspect the different road surfaces in Canada, USA, Auz, NZ, various countries in Europe, determine, to some degree, how tires perform. I'm on a 3rd pair of 020's and feel they work on West Coast Canadian roads. I found it difficult to get hold of a B series Avons so I'll wait till I can find them at an affordable price. I'm tempted by the Metzeler's Road Tec Z 6, as well as Perellie's. I tend to ride 25-30,000 kms per year, 95,000 kms in three years and a bit primarily touring. I do not ride like many on this board, quite "spiritedly" is my description. I replace my tires every June and take my bike off the road Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb. The last year I only rode 20,000 kms. I'm fortunate as I have two months off every summer so I get to tour a lot and I ride to Edmonton every year to visit family. I just returned from a 3,500 kms round trip. I confess I've become a "nervous ninny" when it comes to rain and try to avoid it. When touring I take what comes. The BT 020's are excellent "in the wet" tires. All this being said I'm "wowed" by the knowledge that exists on this board, the Brit site as well. I've discovered that I can "ride" my Bird but can't really "handle" the Bird. It can do all sorts of stuff that I can't but others obviously can. I still have the "chicken strips" but that doesn't bother me. I often wonder about the "type" of riding that only yields 5-6,000 miles. All this being said, I'm reminded to the expression, "opinions are like ass holes, everyone has one". Cheers

I watched "Super Bike", Speed Chanel, last night and I'm amazed at what they wear, or rather don't wear, when they ride in NY city But hey, I'll do my thing and they can do theirs.

On my XX I had very good experiences with the Avon 45/46 combo. I don't know if they were the "B" series or not, but I average about 15 to 17K miles a year, and I was able to get a healthy 10K out of my first set of Avons, and could have gotten a bit more if not for the rear picking up a nail. I had put about 4K on my second set of Avons, before selling the bike, and the tread could still hide most of Lincoln's head on a penny. I expected to get 10K+ out of those. For the ZX I'm about to try Pilot Powers. I only got about 5000 miles out of the stock BT014s she came shod with. We'll see how the Power do, but I've heard good things about the Pilot Roads too.

Pilot Roads are good if you're looking for something REALLY stable that does well in the wet, and will still allow you to touch hard parts when they're warm... I would usually get ~10k out of a rear, and ~15k out of a front... I did find that, in a 35-40 degree (F, not C... slightly above freezing) rain, on concrete, the front would want to slide a bit and feel a bit funny, and if I didn't get them warm before REALLY cornering, they felt a bit strange, but other than that, I hadn't had a problem in the world with them!

Currently on Pilot Powers front and rear... The front's got 4k on it, and the rear's got 2500 on it, and is wearing well. I expect around 5k out of the rear, but we'll see in the next month or so... Read the "pilot powers cupping" thread down the page from here, and you'll see more how well I like them, but honestly, I've done a BUNCH of stuff you're NOT supposed to do, to these tires, and the chassis will do funny things and squirm around, but the tires have NEVER been anything but planted! you pay for that in the mileage too... But, I got off the interstate and hit the esses in the busness park on the way into work, and touched a peg feeler down while hanging off a Monday, and yesterday, I'm not entirely sure, but I may have grazed the outer leg zipper cover flap on my A* suit on the ground on the on-ramp to the interstate Tuesday...

By far though, I believe that the best of both worlds is the Power front, and Road rear... It seems that most of the quick handling comes from the front tire change, because there was a BIG difference when I changed out the front Road for the front Power, even with an almost-shagged rear road, and it didn't change the handling much when I put on a new Power a couple thousand later, so I'll probably try the diablo stradas next time, but will probably go back to the Power front, and Road rear in the future, unless I find something I like better...

Mike

Thanks for all the comments...

I settled on a pair of Pirelli Stradas. They came highly recommended by several bike shops.
Not too expensive either and they have a good lifespan.

BTW...TIRE is what happens when you get exhausted...you TIRE. A TYRE is what goes on the outside of your wheel.

Quite a few on the ozblackbird.net site rave about either PPower f+r or PPower f + PRoad r, at the moment I have a PR on the rear and have done around 4000km mainly commuting and it is ok but the front D208 is nearly bald and was badly cupped when I bought the bike 5 months ago although it has worn more evenly since putting the pressures up from 32psi to 42psi - made a big difference with turn in, should be amazing when I put a new Pilot Power on the front and a shim in the back

Yeah...its amazing what a difference a few PSI makes.

BT020's SUCK. Wobble wobble wobble......
I went with Pilot Powers. Problem solved.

+1, excellent stuff

Well I put 200ks on the stradas and then took the bird to Eastern Creek for a Honda ride day.
Being 10 years since I was last on a track it took a bit of time to relearn my lines and get my rhythm...but it all came back.

The stradas worked well but got a bit hot and started to slide around a bit towards the end of the day...maybe I had them pumped up a bit much.

Also got a go on a new fireblade...gees those things go but I reckon the bird has a better top end. Gotta say that the blades brakes are flippin awesome...man that thing stops quick. Only had a handful of laps so really didnt get much of a chance on it.

Also shared the track with Wayne Gardner for a bit. Fuck he is quick. Went past me like I was standing still and disappeared within a few seconds.