Guest Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Thanks all for the info. I think I will go with the Ravens. As to riding style, I am relatively a sedate commuter for the most part, but I do like to go fast when the spirit hits me. I managed to grind down the feelers on the Connie as well as a bit os the center stand. While lots of folks don't like the ME880's for the Connie, I never had a problem in the dry and they performed ok in the wet as long as you are smart. I even did a track day on them. My VFR currently has Pilot Road 2's on it and they are down to about 2-3mm of tread left in the center, pretty flat, with quite a bit more on the sides. They seem to feel good in the corners, overall handling is certainly better than the Connie (of course that might be because of the better suspension or the 130 odd fewer pounds as much as it is the tires... ) I'll order up the Ravens to have on standby since I am not sure how much longer the PR2 will last, sounds like folks are regularly getting 12000 miles or more and that would be good. Once I get them on I will report back with how they compare wear and ride wise vs. the Connie and the ME880's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer V-FORE Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 Lonerider, Good luck with the tires, I have had great service & pricing through where to buy I have purchased about 3 or 4 sets of tires through them, they also have an installer program where they send the tires to them....Best thing is free shipping! No sales tax normal ship from Oregon 1 day ups ground.... Gary slightly north west of you, in Smokey Point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer bryan217 Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 Lonerider, Good luck with the tires, I have had great service & pricing through where to buy I have purchased about 3 or 4 sets of tires through them, they also have an installer program where they send the tires to them....Best thing is free shipping! No sales tax normal ship from Oregon 1 day ups ground.... Gary slightly north west of you, in Smokey Point Thanks Gary, I'm looking go get a new set of tires this week and this is by far the best deal I've found so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Ryanme17 Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 Lonerider, Good luck with the tires, I have had great service & pricing through where to buy I have purchased about 3 or 4 sets of tires through them, they also have an installer program where they send the tires to them....Best thing is free shipping! No sales tax normal ship from Oregon 1 day ups ground.... Gary slightly north west of you, in Smokey Point www.jakewilson.com almost always beats Motorcycle Superstore for prices, and they undoubtedly have faster shipping, and better customer service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 There is no reason why you can not put an ME880 on the bike. The ME880 170/60-17 is what I used on my BMW K1200LT. It will fit on a VFR Wheel. It is rated for a 1000 pound bike. If you could pick up a 94-97 VFR wheel for commuting and leave a 180 on the original wheel for weekends or touring, that would be ideal. I also really like the older Michelin Pilot Road. You should be able to find a set for around 200.00. The PR2 are not very affordable and will not last as long as you would hope them to. The BT023 came on my Concours 14... Terrrible tire..... Terrrrrrrrrrrible! The Shinko 009 Raven is a good long lasting tire. Not the best for twisty roads, but if you are slabbing it, the Shinko will be the most affordable with great traction and good wet weather capabilities... Please note all tires I have listed have been used by me in extreme curvey conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer y2kvfr Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 Geez... I only have about 3500-4k on my PR2 rear and it is shot. And I'm not fast by any stretch of the imagination (just ask Seb, Timmy & Burns...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoothsailin Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 There is no reason why you can not put an ME880 on the bike. The ME880 170/60-17 is what I used on my BMW K1200LT. It will fit on a VFR Wheel. It is rated for a 1000 pound bike. If you could pick up a 94-97 VFR wheel for commuting and leave a 180 on the original wheel for weekends or touring, that would be ideal. I also really like the older Michelin Pilot Road. You should be able to find a set for around 200.00. The PR2 are not very affordable and will not last as long as you would hope them to. The BT023 came on my Concours 14... Terrrible tire..... Terrrrrrrrrrrible! The Shinko 009 Raven is a good long lasting tire. Not the best for twisty roads, but if you are slabbing it, the Shinko will be the most affordable with great traction and good wet weather capabilities... Please note all tires I have listed have been used by me in extreme curvey conditions. Unless I'm mistaken the recommended rear tire size for a K1200LT is 160/70-17. I know that Dunlop (D205), Bridgestone (BT020) & Metzeler (ME880) and perhaps others produce bias-belted, v-rated, higher-weight capacity rear tires in this size to fill the need a tire suitable for BMW's rather heavy LT1200. Bridgestone's version is listed as the BT020M and I know this because my '94 ST1100 uses same rear tire size as BMW's K1200LT and I currently have a BT020M mounted. So far I have been very pleased with my ST's handling with this tire mounted and I'm hoping to see greater mileage before this tire will need to be replaced. Note: with Z-rated rear tires I've rarely gotten more than 8k miles from a rear tire vs. ~11k miles out of the o.e. v-rated Dunlop bias ply tires that was mounted on my the ST originally) I'll also mention that I currently have a Z-rated radial mounted on the front wheel (Dunlop D205) of my ST and have noted no handling quirks due to mixing a Z-rated radial front tire & a V-rated bias-ply rear tire. I have a set of Michelin Pilot Roads on my VFR now and they appear to have plenty of tread left after ~ 3.6k miles. I really like the way my VFR 800fi handles w/them. I purchased the pair from Competition Accessories in February on clearance for ~$220 w/free shipping. I just checked their website and failed to find the original Pilot Powers listed for sale there now (only a set of Pilot Power II's are advertised @ $266-$292 for the pair. The higher price is associated w/th the "B model" which (I'm assuming) may have a higher weight rating). Some riders indicate Shinko tires last long and handle well, while others have said the quality, grip and/or handling is sub-par with these tires. I'll be interested in seeing how you may feel about them down the road. They're clearly available for significantly less $$ vs. similar offerings from Michelin, Dunlop, Pirelli, etc. and if I was using my motorcycles to commute between home and my office regularly I'd seriously consider giving them a try. However, since I own a car that can average 40+ mpg during my 55 mile commutes it doesn't make much sense for me to ride a motorcycle that may get 50 mpg and 10k miles from a set of tires vs. driving my car which averages 40 mpg and gets 70-80k miles from a set of tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Lonerider, Good luck with the tires, I have had great service & pricing through where to buy I have purchased about 3 or 4 sets of tires through them, they also have an installer program where they send the tires to them....Best thing is free shipping! No sales tax normal ship from Oregon 1 day ups ground.... Gary slightly north west of you, in Smokey Point Thanks Gary, I'm looking go get a new set of tires this week and this is by far the best deal I've found so far. If your getting the 009 ravens? You can get them from chapparal for $158 shipped Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Geez... I only have about 3500-4k on my PR2 rear and it is shot. And I'm not fast by any stretch of the imagination (just ask Seb, Timmy & Burns...) Did you put air in it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer CharlesW Posted August 17, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 17, 2011 Geez... I only have about 3500-4k on my PR2 rear and it is shot. And I'm not fast by any stretch of the imagination (just ask Seb, Timmy & Burns...) What do you mean "shot"? Center tread worn out? Side tread worn out? Carcass no longer stable? Cupping? Uneven wear? Just curious what "shot" means. I have run Pilot Road 2s a little over 5500 miles since June of this year and they appear to have a little over 1/2 the tread left in the center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 There is no reason why you can not put an ME880 on the bike. The ME880 170/60-17 is what I used on my BMW K1200LT. It will fit on a VFR Wheel. It is rated for a 1000 pound bike. If you could pick up a 94-97 VFR wheel for commuting and leave a 180 on the original wheel for weekends or touring, that would be ideal. I also really like the older Michelin Pilot Road. You should be able to find a set for around 200.00. The PR2 are not very affordable and will not last as long as you would hope them to. _____________________________________________________________________ ######## An Me880 is a high classed cruiser tire , i agree on the BT23 (avoid) unless you understand what your buying, inclement wet condtions, and twisty road, this tire can put you in the ditch. As far as the original pilot road, those tires are super vaque(id never recommend , the road 2's have no problemo getting the same life and a better performance tire to boot. Ive run more than half dosen road two rears, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 WOW Im thinking I am hard on tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted March 11, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted March 11, 2012 MEEEEE TOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lucky to get 4000 miles out of any tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teksdailyride Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 ive been out of the loop for awhile but i put pirelli angel st on mine and i easily got 12,000 out of mine with 50/50 highway/offhighway riding. i dont take it easy but im also not trying to set a new lap record either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Frogfoot Posted March 14, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted March 14, 2012 When I was using BT021 the rear would do about 25,000km on the commute, but the front was crap. BT022s fronts were far better, I get about 15,000km average out of a front (yes, my rears last way longer than my fronts). I have just had a Pilot Road 3 rear but so far have only put about 6,000km on it. It should last another 10,000 I think. Also had a Metzler but for the life of me I can't remember which one. It did about 25,000km on the rear as well. So my current setup has a BT022 front with 11,500km on it and a Road3 rear with 6,000km on it. Neither look like needing a change urgently. I expect the front to expire at about the 15 or 16,000 and I'll try the Road3 front. Last five years or so this has been about 20mins of freeway and up to 20 mins of straight major feeder roads each way. With a few "rides" as well. But not many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer NorthernVFRDave Posted March 14, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted March 14, 2012 I'm running the BT23 GT. the GT is ment for heaver bikes like the VFR. And have had no problems in the rain the cold or running in the twisties. I'm no road racer but was dragging the pegs at T-Mac last year with no worries. Yes they are a hard tire and take time to warm up and I'm sure if your out pushing it you might feel some give. But the topic was best distance/commuting tire. My rear has 18,000km on it, of which 90% is slab riding to work and the flat spot down the middle is maybe an inch wide at the most, with still lots of tread left. I might change it once I get down to T-Mac this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted March 14, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted March 14, 2012 My first set (came with the bike,bought with 4,000 miles) were Metzler M1 and lasted 12,000. Second set M1, 12,500. Third set Met. M3, 7000 (went through the cord on rear and went flat on the freeway on the way home from 2008 T-mac in Misourii) Since then two sets of Dunlop RoadSmarts, first got 13,000 but second set, with many miles on western U.S. roads, 9,000 on the rear, 11,000 on the front. Still have my third rear of RoadSmarts on: 10,000 on rear (nearly worn out), replaced front on a western trip last year with only available tire at the dealer with Pirelli Diablo (had 8,000 miles on it - had bent rim.) At 4,000 miles the Diablo is barely worn. Best grip: Metzler M3 - T-mac worthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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