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Recommended Sports touring tyres + standard or GT?


Richard1

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Hi 

 

As the title says I’m after recommendations for suitable replacement tyres for my 5th Gen.

Looking for a sporty type touring tyre that has excellent longevity, improves handling and ideally good in both wet & dry conditions. Hopefully not too much to ask for…

The other thing I wanted to know was whether standard tyres are fine or should I go for the GT variant?

In terms of use, I tend to go for rides out in the Peaks, Derbyshire and biking trips (just returned from North Coast 500).

 

 

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Avon have been my preferred tire, across several bikes. I currently have their Storm on two bikes (VFR and SV650) and will be moving to their Spirit, for the next sets. What I like is Avon have supple casings on their tires, so they ride nice. Also, their front profiles are pointier than other tires, such as the Michelin Road series or Pirelli Angel, so they easily tip-in. I’ve tried and sold a lot of tires, but, haven’t found anything better than Avon, for the street. 
 

As a side note, I had a set of Avon TrailRider on my Tiger 800XCx. Switching to Michelin Anakee III resulted in what I figured would happen; I have harsher riding tires that don’t tip-in as easy. I’ll be going back to Avon for this bike, as well. 
 

No need for the “GT” spec on a VFR, per a tire engineer I asked. 

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I am in the process of fitting a new set of Michelin Pilot Road 2s.  I have 7,933 miles on the PR2s I'm removing.  They're almost to the wear bars.  I suppose they could go another 1 to 2  thousand miles  but I'm prepping for a long trip and want new rubber.  If I commuted on them I'm sure I'd get 10,000 miles from them.  They're hard to find,  but Amazon has a vendor still importing them - a 120 / 180 set is $220 delivered via Fedex ground. That is a smokin' deal.  Road 5s are double the price.  Mine have an Oct, 2020 manufacture date. Road 2s have been my favorite tire - even at this mileage they still turn in decent and I've not had them step out or give the impression that they would let me down.  Love em.

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11 hours ago, Cogswell said:

I am in the process of fitting a new set of Michelin Pilot Road 2s.  I have 7,927 miles on the PR2s I'm removing.  They're almost to the wear bars.  I suppose they could go another 1 to 2  thousand miles  but I'm prepping for a long trip and want new rubber.  If I commuted on them I'm sure I'd get 10,000 miles from them.  They're hard to find,  but Amazon has a vendor still importing them - a 120 / 180 set is $220 delivered via Fedex ground. That is a smokin' deal.  Road 5s are double the price.  Mine have an Oct, 2020 manufacture date. Road 2s have been my favorite tire - even at this mileage they still turn in decent and I've not had them step out or give the impression that they would let me down.  Love em.


From those who’ve ridden the whole Michelin Road lineup, I don’t believe I’ve read where any of them thought the newer stuff is as good as the PR2. 

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The Michelin Pilot Road 2s have been my go-to tires for the last ten years. 7,000 - 10,000 miles per set. And they are priced right.

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4 hours ago, ducnut said:


From those who’ve ridden the whole Michelin Road lineup, I don’t believe I’ve read where any of them thought the newer stuff is as good as the PR2. 

 

I tried both the Road 3 and Road 4 when they came out.  Both scalloped and cupped badly - I ended up with headshake when decelerating at around 35mph.  I was told that my steering head bearings were either worn, loose or both.  I disliked both sets so much I took them off well before they were worn out.  When I went back to Road 2's, the headshake issue disappeared as did the cupping and scalloping of the tread.  I have not tried Road 5's, but at double the price, I'll stick with the 2's.  I hope Michelin continues making them. The deal on Amazon is simply amazing. 

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2 hours ago, Cogswell said:

 

I tried both the Road 3 and Road 4 when they came out.  Both scalloped and cupped badly - I ended up with headshake when decelerating at around 35mph.  I was told that my steering head bearings were either worn, loose or both.  I disliked both sets so much I took them off well before they were worn out.  When I went back to Road 2's, the headshake issue disappeared as did the cupping and scalloping of the tread.  I have not tried Road 5's, but at double the price, I'll stick with the 2's.  I hope Michelin continues making them. The deal on Amazon is simply amazing. 


I’ve seen a lot of cupped and scalloped R5, as well. To me, the size of the voids just encourages it. 
 

I had to laugh about your disliking tires so bad you removed them early. I once bought a set of BT021, just to try a set of Bridgestone. After ~200mi I pulled them and sold them. They were the harshest riding tires I’ve ever experienced. You’ll never catch me on Bridgestones again. 

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So far I’m doing ok with a set of Road 5 with just over 5k miles on them. I can see what is said about the cup/scallop issue but haven’t noticed or had that issue. I keep a good eye on the psi as my wife rides with me all the time. 

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I just mounted a set of Bridgestone T32 after many years on the PRs and Road5. Just a hundred miles so far, they are seeming a little stiffer. They replaced the oem Scorpion Trail tires on my Multi, so it's an improvement. DK has the T32 set for $250 so I thought I'd try them.

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I've been running Continental Conti montion for a while, I seem to get around 7k (KM) on the rear with no scalloping .  Any opinions on these?  I've run Angels for a bit but they didnt seem to offer better wear just a bit more pricey.  I think I paid more for tires than the bikes worth after 15 years!  lol

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On my race-bikes, I'll go for stickiest slicks I can find for fastest lap-times. Who cares if they only last 1-day.

 

However, on my street-bikes, I don't ever go beyond 50% of tyre's limits, so I haven't found much differences between different brands or models. I just ensure they have adequate tread-pattern and depth for rain and that's really it. Other factors like grinding pegs or exhausts typically limits speed well before tyre's limits.

 

Currently using Conti Motion on VFR and Shinkos 003 on CBR600RR. More sport-touring tyre on VFR and medium-compound sporty tyre on CBR, which will more likely be used in twisties. 

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9 hours ago, DFOTECH said:

I've been running Continental Conti montion for a while, I seem to get around 7k (KM) on the rear with no scalloping .  Any opinions on these?  I've run Angels for a bit but they didnt seem to offer better wear just a bit more pricey.  I think I paid more for tires than the bikes worth after 15 years!  lol


~7yrs ago I ran through a set on my Tiger 1050. Maybe 2yrs into them, I noticed lines forming around the rear’s sidewalls and had no idea what they were. Fast-forward ~5yrs and I buy a used VFR. This bike had a set on it dated ~7yrs-old and the rear had the same lines around the sidewalls. I planned a frame-off rebuild, so dismounted the tires. I was shocked to see the line was actually a crack forming. The Conti Motion is made in Malaysia; not Germany, like many of their other tires. They had mediocre characteristics and would never recommend them, even without the cracking. 

C3CFDC48-638B-4798-8491-26B4E30BDE44.jpeg

1568CB42-161E-4474-B609-1EFC66457CBC.jpeg

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1 hour ago, ducnut said:


~7yrs ago I ran through a set on my Tiger 1050. Maybe 2yrs into them, I noticed lines forming around the rear’s sidewalls and had no idea what they were. Fast-forward ~5yrs and I buy a used VFR. This bike had a set on it dated ~7yrs-old and the rear had the same lines around the sidewalls. I planned a frame-off rebuild, so dismounted the tires. I was shocked to see the line was actually a crack forming. The Conti Motion is made in Malaysia; not Germany, like many of their other tires. They had mediocre characteristics and would never recommend them, even without the cracking. 

 

Wow, that's serious. Do you think it was age, or some kind of abuse? Or just the result of a manufacturing shortcut?

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On 7/5/2021 at 3:37 AM, Cogswell said:

I am in the process of fitting a new set of Michelin Pilot Road 2s.  I have 7,933 miles on the PR2s I'm removing.  They're almost to the wear bars.  I suppose they could go another 1 to 2  thousand miles  but I'm prepping for a long trip and want new rubber.  If I commuted on them I'm sure I'd get 10,000 miles from them.  They're hard to find,  but Amazon has a vendor still importing them - a 120 / 180 set is $220 delivered via Fedex ground. That is a smokin' deal.  Road 5s are double the price.  Mine have an Oct, 2020 manufacture date. Road 2s have been my favorite tire - even at this mileage they still turn in decent and I've not had them step out or give the impression that they would let me down.  Love em.

 

Hmmm, £169 a set for the 800 from Demon Tweeks vs £208 for a set of Roadtec 1's. Not sure I'd want to give up the more modern tech and it's a tyre I know well for the sake of £50.....that's only an evening down the pub. :beer: 😆

 

Such an old tyre I've forgotten what they're like. How are they in the rain and on overbanding (road repairs)?

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9 hours ago, St. Stephen said:

 

Wow, that's serious. Do you think it was age, or some kind of abuse? Or just the result of a manufacturing shortcut?


IMO, it’s just a poor quality tire. As I mentioned, I had them on my Tiger and those only had ~2yrs of service on them and were maybe 3yrs-old by date code. It would seem to me, the VFR’s set, at 7yrs-old, indicates where the Tiger set was progressing toward. 

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I've had a pretty good variety of tires over the last dozen years.  I liked the old Pirelli Diablos - not a long wearing tire but were cheap and had good grip.  I experienced cupping front tire tread with a couple Bridgestones.  I just had a set of Dunlop Roadsmart III's installed.  So far so good, but I really only have a few hundred miles on them.  I'm hoping to get at least 7-8k miles from the set.

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3 hours ago, TimC said:

 I liked the old Pirelli Diablos - not a long wearing tire but were cheap and had good grip. L


The new Diablo isn’t the same as the original Diablo, so be aware of that. The new one is made in Asia (I can’t remember the country). However, I ordered one in for a customer and wondered how it could be so cheap and that’s why. 

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1 hour ago, ducnut said:


The new Diablo isn’t the same as the original Diablo, so be aware of that. The new one is made in Asia (I can’t remember the country). However, I ordered one in for a customer and wondered how it could be so cheap and that’s why. 

 

Yep.  I only bought the old Diablos when CycleGear had that great sale for a while.  Can't remember the prices, but it was dirt cheap for a decent tire.  During the time they ran that sale I think I bought 2-3 sets of them.  😉 

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On 7/4/2021 at 8:37 PM, Cogswell said:

I am in the process of fitting a new set of Michelin Pilot Road 2s.  I have 7,933 miles on the PR2s I'm removing.  They're almost to the wear bars.  I suppose they could go another 1 to 2  thousand miles  but I'm prepping for a long trip and want new rubber.  If I commuted on them I'm sure I'd get 10,000 miles from them.  They're hard to find,  but Amazon has a vendor still importing them - a 120 / 180 set is $220 delivered via Fedex ground. That is a smokin' deal.  Road 5s are double the price.  Mine have an Oct, 2020 manufacture date. Road 2s have been my favorite tire - even at this mileage they still turn in decent and I've not had them step out or give the impression that they would let me down.  Love em.

 

I went to Amazon to have a look. Had to laugh at the "frequently bought together" suggestion. Do you by chance have a cat?  

 

 

Screenshot_20210714-092542_Chrome.jpg

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1 hour ago, jroberts427 said:

 

I went to Amazon to have a look. Had to laugh at the "frequently bought together" suggestion. Do you by chance have a cat?  

 

 

Screenshot_20210714-092542_Chrome.jpg

Perhaps Amazon considers those tires are frisky. Bizarre.

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5 hours ago, jroberts427 said:

 

I went to Amazon to have a look. Had to laugh at the "frequently bought together" suggestion. Do you by chance have a cat?  

 

 

Screenshot_20210714-092542_Chrome.jpg

 

LOL . . . !  Maybe it's like Dyna Beads - pour the cat food in to the tire and while you ride down the road the cat food does the balancing . . .  :blink:

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I run the conti Motion on my 599 Hornet, the bike came to me with the conti motion on the front. Initially , I did not care for them thinking it was a budget product. After riding it for 3k miles, I was quite impressed. Quick warm up and they stick really good. I got 3500 miles out. Since the tire performed really good I decided to replace the Michelin PP CT2 with the conti motion in the back and equally impressed. I was able to break the Michelin tire loose under acceleration out of some corners but could not do it with the conti motion.

On my 97 VFR, I am running shinko 011 verge and like them a lot. They stick pretty good when warmed up and they lean into the corners I a very linear fashion. I am getting around 3 to 3.5k miles out of them. Recently I have tried the conti sport attack in the front and did not like it. The grip was really good but the turn in was pretty progressive (non-linear) which is great on the track but too sketchy on back roads. Therefore I going back to the shinko's (I will burn off the conti on the hornet) I am using my VFR as a sport bike not as a touring bike. As for the mileage, I never got more than 5k miles out of any tire (even on 50 hp. bikes) so 3-4k miles are OK for me as long as they do stick and turn the way I want them to. Usually, I burn through the tires in one or two years max.

As for rain performance, cannot contribute much as I donot do long tours anymore and trying not to get wet.

These are my 2 cents.

 

 

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A bike currently in the shop has the same discoloration as both my sets exhibited. The cracks form right where the colors meet, which I’ve no idea what the cause is. These are ~3yrs old. 

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317DFD7E-3D15-4AF4-9321-B1DF0EB44176.jpeg

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