Tyre age and sport tourer tyres

[Taipan]

I've had 2 sets of Dunlops.

1. the OE D207 that came on my Fazer. I thought they were alright, but were a patch on the Bridgestones I had after.

2. The OE tyres on my GSXS. They were pretty horrible and panned by everyone. Wore fast, tracked the road, felt hard/harsh and had no real feel or feedback.

I've got Road 5 at the moment and like em but then I liked the Road 3s and 4s on other bikes. Only went for 5 as bit cheaper than the 6s and better than I am.

Metzeler 01SE have won pretty much every sports touring tyre test in about the last 5 years though. I'd have got them but they were even more expensive than the Road 6

I just put a set of Metzeler 01SEs on the Ducati based on the rave reports. I dislike Pilots though, I note i'm in a class of one here though...

[Dodgy69]

MCN ST tyre test...

[KungFooBob]

What I take from that is Metzler have a bigger advertising budget than Continental.

[Cousin Jack]

My Road 5s that came on the bike are ready for replacement.

They have been fine, Road 6s are reckoned to be even better but a bit spendy. A mate swears that Dunlop Mutant (similarly spendy) are the best thing since sliced bread - anyone have any experience of them?

[Dodgy69]

Michael Neeves was one of the two testers. I find him a decent sort going by his past, but ye you never know.

[KungFooBob]

I've been present at a MCN tyre test, in fact I got a free pair of tyres out of it that had only done 5 laps at most.

I wouldn't say the testing was rigorous. Each set got just enough laps so they'd look balled up for the pictures.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

What I take from that is Metzler have a bigger advertising budget than Continental.

Contis are truly horrible, they grip alright but have very little "feel", I prefer Metzelers to Pirellis, I've no recent experience of Michelins or Dunlops, and that's probably a more in depth tyre test than an MCN tyre test.

[KungFooBob]

I liked Conti trail attacks, loads of grip from cold.

[dern]

I'm going to do a fork oil change at the weekend and go from there.

[Whysub]

I was dead impressed with the Metzeler M7RRs that came as standard on my Duke 690. When the Falco's tyres need to be changed, I'll probably go with a set of M9RRs (or whatever the latest iteration is).

But in the last 10 years I've used tyres from Avon, Continental, Dunlop, Metzeler and Michelin. They've all been much better than me.

We had M7RR's on the BMW K1300's at work, and they were great, decent grip in the wet as well as the dry, and under braking.

A week before I rode to Albania, I put a pair on my Guzzi V1200 Sport. Within 200 miles riding in France, I realised they were a poor choice. The Guzzi span them up under acceleration out of bends, very disconcerting.

In the rain riding through Montenegro (why does it always piss down when I'm there?) the front end slid alarmingly on numerous occasions.

What's great on one bike are shite on others. I now read one make forums to check what suits the bike I have.

[Supermofo]

I liked the M7RR that came on my 690 Duke but they didn't last much passed 3 and a bit thousand miles. The PR4 I replaced them with felt almost as good in the dry and better in the wet/cold and lasted over 5k miles. I've stuck with ST tyres since.

[The Spin Doctor]

What I take from that is Metzler have a bigger advertising budget than Continental.

I think it was Bike that ran a blind tyre test with the late great David Jeffries doing a lap of the TT circuit on road tyres.

I remember that the scores he gave each tyre rated the Conti sports tyre of the time equal top. So Bike promptly declared the Bridgestone he gave equal marks the winner!

[Bigjawa]

I liked the M7RR that came on my 690 Duke but they didn't last much passed 3 and a bit thousand miles. The PR4 I replaced them with felt almost as good in the dry and better in the wet/cold and lasted over 5k miles. I've stuck with ST tyres since.

An ex-racer I know only ever uses ST tyres on his road bike, he reckons to get sports tyres hot enough on the roads, you need to be riding like a madman. He doesn't hang about either.

[Yorick]

I liked the M7RR that came on my 690 Duke but they didn't last much passed 3 and a bit thousand miles. The PR4 I replaced them with felt almost as good in the dry and better in the wet/cold and lasted over 5k miles. I've stuck with ST tyres since.

An ex-racer I know only ever uses ST tyres on his road bike, he reckons to get sports tyres hot enough on the roads, you need to be riding like a madman. He doesn't hang about either.

Not really true. For 15 years in UK I only ever had track tyres on my GSXRs.
Worked fine even winter commuting.

[Whysub]

Ran my GSX-R750 on Macadams, surely the hardest compound tyre ever made. Used to get at least 10,000 miles out of a rear before they squared off enough to make them feel even worse*.

*120 miles a day commuting, 110 of that on a dual carriageway and motorway

[v8-powered]

Ran my GSX-R750 on Macadams, surely the hardest compound tyre ever made. Used to get at least 10,000 miles out of a rear before they squared off enough to make them feel even worse*.

*120 miles a day commuting, 110 of that on a dual carriageway and motorway

Those and Tomahawk's on a ZZR-1100 I commuted on - Swear the Tomahawk's were made of Bakelite (showing my age!), lethal in the wet.

[KungFooBob]

Were the Tomahawks the ones you could buy in coloured rubber?

I remember orange tyres.

[v8-powered]

Were the Tomahawks the ones you could buy in coloured rubber?

I remember orange tyres.

Yep, but i was a cheapskate and had black ones

[Yorick]

Were the Tomahawks the ones you could buy in coloured rubber?

I remember orange tyres.

I remember following Niall McKenzie around Donington and he was leaving coloured lines everywhere. The tyres just had no grip

Still couldn't catch him

[Supermofo]

Were the Tomahawks the ones you could buy in coloured rubber?

I remember orange tyres.

I seem to recall someone on the VD SM section having yellow and blue on their Husky