86 700F matching tires

I am in the process of replacing the tires on my 86 700F, I have the following tires:
120/80 16
160/60 18
I have been searching the web for a matched set of good street/sport tires, does anyone have any opinions on tires for this bike and if so where they bought them.

 

Michelin Macadam 50 and macadam 90 (now100) have worked well for me. You might have difficulty´s finding tires for your bike cos you have 16" front and 18" rear.

 

Pirelli Sport Demon bias-ply. I've got over 10,000 miles on mine. Great tire imo and I plan to stick with them. Chaparral had the best price, not sure about their shipping though since they are local to me.

My second pick would be Dunlop GT501.

 

I went w/ AVON RoadRiders haven't logged many miles on them yet but from those I have logged they are as good or better than than the Bridgestone BT45's I had been running.

This is a fairly recent offering by AVON, aimed towards the "vintage sportbikes"

http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/motorcycle/?page=tyres&method=showtyre&id=6

 

Good to know Avon makes some tread that fits too. Are those Avon's bias-ply?

 

Pirelli makes Diablos in 150/18 and 130/16. Both are a little wide for our wheels, but at least they're a radial. Bias ply is for the birds, damn slippery things.

 

I beleive they are, can't find anything in the spec sheets stating bias or radial & its to damn cold to go out in the garage & look on the tire.

 

I'm with SavedRider on this one. I have been running Pirelli Sport Demon's since last summer and think their great. I have had no indication of traction loss at any speed so far. I live in the Pacfic Northwest. I do not care to ride in the rain, but have been caught in it a few times and they had plenty of grip then too.

 

Bike was designed for bias-ply tyres so radials are NOT recommended on our stock wheels.

120 is max on front, but 110 is better; max at rear no more than 150
bigger is not necessarily better.

DUNLOP GT 501 is a good choice at a moderate price, excellent in the wet.

 

Is there a problem running radial tires on this bike? I found some Avon radials that are in my price range.

 

Radial tyres are designed to work on certain wheel rim sizes, which the VFR doesn't have.

BIAS TYRES olny should be fitted on stock rims.

If you want to fit radial tyres, you need to use Honda 600 F2 or F3 wheel set up.

 

anyone finding any good tires for this bike still? I can't find anything good that matches for my 87 with same wheel set
110/90-16
130/80-18

 

I bought my 86 700 over 4 years ago. It spent a lot of time in the garage as life took priority. I finally got to ride it a lot in the last two years. I wore out the tires that were on it (can't remember what brand, but bias ply). I did a lot of research and went with the Bridgestones.
I did not have any issues with them while riding. I used to road race and consider myslef a mildly aggressive road rider. There are plenty of young lads willing to take more chances on the road than am. I certainly don't rank with those fellas.
I put the tires on last summer and they are wore out already. I do not have an odometer on my bike(long story short, I cannot see the numbers on the dial from the sunlight, so I use a GPS instead), so I don't know the exact mileage. What I do know is that I do not ride any long distances and do not ride to work every day with it. I only pop out to do my local favorite roads and grab lunch as often as I can. I would guess I got about 3500 - 4500 miles out of the set. I don't do burn outs, but the center wore out on the rear, as on the front too.
I don't expect 10,000 miles from them, but I was hoping for more. Anyone else have this experience with Bridgestones?
I just bought a set of F2 wheels, but I intended to put them on my project track VFR700. Not sure I want to invest in another set of bias plys, but I also don't want to convert my street VFR rear brake to fit the F2.
Anyone getting decent mileage out of bias plys?

 

Got my '86 700 just before riding season last year with some Dunlop bias-ply tires in excellent condition. Put 5k miles on it last year and they're shot now. I'm in the middle of upgrading the wheels and suspension right now. Didn't want to invest in more junk rubber.

 

Well I'm glad someone pointed out about tire size. If you look at rim/tire charts like this one at mid page: http://kawtriple.com/mraxl/tire_rim.htm They give you acceptable rim sizes to mount the tire on. The center number ()is normally what the tire is designed for. the tire will work with the other sizes but not in a maximum profile like it was designed for. Yes you can put just about any tire on any rim that's close but don't expect the tire to work very well when needed to.

Your rims are 2.5" front and 3" rear and made for bias ply tire. I was running Conti-GO's on my 83 Interceptor and they work great in dry or wet. Does highway cruising 90mph in a pouring down storm count?

There are the Dulop 501. I used them and hated the front tire. NEVER get near a steel grated bridge or road snakes at speed in the wet unless your life insurance is paid up.

http://www.americanmototire.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=33_108_871 This place has some good pricing for the most part. Been dealing with them for years basically.

 

I'll chime in with a different approach. Is it really important that the tires match? My bike will never see the track and I am not overly aggressive on the street. Also, for the street and commuting, is bias or radial preferred?

 

Thrashed, the safe answer is that your tires should match. Having said that, I have ridden many bikes with mismatched tires and never had an issue(I am talking tread pattern/manufacturer, not bias ply/radial). I consider myself to be a semi aggressive rider.
the answer to your other question regarding radial or bias ply is easier to answer. As long as you have the stock rims for that bike, you can only buy bias ply for them.

 

As a side note to this thread, I just installed a set of Avons on my 86 road bike (stock rims). I was not able to source a 110 front, so I ordered the 120. They had the stock size rear.
I do notice the difference in front tire profile when initiating corners compared to the stock 110. Not saying good or bad until I get to put some miles on it, just a noticeable difference.
I will try to post back as I ride more and let folks know how the tires work out.

 

Thanks for the reply. Funny thing I noticed on the way out of the parking lot at work is two of the bikes had mismatched treads. Also thanks for the heads up on the bias ply. I'm sure the local shop would have known, but it makes it easier to pick tires out before hand.

 

I'll add my $0.02 - I've mounted radials on several older bikes that were never intended for them, and always in slightly larger sizes. They made a huge difference in handling. I honestly don't like the feel of bias tires at all any more. They handle adequately but feel very spooky. I'd never mix bias with radials, and the most I'd stray on suggested size is 5-10%.

This isn't suitable for a stock VFR though, due to tire sizes. I'd stick with bias if I was keeping the stock suspension. I'm planning on the complete CBR swap once I get the VFR back on the road. Those little skinny 16" front wheels don't have any suitable radial choices.

Great suggestions in this thread, I'll be comparing them all when I get that thing back on the road. I've always been fond of Avons.