Poll: Sport touring tires

I'm using the Bridgestone BT021s. I've only got a few hundred miles on this set, but I used to run the 020s and thought they offered a great combination of grip and mileage.
But I agree with JRotten that a lot of people find something they like and stick with it. It's hard to take a gamble when you have to live with it for 3-4000 miles.
Cheers!
Craig :smile:

 

I'm hoping to live with this set for at least 6-7000 miles! The Michelins are a dual-compound tire with a harder compound down the middle to give greater tire mileage.

 

Rode to work today and back, and while this was just a commuting run, overall I am quite impressed with these tires. See my other post in the tire product reviews forum. More to come after this weekend when I ride them in the twisties. Thanks to John452 for his impressions that turned me on to these tires. These tires are so nice, I think I will run them as street tires on my 600s.

 

They should work well on pure Sports bikes, before getting mine I heard from a guy with an R1 who only has good words so far with his R2's.
:smile:

 

Yeah, John, they are impressive so far. I will know more after this weekend's riding up in the Napa Valley, but it seems they are very nice tires. I can see why the tire retailers in NSW are seeing lower sales of Pilot Power and Sportec M3 tires.

Shoulda know I coulda trusted a Sydneysider! :biggrin:

BTW, do you ever get to those nice twisty roads that lead up to West Head?

 

They good fun but as they are on Sydney's North side have only been up them a couple of times...

If you're familiar with Sydney and surrounds I'm only 8 minutes ride from the Royal National Park entrance near Sydney's Coastal South, keeps me very entertained even more when combined with a half days run through the Park, up Macquarie Pass, down Kangaroo Valley and back up through the Kiama bends then Jambaroo and home. :smile:

 

Everyone to their own but I replaced worn originals with Dunlop D205s and have put 15,000 miles on them since. Mostly highway miles and driving more on the conservative side (an age thing you know). I drive in typical Pacific Northwest weather in BC's Fraser Valley to Vancouver every day except in the snow (50 miles each way). Freeway is rutted pretty good in spots and laying water is not unheard of. The tires are far from being worn. They are a bit flat in the center but what can I expect. They handle well in the corners for me but then I may not be as aggressive here as others. Are they the best, who knows. Maybe I will try one of those noted above next set which will probably come due in the summer this year.

 

I haven't been down that way (yet), but I just looked it up on Google Maps Australia, and all those roads look like great riding. Lots of twisties to ride. Looks like Hwy 68 from the park all the way down to Wollongong, down to Shell Harbor, and then 48 out to MacQuarie Pass, Jambaroo Mountain Rd, and then 1 up to Kiama bends look like some awesome riding.

 

A lttle off this topic but agree Google Maps are brilliant.

The very best riding in NSW can be had a days ride down our Southern Alpine region near the Victorian border somerthing I'm fortunate to ride down for 3 times a year and in the off Ski season quite devoid of cages and smokies.

Ontopic with the R2's was how good they performed this years Feb run in the very wet slippery Alpine Twisties between Jindabyne & Khancoban.

Below Google Map Route is a standard day's loop worth trying if you ever come down and hire a bike. We had one guy through VFRD hire a Sprint RS and join an OzVFR Snowy ride in '05/'06 oddly enough he was in Oz implementing Google Map's at the time for the local launch.



Google Maps OzVFR Alpine Loop links:

Alpine Loop: ( zoom in a little around Tom Groggin to the left of Thredbo )
http://tinyurl.com/2rf3gc

Southern Coastal Loop
http://tinyurl.com/35g4uh

 

John,
Thanks for the loop links...it all looks awesome....if I get out to Oz in October to shoot the MotoGP at PI, I will hire a bike and try to hook up with you for some riding.

I'm going to ride both days this weekend, looking forward to giving the tires a good workout.

cheers,
PC

 

Sounds a good idea, will PM you...

 

Rode with the Pilot Road 2s, 200 miles of twisties and freeway....frickin' awesome tire. Thanks again to John for his input a while back. See my post on first impressions.

 

I just put Shinkos on my bike a couple of weeks ago. So far, they seem to be very good. I took them up to 123.5mph today, and no weird feelings. In the turns, they feel good and solid. I mounted them myself and didn't even balance them. I think I'm satisfied with the purchase; we'll see how long they last.....


Lane

 

Hey Puma Cat,
Did the new tires help with the coast-down wobble?

 

Slight change in topic

I've been around motorcycles going on 38 years now. In my former life I was even a Suzuki dealer.

I don't think the coast down wobble is strictly a 5th Gen phenonmen. Just about every bike I have ever ridden has a coast down wobble at about 45 mph. Some bikes have it worse than others, but it seems like just about all bikes have it.

I have no logical explanation for it.

 

Mis matched tires

can you and would you?
with the rear newly replaced with the the stock tire and the front now needing a replacment am i able to go for a Conti Road Attacks on the front? or should i get another stock tire and swap em at the same time?

Also what is a tire with good tread life? i do tent to ride to work and to and from calgary from red deer wearing out the middle far before the side.

 

I ran out two sets of the Conti Road Attacks and loved them. The last 1000 miles on them you can really feel a decline in performance. I got around 8000 miles from both (16000+ total). I was about to get a third set a few weeks back, but decide to try the Diablo Stradas. So far I am very impressed and love how they feel. I will update when I get a chance to do some aggressive canyon carving, but I have a feeling they won't let me down. Also, I didn't even have to have them balanced and they are running true and smooth at all speeds.

 

Conti Road Attack

After 1k miles, all smiles. So much better then the factory Dunslops.
The chicken strips, though still there, are this wide :::
Using the rest of the tire would put me at around a 50 degree lean angle, where I lack the skill to survive.
The turn in quicker, and stick so much better than what came on my bike.
I ride all mountain roads, mostly patched and ruff pavement.
As far as milage, I'll guess 4 to 5 thousand out of the rear.
Nothing in the wet, yet.

Mac