Any tires that last as long or longer and cost the same or less than Pilot Road 2s

[Garandman]

Love the conti toad attack when I had them and hears great things of its replacement.g.

It costs more than the PR3 though, by $10 or $15.

My first one lasted substantially longer than a Metzler Tourance, which is kind of amazing.

[nhbubba]

I just priced up Conti Road Attack IIs for the 'strom. $50 more than the PR3s!! That's a lot!

[DaveZX6r]

I'm gonna need new tires for my new 6r in about 1k miles. I'm seriously considering the bt 023s. I can buy a set 180 55 and 120 70 from Dennis kirk for 235 shipped. That's cheap for tires in general let alone for high mileage tires. The only thing holding be back is I don't want to end up with tires I'm not happy with that will last so long. Then again I can still probably just find a way to eat them up a little quicker if I don't like them :p

[nhbubba]

I ordered a new set a few weeks ago. This time I went with a Road 3 for the front (need it for the 19" on the 'strom) and a Road 2 for the rear.
I had Road 3's on both ends. My front is still okay but the rear is smoked at 7500 miles. Today I spooned the Road 3 off and the 2 on. Let's see how long this one lasts. Honestly, I'm disappointed with 7500 miles. I got ~12,000 out of my factory Bridgestones.



I should have tried the BT-023s. Probably next time.

I put the wheel back on the bike, but completely forgot to balance the wheel first. Trying to decide if I should take it off again and balance it.

[Uncle Snake]

A number of ZRX guys run Dunlop 616's and claim to get 7k+ miles out of a set with great grip in the rain. I have no idea how hard these fellas ride though.

[stoinkythepig]

A number of ZRX guys run Dunlop 616's and claim to get 7k+ miles out of a set with great grip in the rain. I have no idea how hard these fellas ride though.

I tried those, mileage was disappointing compared to the PR2s. Both gripped well in the rain, the PR2s gripped better in the dry, IMO.

[stoinkythepig]

I ordered a new set a few weeks ago. This time I went with a Road 3 for the front (need it for the 19" on the 'strom) and a Road 2 for the rear.
I had Road 3's on both ends. My front is still okay but the rear is smoked at 7500 miles. Today I spooned the Road 3 off and the 2 on. Let's see how long this one lasts. Honestly, I'm disappointed with 7500 miles. I got ~12,000 out of my factory Bridgestones.

I think I know why I don't get the mileage that some of you are getting. I've never worn out a tire that much... How can you stand they way that feels? Mine start to feel awful when they get the wear bars. I suspect that when they are thin the natural resonance of the tires decreases so that the lack damping and feel squirrelly on rough surfaces. I love the compliance of new tires on rough roads.

[nhbubba]

Honestly, I didn't even know it was worn that badly until I was ready to order new rubber. I knew I wouldn't pass tech for the track day I'm headed to on Tuesday.. or the state inspection I need to get to soon. But I did not know they were that bad. I'm such a cheap ass that I actually thought about popping the tire back on for another k or two after getting my sticker.. until I looked at the tire.

In my experience the handling loss is so gradual that I don't know what I'm missing until I put the new tire on.

I definitely need to get out for a hundred miles or so this weekend just to get used to the unworn tire before heading up to NHMS.

BTW, I have a history of this:


I also wait until I look like a damned hippy before I schedule a haircut.

[DaveZX6r]

I ordered a new set a few weeks ago. This time I went with a Road 3 for the front (need it for the 19" on the 'strom) and a Road 2 for the rear.
I had Road 3's on both ends. My front is still okay but the rear is smoked at 7500 miles. Today I spooned the Road 3 off and the 2 on. Let's see how long this one lasts. Honestly, I'm disappointed with 7500 miles. I got ~12,000 out of my factory Bridgestones.



I should have tried the BT-023s. Probably next time.

I put the wheel back on the bike, but completely forgot to balance the wheel first. Trying to decide if I should take it off again and balance it.

Wow. Like left turns much? I've never seen such uneven wear on a bike tire before. Are you sure you don't have something weird going on? Or do you really just rip it on the left and baby it on the right?
Also like stoinky I've never run a bike tire that low. I buy new ones usually at the end of the season and just mount them when they hit the wear bars or soon after.

[636Rider]

So i have a question hope this isnt "thread jacking" but seemed like their are 3 new threads for tires today and I just have a basic question
I was looking at the "sport-touring" tires to be able to take the long highway ride to work then go out for some nice roads home and still have a tire at the end of a week.
I ride a 636
--Being as i am a mammoth of a human (6'2" 350lbs of pure man) :laugh can i use the BT023 "GT" made for the bigger bikes to ballance my weight to the wear on the tires?--

--KennyG--
--"Yes I do look like a gorilla fucking a football, but its a fast football "

[DaveZX6r]

You can but I wouldn't. Your talking about a bike that weighs literally almost half of what the heavy touring bikes are. I weigh about 190 in my gear your what about 160 more than me? But a heavy touring bike is anywhere from 2 to 300 lbs more than yours. That's still quite a difference.

But then I'm not a tire guy. So this is just my opinion.

[636Rider]

k thx

[golden chicken]

~17k rear Pilot Road 2:



Front is about the same. I bet I can make it to 20k, but I think I'll be right on the wear bars down the center when I get there.

[DaveZX6r]

Shut up chicken!

[Chippertheripper]

Wow. Like left turns much? I've never seen such uneven wear on a bike tire before. Are you sure you don't have something weird going on? Or do you really just rip it on the left and baby it on the right?
Also like stoinky I've never run a bike tire that low. I buy new ones usually at the end of the season and just mount them when they hit the wear bars or soon after.

Looks like something silly. A broken belt, or misaligned wheel. Definitely abnormal.

[DaveZX6r]

Looks like something silly. A broken belt, or misaligned wheel. Definitely abnormal.

Srsly. I'd say there was a reason you only got 7500 out of that tire Collin.

[nhbubba]

I have no idea why my tires wore this way. Looking back, the first set of tires (that the bike came with) wore this way too, although not nearly as bad.

I don't think the tire was misaligned. I align by measuring from swingarm pivot to axle on both sides.

I'm open to suggestions if I am doing it wrong.

Bike handled great.

Rider performance is debatable. Maybe I just puss out on those right handers. I did have a field day with T6 @ NHMS.

Randy offered a suggestion. I was ready to go with his explanation:

left side wear is the result of curves to the left being longer than curves to the right when you drive on right side of road

this guy splains it much better than Lucy
http://www.rattlebars.com/tirewear/index.html

[Chippertheripper]

Randy's suggestion was at the hint of slight wear. What you have pictured, I'd call extreme.

[nhbubba]

As I say, I'm open to suggestions.

I mounted, balanced, and maintained these myself. I don't think I fucked anything up enough to cause this. That said, I've been wrong before. Rare, but it happens.

[Stromper]

No and your other no

To deal with this issue, horizontal curves have roads that are tilted at a slight angle. This tilt is defined as superelevation, or e, which is the amount of rise seen on an angled cross-section of a road given a certain run, otherwise known as slope. The presence of superelevation on a curve allows some of the centripetal force to be countered by the ground, thus allowing the turn to be executed at a faster rate than would be allowed on a flat surface. Superelevation also plays another important role by aiding in drainage during precipitation events, as water runs off the road rather than collecting on it. Generally, superelevation is limited to being less than 14 percent, as engineers need to account for stopped vehicles on the curve, where centripetal force is not present.

The road crown acts as super elevation on one side and NEGATIVE elevation on the other

If the banking was correct. the road provides the "lean" in the turn so you could turn on the center of the contact patch


NH Bubba you may be faster then when you had the trail wings

[nhbubba]

You guys sure know how to make a guy paranoid. I'm out of bed and wandering around the house thinking about this.

This winter I installed an Elka shock with remote reservoir thingie. That installs on the left side of the bike. Maybe the tire's making contact? Checked that, no chance. Reservoir is way, way forward of the tire. No chance of contact.

I do load my left case with stuff that stays on the bike and only load the right case as needed. But we're talking little 21L plastic cases here. I think I have a rainsuit, a pair of gloves, and some misc nicknacks in the case. Not enough to matter.

I am riding way harder than I ever have. Way harder. Almost to the point of "geezus guy, better slowdown before you get arrested or killed" harder.

Kenn will of course disagree!

[DaveZX6r]

Speed doesn't kill tires hard acceleration does. You'd have to be spinning up the tire out of left hand turns and doing nothing on right handers to cause that much of a difference. Also maybe I'm seeing thing but it looks like you've got some nasty scalloping on the right side. And no weight on the left side if the bike isn't gonna do that as far as I know. Did you ever get the bike set up after you put the shock in?

[golden chicken]

I don't remember your tires being like that the last time I saw your bike, Colin. I remember the feathering that all Road3s seem to do, but not left-side wear like that. Then again, I wasn't really looking THAT hard.

[golden chicken]

Shut up chicken!

...but look at how much tread I have on the sides!

[nhbubba]

I don't remember your tires being like that the last time I saw your bike, Colin.

Me either. Last time I looked, they were wearing okay and still had some meat. But now I can't remember when that was.. was it when I dusted her off for the season? Can't remember. Then last week I looked at them before ordering tires and they were like this.

BTW, front tire is wearing nicely and evenly.

Speed doesn't kill tires hard acceleration does. You'd have to be spinning up the tire out of left hand turns and doing nothing on right handers to cause that much of a difference. Also maybe I'm seeing thing but it looks like you've got some nasty scalloping on the right side. And no weight on the left side if the bike isn't gonna do that as far as I know. Did you ever get the bike set up after you put the shock in?

Dude, it's a V-Strom 650. It doesn't spin tires up. Although by "riding hard", I meant across the board. Accelerating, cornering, overall speed.

Set up? What's to setup? I have the sag rouged in and this shock was hypothetically built for me, hypothetically. I am new to 'clickers' and so I have them in the center mark for now.

How would a poorly setup shock effect wear on one side but not the other?

The only thing I can think of at this point is that I ran over something. A couple weeks ago I wasn't paying attention and clipped something in the road pretty hard. Tire made a good 'ping' noise. I inspected it for holes or gashes, found nothing and rode on. Related?


Overall I think I am just going to stop worrying about it and get out there and see if I can't ride the piss out of the new tire.