Lightning Tires

[RidetheLightning]

It's high time I replace my 9+ year old tires (insert comment on not riding enough here). I live in Phoenix, so my issue mostly revolves around wanting a good enough handling tire for some of the fun roads, but not squaring off easily as the best roads are an hour or more away. I seem to be caught in the middleground of sport and sport touring. Wet weather isn't a big deal, but I definitely don't want to be worried too much if I get caught out far away from home. Should I be looking at the Dunlop roadsmart? My bike currently has pilot power 3's on, which seem fine but have always been up there in age since I've had the bike.

 

[34nineteen]

I'm running Bridgestone S22's on my S1. For the amount and type of riding I do, I'd rather have a tire that is more likely to forgive me if I go a little too hot into a turn, rather than squeak out as many miles as possible. Plus, my tires are more likely to go bad from dry rot than high mileage anyhow.

Captain Cheapskate (aka CoOter) should have some better advice on tires as he actually rides his motorcycle.

 

[Pitcherman]

I run the Michelin Road 5 on all three of my bikes, but I commute 50 miles a day and ride every day no matter the temp or weather, unless it's icy which is rare in my area. I've never been worried about running out of grip on the road even with "spirited" riding.

 

[34nineteen]

The point to remember here, is that you are likely a much better rider than me.... in all aspects. Where are you in TX?


"Too hot into a turn" for me is likely a lot slower than "spirited driving" is for you.

I used to commute all over Phx back in the day on my YZF-600R, but when I moved to Houston, I was too scared of drivers and roads out there to keep doing that. I think the tank of fuel I put in when I left Phoenix, was the same tank of fuel I came back with years later. Not even kidding.

 

[34nineteen]

I'm considered to be the finest and fastest street rider on the North American continent.

This is common knowledge.

 

[Cooter]

Aarons chicken strips are so big, he doesn't need to use the kickstand. Ba Dum Tiss!

Theres so many choices its confusing but any tire now-a-days will be plenty fine to trust all the way down to the edge on the street. An easy way to narrow it down is how many miles you ride before they get old? No need to get a touring tire good for 20K if thats not what you do. If your only riding 5000 miles in 5 years you might as well get the stickiest tire you can afford and enjoy the confidence they provide.

I love the Bridgestone S22 for a relatively inexpensive "hyper sport tire" expect 4-6k miles. I have run several sets of the Dunlop Q3+ and love them (3-4K miles), or spend a little more for the Michelin Pilot Road 5. It will wear awesomely, awesome in the rain, keep their profile, and last you 10K on a Buell.

I saw that Fabio Quatararo has a Barrett sticker on his race bike.

 

[RidetheLightning]

Thanks as always, guys. Only speculation I had with going sport touring over pure sport is more for even wear than total longevity. Since sport tourers seems to be pricier anyways, I'll probably just go for grip. Continental Sport Attacks are in stock and it looks like I can grab a pair at about 200 bucks.-

 

[Pitcherman]

Thanks as always, guys. Only speculation I had with going sport touring over pure sport is more for even wear than total longevity. Since sport tourers seems to be pricier anyways, I'll probably just go for grip. Continental Sport Attacks are in stock and it looks like I can grab a pair at about 200 bucks.-

It may seem cheaper in the beginning. I used to run the pilot power 2CT and I would go through about 3 rears for every 1 road 5 I go through. So you may find it would be cheaper in the long haul to run a sport touring tire. I can’t argue with the grip the 2CT was certainly more confidence inspiring in a turn, but I found that the limit of either tire was way beyond anything considered sensible riding on the street.

Good thing about tires, they’re not really a long tern investment so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to change them.

 

[RidetheLightning]

It may seem cheaper in the beginning. I used to run the pilot power 2CT and I would go through about 3 rears for every 1 road 5 I go through. So you may find it would be cheaper in the long haul to run a sport touring tire. I can’t argue with the grip the 2CT was certainly more confidence inspiring in a turn, but I found that the limit of either tire was way beyond anything considered sensible riding on the street.

Good thing about tires, they’re not really a long tern investment so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to change them.

Appreciate the feedback, and I really like your last point. I've never tried super grippy tires, so I think I wanna give it a go and see how noticeable it is with my riding. I also suspect I may be in the same boat as 34:19 and could be more worried about dry rot than wear bars.

 

[Tbone]

I am on a Uly, but so far after 500 miles I like the S22's. Seem to be almost as good as the Q3 Sportmax's for commuting 80 miles a day. Not sure what kind of mileage I will get out of them nor how they handle the rain. I stay away from Shinko's especially after getting caught in the rain and they had no wet traction. This was a few years ago, maybe they have improved? Really like the RP5's the best and if I wasn't such a sucker for tire sales would have them on my bike right now.

 

[Cooter]

It may seem cheaper in the beginning. I used to run the pilot power 2CT and I would go through about 3 rears for every 1 road 5 I go through. So you may find it would be cheaper in the long haul to run a sport touring tire. I can’t argue with the grip the 2CT was certainly more confidence inspiring in a turn, but I found that the limit of either tire was way beyond anything considered sensible riding on the street.

Good thing about tires, they’re not really a long tern investment so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to change them.

The Michelin Pilot Road 5 is a 2CT tire as well. 2 CT stands for Two Compound Tire, a harder longer wearing rubber in the middle and softer grippier rubber on the sides. So far I have been VERY impressed and would not hesitate to do a track day on them.

 

[RidetheLightning]

Thanks, Cooter, though I'm getting a little uncomfortable with all this talk about harder longer rubbers...

 

[Pitcherman]

The Michelin Pilot Road 5 is a 2CT tire as well. 2 CT stands for Two Compound Tire, a harder longer wearing rubber in the middle and softer grippier rubber on the sides. So far I have been VERY impressed and would not hesitate to do a track day on them.

Correct. I believe the compounds are slightly different on the Road 5 from the Pilot power, but the same technology.

 

[Cooter]

Correct. I believe the compounds are slightly different on the Road 5 from the Pilot power, but the same technology.

Yup.:up:

 

[RidetheLightning]

Thanks, yeah I've read quite a bit about the different brands' compounds and tire lines, and endless reviews. It seems a lot of the better values are out of stock (shocker), but the conti sport attack's are in stock, inexpensive, and had good reviews. They're single compound but have some kind of variable heat treatment to get the center of the tire to last a little longer. Who knows how big of a difference this makes, but at $200 a pair I think it's worth a shot. I really wanted to go dunlop, but the roadsmart and roadsport were out of stock in my size, and the Q3+ sportmax are a bit out of my price range.

 

[Cooter]

I've had plenty of Buells that had Conti's on them. Not my favorite, but still a very good tire. Like I said, it's pretty hard to get a 'bad' tire from any decent tire brand today/

 

[njloco]

There is a big rubber shortage, it's only going to get worse for anything that has rubber in it.

 

[06xbss]

If you liked the grip/handling of the Power 3, you should definitely look into the road 5. It took me almost 8000 miles to get to the wear bars and I never had any issues with grip. They didn't care if it was wet, dry, hot or cool/cold.

 

[Mesozoic]

I live in Tucson and ride year round... commute to work often on my Buells and hit the local twisties all the time, whether it's 100+ or 40F outside. Admittedly, I do have heated grips on my XB. I also routinely make trips up to Phoenix and will ride all over Arizona when some friends are game for a 3-day trip.

I had a set of Battlax S21s on my 1125CR and I wore them out very quickly. I normally keep the pressures at 36/39 front/rear, but they squared out quickly with some of the long pavement rides I put them through. I wouldn't run them again. I'm now running the Battlax BT023 sport touring tires and I like them a lot. They have the same traction in my environment (no track time) and wear significantly better, although I'm making a conscious effort to ride the twisty way home every day.

For the XB12Ss I've settled on Michelin Pilot Road 2 with the 2CT compound. They endure well enough although if I'm unable to find them I wouldn't hesitate to gravitate towards the Battlax BT023 for this bike as well.

 

[cvc]

I never push the tires to the limits the bikes and tires have more than I have skills. That said 3000’miles in 7 years on the SS with pilot power 2 Ct and under 35 the rear seems like it is greasy for the first few miles so it waits for the warmer weather. On the XT Pirelli angels were new when I bought the bike two and a half years ago about 2500 miles and they look good and I don’t know if it is the bike or the tires but the XT takes more effort to turn wants to right itself more than the SS but heated grips and the tire works on cold pavement better.
Shinkos on blasts so far and Dunlops one set of Pirelli for three blocks cause they looked new on an 01 the date stamp was 18/04 must have been a special blast could spin the rear tire at 30mph in third gear with just a twist of the throttle.
When I got the pilot’s I thought I would ride a lot more. Any tire car or bike shouldn’t last much over 5 years if you get to 20 percent put new ones on.
If you’re running the snot out of it get the best you can afford your life depends on it.