| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
I can't decide on what new tires to get. Every time I come to a conclusion, I find another person or review that sways my decision. I need tires that can survive A LOT of straight line riding. Yet still be fun in the twistys. Like, when I ride in a straight line 600 miles to get to wolf pen gap, and then want to race, and then ride 600 miles home. I would really like to get around 8k miles out of a set. Tires I've looked at (In order of my current liking): Pirelli Diablo Strada Continental Road Attacks Michelin Pilot Road They all seem to be very close to the same price. The reviews I've found all seem to show anywhere from 5-10k miles on a set of all 3 of these tires. Thoughts? | ||
| Josh_ |
Metzeler Z6s  4 track days and almost 10k miles | ||
| Mikef5000 |
But I've read multiple reviews of people coming from those to new Michelin's or Conti's and they all say they will never go back. Hmmmmmm | ||
| Bertman |
After I gladly wore the Dunlops out at 2500 miles I got - Pilot Roads - Really good tire, I liked them a lot. About 8000 miles out of them before three long freeway trips flat spotted both front and rear tires. Diablo Stradas - I thought they turned better than the Pilot Roads, but after about 5000 miles the front tire got real greasy feeling and it got to the point where I was riding just to wear the rear tire out. Maybe I just needed to soften up the front a bit, but it felt more like it got heat cycled out. I got about 7500 out of the rear, the front still looked great. Conti Road Attack rear / Sport Attack front - About 1000 miles so far and I love this combo. The front is planted wherever it is pointed and the rear takes cold pavement or a real ham fisted hand on the throttle to break it loose. I even did a minor track session on these tires a few weeks ago. The way people talk about these tires I expect 7000+ out of them. Now Michelin is coming out with a duel compound Pilot Road2 that sounds real interesting. | ||
| Ridrx |
I just spooned the Conti-Road Attacks on my 12R. The handling improvement over the Dunlop 208's alone make them worth the price of admission and I hope to get 5-8k out of them...we'll see. | ||
| Naustin |
I went with the new BT021's and I'm really liking them so far. If you look at the archives, the highest milage tire has always been the BT020. THe BT021's are replacing them and Bridgestone claims not only 15% more mileage over the BT020, but better performace too. I've got high hopes for them, but have less than 500 miles on them so far. (Message edited by naustin on May 18, 2007) | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I've never seen the BT021's. Hmmmm, yet another contender. | ||
| Rellim51 |
I am at about 3300 miles on my Road Attacks and the rear is just about gone in the center. The front still looks pretty good. I will try less rear brake on my next rear tire and see if that makes it last longer. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
It's down to these: Bridgestone Battlax BT-021 Pirelli Diablo Strada Iron Pony has both in stock. The Pirelli's are about $25 more for the set. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
What Nick said. I was kind of waiting for him to report in. We only put the tires on a few weeks ago and we've had a bit of crappy weather. I really think they are going to be a decent tire. I've run through a couple sets of BT-020's and really liked them. The tires on my S2 are fried, I'm ordering the 021's tomorrow. The Pirelli's have got great reviews from lots of folks also. Ravinsmith has over 9000 miles on his Diablo's. (They do however need replacing NOW!) He swears by them. I don't think you can go wrong with either one. Brad | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Well, if I can't go wrong with either one... might as well go with the one that's supposed to last longer, and happens to be a bit cheaper. Should be mounting up a set of the 021's tomorrow. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
All mounted and balanced! Now.... TO RIDE! (carefully at first) | ||
| Slitherin |
I will tell you that as far as tires go, One man's trash is another man's treasure. | ||
| Hops4daze |
How are those BT020's treating ya? I just bought the BT021 so far its great but the psi they put in it was 32/34 psi and it recommends 40psi what should it be and what did you put in yours. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I just replied in your other post about your tire pressures. I did get the BT021's also. I absolutely love these tires! I've put 2500 miles on them since I got them mounted 3 weeks ago. I have no chicken strips left, and haven't felt them slip or slide at all (Other than a little on a tar strip). Well over half my miles are in a straight line, and while the tires are a bit flatter in the center, they're not too bad. I'd definately recommend them. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
This is 3000 miles into the tire, and it looks great! Doesn't look near halfway! LOTS of freeway/straight line riding too!  | ||
| Hops4daze |
Yeah I have the Bt021 tires from Bridgestone and I talked to the people at Bridgestone they told me 38/42 for mileage and anything lower as I see fit for performance. But to remember the lower the less mileage you will get out of the tire. I must say at 38/42 it handles extremely well but if you feel like scraping footpegs I would recommend lower. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I'm now at 38/40, and I have no problem scraping. These tires also do very well through the little gravely crap thats sometimes kicked up mid-corner. The only time I've ever wiped out was due to this stuff, so I have a little panic attack when I see this stuff coming at me. These tires seem to handle it better than any I've had before, I don't even feel it when I go through the small stuff, and the big stuff of course makes the tire skip a bit, but it recovers without hesitation. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Arg. Just over 5k miles and I'm at the wear bars on the rear. Now I have to decide whether to get a new full set of tires. Or just replace this rear with another BT021, and then in another 5k miles, when both the front and rear need replacing, try a new set. Straight line riding is like instant death on tires. There HAS GOT to be a decent tire that'll last in a straight line. | ||
| Naustin |
I've only got about 2,600 miles on my BT-021s at this point, and 90% of that has been two-up with my wife on pillion with the saddlebags fully loaded. The rear is badly squared off already. I'm not sure I'll even make 5,000 on this tire. That's pretty scary considering the reviews that the BT-021s have been getting as the longest wearing ST tire out there... | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Yes, I'm pretty dissapointed. But I guess I'm just not going to get more than 5k outa a tire on this bike. Next up will be the Strada's I believe. It's a bummer that I'll be paying $500-$750 a year just in tires if I want to ride this bike as much as I want to. But you've got to pay to play I suppose. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
At 5k I hit the wear bars on the 021's. Now at 7k it's corded. My conti's didn't make it in time for my track day, so I'll be mounting up a set of Pirelli Diablo Strada's tomorrow. I'll get my conti road attacks next week, and they'll get put up till the strada's are toast. So I guess by mid next summer I'll have a comparison between all three: Bridgstone BT021 Pirelli Diablo Strada Conti Road Attack. | ||
| Wackyracer |
I've heard good things about the Diablos. It's been said that their profile is a good fit with the Buell (XB series-less stand up on brakes tendency) and I've heard good reviews from the track guys. I don't know how they'll do over the long haul though. In my experience, anything that was worth a damn in the corners NEEDED replacement at 5k or less (depending on how aggressive you ride & how much straight line/speed traveled). The contact patch of a bike is WAY smaller than a cars and losing small amounts of traction may be acceptable in a car but not on a bike. therefore the compounds must be far stickier even for a street tire. And of course most of us subject these tires to harder acceleration and stopping than most cars could hope to achieve. It's just a cost of the sport/passion we all love. | ||
| Bertman |
I ended up only getting 5,000 miles on the Conti Road rear before I needed a replacement. The Road/rear, Sport/front is still my favorite handling combination but I decided to try some Bridgestone BT021's for comparison. I have a little over 1,000 miles so far on them, so we shall see how many miles I end up with. I am starting to think that my dwindling mileage per tire is because I am becoming more abusive to the tires, not that the tires themselves are any more inferior than the previous set. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
UPDATE: Diablo Stada's Kick A$$! I've only got 200 miles on them so far, so I don't know about the life yet, but I had them at mid-ohio yesterday, and the traction was excellent! I was able to go to full lean (no chicken strips front or rear, and dragging my rearsets and my knee) and still open it all the way up to full throttle. Full lean and full throttle at the same time, and the tires stuck like glue! Breaking in new tires on a race track probably isn't the best thing for them... so my final mileage might not be too accurate towards the average. | ||
| Bigdog_tim |
Mike - thanks for posting. I do a LOT of "straight line riding" and live for doing the twisties/track days. Anxious to hear your report on the Srada's. On my XB12R I have the 208's. Working ok for me- but that bike sees mostly aggressive twisties/track. On my M2 - I have the MT021's. I have right at 4K miles on the set - and the rear is starting to square. On my GSXR 750 - I have Qualifiers. It sees almost nothing but track days - and the edges are wearing worse than the middle. Of course, it spends it life going balls out in full lean - so not really fair for a street life comparison. Next tires for it are more track oriented (since that is where I ride this bike the most). | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I had the 208's and I hated them! Mainly because I wasn't using them for what they were intended. I rode them in cold weather and almost downed the bike because of how slippery they were, then I rode them 600 miles in a straight line to MB4. Needless to say the rear was corded, and I ended up getting a new tire thrown on just so I could make it home. From that experience, and hearing so many on here complain, I've been staying away from Dunlop altogether. | ||
| Billyo |
Has anyone tried the Pilot Road 2? It got really good reviews in Cycle World (or one of the mags) and I was thinking of trying them as soon as I get my tire changer. Also, has anyone used DYNA BEADS to balance their tires? | ||
| Zacks |
I was agonizing on what tires to get to replace the stockers. Figured if I had them replaced this fall yet, it would start snowing and if I left them 'till spring it would be nice until January. Anyway, looked at the Pilot's since I had a set on another bike, but decided instead to try the Avon Storms. The local dealer had a 20% off Halloween sale. So far, like them a LOT. That 'fall in, then stand up' feel is completely gone. Granted, not many miles yet (the temps DID plummet the next day) but handling is MUCH better. Too cold to push them hard, but stoppies are still happening... | ||
| Motomania425 |
I've gotten 7600+ miles on my stickers (Dunlops) I ride several twisties every day on my commute. Must be why they're lasting a little longer! Has anybody gotten any Pirelli tires for their Uly? I've been looking at the Scorpion Sync. This is the factory tire on the '08 Uly. |
