Author Topic: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??  (Read 24076 times)

Offline just gone

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #60 on: April 06, 2017, 09:27:15 AM »
Just had a set of Pirelli Angel GT put on my 2012 and I noticed a different looking valve stem on the back. Its a little longer. Everything still works.

You mean a different valve stem after the tire was changed or do you mean just compared to the one in the front?...If the former, then if it was changed at a dealer and the bike is still under warranty then it could be the dealer changed the TPMS and forgot to tell you?..seems strange...could you clarify for us/me? Something like that happened to a friend of mine but since he didn't have TPMS but rather an inner tube he found that they had lost the valve cap and had replaced it with a much longer one that had a valve core removal tool molded in on the top side.

Offline jddetroit

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #61 on: April 06, 2017, 09:38:21 AM »
I just picked up a set of Conti Road Attack 2...s   Price was right, and have had fairly good reviews, so I thought I'd give em a shot.  They're not mounted yet, but probably by the end of April, they'll be in action
Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son.  I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man.  As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.
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Offline dude412

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #62 on: April 06, 2017, 08:29:09 PM »
You mean a different valve stem after the tire was changed or do you mean just compared to the one in the front?...If the former, then if it was changed at a dealer and the bike is still under warranty then it could be the dealer changed the TPMS and forgot to tell you?..seems strange...could you clarify for us/me? Something like that happened to a friend of mine but since he didn't have TPMS but rather an inner tube he found that they had lost the valve cap and had replaced it with a much longer one that had a valve core removal tool molded in on the top side.
Yes the rear is different than the front now. They use to be the same. My bike is out of warranty now. As I said everything still works so I'm not going to worry about it.

Offline maxtog

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #63 on: May 26, 2017, 11:32:34 AM »
Tires arrived today.  Work is a nightmare- 17 hours Monday, 10 hours Tuesday, have already worked 13 hours today and have to go back.  Tomorrow is the same.  I think they will be sitting in the corner a long while....

Yay!  I took it to Precision Motorcycle.  They were really nice.  New set of PR4GT finally mounted and balanced.  They charged $130 complete.  Now the drum roll for mileage on the last set of PR4GT....

18,020 miles!

No tread left was left in the center area at all, but no cords either.  Front has slightly more tread than rear.  Could probably have gone further on them, but the risk of getting caught in rain is too dangerous.  Never had a puncture or air leak.  Handling was great the entire time.  Plenty of tread left on sides but I am forced to do mostly slab miles around here (takes 30 minutes to get anywhere interesting, so that ends up being 1/2 to 1/4 of most of the short weekend outings I have time for).  Didn't develop strange "scalloping" like I had with the OEM (and tires on other bikes I had in the past).

It is no mystery why I decided to go with the PR4GT for a second time.
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline Dexdog

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #64 on: June 09, 2017, 06:52:25 PM »
I won't run PR4s again, I get pretty bad cupping with them. Looking forward to getting my Bridgestone T30 Evos put in before my trip.

Offline maxtog

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #65 on: June 09, 2017, 07:18:59 PM »
I won't run PR4s again, I get pretty bad cupping with them.

PR4 or PR4GT?  Underinflated?  Tons of cornering?  Two up?

I had no cupping with PR4GT and I don't recall anyone saying they have had cupping...  in my case, I had plenty of side tread, always ran at 42psi, and always one-up (with never-full side bags and no rear luggage).
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline Dexdog

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #66 on: June 11, 2017, 08:53:49 AM »
PR4 or PR4GT?  Underinflated?  Tons of cornering?  Two up?

I had no cupping with PR4GT and I don't recall anyone saying they have had cupping...  in my case, I had plenty of side tread, always ran at 42psi, and always one-up (with never-full side bags and no rear luggage).
I was running GTs front and rear. 42 psi front and rear. No passenger but loaded up with gear. Twisty roads at a good pace. Suspension set as per one of the guides on this site.
I had similar results with PR2s on my VFR. Switched to T30 non evo and had no cupping FWIW.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2017, 09:48:13 AM by Dexdog »

Offline just gone

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #67 on: October 29, 2019, 05:38:59 PM »
Sort of a follow up to my earlier post, or rather a continuation on the same theme but different tire.

Cross section of my front tire, an Avon Storm 3D XM after 10,594 miles. There is cupping and a strange asymmetrical wear pattern with more wear on the left side but since
 I have a warped rotor on the right side it could be caused from that during heavy front braking.
At slow speed in traffic just trying to stay vertical was a tiring tedious process with the strange wear pattern effecting slow speed steering. I probably went 1000 miles too far on this tire.*
At least this time as per max's suggestion I cut the tire at the wear bar. when you click to get the large photo size, you can see a definite line between rubber types. It's
my guess that when you hit the lighter colored carcass rubber that's around the cords (second photo) you'll be down into the cords pretty quickly.









*edit: I just noticed that I actually wore through to the lighter carcass rubber in one spot...eeek!

« Last Edit: October 31, 2019, 08:34:06 AM by fartymarty »

Offline Boomer

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #68 on: October 31, 2019, 05:04:37 AM »
Yeah, once you hit carcass rubber (as opposed to tread rubber) it'll wear pretty fast.
The tread rubber is formulated to a specific hardness to give the desired wear/grip characteristics.
The carcass rubber is formulated to give good structural strength and tear resistance but won't last long once yer riding on it.

As for the cupping, that is normally indicative of a brake/bearing/suspension-setup issue.
I get cupping on my front PR4s but not bad enough to affect the handling. By the time the tyre is borderline illegal (1.0mm tread depth across 75% of tread width here in the UK) it is already making so much noise when leaned over (due to the cupping) that I WANT to replace it.  ;D
Since I get my tyres fitted at the tyre place, and they dispose of the old tyres for me, I've never cut through one.
George "Boomer" Garratt
Wickford, UK


Offline maxtog

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #69 on: October 31, 2019, 05:38:52 AM »
As for the cupping, that is normally indicative of a brake/bearing/suspension-setup issue. I get cupping on my front PR4s but not bad enough to affect the handling.

I had horrible cupping on the stock tires, but never had hardly any on the PR4-GT, AND they last twice as long, stick better, and handle rain better, too.  Which is why I just had my third set of those mounted last week!
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline just gone

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #70 on: October 31, 2019, 08:32:55 AM »
Yeah, once you hit carcass rubber (as opposed to tread rubber)
"Carcass rubber"...that's the nomenclature I was trying to think of and couldn't...dang old age can be frustrating. Thanks Boomer.

Offline connie_rider

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #71 on: October 31, 2019, 09:06:53 AM »
Recently installed a Dunlop Roadsmart II rear. Will install a front soon.
Handled well in Arkansas last week.

They are supposedly the same compound as the Roadsmart III and about 1/2-2/3 the cost.
Currently you can get a "pair" of these for about $190

Several in the club are using them now. Good tire for a low price.

Ride safe, Ted

Offline kzz1king

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #72 on: October 31, 2019, 09:38:34 AM »
Mine are in the lineup. Will be replacing the Road smart III's. Not impressed with the longevity of those.
Wayne


Recently installed a Dunlop Roadsmart II rear. Will install a front soon.
Handled well in Arkansas last week.

They are supposedly the same compound as the Roadsmart III and about 1/2-2/3 the cost.
Currently you can get a "pair" of these for about $190

Several in the club are using them now. Good tire for a low price.

Ride safe, Ted
2010 CONCOURS
1974 Z-1

Offline just gone

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #73 on: October 31, 2019, 06:22:05 PM »
Several in the club are using them now.

Are they trailering too?  ;D

No I'm not picking on you like I usually do Ted..(If you'll recall I stopped doing that after you brought us those delicious stuffed poppers, in your tow vehicle. )
...but I think I'd use different tires based on cost if I trailered my bike to the good roads.

Offline connie_rider

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #74 on: November 01, 2019, 08:32:50 AM »
I'm kinda rough on them in the Ark. Twisties…
Russ used these and got over 10k, others even better.
I used PR'4's and Avon Spirits and got less than 4k.
Shinko's lasted about 3k but felt really good. {I think because of softer compound}.
I tried this one last weekend, and it felt good.
If I can get 3k, it's a keeper.

Ride safe, Ted

Offline lather

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #75 on: November 04, 2019, 07:19:37 AM »
Martin, what do you use to cut up your tires? I have tried that before and it was a real chore and made a big mess with the side grinder I was using.


Sort of a follow up to my earlier post, or rather a continuation on the same theme but different tire.

Cross section of my front tire, an Avon Storm 3D XM after 10,594 miles. There is cupping and a strange asymmetrical wear pattern with more wear on the left side but since
 I have a warped rotor on the right side it could be caused from that during heavy front braking.
At slow speed in traffic just trying to stay vertical was a tiring tedious process with the strange wear pattern effecting slow speed steering. I probably went 1000 miles too far on this tire.*
At least this time as per max's suggestion I cut the tire at the wear bar. when you click to get the large photo size, you can see a definite line between rubber types. It's
my guess that when you hit the lighter colored carcass rubber that's around the cords (second photo) you'll be down into the cords pretty quickly.









*edit: I just noticed that I actually wore through to the lighter carcass rubber in one spot...eeek!


Nothing worse than having your balls go missing.

Offline just gone

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #76 on: November 04, 2019, 11:09:15 AM »
Martin, what do you use to cut up your tires? I have tried that before and it was a real chore and made a big mess with the side grinder I was using.

It is a chore. So far the best way I've found is to squeeze the tire in a vise and then cut it with a reciprocating saw (I use a Sawzall type, I haven't tried a sabre saw). Without the vise the tire grabs the blade and it becomes a shaking mess. After it is sliced off I use a belt sander to get a clean look at the cords and rubber on one end of the sliced off section. You can still see some of the vise marks on the tire in the top photo. I don't have one (yet) but I think a band saw would be the very best option, should be able to get nice straight cuts with that, might not even need sanding.

Offline Justcliff

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #77 on: November 05, 2019, 06:01:58 AM »
It is a chore. So far the best way I've found is to squeeze the tire in a vise and then cut it with a reciprocating saw (I use a Sawzall type

Cut the big steel cords in the bead 1st with bolt cutters, then the rest cuts fairly easy with a sawzall.
Cliff

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IBA#66047

Offline Snype

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #78 on: February 01, 2020, 04:40:53 PM »
It's nice to see my topic still relevant.   ;D

I went with Angel GT (55 profile); I didn't know about the A spec (what does A mean?).  I loved them to the end.  They keep a good profile for the mountainous and highway riding I do.  They were grippy enough to keep up with the sport bikes in my club (providing they weren't abusing their -300lb advantage). 

Even now, I remember the first ride I had on these.  I was chosen to lead the rally.  I remember coming to turns and the bike just dove into the corners like a fish.  It was exhilarating! I came to appreciate the 'sport' in sport touring that day.

Looking at tires again, I am leaning heavily to the Angel GT(A); however, the absolute numbers of the PR4 ravers has me curious.  Are the profiles of the Angel and PR4's similar?  Which is more aggressive?  Which would you let your daughter run on her rainy trip through Canada???

Snype

Offline just gone

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Re: It's that time of the year.... What tire are you sporting??
« Reply #79 on: February 02, 2020, 10:45:50 AM »
  Which would you let your daughter run on her rainy trip through Canada???

This is the only question of yours that I can answer. Michelin Road 5GT.

Despite my cutting old tires up, that doesn't really give me any clue as to profiles, or I'm just not astute enough to know what I'm looking at.
I'm going on tire hype alone and reviews from others that I've talked to as I haven't ridden on my PR5 GTs yet (they are on the shelf).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 I don't ride fast enough or rather leaned over enough to get wear right to the edge of the tire, so I can only speak about travel wear. I get about 1000 miles more
wear out of Avon Storm 3Ds than I do out of Michelin PR4GTs. I get almost the same with Angel GTs (spec A) as the Michelin PR4GTs or maybe only 500 miles less.
Because I'm not a daily rider, but rather a trip rider, I can rarely ride the tires right to their limit. I look at them and decide if they will make it to the end
of the planned trip and replace them if not. The savings I get from changing my own tires makes up for the unused tread wear that I throw away. The Avons
 are the only ones so far that I can say I've worn to the limit for sure, and the last 1000 miles the front tire was fairly non-symmetrical to the point that really
slow going in stop and go traffic (never any fun) was a lot more challenging than usual. It didn't seem to have any problems when going over 15-20mph.

I currently have Dunlop Q3 Plus Sportmax tires, although I have no complaints for the ride or feel of them, I was not impressed with the tread depth when brand new.
I have doubts about their abilities in heavy rain. I did ride them through approx 45 minutes of light to moderate rain but mostly straight to gentle highway curves in the
70-80 mph range and had no complaints. I won't be able to say much about their wear as they will be changed to the Michelin Road 5GTs before they wear out for a trip
this summer.