New front tyre for GN250?

[Lucy]

Hi helpful KB folk,

some say 'get rid of the stock front tyre immediately and put a real one on', some say the one that comes with the bike is fine. (brand new Chinese GN). What do you folks reckon?

One shop today said they could replace it with a $40 one which wouldnt be much better, they reckoned the existing one is ok. Or I could replace it with a $140 one, which makes more sense to me, if I gonna replace it might as well be a good one. Another GN owner said his lost grip twice before he ditched the original front.

Was suddenly thinking about this because of todays rain....

I rang Cycletreads and got a real smart arse, should I ignore him and go there anyway? What are they like in general?

Cheers
Lucy

[NighthawkNZ]

Personally I would get the new $140 tyre, I have heard and read bad things about the stock tyres on the Chinese GN.

I would go for the $40 tyre (you get what you pay for in these kind of things)

As for Cycletreads I use to go there and had no problems... but then I moved south so I can't say what they are like today, But many of the Kbers here have recommended them in the past.

Try shopping about for a better deal for the same new tyre

[degrom]

That's what I love about a GN. $40 a tyre... I would personally not go for the $140 tyre. GN's are not made to corner like a racing bike... Ride it like it's ment to ride and the $40 tyre will be fine.

Just make sure you scrub it in properly before you go taking every corner like you use to... (scrubbing is to get the shinny stuff of the new tyre that could couse a slip)

[Hellraiser]

There's a new bike shop in east tamaki that is quite well priced.

i Think they're call East City Motorcycles they are on Allens Rd.

[apteryx_haasti]

I've was recommended when I first got my GN to change the front to a Pirelli City Demon (from memory). I've never got around to it and have now done almost 5500 kms. Yeah, it can be a bit slippy in the wet, but as long as you're aware that that is the case, I don't think that it's a problem.

It's really up to you and how comfortable you feel riding with the stock tires.

If you do change over, I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Cheers,

A_H

[MikeyG]

I've changed mine to an IRC Durotour RS-310 front and rear. I changed them mainly because the new tyre was on the front when I got it but there was still the original square gn trye on the back and I wanted to do a track day.

Having the round tyre on the back makes it corner better - you don't feel the bike riding up onto the sharp edge of the square tyre.

Oh yeah - front cost $90ish and rear $111 from TSS

[Steam]

My front tyre was ROCK HARD, you couldn't dent it with a fingernail it was so old and hard.
Then the bike shops tried to sell me tyres which I researched on the net and found out they are MOPED tyres. I mean, a GN is crap but it's not a frikkin moped. You can get a peg down on a GN, it's not too too hard.
I guess the moped classification is related to power output, but still, it's a bit insulting.
Get the nice tyre.

[Shadows]

Conti City tyres are good for that kind of bike. I believe they are quite popular with the bucket racers. Probably $70 for the front and $90 for the rear.

[MaxCannon]

After a coupld of hearstop moments in the wet I just got a set of Pirelli City Demons fitted to my GN.

Difference over the stock tyres is huge.
Bike actually now wants to go round corners.
As a novice I'm not goind round corners scraping the pegs just yet but the bike feels way better than it did before.

The stockers were OK in the dry if you were just crusing but carrying any speed through the corner just felt wrong.
In the wet they were pretty scary even at low speed..

[FROSTY]

Ditch the front tyre NOW --they are total shite--sorry no polite way to put it.
Call Finn or Mike at Cycletreads and tell then Frosty sent you --You will Not get a smart ass reply from either of them