Advise on new rear tire.

[Slingshot]

Advise needed:

It's time to replace my rear tire.

It's currently got Pirelli Dragons front and back, the backs worn out but the front's still OK.

On the current set of tires I've done about 7500Ks, 99% of my riding is 2up, I commute daily (about 30ish ks), I enjoy a blat over the takas, and occasionally I tour around.

It seems that the combination of commuting daily and riding 2up is wearing the rear out faster than it should.

Does anyone have a recommendation on what tire I should go for?

The shop has recommended either another Dragon or a Bridgestone 020.

What say you.

[Blakamin]

7500 ks... shit! I wouldnt be complaining!!!
Dragon for me

[MSTRS:Me]

It's time to replace my rear tire.

It's currently got Pirelli Dragons front and back, the backs worn out but the front's still OK.

On the current set of tires I've done about 7500Ks, 99% of my riding is 2up, I commute daily (about 30ish ks), I enjoy a blat over the takas, and occasionally I tour around.

It seems that the combination of commuting daily and riding 2up is wearing the rear out faster than it should.

Is your throttle running through a regulator?? Stay with the dragon. Rule of thumb = 2 rears for 1 front.

[Hitcher]

The 020 is a sports touring tyre and should be perfectly adequate for a rider/bike that hoons a bit and rides around town a bit. I don't know why some of you guys spend so much on super-sticky short-life tyres when you only use about 80% of their enhanced performance 5% of the time. Most sports touring tyres would meet 100% of your needs 95% of the time. They're also cheaper (slightly) and last about twice as long (a rear sports touring tyre should give you at least 10,000km, depending on how hard you ride it.

Also, if you want to eat tyres, why not go for a low-cost ZR-rated option in the form of a Shinko? Yeah, laugh. But you're not riding around Manfeild or Pukekohe all of the time...

[Hitcher]

Oh, and by the way, I'd recommend a Metzeler Roadtec Z6.

[James Deuce]

If your rear is tired you should lie on your front.

[Slingshot]

The 020 is a sports touring tyre and should be perfectly adequate for a rider/bike that hoons a bit and rides around town a bit. I don't know why some of you guys spend so much on super-sticky short-life tyres when you only use about 80% of their enhanced performance 5% of the time. Most sports touring tyres would meet 100% of your needs 95% of the time. They're also cheaper (slightly) and last about twice as long (a rear sports touring tyre should give you at least 10,000km, depending on how hard you ride it.

Also, if you want to eat tyres, why not go for a low-cost ZR-rated option in the form of a Shinko? Yeah, laugh. But you're not riding around Manfeild or Pukekohe all of the time...

Thanks Hitcher, another intelligent reply amidst the crap .

In the scheme of things, I'm not sure if the Dragons are a soft, medium or hard compound tire. I'm keen to find the middle ground between a nice sticky tire and once that will last a reasonable distance.

In terms of the profile of the tires, is there a major difference?

[James Deuce]

TYRES!!!!

IT'S SPELT TYRES

FFS

[scroter]

ive never ridden on the dragons but the 020 is a good tyre. i use pirelli diablos and i agree most of the time i dont get the true benefits of them. track days can kill them easy but the real benefit i have found with them is riding in the rain. corse they wont last as long but 7500ks dosent sound like much for a sport/touring tyre.

[MSTRS:Me]

ive never ridden on the dragons but the 020 is a good tyre. i use pirelli diablos and i agree most of the time i dont get the true benefits of them. track days can kill them easy but the real benefit i have found with them is riding in the rain. corse they wont last as long but 7500ks dosent sound like much for a sport/touring tyre.

The Dragon is not a tourer. 7500 is wa-a-ay up there for mileage. I put a Metz 4 180 on the rear of the gixxer to try and get some mileage. It's done 7000 now & getting flat in the middle. Anyway, all tyres are a compromise - the sticky wet/dry 100,000k tyres are still a while away

[vifferman]

Not having ridden a CBR600, I can't give you advice specific to the model. But I found that the Bridgestones work well on the VFR (second one I've had with them), although what I don't like about the BT020F is it buzzes badly due to the way the edges of the blocks wear. I had a BT012F on the VFR750 and it was better, so I'd go that way again. Fer sure.

I also liked the Azaros I had on the FireStorm: an AV45-SP on the front, and an AV49-ST on the rear, if I remember correctly. I've so far had 4 sets of tyres on various bikes that have been sports on the front and sport-touring on the rear, and they've worked very well that way, if you don't mind replacing both tyres together. The sports fronts tend to have a less rounded and more triangular profile, regardless of brand, which gives quicker turn-in, lighter steering input and superior grip, while the ST on the rear gives better mileage than a sports tyre.

As to actual mileage, I dunno. I can say that the last three sets of tyres I've worn out lasted about a year, regardless of brand/cost. The big difference was feel: the Shinkos were the worst, followed by the tired Dragons, then the old Azaros, then the newer ones, the BT020s currently on the VFR, and the best for feel were the BT012F/BT020R on the VFR750. Unfortunately, I can't tell you about mileage as they were barely scuffed in when I crashed it.

The best mileage I've had was from an Avon SummatOrOther (Roadmaster??), which was still on my VF500 after about 6 years, but it wasn't a very grippy tyre, and could be slid quite readily on a dry, hot road, despite the modest power of the VF. That's what you get, generally: a long-lasting tyre is hard and not very sticky.

[vifferman]

In the scheme of things, I'm not sure if the Dragons are a soft, medium or hard compound tire. I'm keen to find the middle ground between a nice sticky tire and once that will last a reasonable distance.

Aren't there a couple of types of Dragons?
I'm sure that the VTR had a Dragon GTS had one end, and another type at the other (SP?)

[James Deuce]

Ohhhhh

I get it now - you want advice on tyres!

I'm a proponent of high silica compund sport touring tyres. Michelin Pilot Roads and Michelin Macadam 100Xs worked brilliantly on the TRX, both wet and dry, and feathered nicely during an aggressive ride. The 100Xs worked slightly better as they were a more rounded profile giving a really smooth transition from bootscrape left to bootscrape right and vice versa. The Pilot's were more stable when cranked over. Both models wore very evenly, including commuting, touring, and sport riding.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

Advise needed:



Does anyone have a recommendation on what tire I should go for?

The shop has recommended either another Dragon or a Bridgestone 020.

What say you.

Michelin Pilot road will do the job. I got 12,000km out of my last pilot road. Went to a Diablo and will kill it in 3,000km. It is a great tyre and never ever slips but you pay for the grip with wear.
I run a dragon on the front of my Gixxer with the pilot road and they are a great tyre.I keep replacing it with the same. So I must like it. The pilot road will slip out under hard acceleration on the very smooth road but you have to be giving it a hard ride for that to happen. For what you want it would be spot on. The Macadams are too hard in my opinion.

[James Deuce]

Michelin Pilot road will do the job. I got 12,000km out of my last pilot road. Went to a Diablo and will kill it in 3,000km. It is a great tyre and never ever slips but you pay for the grip with wear.
I run a dragon on the front of my Gixxer with the pilot road and they are a great tyre.I keep replacing it with the same. So I must like it. The pilot road will slip out under hard acceleration on the very smooth road but you have to be giving it a hard ride for that to happen. For what you want it would be spot on. The Macadams are to hard in my opinion.

The Macadam 100X is EXACTLY the same compound as the Pilot Road. It replaced the old made-from-concrete 90X. It suits mid 90s sport bikes supension better, because the sidewall has a little more give, emulating the OEM tyres that were around then.