Best tires

[swamper]

What would be the best tire combination for the r 1150 r. I just went thru a set of Dunlop Smarts in 5000 miles and felt they had low road feel and poor mileage. Worn out on the sides as well as the center which had steel cords showing through. I'm going to try a set of Avon Storm Ultra 2 as my son has them on his 2002 and I like to ride his bike way more than my 2004 with the Dunlops. Maybe I'm expecting more from a tire but I figured I should get around 8000 miles out of a multiple compound tire. So the question is, I'm I expecting to many miles or I'm I pushing the the tire to hard. I do most of my riding in the twisty Sierra Nevada's and I'm an old fart that rides hard, keeps up with most of the punks on sports bikes and drags the valve covers, by the way those cover guards don't work very well. Anyway if you've got an opinion I'd like to know what you guys have found works good.

[Ton1959]

Metzeler Roadtec Z8 or Michelin Mpr3

[angellr]

PR3

[Mrchips]

PR2 or PR3... can't go wrong esp. on a heavy bike like these

[kirby]

*

[swamper]

PR2 or PR3... can't go wrong esp. on a heavy bike like these

I considered them on the medium to light side.

[Mrchips]

PR2 or PR3... can't go wrong esp. on a heavy bike like these

I considered them on the medium to light side.

Sorry swamper, was refering to the 'rt' as heavy, although.... I got PR2's on my sv1000 (185kg). It feels like a toy to my 'rt' but those PR2's been holding their own in seriously wet conditions + very good in dry + 2up.. milage currently at 15,000km on em & only 3/4 worn.

fwiw, "B" versions of the pilot roads are avaliable for heavy bikes instead of the regular Pilot Road. Michelin Claim it's got a stiffer side wall for heavier bikes and two-up. Although alot of 1200rt riders prefer the regular PR's & still claim 15,000 + miles from a rear tyre .... This is a good read... http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread. ... uot-B-quot

[Grandpa ripper]

Fwiw, on my K100RS, I switched from Dunlops to Metzler Z6 when I got tired of the rapid wear. Wow! They seem more sticky to me, yet have lasted longer and still have a ways to go. They also seem to ride more smoothly, more luxuriously. I looked at the rider reviews and I never saw any negative comments. Every other tire had some detractors. Love them! For what it is worth...
The Z8 is the newer version.

[Keppelj]

Another vote here for the Metzlers. Sticky wet and dry, very stable on all sorts of surfaces and at 5k miles I see hardly any wear, slight flattening front and back, mostly from heavy braking.

[swamper]

Saw this thread come back up so I'll give an update on my 04. Put on the new Avon Storm 2 rear, when doing the change I noticed the front tire was nearing the wear bar too so I ended up changing it out also . Bought the front Avon Storm 2 and mounted it up. Then two days later got a new magazine which offers a $40 rebate if you buy both tires together, oh well. Anyway I also found out that my old tire pressure gauge reads high by 5 pound, so the past few years I've been running 5 pound under recommended pressure. I take back all my opinions posted about the Dunlop Roadsmarts 2 that I posted, probably under inflation caused the results I experienced. I have a high end racing tire gauge coming today for future pressure checks and I sent my old Accugage back for replacement (Will see how they handle that). OK, I've put about 1000 miles on the Avons at the proper pressure and this bike handles and rides like it's on a rail. Pushed it a little hard in the turns the last few hundred and can't believe how much better my confidence is with the new tires. Gotta watch out as I got a speeding ticket last year up on Highway 70 in the Sierras, lots of twisty stuff. Two thumbs up and a big grin here.

[TexasRoadster]

Gotta throw my 2 cents in here.... I'm running my second set of Pirelli Angel ST's and cannot say enough good about these tires on our bikes. They have the quickest turn-in of any tires I've had. They have what Pirelli calls their enhanced contact patch technology where the further you lean, the flatter the tire profile gets resulting in increasing contact area. These tires really plant on turns! High silica content makes these pretty sticky and they pump water away from the tire like crazy - great rain performance. I've had Dunlop, Michelin, Avon, and now Pirelli's and won't use anything else.

[kryter]

PR 3 on the rt

[Biff's R]

I like the PR1 better than the PR2. I havent tried the PR3 since they were $$$$$. I currently an riding the Bridgestone 023s and like them. The front tire is a lot like the old Pilot Road 1, and has had no signs of cupping at 6k miles. They should get me to 8k and that is what I usually got out of the Michelins. I didn't like the PR2 in the rain as much as either the PR1 or the Bridgestone 023. The Bridgestone 021 was the stickies tire I've had, but it wore out at 5k miles. I had the Metzeler z6 about 8 years ago, and their cold traction on gravel sucked.

[ron prior]

Continental Road Attack 2s

[MarkShelley]

I just buy whatever is a good deal at the time. I don`t think there are any really bad tyres any longer, as long as it is from a mainstream manufacturer.

[pebmr]

+1 for PR2's. I have 13,000 miles on my set, and they only look half used and are not as squared off as the Metzler Z6's were. Very happy with them. Bought a new pair last year as I thought they would need replacing, but nowhere near yet...

[bransan]

Gotta throw my 2 cents in here.... I'm running my second set of Pirelli Angel ST's and cannot say enough good about these tires on our bikes. They have the quickest turn-in of any tires I've had. They have what Pirelli calls their enhanced contact patch technology where the further you lean, the flatter the tire profile gets resulting in increasing contact area. These tires really plant on turns! High silica content makes these pretty sticky and they pump water away from the tire like crazy - great rain performance. I've had Dunlop, Michelin, Avon, and now Pirelli's and won't use anything else.

X2 on the Angel's. I am on My second set, and got over 8k mi on the first rear tire. I have never gotten more than 8k on a rear and I've tried many different brands. Although I am looking at the new Conti-attack tires, We'll see what kind of price they come in at.

[gregor]

I find that 3700 miles is the best I've had recently out of expensive Bridgestone Battlax. So now I've switched to the cheapest available recognized brand. Metzler Z6's in my case. Well the rear anyway- front is still to be fitted and bike feels fine. Not that I endorse mixing tyre brands.

[Biff's R]

I find that 3700 miles is the best I've had recently out of expensive Bridgestone Battlax. So now I've switched to the cheapest available recognized brand. Metzler Z6's in my case. Well the rear anyway- front is still to be fitted and bike feels fine. Not that I endorse mixing tyre brands.

That is interesting. The Bridgestones are currently the cheapest tires here. I like the 023 as opposed to the 021. The 021 only lasted 4500 miles for me. The 023 made it to just under 7000 miles. The Metzelers and Michelins are almost $100 more per set.

[swamper]

Just another update. My Avon Storm 2's have a couple thousand on them now and they are great, bike handles and rides so much better than the Dunlops, it's an incredible difference. My son just put a set of the Pirelli Angel GT on his 2002 and he had the Avon's on before, likes the Pirelli tires even more. He got about 6500 out of the Avons, front was done but the rear probably could have gone another 1000, he wanted a new matching set so replaced both at the same time with the Pirelli's, he like to experiment.