Bike needs New Tires... Metzeler M3 Z6 Pirelli Strada....

[hevnbnd]

Well I have a ed80 and am in need of a new rear tire. So I suppose I will replace both front and rear.... After doing some research on here I have come up with these three choices being the best in order from best to worse...

Pirelli Diable Strada
Metzeler M3
Metzeler Z6

Is this a fair assessment? Any other good tires out there?

I do a lot of riding around town and every once in a while venture into the 100s but not too often. I do however accelerate hard most of the time. I also ride to softball tourneys a few hours away every other weekend or so in the summer. So pretty much I do a lot of different types of riding.

They all seem to be equally priced from what I have found. Where does everyone recommend buying tires from?

Bike has Dunlop zr17s on it now, and the rears are gone at 1700 miles, however I do not know if they were knew went on new or not... I got the bike used with very little info on it. I hope to get over 2k out of my new ones lol.

[riceburner]

Z6 and Diablo Strada are the same tyre with different tread patterns and (possibly) slightly different rubber. Made in the same factory on the same tooling etc.


I prefer the Strada because the tread comes further into the middle of the tyre - the Z6 has solid rubber across nearly an inch of the central strip and I've gone through to the steel belts TWICE while the tread wear indicators were still showing "not too bad".

Other than that, they're virtually identical so go on price.

[MartyWadd]

+1 for RiceBurner's opinion.

Pilot Roads are very good tires, and durable. Though I think they're a little more expensive. z6's, stradas, and pilot roads are all very good tires. IMHO

[DJ Downunder]

I've just used up my second pair of Diablo's..I love them and I got good wear out of them..but next I'm thinking about trying the Conti's Road Attacks.

DJ

[fnfalman]

I'm pretty happy with either the Z6 or the Strada. The M3 might be a waste on the Rock though. The Continental Road Attack had also received some rave reviews.

[hevnbnd]

I'm pretty happy with either the Z6 or the Strada. The M3 might be a waste on the Rock though. The Continental Road Attack had also received some rave reviews.

I just read some reviews of the continental Road Attack and they seem to be really nice tires. Anything dangerous or wrong with running the 190/50 in the rear?

[fnfalman]

Nothing wrong with running 190 in the rear, but why? The bike is heavy and hard to turn in as it is, you don't need a bigger tire in the rear to hamper cornering ability.

[hevnbnd]

No reason, just gathering information. Had heard they made it look better, but I think my rockster looks awsome now.

[fnfalman]

I gotta tell you, my Aprilias both came with 190 rear tires and I can't tell the difference in the looks department against the 180 rear. And as soon as these stock tires worn out, I've switched over to 180 rear.

[hevnbnd]

Yea I will probably run 180s. I have about decided to run the Continental Road Attack tires. Anyone see any problem with these?

[dcameron]

Have 5K miles on Z6's with fair amount of tread left. Ride a variety of roads from the slab to rolling and tight twisties. They seem to stick like velcro. Rear end jumped a couple inches once when powering through a slight rise/turn and hit a patch of dirt, but I think that was due to aggressive riding rather than cruising over the spot. It did heighten my awareness.

[riceburner]

Yea I will probably run 180s. I have about decided to run the Continental Road Attack tires. Anyone see any problem with these?

I had a problem with an early pair - wore them out in about half the miles I would normally wear Diablo Stradas - and this was in WINTER! (ie not pushing the tyres at all).

but others have said they've managed to get more out of them so I may try them again.

they're good tyres - plenty of feel and grip - on a par with the Z6/Strada.

[Arjen]

My '04 Rock came OEM with Dunlop D207RR front and rear. Very, VERY, scary tires! Huge grip - no grip - huge grip - etc

Had Bridgestone BT012 an BT010 after the Dunlops. Liked them a lot, but not much milage before the flat spot syndrome... (6/7000mls)

Now on Bridgestone BT020 to get more milage, but I don't like 'm. No feedback and 'slippery' in the wet or cold.

Bridgestone recently introduced the BT021, but no reviews yet.

I'm not fond of the 'no thread in the middle' issue of the Z6 and Strada. Too much highway-use.

I'm thinking Conti Road attack for my next set (soon ). The Road Attack gets a lot of good reviews (like this one) and I think worth a try.

[hevnbnd]

My '04 Rock came OEM with Dunlop D207RR front and rear. Very, VERY, scary tires! Huge grip - no grip - huge grip - etc

Had Bridgestone BT012 an BT010 after the Dunlops. Liked them a lot, but not much milage before the flat spot syndrome... (6/7000mls)

Now on Bridgestone BT020 to get more milage, but I don't like 'm. No feedback and 'slippery' in the wet or cold.

Bridgestone recently introduced the BT021, but no reviews yet.

I'm not fond of the 'no thread in the middle' issue of the Z6 and Strada. Too much highway-use.

I'm thinking Conti Road attack for my next set (soon ). The Road Attack gets a lot of good reviews (like this one) and I think worth a try.

Yea that is one of the reviews I read on them.

[hevnbnd]

Well ordered the Conti Road attacks for $190 shipped to my door. So I figure if they last 5k then it was a good investment. Thanks for the input guys. I will let everyone know how I like them. Brian

[Beancounter]

So Contis are a good choice then..... I might try them next.

What are opinons the M1 Sportec? I can get them for the same price as the Contis and Pilot Sports (which is slightly cheaper than Z6s and Stradas)....

[hevnbnd]

So Contis are a good choice then..... I might try them next.

What are opinons the M1 Sportec? I can get them for the same price as the Contis and Pilot Sports (which is slightly cheaper than Z6s and Stradas)....

You do NOT want the M1 from what I have found. They will not last very long at all. They are a very old design on the tire.

[riceburner]

So Contis are a good choice then..... I might try them next.

What are opinons the M1 Sportec? I can get them for the same price as the Contis and Pilot Sports (which is slightly cheaper than Z6s and Stradas)....

I had a M1 Front and Z6 rear for a bit - VERY good combo for grip,feedback etc, but the life of the front wasn't good. (ie about 5K max).

[chris]

Only have road experience of the Conti Road Attacks was a 120 mile wet test of ride of the new R1200R when I had no trouble getting right to both edges of the tyre. Replacement for my Z6's will be Conti's. Interested to know how they fare long term.

[DYNAMICS]

Yeah, I am trying to decide between Strada & Attack tyres also. (But then again, as I only got the time to cover about 800 miles last year, my problem is wearing the things out, not worrying about how they grip and how long they last)!!!

Regards Brian.