Tires - what are we liking these days for mostly street work (80/20 or 90/10)?

[sportsguy]

Before I swap my TKC-80s off for the original factory rubber bands, figured I'd check up on what the latest and greatest are for replacement tires.

Whatchya likin' folks?

I'm thinking of a long road trip, with little, if any, dirt for this trip, so an 80/20 or 90/10 would be suitable.

I have a set of K-60s in the garage, but the front always develops a slow leak, so avoiding them for the moment.

 

[klunsford]

I run the Shinko 705 radials. Get decent mileage out of them, decent on/off road performance and the price is right.

 

[Bio]

Honestly, if you're just doing 80/20 or 90/10, Bridgestone Battlewings do great. I'd go for those over something more knobbie for such light off-road use.

 

[klunsford]

Honestly, if you're just doing 80/20 or 90/10, Bridgestone Battlewings do great. I'd go for those over something more knobbie for such light off-road use.

That is the reason I run the Shinko's. Price is right and they last as long or longer than the battlewings.

 

[wtwill]

I have been very impressed with the stock Battlewings. They handle great. And the price is right, about $220 a set.

 

[Yorkie]

I have been very impressed with the stock Battlewings. They handle great. And the price is right, about $220 a set.

I have found them to be satisfactory on forest service roads, but I'm betting that wet rocks and mud would be their, and my, downfall. I do ride way more road than not so I'm sticking with the wangs until they wear out

 

[BaldKnob]

Add me to the list of leaky front K60. Never could stop it but Slime slowed it and I stubbornly rode for 8,000 miles. With your wet roads, I would think these would be a poor choice of tire. YMMV.

I'm using a 705 rear and like it but rare to see one last more than 6,000 miles and is not as good as the Anakee3 in wet road traction. Better offroad than A3 but rider/conditions can close that gap easy. My rear tire looked good at 8,000 miles but front was toast. I could have made it to 10,000 easy had I left it on but put on a set of FullBores.

Stock BattleWings felt great for 6,000 of their 7K mile lives. My only complaint was squirming on the tarsnakes.

If you go with the Anakee front, I would keep pressures closer to 35 and be easy with the brakes mid-turn as the cupping was quite severe with mine and several others that have posted about this.

 

[AspentureRider]

Installed Full Bores on the new-to-me 2012 S10 that I just bought.
200 miles of mountain twisties, some dirt, and lots of wet have me thinking good deal/idea for $168 shipped for the set, self-installed with a no-mar.
I got 6000+ miles out of the same rear tire on my fully-loaded Versys on my AK trip two years ago.

 

[navynuke]

Add me to the list of leaky front K60. Never could stop it but Slime slowed it and I stubbornly rode for 8,000 miles. With your wet roads, I would think these would be a poor choice of tire. YMMV.

My K60's leaked past the beads the first time I put them on, however after some tire swapping for various rides I remounted them and had no more bead leaks. I spent extra time cleaning the inside of my rims the second time, as well as the tires, but nothing else and now they have been holding air like a champ.

::021::

 

[sportsguy]

Not seeing positive news about the FullBores on ADV...

The older K60s, which I have, have vertical ridges on the bead faces. These were supposed to help keep the tire from slipping on the rim. While my rims were clean, and the tire beads were clean, the front tire - after three installations - always had the same slow leak. Rear was tight as a drum.

The two other front tires I've had were snug and leak free as well, ruling out the rim as a cause.

I understand the latest generation of the K60 no longer has the vertical ridges on the bead face. *shrugs*

I keep leaning back towards the stock tires I still have, assuming they're ok and useable after a couple years on the shelf. Ultimately, I have go decide this after I choose a route, as some offroading looks possible during this trip now, and for that, I'll take TKC 80s all day long. Cost of replacement isn't an issue for the control they give.

 

[greg the pole]

Metzeler Next.

Great 90/10 tire, and grips like a one armed orangutan on pavement.
Decent for light off roading.

 

[sportsguy]

Metzeler Next.

Great 90/10 tire, and grips like a one armed orangutan on pavement.
Decent for light off roading.

Sorry Greg - I think we need at least two arms on the orangutan. Now, if you'd said a one armed gorilla, I'd be sold. Even a quad armed chimp, you'd have my attention. But a one armed orangutan feels a bit weak to me...

 

[Andylaser]

Metzeler Tourance next.

Totally transformed the bike. ::008::

 

[greg the pole]

Sorry Greg - I think we need at least two arms on the orangutan. Now, if you'd said a one armed gorilla, I'd be sold. Even a quad armed chimp, you'd have my attention. But a one armed orangutan feels a bit weak to me...

crap...meant to say gorilla. got my primates mixed up. ::013::

for serial though...I was very happy with the nexts. I was abusing them in California, great tire.

 

[racer1735]

I've been a big fan of the Avon Distanzia. Have decent mileage out of a pair of rears (one succumbed to a nail) and great mileage on the front. I'd say its an 80/20 tire, with my offroad mileage being paved dirt/hard pack (and they do fine in that environment). I've read that Avon is phasing out the Distanzia and replacing it with a tire called the TrailRider. They don't appear to be available in the US yet, but maybe in the near future we'll see the Distanzia discounted for closeout?

 

[Bushyar15]

I found the stock Battlewings to do just fine. IMO, good onroad handling even in the wet, and does fine for Forest Service Roads and the like...

 

[Stridercal]

I can't complain about the Battlewings, either - but if you want a more road-oriented tire, the Conti Road Attack2 is about as close to a full sports tire as we can get. Had them on my last DL650 for a while... good stuff.

 

[navynuke]

I can't complain about the Battlewings, either - but if you want a more road-oriented tire, the Conti Road Attack2 is about as close to a full sports tire as we can get. Had them on my last DL650 for a while... good stuff.

I have run these, and on graded fire roads they were actually pretty good. The stick enough to drag a knee when playing on good roads too.

 

[Tyke]

TKC 70s ::008::

 

[motoguy]

I'm looking at there new scorpion trail 2 for the next set of skins for me.