Tyre choice
 

Just a quickie about tyres folks. I dont want a pure sports tyre as i do alot of miles. However i need good grip in the bends aswell as durability on the road. Any ideas on a good compramise would be great.

Metzeler Roadtec Z6 is a great allround tyre with more than enough grip for my SV1000.

Same here. Wont have anything else on my K3. They last forever and give tons of grip too. A couple of my mates work for bike tyre companies and they both rate them very highly indeed. Get some!

Amen to the above. The best 'mod' I've made to my K6 was fitting a Z6 rear.

Also the Strada tyre is I'm told essentially the same tyre as the Z6 so could be worth a look.Pirelli innit?

Conti Roadattack gets great reports too. Never tried those, I use Roadtecs- even taken them to intermediate group trackdays and they've not let me down (though they weren't too happy) 020s are still decent tyres too, not quite as good but not far off.

Guy I work with rides a Bandit 600 & has Conti RoadAttacks front & back. He's been riding for as long as he legally could (and probably some more).

I had a stupid grin on my face as we walked into the office one day after he said "Christ the SV moves, I was riding hard & you were staying right behind me, I half expected to loose you." :D

(It was a very twisty back road on the way in - straights & he'd probably have me)

So yea, cornering ability from the Conti's to the Z6 is probably about the same (and I have a 220 front at the moment - which is a damn good combination actually!)

Any have any experience with Pilot (Road or power). Looked at Z6 - but at 50 euros more than any other tyre choice I have to ask are they worth it? (Other choices are the 014's that are one there or 020's)

Stu

Try looking for Diablo Stradas... basically the same tyre. Roadtecs aren't that expensive here, and considering they last longer than most other tyres it works out as good value.

The paradox of the sports tyre user- every so often, someone will say "I don't know why <sports> has a reputation for short life, mine lasted for ages". In which case, they were wasting the extra grip, since soft tyres only last when babied. And if you're not using the grip, why pay for it?

These days, so called "sports touring" tyres are better than the supersports tyres of a decade ago. The sporty road tyres of today are, apparently, on a par with the typical club racing tyres of 10 years ago (can't speak for this, but Niall Mac says so)

Personally, I wouldn't use 014s, they sacrifice too much life without showing much benefit IMO.

Personally I'd stay away from 014's they work well when they are hot and are really grippy, but you have to work to keep the heat in them and IMHO they dont like cold and wet conditions so if your an all year round rider you might want to think about something else. Also they give sh*t milleage as they are really soft. I had 1800 miles out of a rear on my GSXR and it was absoloutly f*cked when I took it off.

Depends what you want from a tyre really, but IMHO you cant go wrong with the Z6 Metzler.

agreed with the 014's
there damn slippery when there not upto temp too, which is the majority of time.

try the conti's, there great tyre's, better and cheaper than the 020 ive found.

I have Z6 done about 3k miles and they look more or less the same as when they went on. And have heard good things about 020's from high mileage commuters.

I had Conti Road Attacs fitted summer 05, and they are still mint after 3-4000 miles and the rear gets plenty of rip on the motorway. Thing I noticed immediately with them was the rounded profile, great for tipping into corners at low speed, loads of feel, increasing confidence.

By the way, thought I'd be copping some more points tonight on the way home tonight... giving it large on a two lane stretch of M-Way, next news, plod is in my rear view mirrors, blue lights flashing, stomach turns, pulls in to inside lane, he/she zooms past ......... thankfully.

A mile down the M-way, they're on hard shoulder chatting to a youngster who is cycling on Motorway.

I wonder what tyres he uses!!?!!

:D

PS Conti Road Attacks next time, too.

Must adit what you have all said makes great sense. Bike doesn't feel great in the cold / wet / slow speed filtering. And in less than a year the middle is down to the wear bar...

I only went with the 014 last time as the shop recommended keeping the same front and rear and that's what the bike had when I had it. Looking at the price for Conti Road Attacks, if they stick as well, they seem to make good value for money. Cool looking tread as well :)

Thanks,

Stu

95 percent of the time, the conti's offer more grip,

its strange pulling away on cold tyres and having a decent level of grip,

and they are brilliant in the wet, much better than the 020's

Guess it's time to start calling round to get it booked in then... Seen them for about 250 euros for front / rear set (plus fitting...) - only one other shop in the neighbourhood and I have to call for a proce there (normaly more expensive, but includes cost of fitting)...

Cheers all, G'night.

Stu