How bad are standard tyres.

I had Bridgestone 021's on my old Bandit and in the wet I had much more confidence than on my D220's. i find them much the same in the dry though.

Originally Posted by Jackie_Black

Dunlop Sportmax D220s

They aren't bad but the aren't great either...

I wouldn't say they are terrible and you would need to change them straight away...

I wouldn't recommend them to be fitted as a second set simply because there are so many better tyres out there...

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave

They aren't bad but the aren't great either...

I wouldn't say they are terrible and you would need to change them straight away...

I wouldn't recommend them to be fitted as a second set simply because there are so many better tyres out there...

+1

I should say, I squared mine off before getting new ones.

Mine did 4000 miles and as the bike was getting a full service I bought it some 021s. The dunlops weren't that badly worn but rubbish in the wet. The bridgestones are better although the front tryes isn't as grippy as i'd like and you can feel it understeering almost in hard corners (if thats possible on a bike!) or at least that is how i'd describe it.

Originally Posted by thor

I should say, I squared mine off before getting new ones.

+1

[Zokambaa]

I'm going to revive a semi dead thread.... but I hate these stock D220 tires!!!

on my first SV, a 99 SV650s
I had some bridgestone battleaxe BT011 fronts The rear sort of looked like the BT56 but was a match for the BT011 front at the time whatever the rear was, it has been discontinued... it was well worn when I got the bike but worked OK still... not too bad for being low on tread

I swapped to my favourites so far... the conti road attacks... those things did everything so well... they warmed up pretty well, rarely slipped unless I hit dirt/sand/gravel or really hammered on the gas in a tight corner exit... but great tire all around...

I rode an 08 with a stock dunflop D220 rear and I think it had a BT014 on the front... my god that was horrible... unless the owner of the bike really screwed with something on the suspension, geometry, or went with a different profile tire... it felt like I had to stand up on the bike and jump up and down on it just to get it to tuck into a corner... it had a horrible habbit of standing up...

I bought an 06 SV650s with the stock tires.. and while I have them matched and it handles way better than the mix-n-matched ones.. it still is not even close to the conti road attacks... those things were awesome...

I've found the stock tire works.. but it is not great... on the roads here which are more smooth stone gravel pavement instead of the jagged shards like some places have... these tires are slick as hell untill they warm up... then they are just OK... the contis warmed up real quick by comparison... these things are also slick on wet and paint strips on the road... and again the road attacks were way better...

These stock things don't like a hard corner as much as some but there is no way in hell you could pay me to put them on again... NEVER...

I'll try the new dunlop roadsmarts... I hear they have great reviews and are a bit better than the road attacks.... but I am tempted to just go with the road attacks again anyway.... I'll have to see how people like the Dunlop Roadsmart tires on the snd gen SV....

I just don't feel the stock tires on the 06+ SV to be very good and I hate how slick they are on colder roads (I've only had the chance to ride them in 15c down to -5 C but the road attacks still were waaaay better even at -10c yeah that is below freezing temps)

I rode another SV with the stock tires... average riding 5000km on it and the crappy stock tire was already getting square... it stands the bike right up.. I put 4000km on my road attacks and they were still very round and I didn't get to even hit the real twisty roads with it either...

From what I experienced the Conti Road Attack is on my short list... but many say the Dunlop Roadsmart tire is better in the wet, a touch better in the dry... and looks to get a bit better mileage out of it due to a harder compound in the middle of the tread... but the Road Attacks and the RoadSmart tires are supposed to get better mileage than the Z6... with the added benefit of the tread crossing the centerline so you know for sure when the middle is too low...

some say they were far from the wear bars on their Z6 Tire.. then 250 miles later the threads were showing in the center... not a good thing...

The Roadsmarts and the Conti road attacks have deep center tread, great grip, good handling wet dry, cold or hot (well perhaps not the best choice for the track but great on hard road riding) it'll come down to availability and pricing when I choose my next tire.... now how am I going to kill off these D220s so I can get a good tire on rather than a mediocre one

It'll do I guess but for the price there are many better tires that could have been used

Originally Posted by Zokambaa

.... now how am I going to kill off these D220s so I can get a good tire on rather than a mediocre one

Just put a new pair on, the fact that they don't give you any confidence is all the justification you need.

[SoulKiss]

I have Pilot Road 2's on the SV and Storm ST's on my Z750.

Both are good.

Had the 220's on the SV for 6k miles (dead/squared) so only swapped them because they needed doing.

There are very few "bad" tyres out there, it would perhaps be silly to swap the 220's for new 220's because there ARE better tyres for not much more money out there.

Oh the Z750 came with some stupidly sticky (but excellent) tyres that lasted 3k miles (only 1 trackday in that)

[Zokambaa]

Originally Posted by Lozzo

Just put a new pair on, the fact that they don't give you any confidence is all the justification you need.

Yeah I hate them... but they will do in a pinch.. I just dropped a load on the full M4 exhaust for it.. so the tires will have to wait... I don't think I will be doing any real hard riding for a while anyway... perhaps I'll do a couple long highway cruises in the spring to wear it down a bit... tires are insanely expensive in canada... often close to twice the price as the USA... and since the bike only has 2000km on it now there isn't much sense doing them untill the rear squares off a bit more..

They are bad but I know their weak points now.. so I can make do.... perhaps a pre-ride burnout each time would help (warm up the tire and wear some of it off... then again it might not make the neighbours happy when I get the new exhaust on though )

Oh and in North America the D220 was discontinued.. it's replacement is the new RoadSmart tire... they seem to like them on the SVrider.com board... and a few review sites too...