Tyre advice please

Hi there,

I have recently purchased my first bike after passing my test last month. I have an SV650 K2 (curvy), which I love. But I want to replace the tyres...I think. I am very new to biking and to the SV650. I'm also a girl! So know very little. I currently have the BT020s which came with the bike, but I think there quite hard, and want something a bit softer, as I do a lot of town riding, rather than longer rides out.
One friend has recommended Avon Storms or ST's, another has mentioned Metzelers...
Any advice, specifically tyre related would be very welcome.

Thank you.

[rictus01]

perhaps a read through of the Tyre section would be of help.

generally though, Z6's, road atacks,Strada's or Pilot roads are all good.

Cheers Mark.

i'm on a k5 06 plate 650s and oe tyres were dunlop st220's....now they were hard!! 1 yr on swapped to bridgestone bt020's, my word they a good "older" tyre! 10 -20 mins riding and they warm...or at least feel it. for supreme grip in both wet & dry i very impressed with them. i ride to work every day...rain or shine and not had half as many scary moments with battlax as i did with dunny's!
also when ya can pass ya bro on a triumph speed triple 1050 on the left hander at the verander on tt course doin about 95-100 then you know ya tyres workin!!
think next it mite be pirelli diablo's, if not will stick with 020's....they are that good!

Hello malt and welcome
I have bt021`s on mine and only got them recently havin read reports on how good they were, to be honest I`m a little dispointed with them there good but not that good and kinda similar to 020`s
I`ve had bt014`s on another bike and I think they are the best tyre`s that can be bought for road goin use I`m sorry that I did`nt get them for my sv,
They dont last long mind cus there very soft but the grip is phenomenal, wet or dry
Thats just my 2cents worth anyway

Hello malt and welcome
I have bt021`s on mine and only got them recently havin read reports on how good they were, to be honest I`m a little dispointed with them there good but not that good and kinda similar to 020`s
I`ve had bt014`s on another bike and I think they are the best tyre`s that can be bought for road goin use I`m sorry that I did`nt get them for my sv,
They dont last long mind cus there very soft but the grip is phenomenal, wet or dry
Thats just my 2cents worth anyway

Thanks for all the advice guys, really helpful.

I really rate Conti Road Attacks on my curvy. They have excellent grip in the wet, and have just come back from my 1st track day at Brands where they performed really well...still grinning

HiMalt, Welcome! Re: tyres I went from the dunlops to Avon Vipers and I'm on the second set, nice and sticky, warm up very quickly and very good in the wet too vs, dunlops. I've managed about 3,000 miles from the rear and front one is stll good!

Tyres are a very subjective topic, everybody has a favourite tyre and pressure because everybody rides a little bit different.

Check the tyre pressure to make sure they are correct, 33 psi front, 36 psi back are the standard pressures. However, you said you only passed last month and just got a bike recently so I'd give it a bit more time and wear the tyre out if you can. It so you get used to it and can better judge what a new tyre will feel like.

I used to run BT020 for a long time on the SV650. Never found them too hard, plenty of grip in the wet and dry. I found them a very predictable tyre.

However, I changed recently to Pilot Road 2s and they are a completely different tyre. I was quite enjoying the new tyre, they had plenty of grip in the wet conditions on AR07 and were quite nice in dry too. They do however turn a lot sharper than the BT020s and do give a lot more feedback.

These are just my personal experience on the tyres, I am sure other people will have other views on the subject.

I have metzeler MEZ6's, which are really good tyres. They drop in a bit quickly, but once you adapt to hat (it'll take about 2 minutes) then you'll find them to be a really good tyre for the SV

Matt