Author Topic: Tire recommendations  (Read 168082 times)

Offline mjydrafter

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #25 on: April 01, 2013, 10:28:50 AM »
Thanks to many recommendations in this thread, I went with a new BS S11 Spitfire last week.  For the front.

After a few rides, I can really say this is a huge improvement over my old, hard, Metzeler Lazertec that was on there.

I will replace the rear at some point with a match as well.
1986 BMW K75c
1974 Suzuki TC-185 (the little 10 speed)

Offline Lone Amigo

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #26 on: April 01, 2013, 03:54:08 PM »
A perfect example of "YMMV".

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Offline Lawrence

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #27 on: April 20, 2013, 12:08:29 AM »
the oh-so-econmical Shinko tires have been favorably mentioned.  I guess the model is the Tour Master...? Are the sizes as OEM recommended or something a bit different?
1985 K100RS

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1983 BMW R100RS

Offline johnny

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #28 on: April 20, 2013, 01:12:17 AM »
i have been hearing the shinko tiors have good grip and are getting good mileage... i have not tried them and do not know anything about them other than they are very inexpensive... i may have to take a set to cords and see how they go...

j o
  • :johnny i parks my 96 eleven hundert rs motobrick in dodge county cheezconsin  :johnny

Offline roninvt

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #29 on: April 20, 2013, 10:47:19 AM »
I put a pair of Shinko tour masters on last year. Yes to oem sizing.  I found them to be a little squirrelly on damp roads, but were ok in a down pour.  they liked to follow the cracks in the pavement.  I got about 10,000 miles on them. They were a good, long lived, inexpensive tire. 
1990 K75C
1993 K1100RS

Offline WayneDW

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #30 on: April 20, 2013, 01:26:26 PM »
I have a friend who ran through a Shinko in a few thousand miles.  I've got just a couple thou on mine and it still looks factory new.
  • Minneapolis, MN, USA
  • 1992 K75RT

Offline fadingfastsd

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #31 on: April 22, 2013, 12:39:54 AM »
I ended up going with the Shinko 712's in stock sizing on my K100.  I have around 500 miles on them right now.  So far, I'm happy with them. The main thing is the cost, the matched set was about $115 shipped from Motorcycle Superstore.  They get good mileage, hook up well on dry roads. They are confident turning too. For the price I'm very happy with the handling. We'll see how they last as far as mileage goes. I'll try and remember to report back after a couple thousand more.
1985 BMW K100
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Offline cbluez

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #32 on: July 04, 2013, 01:51:30 AM »
I am running the Spitfires on my new (to me) '87 k75s...The came with the bike and seem to handle fairly well after 1500 miles on them..I live in the mountains of BC, so they need to turn a lot!
Got caught in a tremendous downpour and they did well.
I'm really undecided on them as am not that familiar with the BMW handling, and have a old Fox air shock on the rear which I am unfamiliar with.
It really does not handle as well as my '79 Moto guzzi 1000sp with the Pirelli Sport Demons..(those are some good friggin tires!), but this may just be the German bike.

The radials are interesting to me, can these be installed on the regular rims??...been riding these other tires for 40 years, so am unfamiliar with radials for a bike..
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Offline Bob T

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #33 on: July 04, 2013, 07:34:10 AM »
So what can anyone tell me about the Metzeler Roadtecs that came on my, new to me, 96 K11RS?  They are brand new, so I'll use them, but never had any before.

On my 95 K11RS, I got about 8K out of the rear Road Pilot 2....I like those tires a bunch...
'96 K1100RS
'01 Triumph TT600
'83 Suzuki GS1100E
'95 K1100RS - Totaled

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Offline Scott_

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #34 on: July 04, 2013, 08:54:18 AM »
The radials are interesting to me, can these be installed on the regular rims??...been riding these other tires for 40 years, so am unfamiliar with radials for a bike..

The rims don't know or care about what tire you mount on them.
The only time that it matters is with a wire spoked rim you may have to run a tube type tire....
The LT's were designed for bias ply tires, but there are a lot of riders switching to radials. I'm running radials on both of my bikes and I love the handling of them.
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Offline cbluez

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #35 on: July 04, 2013, 12:44:26 PM »
The radials are interesting to me, can these be installed on the regular rims??...been riding these other tires for 40 years, so am unfamiliar with radials for a bike..

The rims don't know or care about what tire you mount on them.

Awesome...thanks for that Scott! I'm going to have to look at the radials, perhaps improve the old bricks handling.

Offline TimTyler

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #36 on: July 04, 2013, 01:25:11 PM »
I've been running the Pirelli Angels on my '91 K100RS and love them. They handle great, wear well and
can really handle having a load on them.

What size Angel do you have on your rear wheel? Do you have Y-spoke wheels?

Offline ricketyclik

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #37 on: July 30, 2013, 09:39:22 AM »
This may be a silly question, but I've just upgraded from a (not really running) K100RT (on which I used Shinkos and was quite pleased with them, especially for the price) to a K1100LT.  Can I put the K100 tires (100/90 18, 130/90 17) on my K1100LT stock rims?

Offline johnny

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #38 on: July 30, 2013, 03:17:09 PM »
greetings ricketyclik...

welcome to motobrick.com...

the way this motobricker sees it is...

k100rt

f wheel - 2.50 x 18
r wheel - 2.75 x 17

f tior - 100/90 x 18
r tior - 130/90 x 17

k1100lt

f wheel - 2.50 x 18
r wheel - 3.00 x 17

f tior - 110/80 x 18
r tior -  140/80 x 17

gonna be...

f lose 5mm height at the contact patch and front fender... gain 5mm width at each fork tube...
r lose 5mm height at the contact patch and the swing arm... gain 5mm width at the swing arm...

5mm aints much... butts it may be enough to touch on the front end... im thinking you are good to go since motobrickers ran macadams in that size on their lts for years with no rubbing reported...

do your doo diligence...

j o
  • :johnny i parks my 96 eleven hundert rs motobrick in dodge county cheezconsin  :johnny

Offline ricketyclik

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #39 on: July 31, 2013, 06:40:48 AM »
Thanks Johnny.  I'll ask my regular motorcycle tire supplier/fitter - I'm pretty sure he'd advise against if there were any risks.

Offline Freelancer

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #40 on: August 16, 2013, 12:10:36 AM »
I've been running the Pirelli Angels on my '91 K100RS and love them. They handle great, wear well and
can really handle having a load on them.

What size Angel do you have on your rear wheel? Do you have Y-spoke wheels?


My bike is a 4-valve with the factory Y rims.  Note*- The K100RS Y spokes were taller & wider than the LT and K75 Y spokes.

The K100RS 4-Valve  has a 3.5x17 front and a 4.5x18 rear. Factory tire sizes are as follow:

Front-120/70 ZR17
Rear- 160/60 ZR18

Also note that when buying tires for the 4-valve RS bricks, you need to make sure to get the radial tires designed to handle these bikes 1100-ish pound load capacity.  The Angels and PR 2's&3's are designed to meet these loads.

Oh yeah just an FYI, Pirelli has recently released their Angel GT's that come in the correct sizes and are (according to their reviews) living up to  Pirellis claim of a 30% increase in tread life over the Angel ST's. The GT's do cost more( closer to michelin PR3's).
Been buying mine through motorcycle superstore.

Sorry it took so long to reply, been away for a while. Hope that you and others find this useful.

Later,
Freelancer
1991 K100RS

Offline ricketyclik

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #41 on: December 06, 2013, 05:35:45 AM »
This may be a silly question, but I've just upgraded from a (not really running) K100RT (on which I used Shinkos and was quite pleased with them, especially for the price) to a K1100LT.  Can I put the K100 tires (100/90 18, 130/90 17) on my K1100LT stock rims?

A partial update on this one.  I couldn't get any mechanics to do the switch, because the tires aren't the "correct" size.  I recently changed the rear one on to the LT myself, and it seems fine.  It may not wear as well as a 140/80, but it was going begging in any case, so I figure money well saved!  No difference in handling that I can detect.

I think when I get around to the front one it may be a different story - more likely to affect handling is my guess.

Offline Slash5er

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #42 on: February 01, 2014, 05:55:44 PM »
I plan to ride my '91 K75RT up the haul road to Prudhoe Bay this July. I know there's a good chance of mud, so I thought I would swap my tires for something a bit more in the dual-sport direction. Avoid a little of  :falldown: !

Any recommendations? I noticed an early question about Shinkos but I have no experience with them and don't know what "model" tire would be best for this trip.

Thanks in advance for your knowledge!

--JohnD
  • SE Michigan USA
1991 K75RT
1972 R75/5
1998 Kawa KLR650 (GS-killer)
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Offline K75RT Keith

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #43 on: February 06, 2014, 09:32:40 AM »
IF you check the manufacturers sites they often list the minimum - maximum rim width for a specific tire size.  One would think that if the proper size, or nearly proper size dual sport tire will fit the rim width, it should fit yours.  Most of the dual sport rears I've looked at in 130/90R17 are listed at about a 90/10 road/off road mix.  If the tire dimensions match closely to a street tire it ought to fit.  Ride may change a little and they may be nosier.  The tire compound  is likely different and they may not wear like your old tires.   
You can't help someone who doesn't want to hear the answer.

1990 K75RT

Offline ricketyclik

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #44 on: June 08, 2014, 07:04:16 AM »
This may be a silly question, but I've just upgraded from a (not really running) K100RT (on which I used Shinkos and was quite pleased with them, especially for the price) to a K1100LT.  Can I put the K100 tires (100/90 18, 130/90 17) on my K1100LT stock rims?

A partial update on this one.  I couldn't get any mechanics to do the switch, because the tires aren't the "correct" size.  I recently changed the rear one on to the LT myself, and it seems fine.  It may not wear as well as a 140/80, but it was going begging in any case, so I figure money well saved!  No difference in handling that I can detect.

I think when I get around to the front one it may be a different story - more likely to affect handling is my guess.

So that rear Shinko Tourmaster only lasted 3500 km (about 2000 miles)!  I've just had the Azaro/Pilot Road 2 combo installed and wow!  What a difference!  Radials rule!

Offline Freelancer

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #45 on: May 30, 2015, 02:22:34 AM »
Hey, could we update this a bit?

Some of the tires mentioned are no longer available. This is particularly in regards to the older snowflake rims.

The following is a copy of my post in another thread:

Quote from: Freelancer
Just did a search for a friend with the old snowflake rims.  He has Dunlop D205 radials mounted on it and has enjoyed how they handled.
 I know, most say don't spoon radials onto the older rims, but he has been happy and wants radials again. Also, not able to convince him to move to newer rims.

Now, the problem is that the D205's are no longer available in the correct size. (Looks like they may be discontinued, but don't quote me. Just could only find them in one size.)

As already noted, the Azaro's are discontinued.

What I found is that the Metzeler Z6 front 110/80-18 front looks like it would work well with the Bridgestone Battle Wing rears.

Both are radials and can carry the weight, "What do you guys think?


This seems to be a big changeover year in tires that the older bricks use. Would be interesting to hear what people are shifting to.

Thanks,
Freelancer
1991 K100RS

Offline ricketyclik

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #46 on: May 30, 2015, 06:10:43 AM »
PR2's for my k1100lt. V happy.

Offline Thorfinn

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #47 on: June 05, 2015, 06:26:30 AM »
Thought my K75 RT was very unhappy with me....kept trying to throw me off and go on happily following whatever white line or road groove it could find...upon (trembling) inspection, found the front Metzeler Lasertech was down to 10 psi  :yow

Back up to 30 psi, and doin' fine - but next day, 12 psi again...ho-hum here comes another road groove, where will it take me this time...

Question: Can I sensibly put a Bridgestone BT45 on the front as a replacement, while leaving the (still quite good good) Metzeler on the rear? Or will such a mismatch be, er, "entertaining"??   :eek:

Thorfie

Offline WayneDW

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #48 on: June 05, 2015, 08:26:28 PM »
Personally, I have never worried about matching brands front to rear and never noticed a problem.  Perhaps faster riders would say differently...?
  • Minneapolis, MN, USA
  • 1992 K75RT

Offline K75rt

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Re: Tire recommendations
« Reply #49 on: June 06, 2015, 09:22:49 AM »
I am running the Shinko 230 front and rear on my K75RT and couldn't be happier.  I just ordered a replacement front ($55 shipped from M-S) after about 12k on the existing one, it is getting a little worn but still life left in it.

I've run a lot of tires over the years on K75s, and these Shinkos are just great tires.  They remind me a lot of the old Macadams - super sticky on both wet and dry, and really like to predictably roll into corners.  Minus the cupping that plagued the Macadams of course.  Combined with great life and low price, they just can't be beat.

I took a shot last spring on Shinko tires for my 100RS.  Motorcycle superstore shipped em to my door in 2 days for $136.  Thats for a pair (fr & rear) tires!  I've put about 4k on them and they are phenomenal.  I'm not draggin knees thru the canyons but do ride them fairly aggressivly plus the fact that I weigh 350#.  Were solid in the rain thru the mountains of WV, seem plenty sticky with no surprises for the spirited riding that I do and they seem to be wearing well.  I'm very happy with my purchase. 

Did I mention they were only $136 shipped for the pair?