Newbie question - GS1100G tires

[Paul W in Chicago]

Hi All,

I'm a recent GS convert with an 82 GS1100G. I love this bike!

My rides have all been Brit-iron since I started back in the early 70's and this is in fact my first ever Japanese bike. I wanted a bike with an electric foot for a change and something with a bit of grunt. The GS fits the bill and it's great to just press a button to fire up the beast rather than leaping up and down on a kickstart.

Anyway, my first of probably many questions: my GS came with the following tire combination:

Front: Dunlop Gold Seal F11 100/90 19 57H
Rear: Conti Tour 130/90 17 74H (Reinf Tubeless)

What do the experts think of this combination? Both tires are fairly new. Particularly the Continental. I was a little leary of mixing brands like this. Should I be looking for a Continental for the front?

Cheers,
Paul

[Grandpa]

Hi All,

I'm a recent GS convert with an 82 GS1100G. I love this bike!

My rides have all been Brit-iron since I started back in the early 70's and this is in fact my first ever Japanese bike. I wanted a bike with an electric foot for a change and something with a bit of grunt. The GS fits the bill and it's great to just press a button to fire up the beast rather than leaping up and down on a kickstart.

Anyway, my first of probably many questions: my GS came with the following tire combination:

Front: Dunlop Gold Seal F11 100/90 19 57H
Rear: Conti Tour 130/90 17 74H (Reinf Tubeless)

What do the experts think of this combination? Both tires are fairly new. Particularly the Continental. I was a little leary of mixing brands like this. Should I be looking for a Continental for the front?

Cheers,
Paul

This combination should work just fine on your bike. It's hard to find a front/rear tire combination that won't work well on your 1100G. I've tried all brands and most models on my shafties over the last 20 years, and have yet to find a tire combination that doesn't work adequately.

So keep what you have, ride the he!! out of it, and don't worry about a thing except replacing the tires when they wear. :-D

[SqDancerLynn1]

You should be fine!! I personally liked my last set of Metzlers. A bit more expensive but I got 10K miles out of them. I too have ridden lots of Brit Iron over the years. CUrrenty have a Metzler front & Dunlap rear

[Paul W in Chicago]

Thanks Grandpa and SqDancerLynn1. Your responses are reassuring.

Since both tires are fairly new I'll just ride 'em out and enjoy the bike. The bike handles very well for such a big lump so I won't worry about the tires until they start to show wear.

[quakeholio]

The only mixing on tires that you don't want to do is radials with Bias Ply. My understanding is at the best it makes the bike a little wild, and it takes a lot of work to adjust it out with the suspension.

[Planecrazy]

Welcome, Paul!!

You'll find that we have a very nice Chicago contingent, and we even do our own tire changes over at Joe Nardy's place (in Lombard). I had Dunlops on my '83 "G" but just replaced them (good tread but rubber was very hard) with Pirelli Sport Demons. I'm LOVING the improvement, but not sure if it's because the demons are that much better or because of the new, supple rubber.

Anyway, shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll add you to our local email thread. It's been very quiet lately, but usually is more active during the off season.

Regards,