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Best tires

  • Thread starter Thread starter crc1214
  • Start date Start date
I spent some happy days about three or four summers back wearing out a set of Bridgestone Spitfires.

I wasn't thrilled with the mileage, but they did stick quite well in all weather conditions.

I only got about 3,000 miles out of my set, but to be fair that did include a trip to North Carolina and back with a couple of days spent at felonious velocities in the middle. Come to think of it, the 700 mile trips there and back were also spent at felonious velocities.

That trip alone burned up a good 2000+ miles, but the Bridgestones worked wonderfully. They were starting to square off by the time I got home to Indiana.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is magical on a deserted Wednesday morning. I can't hink of a better use for expensive rubber.
 
DMPLATT said:
Anyway, for My 750, the good dunlops don't seem to come in my size.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can find a GS that Dunlop doesn't make a 501 to fit?

What size are your tires?
 
Hoomgar said:
DMPLATT said:
Anyway, for My 750, the good dunlops don't seem to come in my size.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can find a GS that Dunlop doesn't make a 501 to fit?

What size are your tires?
Click to expand...

Dunlop 501's wont fit my GS :(
 
wrench said:
Hoomgar said:
DMPLATT said:
Anyway, for My 750, the good dunlops don't seem to come in my size.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can find a GS that Dunlop doesn't make a 501 to fit?

What size are your tires?
Click to expand...

Dunlop 501's wont fit my GS :(
Click to expand...

Is your bike a GK John? I forget. What size tires do you take?
 
Yup, no Dunlop 501s in 130/90-17.

That's my bike's rear tire size, too. It's always been hard to find. :evil:

For Dunlops, you're stuck with 491 or 404 -- both are the "Harley" tires. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I'm torn between the Dunlop 491 or maybe the Bridgestone Spitfire for my next set of tires. I've been using Cheng Shin HiMax for the last couple of years, but I'm in the mood to try something else.
 
Has anyone tried to run the Dunlop Gt501 100/90/19 inplace of a 110/90/19 and the 140/80/17 instead of the 130/90/17? I have a 83 gs1100es and looking for a good replacement.
 
I just got back from the local motorcycle shoppe (I was dropping off my old brake lines to use as a pattern for making new stainless lines!) and perused their vast selection of fresh donuts. (Cycle Outfitters ROCKS!)

Basically, it came down to about $300 for a set of Metzelers mounted and balanced ($150 for the rear ME88 130/90-17 + $120 for the front 100/90-19 + 6% sales tax.)

A set of Bridgestone Spitfires would run about $200. Also a great tire, with excellent wet traction, as I can personally testify.

The tire guy was pushing me pretty hard toward the Met$eler$. He said the Dunlop 491s have been discontinued, althought they still had a few in my sizes. Cost was the same as the Metzelers, but he seemed to feel they would probably last a bit longer but not give me as much traction.

The Dunlop 404s were reasonably priced, but supposedly not the finest in terms of traction. To me, it seems like the tread on the Dunlops is awfully flat and doesn't go around the tire far enough.

I'm thinking that another set of Bridgestones are going to find their way onto my bike just before the Brown County, Indiana GS rally in May.

And after we sell the house and move this spring, the first thing I'm getting is a good air compressor and a tire changer from Harbor Freight.
 
I've been very happy with Dunlop K491 Elites on my GS850, which uses 110/90-19 and 130/90-17 tires. They wear well, corner well and handle rain well. I am now running the same sizes in Dunlop K591s, which have just been discontinued. I got them at a great price off eBay. (The 130/90-17 tires go for ridiculously low prices, since newer bikes don't use that size.) Personally, I can't tell the diference in performance between the K491s and the K591s.

I've never thought of these as being "Harley" tires, because Dunlop was selling them for quite a while before they started putting H-D's name on them. I've tried Continentals, but I much prefer the Dunlop Elites. The hard charging road racers or canyon carving squids may not find them to be sticky enough, but for general all around riding, they're hard to beat.
 
My buddy has the Bridgestone Spitfires on his Honda 750F. I've ridden it, and they were terrific. I will be putting them on my GS700.

The BT45s are even better, although they seem to be best on lighter bikes. I know a lot of people who have them on their Yamaha RDs and RZs, which I've also ridden. I will be putting these on my RD350, for sure, once the IRCs wear out. The real advantage to the IRCs is they look like a vintage tire, and work well enough.

Ted
 
me88's fir me.

so far so good!

great traction in the rain/weather. keeps steady at 60km in 2+ -inches of water :)
 
Anybody have experience with a radial tire? What are the general differences in handling and wear between a bias and radial motorcycle tire? I know the differences on a race car. The radial is a lot more precise, but less forgiving. Is the same true for a motorcycle tire?
 
I believe the stock rims on the GS line are too narrow in proportion to the tread width used to safely mount radial tires. Under hard use, there is risk of shedding the tire off the rim.

Earl



Autoshoer said:
Anybody have experience with a radial tire? What are the general differences in handling and wear between a bias and radial motorcycle tire? I know the differences on a race car. The radial is a lot more precise, but less forgiving. Is the same true for a motorcycle tire?
Click to expand...
 
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