Need some advice on replacing my tires

[ccs]

Hi All;

I've got an 82 GS850GZ and need to replace the rear tire. I've read a bunch of posts about tires in this forum and there doesn't seem to be any concensus (there are several brands/models that various people like). I did some research on Google and am just getting more confused (too many brands, too much difference in tread mileage, etc.).

The local dealer quoted me a pair of Dunlop D404's for $81.95 (front) and $93.95 (rear) and then said install would be $97.00. I've read on the forum that these tires only seem to last around 4,000 miles and I definitely need something that lasts longer (I've put 2,200 miles on my GS since I bought it on May 24th).

I am wondering if anyone has purchased tires from JC Whitney. I found:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ItemBrowse/c-10111/s-10101/p-100000209238/mediaCode-ZX/appId-100000209238/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:100000209238

and:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-VehicleBrowse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2003943/showCustom-0/p-2003943/N-200730504+111+1982+600014323/c-10111

The description seems to indicate they are good tires, and the price is great. Any advice?

Also, I want to change both tires myself and figure I'll purchase a set of tire levers (http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-VehicleBrowse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2011826/showCustom-0/p-2011826/N-200730504+111+1982+600015598/c-10111), and have read about how to balance the tires by spinning them between a set of jack stands.

I've never changed tires myself so any tips and advice would be very welcome.

TIA.

Charles...

 

[Arkaloid]

I beleive those tires your referering to are Chen shins. OK tire, not great, not bad. You will get a thousand opinions here, so be ready for that. I have installed the new dunlop elite three's, and so far they have proven to be an outstanding tire. 4k on them now, still lots of tread left, great cornering, great wet-road performance.

 

[bwringer]

That's an outrageous price for the Dunlop 404 tires at the dealer. Last time I got a set of these, they were $165 installed, and they haven't gone up that much since.

Dunlop 404 are economy tires -- they look good, they're relatively cheap, and they stick well, but they wear quickly. Fine for your average 1,000 miles a year cruiser pilot, not so good on a GS that actually gets ridden.

If you have a GL model with the 16 inch rear wheel, the Dunlop Elite III or 501s are excellent choices (both of these are not available for the G model's 17 inch rear wheel). They'll cost around $200 a set if you order on the internet and change them yourself. At a dealer, you'll pay $300 or so mounted and balanced (markup + mounting).

For long wear and pretty dang good grip, the Dunlop 491 is a great choice, and probably the best all-around tire for most riders. Trust me, you can drag pegs all you want with 491s, and mine are worn but holding up very well at 11,500 miles.

I have a set of Pirelli Sport Demons on the way, which come highly recommended by my fellow lean angle freaks, but probably will only last around 5,000 to 6,000 entertaining miles.

Here are a couple of great sources for tires in the US -- I can highly recommend both of these for excellent pricing and service:

Tires Unlimited:
http://tiresunlimited.com
Fast shipping from an actual warehouse in Dayton, OH. Huge selection. You might want to call if you're in a hurry.

Southwest Moto Tire:
http://www.swmototires.com/
Free shipping, but warehouse is in Tuscon, AZ, which adds some shipping time for many eastern and midwest riders. Limited selection in some brands.

Both have really ugly web sites, but great service.

Beware of online "tire shops" run by pasty nosepickers with stacks of catalogs. Order from actual tire warehouses, not middlemen.

 

[JHawkins]

I am liking my Cheng Shin - Hi-Max tires. They outperform my bike, if in doubt of that, ask the guys that went on the cabot trail with me! They will gladly testify that major metal hits ground before they tires lose traction.

I have somewhere around 4000 miles on them now and they are showing some wear, I doubt I will see much over 6000. That being said, these tires have had a rough life. nearly all the miles have been high speed highway miles with a heavily loaded bike, nearly half with a pillion aboard with camping gear. There have been a lot of twisty roads and fast corners as well. They are getting abused in a bad way! They will most definately outperform the dunlops in terms of mileage. I barely got 4500 out of the last dunlop and it was pretty much shot. It had hard miles on it as well, but nowhere near as bad as the CS.

The best part, ....I got them from www.traxmotorsports.com and they were like 96 bucks delivered, ... FOR THE SET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, bang for the buck is seriously high and I will be putting them on again.

If you do decide to get the Dunlops, shop around, that price was insanely high that they quoted you. They are online for maybe 40 bucks more than the CS.

 

[Steve]

BWringer said:
"Tires Unlimited:
http://tiresunlimited.com
Fast shipping from an actual warehouse in Dayton, OH. Huge selection. You might want to call if you're in a hurry."

I have to agree.

Not only is it an "actual warehouse", it's a retail outlet, too. In fact, I take my wheels off the bike, toss them in the van, drive about 20 miles, drop them off. Come back later in the day (if they are real busy, otherwise it's only about an hour wait), take them home, put them on the bike. They are mounted and computer balanced for $15 each. Prices are within a few bucks of the on-line price, and the difference is about the same if I go to the store and pay tax, or get them on-line and pay shipping.


.

 

[8trackmind]

I have over 7,500 miles (and counting) on my Dunlop 404's.

 

[flyingace]

I will chime in on the K491s. I have over 5K on the rear tire, and it is only now starting to show any signs of wear. I could easily see 15-20K from this tire. It grips as well as any other tire I've had. It was $88 mail order.

 

[chuckycheese]

Gt501

Gt501

My all time favorite choice is the Dunlop GT501. I know many others agree although I'm certain there are a lot of other very good tires available. I've always ordered them from MAW (Motorcycle Accessory Warehouse) and have never found better prices..and I shop around every time.:-D

P.S. It looks like SW Moto Tires is only a few dollars more so, depending upon your shipping cost, that may be a very good way to go, as well.

 

[ruddy]

Here's another vote for the Dunlop K491 Elite III tires front & rear. They wear well, corner well and work well in the rain. Shop around for prices.

 

[WesV]

I am happy with the ChengShin hi-max tires, a pretty durn good bang for your buck (plus it was one of 3 tires that I could get for my bike). The wear pretty evenly and do AWESOME in wet conditions, and marginally better the the old marquis style in snow.

As far as changing your own tire, a local bike shop shouldn't charge you more then $20 a tire to mount an balance them! Last two sets I got were mounted and balanced for $15 a piece at 2 different places. Be very careful with the mag wheels and take an old oil jug, cut the side out of it, and use that flat piece of plastic as a rim gaurd from your tire irons. Also, LOTS OF LUBE For the cheap person, Dawn Dish Detergent works decently and is very easy to clean off (you will be scrubbing your new tires before you ride anyway RIGHT??) Or you can go buy a tub of tire goop which works amazing well and washes off with a little soap and water.

 

[Jethro]

Is that install price for bringing in just the wheels or the whole bike?

I have the D404's on now and am a couple hundred miles away from replacement with about 3200 miles on them. That's pretty good wear for me on the 1100. I have a set of the Sport Demons waiting at the shop for me now, I've never tried them.

 

[WesV]

Is that install price for bringing in just the wheels or the whole bike?

Just the wheels, I don't let anyone else work on ANY of my vehicles and the only work I hire out is having tires mounted so I pull the wheels off myself and haul them in with the new tires, have em replaced while I watch and then an out in 20 mins

 

[suzukizone]

tire replacement

tire replacement

Just put a set of Bridgestone S-11 Spitfires on my GS 850 G. May not be best for your needs but I couldn't be happier. Completely restored to good handling & stability that the bike was always missing. Suppossed to be dual rubber compound w/ soft grippy on the cornering & hard long lasting in the center tread.

FWIW

DH

 

[mdole]

I'll echo the recommendations for Dunlop 491's. I've run them on a number of bikes and get good service and long wear. I think the shortest milage I can remember on them was on a V65 Sabre on one set I have the front tire cupping about 17k and the rear was replaced at 15.5k. I ran the same tires on that bike later and got a thousand more on the rear and 2k more on the front.

If you are thinking about changing your own tires you'll find you need a bead breaker ( a large C-clamp will work, clamped on some scrap wood), some really stout tire irons as new tires have very stiff sidewalls, and something to protect the rim you are prying against. Most bike shops and mailorder places list some kind of rim protectors for changing tires. The ones I have are basically shaped nylon pieces that slip onto the rim to protect it. I use them on my dirt bikes but take my street bike wheels and have them done on a machine.

 

[rustybronco]

BWringer said:
"Tires Unlimited:
http://tiresunlimited.com
Fast shipping from an actual warehouse in Dayton, OH. Huge selection. You might want to call if you're in a hurry."

I have to agree.

.

me too! dunlop 491's elite II's if your going to ride it if not chen shin hi-maxx

and i change mine and others at work on a good old car tire machine (adaptors for grabbing the rotors) and balance then between two jack stands. $0 cost PRICELESS!

 

[Mike Curtis]

Allright now I have a 1981 GS850GL with rear being a 130/90 -17 & front 100/90 - 19
What are my options the Dunlop Elite does not show this size. I'm looking for a tire that will get me good handling and I'm not into intense riding.
I'm open to suggestions I stopped by a Yamaha dealer last Saturday and he gave me these prices for some Dunlop 404 $117.22 front & $146.47 rear mounted and balanced & I know I'm getting bumped on the deal. By the responses I see the Dunlop 404 are not what I want.

 

[JHawkins]

Allright now I have a 1981 GS850GL with rear being a 130/90 -17 & front 100/90 - 19
What are my options the Dunlop Elite does not show this size. I'm looking for a tire that will get me good handling and I'm not into intense riding.
I'm open to suggestions I stopped by a Yamaha dealer last Saturday and he gave me these prices for some Dunlop 404 $117.22 front & $146.47 rear mounted and balanced & I know I'm getting bumped on the deal. By the responses I see the Dunlop 404 are not what I want.

I am not sure what you are looking for. You say you want good handling, but are not into intense riding. I always envision the two going hand in hand. You only need really sticky tires if you ride on the edge. Otherwise most anything should do for you.

I have run two sets of 404's, they were decent and when I rode easy on them they got about 6000 miles. When I rode them hard I got 4500. My current tire is a Cheng Shin Hi-Max and I rode the crap out of it. Hard turns, hard accelleration, high speeds, etc and it is at somewhere around 7000 miles and pretty much toast.

Both of these tires are capable of outperforming the motorcycle in the turns. My next tire will likely be another Hi-Max, it is a quick tire, the bike seems to react good with it and the mileage seems pretty good considering the summer it had!

 

[Mike Curtis]

I looked at the tires that came with the bike I have a CS HI-Max 110/90 - 19 on the front and a IRC Durotour 310R 130/90 -16 on the rear and I am tire dumb but it seems to me that you would not mix brands or tread patterns. Correct me if I'm wrong the tires are near new condition & I thinking that I would replace the front with a IRC tire. I'm just a guy who likes to cruise down the road and not into knee dragging.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[JHawkins]

I looked at the tires that came with the bike I have a CS HI-Max 110/90 - 19 on the front and a IRC Durotour 310R 130/90 -16 on the rear and I am tire dumb but it seems to me that you would not mix brands or tread patterns. Correct me if I'm wrong the tires are near new condition & I thinking that I would replace the front with a IRC tire. I'm just a guy who likes to cruise down the road and not into knee dragging.
Thanks for any advice.

If both tires are in good condition and you don't run them hard, then having an unmatched set should not really be a problem. The only scenario that would concern me would be wet roads and possibly having one tire that grabs better than the other.

 

[Mike Curtis]

We both share the same concern about the grip I have felt this on a ride before. I will go ahead and replace the front with another IRC.
Thanks