Tires in 2020, meh, 2021...
 

It's time to get new tires. My current tires need replaced more for age than because of wear - I haven't been riding as much as I would like the last couple years. Because I haven't been riding much, I find myself totally out of touch with what the good tires are now. Truthfully, my last couple of sets/rears were trackday takeoffs so I wasn't real pickey even then. But with the isolation and all of my local places being closed, it looks like I am going to have to order tires sight unseen and from the internet, and change them myself.

So, as far as riding, I havent done any track days since I broke my ankle, so I would like to focus more on wet grip, and grip at lower temperatures since I don't anticipate getting these hot during my straight line commute. I do, however tend to rely very heavily on the spectacular engine braking available from the Superhawk, so I still tend to eat rear tires at better than 2:1 from the fronts. Since my current rubber is hard as a rock, even the cheapest shinkos would probably grip better than what I have, but I am going to try to take some longer trips this year if I am ever allowed to travel again. That said, I doubt I will be doing any iron-butts on the superhawk.

So, what are your opinions on the current crop of tires?

Pick a brand. Make sure it's round and black.

You can get $60 off a set of Bridgestone T31s or S22s (or several other Bridgestone models) right now. Rocky Mountain ATV will send in the rebate for you. This makes the cost of a set of T31s about $173.00.
Other makers are offering rebates as well. Check out their rebate pages.
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/l...mar-apr-rebate

T31s are sport touring and S22s are sportier. The T31 would probably work well for your purposes.

Tire recommendations are difficult, if one does not know what budget you are willing to spent. If money is not the problem you can go with any of the top line sport touring tires, e.g the Bridgestone T31, as allready mentioned. If money does, however, matter, you should probably look for a tire from the previous generation, e.g. a Bridgestone T30, still an excellent tire, but now selling for quite good prices. Another good candidate is the Metzeler M7 RR, which has been specifically developed for mixded wether conditions of the Isle of Man TT races, but not sure if it's available in the US.

As all round road tyres, I would rate the T31, Metzeler Roadtec 01, Michelin Pilot Road 5 and Pirelli Angel tyres as more or less equivalent; all have great wet grip, wear well, work well from cold. The Bridgestones are a bit stiffer/harder riding, the Metzelers a bit slow steering, and the Michelins seem to be quick steering and soft to ride on. All are plenty sticky for back road shenanigans.

I've ran a set of Michelin ROAD5's on my Duc. Awesome tires! I'd recommend them in a heartbeat.

Did exactly the same on my Duc, love them, also highly recommend these tires!!!

If your not putting in a lot of miles, the Dunlop Q3 are usually pretty cheap and are pretty sticky.

Anyone ran both Michelin Road 4's and 5's and want to compare and contrast them?

I can, although they weren't on my VTR. 4's sucked balls. Very squirmy when pushed hard at full lean, and I saw that in the wear pattern. Too many sipe grooves allowed the blocks of tread to get pushed over to the next one. No way I was going to get another set.

FF to the 5. Very apprehensive to make the purchase. Looks alone helped. The near slick edges sold me. Put them on and WOW. Best tire I've ever ran. I got almost 8,000 miles from the rear and felt I could have gone to 10 but this season I wanted fresh rubber so they came off.

I highly recommend the ROAD5's.

I don't push the lean angle on my bird to much, but loved the first gen' of Pirelli Angel GT's - got a lil' over 20k out of them. Currently have ~15k on the second revision release; Angel GT II's.

For me, on either bike I own, that's too many. They go through so many heat cycles and tend to give up the ghost before they are worn out. I had that very issue with the Metzeler Z6's on my Hawk. I really loved them for about 6-8k, and at that point would show a little less than 1/2 wear. Then they got hard and would grip as good. I ended up switching to the Stones. BT016f mated with a BT023 rear. Even did track days on those. I'll probably end up going with a soft carcass tire next, like a Michelin Power5 or the Dunlop Q's.

Well, since 2020 went completely to heck, I still havent bought tires. So, let me clarify my usage a bit more. I think I want better rain performance and more miles from the rear, than ultimate dry grip. I have 2 sets of rims and have been happy with Michi Pilot Powers for Track days, and then when they have been heat cycled a few times they become my commute tires until the center wears down to match the edges. As a result, I have found myself tiptoeing around on half worn sometimes mismatched track day takeoffs for most of my riding over the last few years. This is not optimal and has resulted in more than one pucker moment, particularly in the rain. I haven't done any track days recently (the club I used to ride with all but folded up), so I have been looking more at road trips and weekend jaunts since I am not commuting much now either.

Where I am vacillating is spending $350+ for a set of something like road 5's and expecting them to last a couple of years vs spending $175 for a set of cheaper tires and planning for them to last half of the time. Changing tires isn't hard, and I can usually work that into my "maintenance day" without much hardship. The appeal of the cheaper tires, is that at the end of the first year or however long it takes to wear them out, I would buy another set, and then be starting fresh with new tires, as opposed to wanting to wring the last mile out of the more expensive tires. The appeal of the more expensive tires is one less tire change and (theoretically) the extra $$ buys me more technology/traction/longevity.

There are a dozen 120/180 sets on Amazon, both front and rear, for less than what amazon wants for just one Road 5 rear, and that is significant. Then I find deals like this at Mass Depot:
https://massdepot.com/Metzeler-M5-12...927400-1927600
Both tires for $188 shipped is VERY tempting...

Not faulting your logic, very good price, but it would be good to know what the date code is on those tires. The M5 came out in 2010

An excellent point, I just sent them an email to ask.

Road5's are reported very good in the wet.. I'm a fair weather rider, so I can't comment.

Oh my God this is hilarious, apparently massDepot doesn't care to share the information on the dates of its tires...

I don't know if I'm being oversensitive or not but what it seems like they're telling me is that if I have the audacity to want to know the dates on the tires that they are shipping that they don't want me as a customer. I'm not sure if I should be offended by that, or appreciate it. 😂🤣😂

I kinda understand. Imagine if everyone started wanting this service. They’d have to set back the set they quoted you on till you decided to buy. Logistically, that could turn into a nightmare. Don’t let it bug you. I don’t think anyone big that does lots of sales would do it. And for the record, since I work at a bike shop, recently 2 guys came in with near new rear tires with punctures to get replaced. I kept those 2 and used internal plug/patches. They happened to be the size my Ducati uses so I’m 1/2 way through one and have another to mount when it wears out (both rears). The current tire date (I believe) is sometime in ‘16. I didn’t go balls out right away, but slowly pushed until last ride with friends. I had the tire balling up on the edge. Sticks like glue w/ no drama.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sup...9d066e9b6.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sup...26656be07.jpeg