Tires

[CBShannon]

Anyone have any suggestions on any specific tires for a an 82' 750F that are of better quality than stock, maybe a little more meaty with good fit and function? Thanks for any input.

[mitchberry]

It depends what kind of riding you do, and how your bike is set up....

also your budget...

if you want a more cafe racer look, avon tourings are good, so are avon venoms...

metzeler makes a good all purpose tire that looks good on cafe's but is actually made for enduros...

if you want a performance tire, bridgestone makes a good one, if you want cheap but good quality, go with shenko's.. .  


 if you're hauling butt around everywhere you'll want a different tire from if you're cruising at low speeds and not riding every day...    so it really depends...  

i have ridden on each of those brands, and their all good....  

 tire size also plays a factor... some brands don't make tires in certain sizes, so you're limited....  


here's what it comes down to...

How much money you budgeting? 100? or 800? big difference in tires... but all will last about the same amount of time. Figure out what you want, let me know i'll see if i can work out a deal for you... i sell parts for a living..

[LukeM]

I replaced the rear tire on my bike shortly after I got it.  On the recommendation of the tire guy at Iron Pony, he recommended the Bridgestone Spitfire S11.  It's a very good street tire, with a dual compound for good life and good handling.  I haven't gotten bold enough to scrape the pegs yet, but I can vouch for its performance in sun and rain. I'll probably do the front tire with the same model next year.

I'd recommend researching all the tires out there, talk to other riders, mechanics, and people on the subway, and decide how much you want to spend.  Factor in the labor cost, check your wheels to see if they need to be trued, get new rim strips and tubes, and let us know what you decided.

Luke M

[Re-run]

I will second luke's spitfire tire but also shinko tires seem to be pretty good. They are the old yokohama tire molds. I got the 712 series and they seem to work very well.

[mitchberry]

I think i have 712's on my bike too... the first day i got them on the rims, i put it back together and went for about a 5 mile test ride in a light rain (the most dangerous type) and made it back in one piece... i didn't even scuff the coating off of them like you're supposed to...

 i was scared for my life... but i figure that if they could manage that, they'd manage just about anything...

 and so far i've been right. i have a lot of faith in the shinkos for the price...   there's tons of road vibration compared to the tires on my hayabusa, but.......... that's a sport touring bike.. it's supposed to be smooth, and part of that is suspension too...  

i've ridden pretty aggresively on my shinkos and aside from slipping out one time on a hard (much harder than i should have taken it) left turn, (which i think was more an issue with my shocks than the tires), i've had no problems... they last just as long as any other tire but cost half as much..

The shinko racing slicks suck though from every review i've read...  though, their not street legal anyway...

The 712's have a cool tread pattern too...   and, though their radial, you can use tubes in them.. but their an H rated tire already.. so that means you can't be going 150 on those tires with tubes in them...

i sell a kit though that can make spoke tires able to accept radials without tubes... BUT...... i seriously don't recommend it.. if you hit a pothole and bend the rim, you break the bead, and it goes flat pretty much instantly... not good at any kind of speed....

Then again if you hit a pothole at 60, even if the tire is sound you're still pretty screwed...

AVON tires are by far the favorites of cafe racer types though just fyi...   avon venoms *when their available are probably the most popular... the touring are popular too...