Ducati Monster Forum

i'll start out by saying i know very little about tires and very little about ducatis, but since i have a ducati and my wheels are coming off this winter i thought it would be a perfect time to get some new tires. i've read a lot of reviews on tires and they seem to all talk about the tires are great for "track days" or being great in the valley hills and turns....but that's far from what i need from a tire. i live in Chicago so instead of "track days" we have "rush hour" and instead of hills and curves we have potholes and construction debris. i mostly just ride 20 or so miles a day in stop and go traffic and maybe a couple times a week jump on the highway. my uneducated guess would be that i would want different tires than someone who lives in a more rural area and does track days and hill adventures, right? any recommendations? any ones i should stay away from? thanks

i thought the stock tires were a little slippery so i went with some michelin pilot power tires.

very sticky and i noticed a big difference...

pilot road 2ct

check out the tire ratings thread over in the tech section for all you ever wanted to know and more...

You might look into the 'Sport touring' selections offered by most manuf.  They won't have the grip that a sportier tire would when you/if you're pressing towards the edges of the traction envelope.  But they will wear longer than the soft sport or super sport tires and in the majority of cases will have better wet traction and more regular traction vs. heat curve.  Some of the sport tires are cold to warm Jeckle and Hydes.  Great when they ware warmed up, but on a cool damp morning you're as well off with ice skates on the rims.  Sport touring tires tend to be less dependant on being warm to give reliable traction

Many of the tire makers have graphic comparison charts of their tires that cover 5 or 6 primary points like wear life, dry traction, wet traction etc.  So you can look at the tires metric side by side and based on what you need make the best selection.

I just bought mine last week and im waiting till i hit rock bottom on my tire to change it out.

It looks like a sick tire and +1 to check out the reviews on it. I think it serves your purpose perfectly. Though if you wanted to get a cheaper tire (road 2ct is in the $175 range) you could always go regular pilot road which is about $140 i believe.

i have almost 5k on my road 2ct set as we speak.
 i would not be surprised to get at least another 2500 - 3500 miles out of them

+1   

I think its fair to say that if you don't do any track days and can't/wont get rid of you "chicken strips" by the time its time for a tire change, then get the sport touring tires (unless you don't care about "wasting" money).

Pilot roads 2ct are good. But pilot road 2cts are also very expensive

Bridgestone BT-21 equally as good as pilot roads and significantly cheaper. Wear is about the same. The only drawback is that the front tire is a little loud due to the tread pattern.

Where they are better than any other tire i have used is bump absoprtion. Bridgestone claims some spiral belt setup (i dont know the terminology) on their new tires and how its supposed to absorb bumps more efficiently. I thought this was a load of marketing garbage. I came from a pair of pilots and I IMMEDIATELY noticed a difference when I went over bumps.

For city riding this becomes a big plus.

When its a matter of 60-70 bucks difference between a set of michelins and bridgestones. And with the performance nearly the same, I'll take the bridgestones in a heartbeat. If you try em I guarantee you'll love em.

Just remember, front tire road noise is loud.