Ducati Monster Forum

Hi all.   Currently have some waaaay old rubber on my duc and NEED to put some new tires on her.  Sure, I can read some reviews from buyers of specific tires on tire websites but figured I'd tap the collective braintrust here too.   [bow_down]   I ride a little aggressively on the street, fairly aggressive on the open backroads where I can .... and am planning to take a ZARS track day lesson this season, maybe more.  I'm more about getting the most traction and performance than longevity out of the tires.  My suspension has been upgraded if that matters at all.  Current tires are about 14 years old that I bought used but were still better than what were on the bike when I hauled it home a few years ago.  Money was tighter too.

Any thoughts on a solid tire to go with?  I realize it can be a little subjective.  I saw a posting for some Sportmax Q3 that stated they "create a lighter feel" than most tires = more confident steering in corners and had a slightly bigger contact patch?     [roll]    Maybe asking which tires to stay AWAY from would be a better question?.

Anyway, I need new tires and wonder what y'all think might be some good choices based on personal experience.

Thanks! 

Sorry, I'll be blunt. Most/all new tires will be loads better. You don't ride enough to have become skilled to the point that tire choice matters. Great idea to develop your skills.

"Touring" tires will give you much more grip than you need at your current level and they're great even in the rain, so that's my recommendation.

I'd love to be there to see your face after the first ride on new tires. You'll feel safer, more skilled and happier.

+1 on choosing "Sport Touring" tires, rather than buying anything that says "racing".

Are these new tires for 2004 S4R you were asking a little earlier?

For non-testa (996) S4R, I'd recommend current sport touring tires for ALL street riding.

Let me ask a few simple questions.

1. How do you feel when the tire(s) start sliding? (You don't have to answer here. Just be honest to yourself.)

2. What was the situation you have ever been in that made you feel you want better tires the most?

3. How old are you? (Again, no need to answer here.) Have you been following motorcycle thing all these years?
This matters in some cases.
Because, some old timers think when we say "tires being soft", they think as "tires have soft compound", which was the case
back then in King Kenny was riding with Goodyear tires.
Today, (especially street tires), "soft" mostly means "tires are soft by construction".
Big difference.





For my motorcycles, I tend to go either Bridgestone (Battlax series) or Pirellri.
Mainly because I like the feel of tire gripping > still gripping > starts sliding transition stage.

The tires that have ultra high grip but unforgiving are not a good choice for 95% of us.

Michelin Pilot Powers...the original version. They're still available, relatively inexpensive, and great both in the dry and wet.

How many miles or how many months do you expect to get out of a more grippy sporting set of tyres? If you choose a sporty rear you may only get 2-3000 miles.

Michelin, Dunlop and Pirelli all make great sport and sport touring tyres. Some run a sport tyre on the front and a sport touring on the rear of the same brand. You need a shop with no brand loyalty and staff with current knowledge to assist you (besides us).

My Monster came with Rossos on it (the Rosso II...) and they were nice but a little flaky when they were cold, more than I have ever experienced with a modern sport (or sporty) bike tire..  The Rosso III seems to have fixed that.  I had the RIII put on shortly before the MotoGP last year, and I rode it through a downpour on old blacktop to the track on Saturday... it was fantastic.  I'm not going to lie to you, I have to replace my rear every 2000 to 2500mi, so it is not a touring tire.  I still have my second Rosso II front on, it has 6200mi on it and is finally at the point it needs replaced.

If it wasn't Pirellis, I would probably look first at Dunlop, and then Michelin.  But be careful, different makers have different profiles (shape, not aspect) and it can seriously change the handling.  I found that out when I got a new set of Dunlops on my old CBR1000F... I got the wrong front tire.  It was the correct size, but they made a different tire for the CBR; I wound up changing the front out early because the handling was so bad.

I'll try and answer some questions here:

Are these new tires for 2004 S4R you were asking a little earlier?  No, I've decided that bike was just too much of an unknown quantity for me.  I'm sticking with my '01 900S for at least a while

It sounds like a new sport-touring compound tire might work just great for the way I ride? Between the 2 bikes, maybe 1000 miles on each bike per year.  Yeah, it's been a long time since I bought some new rubber for anything outside of my Aero cruiser or my old K bike. I'm not shy. I'm 60 and have been riding most of 45 years [f-me!] but not nearly to the degree you guys ride. I still get excited about my bike every spring.  My FJ1100 was probably the closest thing to a sport bike I've had.

The new suspension on front and rear has greatly improved my feel for the duc as well as my confidence. New and improved riding gear specifically for riding the Monster really helps too. This bike kind of inspires [beckons?] me to ride just a little outside of my usual comfort zone. I feel, weirdly, ..... alive, cautious, adrenaline-jolted when the [usually] rear tire breaks loose and catches....if that makes sense?   Hence, some ZARS classes to help me ride with better skills.

A local Duc specialist says he loves his Pirellis. Not sure which ones he's running on.

Thanks for all your thoughts on this. It's why I come here.

An M900s is a great bike. So a thousand miles a year of sporty riding in good conditions (and breaking the rear tyre free) ;D. If you're up for changing tyres every two or three years then get Michelin Powers, Pirelli Rosso Corsas or Dunlop Qualifiers, all sticky sport tyres. It's great you have a Ducati specialist nearby. If you reach the stage of needing more power then get that Ducati tech to fit hi comp pistons, open the air box and dyno tune a PCIII for that 900. The suspension investment in your bike was excellent. My brother has the same bike with those mods and it's a very satisfying ride.

Current era Sport Touring tires can last 10k miles, even more.

At 1k miles per year, they're not a good fit for you.

I really like Pirelli Diablo Supersports (FKA just Diablo, they've been around a long time), they're single compound, economically priced and work well.

The newer models of sport tires are generally (likely all) dual compound, and are more expensive.

True. The sport touring tyres would need replacing at five years when only half used up. Michelin are saying 5 years last I heard.

Great information and suggestions. It seems I've got 3 or 4 solid choices to research a little.   koko64  ~  I had Doug Lofgren [local tuner] go through the engine and straightened out a couple of bugs/bad sensors he found , open the airbox [it had a K&N filter] and dyno-tune/remap the older PC to match the used Arrow slip-ons I found locally. Higher compression pistons ya say?  Cool!   I'll keep it in mind.  Both Doug and Anthony are great local resources to use.  I sure-enough still appreciate the all the information and help here too.

Cheers   [beer]  and thanks

Did someone say Arrow slips?   ;D

(https://i.imgur.com/LfJEDHDm.jpg)

Right on!

You're very lucky to have Lofgren so close, that's great. [thumbsup]

I like Contimotion Z
Excellent all around tarmac tire, wet dry, loose debris
I get pretty sketch and have not gone past the tires abilities
My 2 cents

 Doug and Anthony Decker are great people. [turned out Doug and I know a couple of the same guys from the "old days"]   Trying to take both Doug and Anthony out for steak dinner as thank you for doing such a nice job on my bike. It'd be cool to go riding and have dinner with both of 'em.

Anyway,
                                                                                                   
 Just curious,  looking at tire ratings:   W or Z ?    168+ for W rating SEEMS like I'd never outride that rating. Z rating is even higher.  My bike might pull 130 +/- on a good day [guessing]

Any benefit with a tire rating higher than a W for my bike?

I didn't realize they even made sport bike tires with less than a Z-rate...

Yes, I guess they still do.

Where's the benefit in going with the lower rating?

My guess would be either a lighter tire, or not as many plies on the sidewall.... and maybe cost.

With sport bikes easily hitting 170 mph [and higher] I totally get a Z rated tire. I'm just wondering if it would be overkill for my bike?   I'm happy [usually] to pay for something if there's a clear benefit.    If I'm hearing the Z rated tires will perform noticeably better at lower speeds [than a W rating]  and are higher quality/safer?  I'm cool with that and can see paying for it.  I think the higher speed rated tires are a little more $.

Does that make sense?  I'm sometimes not very clear. Apologies and thank you!

You would have to look at the specific tire details to see what's different.

Back in the '80's, when I got my first street bikes, Z-rated tires were pretty esoteric... bikes didn't really go fast enough to warrant it.  My buddy bought a ZX-10 and that's when I started reading about Z-rated tires.  I was buying shoes for my cruisers (XS400, XS650, CB750C) which nowhere near needed a Z-rated tire, and I would be surprised if they were.

Looking at the Pirelli Rosso III's... there are only 2 tires in the III line that are not Z-rated... they are small, skinny, higher profile tires, probably meant for 300-400CC'ish bikes that don't need Z-rating. 

Personally, I wouldn't put anything less than a Z-rate tire on my Ducati, not because I'm Eddie Lawson, but because that is the tire my bike was designed with, and switching to a different type tire might change the handling characteristics.

Thanks for your thoughts Charlie98, ducpainter, pinion, speeddog and koko64.  I checked and OEM tires were ZR rated, as you suggested. I guess I'll stay with what Ducati recommends for speed rating and dimensions.

Pirelli, Michelin, Dunlop and Conti all are good choices.  I'm told a local bike shop will meet all tire prices too. I'm all for keeping it local when possible.

Let us know what you choose, and how you like them.

I'll keep you posted but it may be a while yet. Still winter here in MN but the thaw is happening, thankfully.

We're into second mud season here in the northeast. [laugh]

More boring information on my tires:   After looking around, reading some reviews and thinking about what you guys pointed out, I decided on some Pirelli Diablo Rosso II's   My local bike shop was pretty close to matching the best internet price I could find, once the sales tax and tire mounting fee prices were figured in.  Given what we're all dealing with, I just wanted to throw them the business. They're a great shop that supports our 2-wheeled community.   The shop had to special order them.

What I think I found out is that the rear tire size ~ 170/60 17, is a slightly different size than what I could easily find when looking around?   Anyway, it was getting tough to just order the matched set from 3 or 4 websites.  I didn't go with a Z rated tire but figure I'm pretty good with a W rated 168MPH rated tire for my 130MPH [going downhill, wind-at-my back] bike?  I just don't get into triple digits very often or for very long. Maybe a nice ZARS weekend might change my mind about that?

It's snowing a little today and won't be nice enough for me to get out anytime soon.  I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing how different these tires will feel from what I'm currently riding on.  I'll still check back later once I have something more to tell you about this riveting story.  [roll]

Don't worry about speed ratings above V.  Higher can be used, put as you noted...  I would go with a 180/55 on that bike.

Not Rosso III's?

Yeah, it seems like they don't make them in my wheel size.

Interesting.  If the tire data plate is still on your bike, I'd like to see what it says.  I learned the hard way not to go off what's actually on the bike.  I looked at the Pirelli website... it's true, between the Rosso II and III's there are a bunch of different sizes between the two.  Odd.

It IS weird...... but as stated previously, 1 of my local Duc-Dude gurus who rides an S4 says he's got the Rosso II's on his bike and is very happy with them.  I guess I'll find out. They're sure to be way better than the current shoes. Still has been a little too cold to get out into the shed and pull the rims off for mounting but maybe this week....

A 180 will work fine on your bike.