Tired of tire questions?

[diamonddog-2]

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.      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?         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! 

[stopintime]

...............Current tires are about 14 years old that I bought used .................
 

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.

[S21FOLGORE]

+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.

[ducpainter]

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

[koko64]

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).

[Charlie98]

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.

[diamonddog-2]

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.

[koko64]

An M900s is a great bike. So a thousand miles a year of sporty riding in good conditions (and breaking the rear tyre free) . 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.

[Speeddog]

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.

[koko64]

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

[diamonddog-2]

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     and thanks

[Charlie98]

Did someone say Arrow slips?   

[diamonddog-2]

Right on!

[koko64]

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     and thanks

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

[Pinion]

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