Its coming to that time where Im needing some new tyres for the bike.
I notice alot of people ask about different types of tyre theyre thinking of fitting, so how about we all write a mini review on the type of tyres we have fitted, then others can see what you think of the tyres they are potentially going to buy!
I was gonna get some Diablo Corsa 3’s or Michelin PP 2CT’s, but just read some reviews about just normal Pilot Power, and they seem very good, certainly enough for my riding. Anyone got a set fitted or comments?
I currently have D207’s fitted, they came with the bike. They arent quite as good as the Diablo’s I rode on before, they dont give as much confidence and feedback, but in fairness, they havent been drastically horrible
Im currently running Bridgestone BT 021’s on my Bandit 650 and have to say they do seem worth the extra coin over the original BT020’s… More grip on the edges (Though that could be more confidence with exerience!) and a harder compound down the centre - They dont seem to have ‘stepped’ as badly as the 020’s did with London riding, but then ive only put 5k on them so far and the 020’s lasted me almost 9K so it a bit too early to tell…
I had Bridgestone BT015’s (same as 014 apparently) on my ZX6 and they were fine on a track day when they got hot but on the road they felt hard and very sensitive to the surface, not inspiring confidence. in the wet the felt positively dangerous, every little bit of overbanding made them squirm and slide, not very pleasant. Difficult to get much heat into them. Rear tyre did about 6000 miles but was very square when it came off.
Swapped to Michelin Pilot Road 2CT’s and they transformed the bike, the dry handling was brilliant, loads of feel but not overly hard like the Bridgestones and in the wet they were simply awesome, even hard braking felt secure and they never slid once. They warm up very quickly. The profile is less pointy than some others so they feel quite stable. Rear tyre did about 9000 miles and the front will probably do about 14000.
Just replaced the rear with a Power version of the 2CT and there is a slight difference, the rubber is softer to touch and gets warmer on a run, feels marginally more planted in a corner but very similar to the Road version. Not ridden it in the wet yet but expect it to feel pretty much the same as the Road version.
Michelin Power 2CT’s for me on the 6 and on my track bike from now on
Metzeler MEZ3 - came with the bike, utterly awful and possibly dangerous.
Pirelli Diablos - Excellent grip wet or dry, don’t last long (2.5k) nice light handling
Coninental ContiForce - fitted these to see me through the winter - grip not brilliant, very heavy steering, only lasted 3.5k.Cheap, though, at £117 for the set
Bridgestone BT021 - dry grip very good, wet grip not as good as the diablos.Very hard ride - the sidewalls feel like they are made from concrete (theye were a bastard to fit and I had to stick 85psi in to pop the beads on the rear).Look like they will last forever.I changed them for some stickier tyres for our scotland trip, but they are going back on tonight for the MOT.
Avoin Viper Sport - Superb tyres - never had a single moment on these (and we’re talking severe abuse around the twisty roads across Rannock moor and Glencoe).Very, very grippy in the dry and pretty good in the wet.Didn’t square off too badly on the 550 mile run to Scotland.Lasted about 3.5k, and only cost 133 quid for the set.My favourite all weather road tyres so far (they offer similar grip to the supercorsa road tyre in the dry…)
had such drama getting new tyres for my 10 and heard so many tales that i just stayed with the bridgestone battlax bt015s that are made specially for the ninja…
sticky in all the right places but i guess if i wanted a hardwearing tyre then i’ve bought the wrong bike