revtothelimit - motorbike forum

The Bridgestone S21s on my XSR are shot, it's squared off and awful over surfaces on the road now. It's got 1700 miles on it with 2 trackdays in there, but that seems quite a low number to me.

What you getting?

Don't ask me.

I did a full race season and came 5th in the Demso Due championship... on the same pair of tyres when some competitors changed them every meeting.

10k miles of I let the tread wear right down to the min markers.

I usually get a bit miffed with them by about 8k and change them at 9k. Give our take.

Feck knows, I've bought more bikes than tyres in the last two years.

I should mention I also got two 3rds in the last race of the season

IMHO tyres, especially road based ones don't lose grip. They lose shape and feel shit. I'd still run them down past the wear markers, because I'm from Yorkshire.

The original Dunlops on my Z aren't a great tyre. OKish on a dry warm day,damp and cold they take watching. Just over 3k on them now and they've kept their profile pretty well,but both front and rear are down near the markers,so I reckon they'll need binned around 4k. I won't be missing them.

4k seems to be the magic number for me with most tyres. I replace tyres as a set each time,I like that new rubber feel!

Years ago,I used to be a big Bridgestone fan until they brought out the 014...man that was a crap tyre. Unpredictable grip and wore out in around 1500 miles.

I ran Michelin 2CT for a good number of years on my ZX10R,just over 4k for them too. They are an old tyre now,but I like them.

I usually get around 10k miles from PR4s or similar. No track days though!

Pirelli Angel GT2 (sport touring tyre) get me about 5 - 6000 miles off a rear and 8-9000 from a front on the Multistrada. I have done a trackday on them as well but that only tears up the last cm towards the edge as the normal use runs the rest of the tyre.

I did try Bridgestone T30 and they lasted 3500 miles and were shot despite being a touring tyre and an emergency fit Conti Road Attack to replace the rear T30 lasted 5000 miles. Go figure

I did use Pirelli SC1 part worn race tyres on my Zx636 and the best/worst i did on them was a weekend in Wales then the rear was bolloxed and needed another one after 2 days riding about 800 miles

On a point of interest,do any of you play about with tyre pressures for the road? Aside from lowering a bit for track use,I've always run 36/40.

Skub wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:48 am On a point of interest,do any of you play about with tyre pressures for the road? Aside from lowering a bit for track use,I've always run 36/40.

Yeah a little. I'm closer to 34/36 these days now, whereas i'd have usually stuck low 30s. I've never quite gone for the full 40 etc.

Haven'r run a bike for fun only for years, so on a gentle commute my tyres last ages and often get replaced due to flattening the middle out, even though they're probably still more than legal.

Often stick to 36/42 on bikes as I dislike heavy steering with slow turn in and the higher pressures help with that. I know everyone else loves them, but I don't like Michelin Pilots because of their "U" shaped profile and the slow turn in it gives them.

I pushed the last set of PR4s to 6k and you saw when you rode mine they were knackered by then. I reckon I could get 5 out of them happily, but you probably less.

No idea on the PR5. I hope 5k.

1700 miles out of the S21 is a bit poop. Do Yamaha fit proper S21's or Yamaha spec versions? I know lots of bike manufacturers spec OE tyres that you can't buy. Kawasaki are kings at that. You can buy the same model tyre from Dunlop but it won't be anything like the one Kawasaki fit in terms of grip and mileage.

weeksy wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:50 am

Skub wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:48 am On a point of interest,do any of you play about with tyre pressures for the road? Aside from lowering a bit for track use,I've always run 36/40.

Yeah a little. I'm closer to 34/36 these days now, whereas i'd have usually stuck low 30s. I've never quite gone for the full 40 etc.

What are the recommended pressures for the XSR? Recommended pressures for the MT09 are 36/42 which I thought were too hard. Dropped them to 33/36 and hated it, bike didn't want to steer (Metzeler Roadtec 01).

I started out with the book figure for the 690 29/29 but found the front felt flat esp when it wasn't warm out. Since I've steadily upped them. I think I run 34/36 now.

Much longer than about 1/2 hr and the cheaper ones tend to split, upsets the girls no end

ogri wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:15 pm Much longer than about 1/2 hr and the cheaper ones tend to split, upsets the girls no end

Someone had to...

The last couple of pairs of tyres I've bought have been because it was a new to me bike that needed them. The ones I bought for the R1z were removed and refitted to the TDR, the BMW got sold with them on.

I generally get 6-7k from PR4s on a Tracer 9, and I only RLAC 20% of the time.

About 8k from Conti Motions. They generally do a mix of gentle twisty road miles behind trainees, not very many motorway miles, the occasional 'spirited' ride with a buddy of mine and a few 20 min sessions on the Brands Indie circuit (though I may not be doing any more of that if my services are no longer required by KFRS on the Ride Skills days). With that rather odd mix they wear fairly evenly and grip / handling stays good right the way to the tread limit.

Taipan wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:43 am Haven'r run a bike for fun only for years, so on a gentle commute my tyres last ages and often get replaced due to flattening the middle out, even though they're probably still more than legal.

I used to have a 600 mile per week commute, and was always looking for a tyre that would last rather than grip. Best I ever used were Michelin Macadams, 10,000 to 12,000 on the rear of the GSX-R750 I ran for 8 years.

Squared off to the profile of an Avon Speedmaster by the end, and with huge chicken strips. But that's the trade off of having a 95% motorway daily ride.