ConradM

Chords are about to show on the rear -





Front still has plenty of life -





Did a lot of commuting early on in the tires life which probably cut it down a bunch. I'd say if you only ride twisties you could expect 5k out of the rear and maybe 8k out of the front. But these have been replaced by the S20 which should last longer and perform better. Just thought I'd share.

Gem STate ST

I told you that one set would not last the season.The composition of the road on the loop eats them up.

ConradM

Yeah, that day we were talking about it I didn't realize how close they were to the wear bar.

I'm slapping a sport touring tire on the rear next.

JamesD

Both tires, front and rear, are BT-016 and they have the same amount of miles on them?
And why is the center worn more than the edges.

theduckllr

Thats nothing: TKC 80 after 2500 miles. Something about a 100+hp, 500lb dirt bike, piloted by an asshat on rocky roads, being hard on tires. Who knew?!

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Attached Images

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ConradM

They're both 16 Pro's installed at the same time. There's the OEM 16, the non-oem 16 and the 16 Pro.

ConradM

Ouch, I thought knobbies were supposed to last longer.

scharf2u

I was using the roadsmarts on my XR. Worked great, handled well dry or wet and didn't wear out too fast.

Back Of The Pack

Oh Cmon you got at least another few weeks left on that rear.

cult67

It is going to feel like a new bike when you put the new tire on.

ConradM

I love that feeling. I've only had those tires since spring so I still remember it.

tc305

outlasted my tires by 2 sets im going much more sport tour next year and im going much more sport touring next year

ConradM

I'm going sport front/sport tour rear from now on. I cant speak for other brands but on Battlax's that combo should be good for 7 or 8k.

Gem STate ST

Conrad,I have run a variety of tires in the last 75k miles.None have gone more than 5k on the rear on our roads.Most of our riding is done at a quick pace on high mountain roads with no guardrails and a long ways down.I traded off the longevity for the grip because of where we ride.

ConradM

For some reason I'm thinking the bt 023 will offer as much grip as I need in the rear. Rear grip is important on exit and my bike has no torque so it should be ok.

It "should" last twice as long too. If not that would be messed up.

edit: and keep in mind, I still have the BT016 Pro on the front. When that wears out I'll replace it with the S20 or whatever Hypersport Battlax is current.

2wheelsdown

I never mix my tires. I always run the same on front and rear. When ever I need new tires a change out both. My life depends on them.

ConradM

I didn't see any point in replacing a good tire.

CRAZYACE595

The Pirelli Diablo's i have on my 600 are more of a touring tire and i hate them. they are just at 4000 miles and will probaly go to 5k but i will never put them on there again. No since in having tires that last long if they make the bike no fun to ride. Really looking forward to getting some new tires on it...Im thinking about trying michelin pilot power 2ct's. I have heard nothing but good about them.

ConradM

What don't you like about them?

theduckllr

I'm confused too. I've run road tires on the track and had more fun because they slide. It made the drive out the exits that much more exciting. Running slicks on the track takes getting used to after running road bias tires anyway. Other than extremely worn and squared off tires, I can't remember an instance when a tire choice affected the ride quality so much that it took away from the the enjoyment enough to comment on. But then again, I'm slow.

Coyotte78

There are many factors when it comes to tire wear. Weight of the bike, rider, cargo, is thier a passenger on the bike alot of the time, is proper air pressure being maintained, and suppension settings. Most sport touring tires on a 600 can get upwards of 7 to 8k miles and ussally provide plenty of grip. Tires are matter of personal taste I realy don't need a full sport tire on my bike but I do run one, just what I like. I don't like the construction on Michelins side walls are too soft. Right now I run Pirelli Diablo Rosso 2's. Love them so far. I also know a guy with the standard Diablos never had a problem with them and got 7k out of rear tire. Ofcourse I have never ridden with him so dont know his riding style. Commuting chews up rears preaty fast as well. But not as fast as wheelies and burn outs.

Pimpit

Honestly, I run the pilot power right now, because of the deal I get on them, But really liked the pilot road 2ct. It was my first set of tires on this bike, and even being stretched 8 inches in the rear, I never really had a problem with traction, and I rode the piss out of them. Even with quite a few burnouts I still got over 4k out of them. On the Pilot powers I see around 3k with no burnouts and mostly riding solo. This set is looking to be about 2500 due to mostly hard riding, and with a passenger for the majority of it.

On top of just tread wear, think about heat cycles. Our tires are good for X amount of heat cycles. That's why you see so many track take offs. Why would they waste a half used perfectly good (tread wise) tire if they didn't need to? Because of the heat cycles. If your front tire has been heated twice as many times as your rear, than it probably isn't as sticky anymore.

Mikey

FWIW, I have run Pilots for a while now and really like them. When I looked into the 2ct's I realized that the "2nd" compound in the 2ct's is only 1/4" on the outer most edge of the tire. I know I never really get down that low on the street so I chose to save the extra $25-$30 bucks and stick with just the Pilot Powers. I also got about 6K miles out of my last set of Pilots and there was still a little life left in them, so I passed them off to someone who needed tires and bought a new set in the spring for this year. But that's just my

Oh and FYI, Sportbiketrackgear.com has the Pilots in 120/70 180/55 sets for $203 bucks shipped to your door. And 120/70 190/55's for $233 bucks shipped to your door

ckholloway

This year is my first time running the Michellin, I also am running pilot powers. Looked at the 2ct and have a friend that runs them. For me I just didn't see the benefit. I also change both tires at the same time. If my front is still in fair shape it still gets changed. I just don't like running multiple treads. I won't do it on a car or pickup and I certainly am not going to do it on my bike.

theduckllr

This confuses me even more than the "not fun" comment. What exactly does a too soft sidewall feel like? An even more relevant question is how would you know what that felt like if you've never used the side of your tire? (doing so involves going around corners, something your bike has seen precious few of.). I'm not looking to bash you here, but when it comes to riding fast, I pretty certain that I have a bit more experience in that dept, and I couldn't possibly tell you what a too soft sidewall feels like. At the ragged edge, all tires slide, the question is how predicably does it happen? After a day on a track we can learn where that point is, where after 2 years on the street, we still wouldn't know. Is this an opinion you formulated after something you read? If so, don't believe everything you read. Ive run quite a few different combinations of tires over the years out on the track with noticable results, but on the street, its a different story. At legal or near legal speeds, grip is all pretty similar, with the most variance coming down to wet grip, tire life, and "feel", which has much more to do with profile crossection than sidewall stiffness. I get the biggest kick out of armchair tire discussions, when the reality is most people don't have enough opportunity to use any of these performance tires in the heat range or manner they were designed for. Might as well flush your money down the drain if you are spending it on high performance shoes, only to ride an average 60 mph around the Lowman loop (and that's the FAST ride of your week)

ConradM

Dennis actually checked my old tires with a durometer yesterday. They're good.

Do you really think a manufacturer would make a tire that wouldn't last the life of it's own tread under normal conditions on the street?

ConradM

Do you actually have a reason for that?

Misbehavin

Same for us as well.. my life depends on those 2 wheels under me.. so I must say that some of my friends love my old tires since they still have life left in them. I am running Pilot powers 2ct right now and have about 6,000 on them and still a ton of life left..

ckholloway

I did car and light truck tires for a living many moons ago. That being said different tires are made from different compounds which means (on a bike) the front may have more or less grip then the rear or vise-versa. Same with tread design, different designs offer different feels.
In my personal opinion running two different tires is like making the front of the bike fight the back of the bike. Each tire wanting to do it's own things in which it was designed for.

In short, I never have, I don't now, and I never will. Thats why!!! LoL

theduckllr

As a rule, its best not to mix square tires with round ones........

SevnCell

I have always ran with the Dunlop sportmax qualifiers or the Bridgestone bt-003's. I like the Bridgestones but perfer the Dunlops. I would much rather pay a little bit more for more grip then have to pay for paint or new plastics. If you are going to continue to ride aggressivley then stick with super sport tires. If your going to take longer road trips then get sport touring tires.

Coyotte78

Duckiller its true I never ridden on Michlens but looking at them in the store and reading fab sheets on them I just perfer a stiffer side wall on my tires. If had kept my F2 I was going to put Pirelli Angels on it for a little more tire life. My bike goes around corners just not as fast as you could take it. Bridgestones are the opposite very stiff side walls but stiffer then I would like. Like I stated before tires very much personal prefrence. its like are you chevy or ford truck person both good trucks but you perfer one over the other. I have ridden bridgestone pirelli and metzeler out of those I like pirellis the best.

ConradM

I agree to an extent. But only in the sense that it would be bad to have more rear than front grip.

ConradM

I agree.

ConradM

For the sake of argument, do you have anything to back that statement?

Me personally, I've ridden as hard as I dare on various roads and I can say without a doubt I didn't push the limits of my tires.

Coyotte78

Most people that ride sportbikes on the road dont need a sport compound as duckkiller stated earlier I just perfer it. I'm sure with my riding ability even a sport touring tire would even handle a track day for me as well. I'm sure you could ask everyone on this board for their opinon on tires and never get a consesus.

Ryan@IdahoSportBikes

Someone had to say it.

ConradM

I guess really depends on the bike and how you ride. I'll continue to run sport tires out front for that peace of mind. But I know after running through a hypersport rear tire that it was more than I needed for the street.

theduckllr

Looking at them in the store?! What can you tell about the performance of a tire by looking at it on a rack? Fab sheets? Its like reading magazing tests where the lap times of the bikes are 0.05 seconds apart, when ridden by Ben Bostrom. This is my point exactly. Its completely useless information to Joe average on a Map Rock ride. Even when I'm out of the loop burning it up, my average speed indicator always reads 40~60 mph. Not much chance (0% actually) of a tire choice making a quantifiable difference at those temps. I think life is a bit easier and a hell of a lot cheaper when we quit looking at performance tests and tread designs, and start being a bit more pragmatic and realistic about our own riding realities when purchasing new rubber. My 2 cents.

theduckllr

So I should continue my search for a spiffy new 50cc scooter then?