Any help on tyres

Hi Guys,

Just looking for any tips on tyres. I’ve got the Bridgestone hoop tyre on the back and it’s in need of a change.

The cheapest ‘big brand’ I’ve found it the Avon viper.

Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers

You'll get a lot of different views on this one but here's my tuppence worth.

I've stuck with the hoops back and front and they've served me well in all riding conditions, solo and pillion, in the last three years. I'm sure the more experienced riders here can offer more detailed advice if you need it.

Based on well over 90,000 SilverWing miles with 2 new SilverWings----Michelin Power Pure SC, worked best for me as the wear ROUND.

Hoops never worked well for me.

New Bridgestone Hoops were a transforming improvement on the ride and handling of my Silverwing over the previous IRCs (?). They seem to be lasting ok, but I don't do the sort of mileages that John G does. I've confidently had the bike leaned over far enough to ground the stand (left) and fairing (right), and I'm a scaredy cat rider.

Perhaps the previous tyres were simply hardened with age - the bike was about 6 or 7 years old and 6,000 miles when I got it.

I'd happily have the Hoops again, but I don't have the experience to say something else wouldn't be better.

Almost any new tire will feel great compared to a used tire.
Front IRC gets noisy in turns but they wear well. Mich.Power Pure likes to follow road grooves and do strange things on some road surfaces. MY opinion.

I'm liking the newer Pirelli tires mounted now. Diablo Rosso rear dual compound . Center is a longer lasting compound and sides are softer. Tire lasts longer center is harder sides are softer for grip.

Never tried a Hoop but use Bridgestone tires on another bike and they are also good tires.

Ditto Seadog. john grinsell has a point regarding the Hoop tyre wear. It does seem to wear out along the middle while the edges always look rather unworn, despite my attempts to wear them out! But for the price they serve me well

Thanks for your input everyone.

The hoop on mine has done exactly that, just worn down the centre. I mean I’ve only had the bike 4 months so can’t comment on the tyre really as if need to see the lifespan and so on.

I’ve got for the Avon Viper. Mainly as I’ve got Avon’s on my car with no complaints and they were a decent price also.

Thanks again for the input

J

The Vipers are supposed to be OK, I love the City Grips on the back and make the ride very comfy and wear very evenly etc and do about 5K. ( Hoops about 8 I believe ).

I personally find the Diablo Rosso`s a bit hard, but not tried the Angel yet ?

Hope the Avon is good for you.

Still on the fence with the Dunlops, they grip well, but as I'm used to riding on Radials I don't yet trust them. And it will soon be winter too. And my foot is broken...

I'm finding my Michelin City Grip on the back are wearing very well after 2000+ miles. The tire has Ride On added instead of weights and ride very smooth at 70-80 mph.

Sad but Michelin City Grip is not available in proper front size for SilverWing. They work ok. I have one mounted on my Kymco XTown 2019 300I ABS rear---performance is fine, but when it and OEM front wear out, will replace with matched Pair Michelin Power Pure SC.....had good luck with them on SilverWings.….and they wear ROUND!

One thing to consider about the Diablo Rosso is that being dual compound they may not be ideal for riders who are aggressive in the corners.

My last tire choice was the Rosso, and while the rear wear was fine, the front had lots of edge wear. The profile had become almost triangular.

You could see the division between the two different rubber compounds and the handling became quite bizarre, even worse than Power Pure front on snakes and stripes.

Probably great for touring where your highway/twisty ratio is 80:20 or better.

Currently I'm on yet another set of City Grips, and after 4 sets of them, five sets of Power Pure and a couple sets of Shinkos...and over 80,000 SW miles in the last 4 years I still see no detrimental handling from the 70 aspect ratio front.

However, next time I'm giving the "regular" Diablos a go.

I have stuck with IRC's on my 2012. Not the best handling I suppose but they wear like iron. Also if $$$ is important, your Honda dealer can order them in as OEM tires and the prices are incredible. My last rear one, bought that way was less than $90.00 INSTALLED!

I agree with Glenn. My IRC original tires went to 15k. As a matter of fact I still have the original front tire at 16k and will possibly go another 2k. New replacement front tie waiting in storage.

I'm very interested in trying the new contiscoot tires. I have ridden the road attack they are based on and the cold weather grip was amazing. Think that will be my winterizing plan.

I'll second the Michelin Power Pure. The don't tend to follow tar snakes and are pretty good in rain. I got pretty good mileage out of them too.

https://www.bikebandit.com/tires-tubes/motorcycle-tires/michelin-power-pure-sc-scooter-tire/p/37222?m=150890

I should quote myself from early July.    Tried a Pirelli Diablo Rosso rear tire  and it's almost toast at 4K . Dual compound or not it's worn. Heavy is the throttle hand. Power Pure lasted longer.

Pa. tar and chip capital. Eats tires.

Did not like the Michelin Power Pure front tire. It did not handle tar snakes well. Groved concrete highways felt like the bike had a bad head shake at 55 mph. Problem went away after switching to IRCs. I still have the original front IRC with 16k miles. I replaced the rear about a month ago.

No tire handles tar snakes well.

john grinsel wrote:

No tire handles tar snakes well.

My OEM IRCs do just great on tar snakes, groved highways, and steel grates. The Michelin Power Pure rear tire was ok, but not the front. My 2¢.

Easyrider wrote:

john grinsel wrote:

No tire handles tar snakes well.

My OEM IRCs do just great on tar snakes, groved highways, and steel grates. The Michelin Power Pure rear tire was ok, but not the front. My 2¢.

I have to agree on the IRC's. I have driven on several multi-thousand mile trips with no problems with tar snakes, not to mention the abysmal pot holed freeways in Central California. they need to spend some dosh on roads instead of illegals/homeless in that state but I digress. I haven't used any of the Michelin or other tires so can't judge them but for the price and wear I will stay with the IRC's as long as I can get 'em.

I'll update the Dunlop Scoot Smart impression.

I cannot fault them. Except for a little bit of "white lining" when the road marking mob haven't burned the old marks off and just re laid the white lines on top, thus leaving a step, they are very planted. they tend to "white line" when they meet the above condition, any bike tyre will.

I've had it low enough on curves at speed to scrape the centre stand, and at that, well I won't be removing the "chicken strips" completely unless I raise the rear of the bike, or take the rubber buffer off the centre stand so it lifts a little higher into the body. But then I suspect it might chatter it's way through the drive belt casing...
Wear wise, well I've done getting on for 3,000 commuting miles now and there is still no squaring of the rear tyre.

So yes, I'll be fitting them again once I wear this pair out.

I've just bought another "Swing", one with ABS and it has a Metzeller rear and a Bridgestone front, I don't think mixing tyres on bikes is very clever so that will be getting a new pair of tyres on it once I get it home.

Dunlop Scoot Smart's will be my choice.

"No tire handles tar snakes well."

When I did my California Superbike School training days, it came to the point in the training where we were told to "trust the bike" when it came to that kind of thing, two gyroscopes are doing their best to keep the bike running on the line it's on, it needs force to move it off line to make it turn etc. so tar snakes or any other irregularity tend to be made worse if you try and "steer" the bike back to the track you want. It took a long while for me to believe that one, but pretty much if you fight it, the bike will handle it worse.

The feel and grip of the Pirelli Rosso and Diablo on the road have sold me. Living in a busy urban area mandates the best traction I can sense. The IIRC's never bit the road like these or brake as well. So what if they wear sooner, I'm in one piece, to heck with long wearing hard rubber tires.

I have had good performance out of Michelin Power Pure tires on two Silver Wings, they tracked well, not following tar snakes and such and provided good tread life. My current SW has Avon Viper Strykes a tire I'd not used before. They look pretty new and are probably the second set of tires on this bike since it's an '08 with 12K miles. So far they have performed well on sand, gravel and good pavement. I got a bit sideways on the day I bought the scooter, a little too enthusiastic, but it was easily recoverable with no damage other than a rather high pulse rate. The scooter has been garaged since new by the previous owner and now at my place so it's in pretty nice shape with no deterioration to the tires from the sun which is pretty hot in the summer, often over 104F.

I got a bit sideways on the day I bought the scooter, a little too enthusiastic, but it was easily recoverable with no damage other than a rather high pulse rate. Quote

That's a good rider with much seat time. It's almost automatic happens so fast and no time to think.
Unseen loose bits are the worst because the just blend in with road surface worse in sun-shade areas.

A good bit of dirt biking doesn't hurt learning how to handle a bike in a slide or skid. You are right about it being automatic. I haven't deliberately slid a bike in years but recovery seems to be built in, one does the right thing, keeps the rear wheel spinning to prevent a 'high side' dismount and countersteers.