Best Tyres for the Silverwing Currently

Hi I just wondered what tyres people are using now.

I always used the old city grip, smooth ride, bumps absorbed well, great in the dry right over, But a little, to very iffy in the wet depending on the road surface 4-5K

Power pure slightly stiffer ride, great grip but follow the road lines badly. 3.5-4K

Battlax 02 good allround, not quite as comfy as the Old City Grip, but last longer. 7K-8K

I`ve not tried the Angel or Rosso yet.

Or the City Grip 2`s yet either.

There are a few others about as well like Avon Anlas, Conti or Deli ?

Anyone tried the Sport Performance Bridgestone SC1  ?

I’ve only had my silver wing for one year and in that time, I’ve been on the Bridgestone Hoop tires. I think the next set a plan on getting or the Metzeler Roadtec scooter tires because they sell them in the size is appropriate for the Silverwing. Apparently, the rear tire is a composite of radial and bias ply. And in addition, they are relatively inexpensive. In your post above, you indicate 3.5 – 4K. Are you stating that that is all the miles you got out of the tire? I was reading that some people get 12,000 miles out of a Hoop tire, but I would have to assume at that mileage, it is probably quite squared off, and probably more worn (like down to the cords), and I normally change them well before they get that worn.

I've had Bridgestone Hoops as OE and replacement tyres on half a dozen maxi scooters going back to the Nineties. I usually averaged 9500 miles out of a rear tyre replacing it before it reached the minimum legal tread depth of 1.6 mm. The only maxi I had a rear Bridgestone Hoop squaring off on was the Burgman 650, thr obese lump I rode before buying a Silver Wing

For years I was happy enough with Bridgestone Hoops until the time I found a delamination blister on the Silver Wing's rear tyre. What caused it I've no idea but it was enough reason to bin both tyres and replace them with Continental ContiMove 365 all season tyres. A really good grippy tyre but due to the rubber compound not as long lasting

I’d say you'd have to be a complete bell end to even attempt to ride with any tyre bald of down to the cords. Apart from it being dangerous and illegal, it would fail our annual MOT Inspection and in the event of a crash, ( it's hardly an accident if you’re knowingly riding on badly worn or bald tyres )invalidate your insurance, and get a hefty fine and ban.

with 100,000 miles of SilverWing experience----Heidenau felt pretty good to me. Bridegstone= no thank you.

Being a scooter rider I'm on traffic light chats with all the delivery riders in my area.
I'm going to call them Pro riders, what ever the weather, they deliver.

So what tyres do they use.
Out of 12 I have asked 10 now use Michelin City Grip 2s, and 2 are saving up for them.
Apparently they listened to my advise some time ago.

Michelin City Grips 2  as a matched pair are in a class of their own if you read the tests and comparison tables.

Hope this Helps.

Be safe, be seen!

The Mich Shi*ty Grips errrrr grip but they dont last long on a heavy old SWING , much prefer the Metzeler or Pirelli alternative.

I have done 30 K miles in the last 2 to 3 years and the mich, front and rear did not last long, the rear might have been toast at 5000 miles but I would have to check my captains log.

I like Shinko tires on my bikes. They are a bit softer and stickier but very smooth. They don't last as long as the Michelin's but I like the way they ride. I have them on the Swing and my Smax currently.

^^ What’s the model of the Shinko’s? Is the rubber a little softer to make it easier to install- the BStone Hoop was especially hard to install in the back.

Silverwingdays wrote:

Hi I just wondered what tyres people are using now.

I always used the old city grip, smooth ride, bumps absorbed well, great in the dry right over, But a little, to very iffy in the wet depending on the road surface 4-5K

Power pure slightly stiffer ride, great grip but follow the road lines badly. 3.5-4K

Battlax 02 good allround, not quite as comfy as the Old City Grip, but last longer. 7K-8K

I`ve not tried the Angel or Rosso yet.

Or the City Grip 2`s yet either.

There are a few others about as well like Avon Anlas, Conti or Deli ?

Anyone tried the Sport Performance Bridgestone SC1  ?

I have Shinko on the bike now and they’re dated 2020 and still have thread left but I have City grp2’sitting in my kitchen which I’ll put on after the summers over,I had to get the rear CityGrip from Spain because I couldn’t locate one in the states,I bought the set from them

Michelin City Grips 2 + 1 from me. Great grip in dry or wet.
I got 7600 miles from Michelin City Grips 1 tyres. I then got nearly 10,000 out of the next City Grip 1's out of the rear, and 13,000 out of the front.
At around 43,000, I replaced both for City Grip 2's. What an improvement.
Mileage now at 46,000, so over 3000 on them, and both are looking fine. No flat spots or cupping on front. Some might think 7 - 10k is poor tyre mileage. But I have more powerful bikes, so 7500 miles from a rear is great tyre mileage. I value grip over mileage. But I don't cover a lot of miles in a year. Maybe 3000. And mostly slower speed commuting journeys. So 2-3 years out of a tyre is fine by me.
I wouldn't use any other tyre now.

I installed a set of Shinko tires in early 2020.  Got about 9,000 miles out of the rear and am still using the front tire with 25,000 miles and it still has 4 1/2 mm and probably would go 35,000.  I have been running IRC tires on rear and get around 14,000 miles.  I am ready to replace and think I want both to be IRC.  Can anyone tell me how long a front IRC will last roughly?

I finally found what I was hunting. Soooo.......never mind.

Tires are almost as subjective as oil LOL. Lots of good tires out there, buy what YOU want and can afford! My SWing has only had IRC's on it since new. Great price and they wear great. YMMV

sprockets wrote:

Michelin City Grips 2 + 1 from me. Great grip in dry or wet.
I got 7600 miles from Michelin City Grips 1 tyres. I then got nearly 10,000 out of the next City Grip 1's out of the rear, and 13,000 out of the front.
At around 43,000, I replaced both for City Grip 2's. What an improvement.
Mileage now at 46,000, so over 3000 on them, and both are looking fine. No flat spots or cupping on front. Some might think 7 - 10k is poor tyre mileage. But I have more powerful bikes, so 7500 miles from a rear is great tyre mileage. I value grip over mileage. But I don't cover a lot of miles in a year. Maybe 3000. And mostly slower speed commuting journeys. So 2-3 years out of a tyre is fine by me.
I wouldn't use any other tyre now.

I agree that grip over longevity is more important to me. I'm running City Grips and have no complaints regarding grip and ride comfort.

GHM-PM wrote:

Tires are almost as subjective as oil LOL.

Tyre choice is barely scratching the subjectivity surface. You could also include oil filters, air filters, spark plugs, style of helmet v no helmet, ATGATT v T shirt and shorts, suspension mods v standard trim.

Wearing earplugs or getting tinnitus, top cases ruin handling v the larger the better. Cruise controls, wrist rests, for and against those useless foam grips.

Riding in groups v riding alone. Heated gear or heated grips, custom seats or seamless riding shorts. Dark visors, extra lights etc, etc, etc.

Meldrew, your posts often denigrate foam grips and I wish you would explain your reasoning. Some of us use them to increase the size of the girly sized standard grips because they are much more comfortable with arthritis problems and large hands. They might even absorb a tiny bit of the vibrations and jolts in the handlebars but that is doubtful. Anything that you do with your bike is ok with me. May we have the same privilege?

Talking about Tyres or any parts or fittings, add ons etc etc on our Silverwing`s and how we find them etc is really very useful.

All things discused, and talked about, help us all.

I for instance used to use Motul 10W40 in my Silverwing.

But find Castrol Power 1 10w40 much better running wise and even  helps the bike keep cooler , especially in hot weather.

These things are interesting to people who are currently Riding a Silverwing.

Maybe they are not, to those who are not riding or running one.

1Wingman1 wrote:

Meldrew, your posts often denigrate foam grips and I wish you would explain your reasoning.  Some of us use them to increase the size of the girly sized standard grips because they are much more comfortable with arthritis problems and large hands.  They might even absorb a tiny bit of the vibrations and jolts in the handlebars but that is doubtful.  Anything that you do with your bike is ok with me.  May we have the same privilege?

I have explained my dislike for foam grips on here a number of times.

They're basically two pieces of contoured insulated foam pipe lagging, and when fitted over the Honda heated grips effectively prevented heat getting through to the palms of my hands when using them in winter. Even on the highest heat setting warmth to my hands was greatly reduced.

The other irritating fault was bruising and discolouration in the web between the forefinger and thumb on both hands when I was using foam grips. So fitting them was a complete and utter waste of time and money.

Once the offending foam grips were removed and binned, heat was miraculously restored to my palms when using the heated grips. The bruising also disappeared and hasn’t reoccurred since.

Meldrew, times were rare when I turned on heated grips when I had them due to our usually mild weather where I live so I never thought about that being a very good reason to forego foam covers. I have been fortunate to find very comfortable covers at JP Cycle. I wouldn't want any pipe insulation either. Now I see that you are well justified in your dislike for the foam grip covers. Thanks for the enlightenment.

Its not about non topic related issues.

Its about jumping in on a useful topic or thread thats running, with a non related issue, and/or non useful comment on the thead to stem its flow or stop it.

A bit of attitudes handy, to make people unsure whether to post or not, even if they have a useful bit of info to share.

Its a quite clever bit of power, or control type play, that stays just one side of things .

You get it a lot in forums and does`nt do much for them, as it usually just invests negativity and reduces use.

Makes people feel less confident to add good comments, or even keep going on to a forum much even, hands up it does me.

Shame, and just my thoughts, I may be wrong.

But it can be very effective in its want.

OK. Now the air has cleared, please let's keep this topic on thread for future reading.

It's all about tyres, or tires.... you know?... those rubber things wot go around your wheels!

I'm sure I'm not the only one aware of this but there are currently 103 separate topics on this forum on Tires, (the American English spelling) going back years. There's also a few with the British spelling of Tyres.

They're under a variety of headings, Safety, Maintenance, Darkside, etc. They cover all the tyre brands from OE to replacements, winter tyres, squaring off, punctures and puncture prevention, tyre pressures, wheel balancing and weights, rear wheel removal to replace tyres etc.

Then there's posts about what mileage various members get from specific tyres, TPMS and valve caps, tread depth before replacement, fitting tyres at home v going to a garage or dealership, etc.

So going on about non topic related issues in what is tire number 104 and keeping it on thread seems pretty irrelevant.

Everything you need to know or want to know about tyres for the Silver Wing and other scooters has already has been extensively covered.

The search bar ought to be the first point of reference before entering a new thread. This keeps people from having troll through non thread related items to find the information they want.

Keeping topics on thread is very relevant.

I don't expect a response to this comment. Let's stick with tyres/tires here.

A big Thumbs up to Silverwingdays.

Seems you hit the nail on the head.
Maybe Admin will take note this time!

here's hoping.

City Grip 2s all day and night long.

Be safe, be seen!

Loosemarbles wrote:

The search bar ought to be the first point of reference before entering a new thread. This keeps people from having troll through non thread related items to find the information they want.

Keeping topics on thread is very relevant.

I don't expect a response to this comment. Let's stick with tyres/tires here.

I passed along the date that’s stamped on the tire on Reddit,the gentleman had a blowout at 55mph and he was able to ride it out safely and I asked him to check the date on the tire and after he looked he was shocked to find out they were a 15 year old set of tires ,even a few others readers checked theirs to find out they’re outdated,,

Looks like I`ve missed some chat here.

Apologies if I upset anyone reading between the lines.

I meant to pop back earlier but my internet is very on and off today.

So on a more thready note.

The quite affordable Deli Tyre you can get for the Silverwing looks like the old City Grip.

I wonder if they just copied them, or bought the old moulds maybe ?

Though I imagine the rubber is not as up to the job as Michelin, who knows though ?

£60 ish on ebay delivered for the Deli`s but a bit cheaper on say Demon Tweeks if you buy 2 at once

Not sure if they are in the USA, we don`t seem to get the Shinko`s in the UK.

Hope its OK to link to DT

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/search/shop-by/q/150/diameter/13_inch/

I hope to pop in there soon, in person.

Ebay used to be very good for tyres, but many scooter ones at least seem to be up by around 40-50% more on there in the last 2 or 3 years.

City Grips were under £50 delivered if you nosed about. Now £73 delivered being about the cheapest on ebay.

£70 plus post even on the linked site.

Though they are the CG 2`s now.

I know there are many threads on Tyres, so please excuse me opening another, but they are something that keeps updating on and off and changing a bit sometimes.

There are 2 or 3 new ones in The Silverwing size recently. Two on the Tweeks listings.

And currently rushing up price wise too. Sadly.

PS Crikey 15 years old tyres !

I was offered a old early silverwing with only a few Thousand miles on not so long ago.

I did`nt think about the tyres, could of been original ! old chap, and probably were.

It was a good buy but 35-40 MPGs possibly put me off.