Observation--tires again

My 2013, leftover, now on road over 2 years. 36,000 miles. I believe in following Honda directions on tires....but, here are my experiences-----first set=ok, changed rear at 8,000 miles to Michelin. Fronts will go 15,000 miles or more...

Then used, original front IRC, Michelin Power Pure---fine combo for me, then big nail in rear, about 5,000 miles on tire replaced with another Michelin Power Pure. The Michelin wears round through out its life (great)-life 10,000 miles for me based on past experience on SilverWing and Burgman 400.

At about 30,000 miles, ended up with Michelin Power PureSC F & R=ok. Then put new set of IRC F & R----bike fine with fresh tires, then last week, some country riding, noticed a little goofy feeling on wide sweeping turns...probably not a killer, fixed by slowing down. Cause: square wearing rear tire and top box(like placing rock on rear of arrow) Fix for now: slow down, watch rear it has about 2,000 miles of life left. Have new Michelin R Power Pure SC to pick up next week. Last miles to ride this scooter out to 50,000 miles will be Michelin rear IRC front and Michelin rear












( may have to buy more)

My conclusion: round wearing Michelin on rear works best (long life and retains good "feeling" thru out its life.

If you ride lot---tires are pain in butt, underway dealers don't stock them. Can cause expensive waits. Almost impossible to carry spare fresh rear tire on SilwerWing....I tried it on Burgman 400, too.

I thought I would try these Power pure tyres. Put one on the front first, awful tyre felt like I was stuck in tram lines. Worked out that if I dropped tyre pressure from 29 to 26 it felt a lot better. Changed rear tyre to Power pure after 2000mls running on front, again dropping tyre pressure from 33 to 30 made a big difference. Now done another 500 mls and tyres seem to have bedded in, they just did not "feel" right or safe at first. Anyone else considering these tyres take note.

My experience with Michelin Power Pure SC on front-----didn't like "feel" finally took it of, threw away, replaced the IRC.

Power Pure on rear=fine with me. Max load is at 33psi, little less at light load probably better. I hate rock hard tires on scooters!

Old Limey wrote:

I thought I would try these Power pure tyres. Put one on the front first, awful tyre felt like I was stuck in tram lines. Worked out that if I dropped tyre pressure from 29 to 26 it felt a lot better. Changed rear tyre to Power pure after 2000mls running on front, again dropping tyre pressure from 33 to 30 made a big difference. Now done another 500 mls and tyres seem to have bedded in, they just did not "feel" right or safe at first. Anyone else considering these tyres take note.

Old Limey,
On my first Swing (2002 non abs), I replaced the front and rear tires with the Power Pure SC and did not like how the front tracked. The front felt like it was always on a metal raked bridge. Kept moving all over the place. I didn't have confidence in it. I ended up selling the bike when I got my new 2013 Swing. I actually like the OEM IRC tires front and back. I may do as John suggests and replace the rear tire with the Power Pure SC when ready. Currently I have about 9k miles and should be ready for new rubber at the end of this year.

I experimented with tyres, after the Hoops. I tried the Diablos, Metzellers and got better mileage from Hoops( 8000 mls on rear and 11000mls on front). I was ready to change tyres recently and these Power Pure caught my eye, I'll see how much mileage I get out of them, but they do feel okay now. I cannot get IRC tyres, or,my tyre place cannot.) This my second Silverwing 600 bought new in July 2014, and now at 24,600mls.

I have the Power Pure tires on my 2005' Silverwing, and have the Pirelli Diablos on my 2006' abs Silverwing.

I Like the Pirelli Diablos better.

I was getting some shaking in the front end headset, with the Power pure tires at and above 80mph making me think I had loose headset bearings But torqued the headset stem, and did not tighten any further, tire was balanced when replaced.

I ran Power Pures on my '03 Burgman 400 for 40k miles or more (2 fronts, 3 rears) and really liked them--have a PP on the rear of my '06 SW now, will be replacing the front with a PP in May or June.

I'll post after that and give my 2¢ worth...

hondos wrote:

I have the Power Pure tires on my 2005' Silverwing, and have the Pirelli Diablos on my 2006' abs Silverwing.

I Like the Pirelli Diablos better.

I was getting some shaking in the front end headset, with the Power pure tired at and above 80mph making me think I had loose headset bearings But torqued the headset stem, and did not tighten any further, tire was balanced when replaced.

What kind of mileage was on the Power Pure tire when you noticed the shaking? Did you see an evidence of cupping or sculpting on that front tire? Did retorquing the headset change anything?

Diablos are "better" in tha they are stickier, but the down side of that stickyness is the the tire life suffers.

Tim

The Power pure tires on my 05' silverwing have about 1000 miles on them now.
As far as Front end shaking goes, I have checked all front end hardware by torquing all front end hardware including wheel hardware, forks. I am going to replace headset bearings, to All Ballz Tapered Bearings, I did this to a goldwing or two and corrected the same problem, as honda headset bearings are ok Not the greatest, and rarely are lubed very well from the factory, as far as what i have seen in the many bikes i have owned. I will also be replacing fork oil with honda synthetic fork oil at same time I replace the headset bearings.

No cupping, or odd wearing at all, But!! the old tires I took off the bike the rear tire was cupped and irregular wear. My Burgman 650 had the same cupping on the rear tire, until I replaced the rear tire with a Car Tire. Never had any tire problems again. My Burg 650 never had the front suspension/headset shake. I just got back from a ride on 2006' Silverwing took it to lets say 90+ no shaking at all very smooth. so time for me to work on my 2005' silverwing.

I Not saying its the tires as i have a problem with head shake, that needs to be sorted out before a tire comparison for handling/Grip can be established in my mind.

I'll start a new thread for that topic.

I've ran 3 sets of the Power Pure and had pretty good results.

Rear= 5000-7000 mi *Depending on how far down you like to take your tread, at 7k I could almost see air!

Front= 10,000-15,000 (see above note)
I had one front that I changed at 5k due to cupping and shaking, the others had no issues.

As far as traction and cornering they were great, I didn't try to ride it like a crotch rocket, but I'm fairly aggressive.

Currently, I'm running matched Shinkos because my wallet was even thinner then my tires!

I got them for about $110 out the door with a price match at the local Honda dealer, almost 1/2 of PP.

So far, they are good enough where I don't feel like I want to change them, but they're NOT as good as Power Pure for any kind of aggressive riding or on wet roads. They are not the forgiving type!

NOT taking them to the mountains.....

I've put 4000 mi since January, and the tread wear is not visually noticeable yet.

1) The mold release took a long time to wear off and for the tires to break-in, much longer then PP.
2) The feel was squirmy at first, much better after break-in.
3) I've had several times that accelerating around corners that the rear "loosened up" but recovery was quick. Also, on a couple of occasions the rear spun a little on acceleration when wet.
4) Not good on painted lines as compared to PP
5) Dry braking and clean and dry handling was good, just watch the corner acceleration.

I'll update in a few thousand miles....

I'm about to mount a set of Pilot Powers soon. Hope they are better than OEM IRC.
Front is so noisy in turns, rear chopped on edges. Tires gripped very well, felt great at most times.
Last fall when on 4 day trip. Ride 4-5 hours a day park SW. 75-80 Deg at end of day, 40 ish in morning
Only on those cold mornings SW would shake bars, bike half mile then gone. Strange.
Never did that before or after that?

Snow needs to GO away.........

I have a 08' Burgman 400, I am running a Shinko on the front and a Michelin Pure Power SC on the back, and the combo seems to works fairly well. The front's been on there for about 17,000 miles with no cupping or issues, and the rear has only been on for about 3,000 miles, but good so far. This bike is going up for sale now, since I got the 06' Burgman 650. The 650 has the OEM Brigstone Hoops for now, but I will go to Shinko's front and rear next time, as they have many good reports. That Le Dude fella has run several sets of them, and give positive feedback on them.
Cheers!

I'm looking to replace my tires and based on this thread and others I want to go with Pirelli Diablos. It doesn't look like my local Honda shop sells Pirellis (their website only lists the two Michelin options). So, I have two questions: is it considered rude to bring your own tires to a shop and just pay for installation (if it's not a brand they sell)? Should I ask if they can order Pirellis anyway? What would you do? This is in the US.

When I called them today to get a sense of total cost, the service guy said $300 installed "but let me transfer you to the parts department, maybe they have more options and better prices." Then I was on hold for a while and then they took my number to call me back (which they never did). Does that experience/price change your answer?

I like to save a buck, and I hate to get ripped off, but I also want to be reasonable and support local businesses.

Kirke, I ordered my Diablos online and had Larson Cycle install them. I took them off the SWing and brought the tires in and had them mount and balance them. I also added a bottle of Ride On to each tire before re-mounting them on my SWing. Larson was happy to take my money.

I've run mostly bridgestone tires and have had every one cup rather badly. Just ordered a michelin and have yet to install. I also like to save a buck and bought some spoons from harbor freight and am now mounting my own scooter tires. I've done 3 so far and while it's tricky at times it does save a lot of $. I've also found some shops don't want to install a tire they don't sell, by DIY-ing it I avoid that problem.