motorway tyres

Electroshadow

Electroshadow

Electroshadow

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12 Dec 2006
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Hi all, basically I've got a new job but the new commute is at the end of a 80mile motorway journey. So far I have been grateful as the journey has killed my power pures which were horrible.
normally I go with dunlop sportsmarts as they suit my commutes and my weekend blasts. But they won't last much over a month with my new 750 mile weekly commute.

Dose anyone have any recommendations for good motorway tyres for a yamaha fz6?
 
Ive always heard Conti tyre's are good for a lot of motorway work, but that sort of mileage is going to square of any tyre pretty quick :(
 
I've been looking at the kinda 'sports tourer' tyre (with an emphasis on the sports bit) over the past couple of days, from what I've read it seems the top 3 are:

Michelin Pilot Road 2 (possibly the new 3, not really tested yet)
Bridgestone BT023
Dunlop Road Smarts

Vague mileage for the rears seems to be about 9k ish for the Michelin's, around 6-7k for the Bridgestones and 5k ish for the Dunlops. Price wise Bridgestone's and Dunlops are around the same, Michelins are more but probably even out over time.

For what it's worth I put a new BT023 on the rear today (had a puncture, planning to take the bike into work tomorrow and get the front done as well just to make them the same), cost me £108 for the rear (with a discount for being a thoroughly nice chap), front will be £101 (before any discount, we'll see :p)

My main reason for choosing them was that I could get the rear today though, both dunlops (~tenner more) and Michelin's (~40 more) wouldn't be in till tomorrow, and I want to ride it. But I was also tempted by the bridgestone due to using other bridgestones before and getting on with them, not really a sensible reason but there we go :p

Oh, one more thing to consider, over many many forums/hours of reading I did find several reports of people not liking the dunlops, and also them 'cupping' (seemingly where the two compounds wear differently and cause a ridge that affects handling). One or two also for the BT023's but less than the dunlops, and nothing but praise for the michelins.

Who knows, I do ~350 miles a week if I use the bike all the time, so I'll be able to give better feedback on them at least before too long :)
 
BT45. Really.
They aren't flash, they are considered boring but they are a hard compound with good longevity which will be ideal for bimbling up and down the motorway.
 
I'd go with BT023 or Avon Storm IIs. I'd be wary of comparing tyres by the mileage people tell you they get, unless it's the same bike, the same rider and the same roads, for example I know people who get 8k+ from the same rear tyre that I struggle to get 4k from. I've been using Avon Storms for a while and am more than happy with them, if I did want to change (which I have no reason to) I'd try the BT023s.
 
I recently put on some BT023 as I cover long distances. Not had them long enough to say how long they're going to last, however I got 13000 miles out of the the BT021's which I had on previously. As for handling, I can't really fault them, they give plenty of confidence in both dry and wet conditions.

Luke, does the bt45 fit the fazer? I use to have them on my old CB500, and while they were great tyres, I was under the impression that they only go up to 150 at the rear?
 
Electroshadow said:
Hi all, basically I've got a new job but the new commute is at the end of a 80mile motorway journey. So far I have been grateful as the journey has killed my power pures which were horrible.
normally I go with dunlop sportsmarts as they suit my commutes and my weekend blasts. But they won't last much over a month with my new 750 mile weekly commute.

Dose anyone have any recommendations for good motorway tyres for a yamaha fz6?
Click to expand...

What didn't you like about the Power Pure's? I too didn't like them much. Turned in way to quick on the blade, loads of oversteer and crap whilst riding on dodgy road surfaces. Had a lot of tracking in ridges in roads.

SportSmart will be next for me.
 
The fazer has a 180 rear tyre.

The pures are not a patch on the sportsmarts, the pures just slide to much mid turn I don't have much faith in them plus the tread seemed to split/crack quite bad as well.
I'm thinking of trying some metzler z8's,has anyone tried them.

The jobs onpy for 4 months
 
Just a bit of an update, finally got my front BT023 fitted yesterday (after doing ~110 miles with a front Pirelli and rear BT023, forgot my wallet on wednesday :p)

They seem good so far, had the chance to ride them on both wet and dry roads, not been hanging around really and grip seems good, just need to see now how long the rear lasts :)
 
update :(:mad:

went to get the tyre fitted on saturday.... ended up having to walk home:mad:

first off the chain was absolutley gone, which i did have on on order for this wensday for home delivery. and the garage was going to fully extend the wheel back so i could ride home. but then the adjuster bolt that goes into the swingarm sheared off:mad::mad: and the garaged would not over torque the back wheel nut to stop the possiblity of the back wheel slipping. As this would damage the swing arm and wheel bearings.

so in the end i have had to leave the bike at the garage till monday, and i had to buy a new chain at the local parts place. which the tyre gargae have said that they will fit and remove the sheared bolt for £25 which thinking about it isnt that bad. Just hoping now that the sheared bolt dosent need to be heli coiled out.
 
SKILL said:
Just a bit of an update, finally got my front BT023 fitted yesterday (after doing ~110 miles with a front Pirelli and rear BT023, forgot my wallet on wednesday :p)

They seem good so far, had the chance to ride them on both wet and dry roads, not been hanging around really and grip seems good, just need to see now how long the rear lasts :)
Click to expand...

Thought I'd update this thread seeing as it came up on a google search I just made of "BT023 crack"... :p

Anyway, a smidge under 3900 miles later and my rear tyre is reasonably squared off, not enough to force a change but I was starting to consider it at least, until last week when I put the bike into the garage and noticed a load of cracks across the centre of the tread,

I was hoping to get another ~1300 miles out of them and chance them on the bikes first service but seems it'll be a bit earlier than that, bit of an annoyance.

Still they were fairly good so rather than replace both again I'll chuck on another BT023 for the next 4k miles and move on after that (probably to the Michelin Pilot Road 2/3)
 
I used to run avon azarro on both busa and zx12r, they come with tread depth of a tractor and only tyre that I could get life out of.

Downside is come wet weather you do not want to open throttle ever, though once warm in dry weather they were fine.
 
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