Which tire brand do you prefer and why?

[Gino]

Be sure to tell us why you like one over the others, compund, handling, wear factor, style, price, use etc.

I see many threads talking about michellin tires, but seldom do I see anything about Pirelli's and others. Curious why....

Stupe, kickazz is not a valid answer, please tell us your experience, what tires have you tried in the past and let us know your opinions on each.

[Gino]

I have very little experience in this area. I have ridden in stock tires, Bridgestones, and absolutely hated them. I had a metzler rear once for a couple of weeks when I got a hole in my tire. This tire is definitely not bult for turning. I am stuck on Pirelli Diablo and Supercorsa and I am now afraid to try anything else because I do not want to waste my money.

[Gino]

Gimpy, you asked me about this last year, do you remember? Check this one out

[iconjay]

When i got my bike it came with pirellis on it I road them till they needed to be replaced. They were ok but didn't give me a very confident feeling in turns. I am running the michelin pilot power 2ct now and am very satisfied with them.

I believe though i comes down to personal preference. Each person has their own opinion as to what is good when it comes to tire choice.

When i bought my michelins i spent 2 months surfing the net to find out what tires i should get and it was for the most part inconclusive, out of everything i read it came down to a draw between michelin and pirelli.

sine i already had a set of pirelli's on the bike I decided to try the michelin's and haven't regetted it yet.

[Bagger]

I run Bridgstones on the FJR and Dunlops on the R6 haven't found a need to switch from what came on the bikes.. Will be trying the new Dunlop Q2's this season to see if they are a nice upgrade from the Qualifiers on the track.. should give me little extra grip for piece of mind to run Advanced

[andy9743]

i've never rode on anything other then pirelli or on anything but honda...treated me right so i'm loyal. idk if at my riding level if i could tell the difference or not.

[Ape-X]

B'stones: predictable slide and plenty of grip at the limits.
BT002's currently, with a set of 12SS's ready to be spooned on this season

[OZ]

I'm running Michelin Pilot Power 2CT's on my ZX10R and was very pleased with them during last years track day. I liked them enough that I'm going to run the same tires on my track bike this year.

[homer]

my only experience has been the qualifiers on my 600. havent rode on the bridgestones on the 1000 yet to form an opinion. i liked the qualifiers because i was very comfortable with them and got 7500 miles out of a set

[Hawk]

A couple racers from the Hawkgtforum won their respective class(twins) and swear by Stones 002s or slicks for grip and Metz Z6( sport touring) for longevity. I have run both on the Hawk now and the BT016s are way more tire than I really need for the kind of ridding I do but its nice to feel them stick like glue, confidence inspiring... kinda like denture cream.....

[Flay]

Originally Posted by Gino

Gimpy, you asked me about this last year, do you remember? Check this one out

that's crazy. it's a good depiction of dual compund tire construction, but damn thats a lot of blue!


I've only known Dunlop Qualifiers up to this point. I've used them because of the reviews.. good street/track tires fairly cheap. gonna try something different next time around

[Stupe]

Originally Posted by Gino

Be sure to tell us why you like one over the others, compund, handling, wear factor, style, price, use etc.

I see many threads talking about michellin tires, but seldom do I see anything about Pirelli's and others. Curious why....

Stupe, kickazz is not a valid answer, please tell us your experience, what tires have you tried in the past and let us know your opinions on each.

hahahaha.. well, i tried dunlop twice(sportmax and qualifiers) ,neither seemed to handle heat cycles very well..every time out they'd get bluer and bluer on the sides,almost like it dried the rubber out or something, and then didnt grip for chit lol....and they squared off easy on street/highway use.. i've got 5 trackdays on the front,and 3 on the rear,and 600+ street miles on my pilot powers.. still bukoo tread left, and very little bluing...excellent grip and predictable also.. im gonna checkout some pilot power 2ct's the next reskin(and invest in some tire warmers lol)..i havent tried anything other than them 2 brands..

[Gino]

speaking of tire warmers, I see them for sale all the time. at which point should one think about getting some? I think I myself would feel a little funny about having tire warmers on my bike and then going out with orange pennies on LOL

[Whiteboy]

Ive only ridden on Pirelli`s , The corsas Sucked when wet but were awesome when dry but also Wore very fast, soft compound. I had the Diablos which were AWESOME tires wet or Dy wore great & rode good with passengers also. Now im running the new Pirelli diablo Rosso`s instead of the dual coumpound it has a all new Enhanced Patch Technology. So far they have been great in the wet & dry , once they warm up they STICK GREAT!!! I did have a set of Dunlop Sportmax D208 on my 99 GSXR & they sucked in KY for sure or it was the bike. They wouldnt stick for nothing It could have been the bike but some of you remember that day It took everything I had to keep it on the road.

Im a dire hard Perilli Fan & always will be , but Im always open to try other tires.Ill be running those Rossos on the track when I go there supposed to be on & off track tires so well see.

[postmanr6]

I have always ran qualifiers. very cheap price but cant say they are perfect for track and the heat cycles they have to go through. when i was at grattan i went down with them but i CANOT blame the tires themselves since my suspension was not setup at all and my throttle control was piss poor through that turn.

as for tires on my track bike i will need somthing a little more insurance that can take the heat on and off. so i may go with a bridgestone tire and stick with a dunlop for the street bike.

i wish gino could see my tire after Mid O last year you would crap yer pants lol.

[RIZ]

bridgestone all the way. Ive ridden on almost every brand and the bridgestone feel the best for me. i am running the 002 right now . good feedback,good respons,super sticky very predictable slippage.

[gijoecam]

I run a Metzeler Tourance rear and a Bridgestone Battle Wing front at the moment... But then again, I'm not riding on the track... I'm riding through rain and dirt with 'em, mostly super-slab to and from work with the occasional mildly twisty country road... It's a whole different setup than you guys are running.

[Bagger]

^^ Riz, that's probably what I'm going to step up to after I try the new Q2's... Predictable slippage and good feed back are one of the reasons I like the Qualifiers.. you can feel them slowly go away on ya and it progressively gets worse making it easy to know when to slow the pace down a bit before you overrun the tires.. I'm pretty hard on my fronts so that is a big deal to

[Bagger]

Originally Posted by gijoecam

I run a Metzeler Tourance rear and a Bridgestone Battle Wing front at the moment... But then again, I'm not riding on the track... I'm riding through rain and dirt with 'em, mostly super-slab to and from work with the occasional mildly twisty country road... It's a whole different setup than you guys are running.

You're smarter than most people that ride around NWO.. lol Around here most people should be running a sport touring tire on their sport bikes.. only time you need an actual supersport tire around here is if you're actually doing track days. If you're not you're just throwing your money away to look cool!

[RIZ]

Originally Posted by Gino

speaking of tire warmers, I see them for sale all the time. at which point should one think about getting some? I think I myself would feel a little funny about having tire warmers on my bike and then going out with orange pennies on LOL

Gino, I have never used tire warmers on my bike and never will unless i am racing. I have done a ton of trackdays and for 2 years at grattan ran 130 and under and never felt the need for tire warmers. I laughed at all the people i saw running warmers then going out in novice rinning 2 minute lap times. While doing trackdays you have plenty of time to warm your tires up and make sure they are sticky.