Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

Haven't had to replace tires on my bike since I bought it in 2009 (pathetic 10k miles). But now that I'm commuting daily with it (about 40 mi round trip, freeway and surface roads), I feel the need to replace. Any recommendations for a good all round tire?

 

Honestly my naked bike is almost more comfortable then most of my windscreened bikes have been at speed as far as wind goes. Every windscreened bike has had annoying buffeting of some sort where the naked bike has windblast but it's usually smooth so it's not as annoying, I'm also leaned over slightly on the Guzzi which helps with the wind.

 

Remind us all what you ride please.

That question can really stir up a lot of mixed recommendations so a little more info from you could help us steer you right. Do you ride 2-up very often? Do you ride in the rain or just a fair weather rider? Budget? Off road any?

 

2009 versys, single rider, light rain, pavement only, as far as budget goes i don't need to break the bank for track tires, and i don't skimp on the important parts.

Trying to get a baseline, then I can do some comparison shopping for what's available in my area, make an informed choice.

 

Attended a "Celebration of Life" Sunday afternoon for a former coworker/friend I hadn't seen for quite some time. Unlike the last one I attend in June there was no long ride to get there but it looks like a long ride might result from it. I'd known Allen for a lot of years and can still remember when he "came out" letting us coworkers know that he was gay. Didn't affect me, the man showed up for work, did his job, and caused no problems so I couldn't have cared less and it never affected my friendship with him. Been looking at finding my next long certificate ride and in September the Iron Butt Association has a 2 week window for doing memorial rides to honor people we have lost whether they be other riders, military or LEO, or anyone you see fit and a copy of the ride certificate can be sent to a family member of the deceased.

I approached his partner of 28 years to make sure he would be okay with what I want to do to memorialize Allen. Mark was onboard with the idea and said he thought Allen would have liked it. With his blessing I'm now in the planning stages of riding from our former place of employment to "The Gay Bar" in Gay Township Michigan a distance of about 1060 miles one way. Target departure will be September 22 or 23. I figure what better place to go and toast this friend. I never went TO a gay bar with Allen but I'm willing to go to THE Gay Bar for him.

If I can work this out I'd like to try and "nest" this Saddlesore ride within a Bun Burner Sliver ride by completing an additional 450 miles to put me over 1500 miles within a 30 hour window start to finish.

 

That'll be a great ride! I do miss living in that area, and esp the ferry rides, chowing down on Ivar's at the Mukilteo ferry lot.

My sister just moved up that way, so I may have to go see her and make that loop.

 

Man, Trying to catch up on this thread. Took some vacation time and returned to a lot of stuff to address. What I've seen is typically good stuff. @BkerChuck i like your plan for your friend. Hope it comes together for you.

Knocked out 320 miles in Kentuckiana (Southern Indiana) in the heat on Saturday on my new-to-me 30 year old bike. Did really well, but started having charging issues near the end. Got it home and wanted to recharge the battery and do some trouble shooting. It appears the lightning strike that killed the wifi router and the Sonos Bridge a couple weeks back took out the charger which was on one of my other bikes.

So...who's bought a charger recently? What are you using? Any recent purchases that you can solidly say fall in the Junk or treasure category? NOCO makes 'em, and of course Deltran/Battery Tender....

Figured the stalkers on this here thread probably know more than most.

 

I'ms till using Deltran/Battery Tender. All my bikes are still on conventional or AGM batteries. No Lithium batteries yet for me, not convinced yet on their use in cold weather usage.

 

Father In-law who lives in France ended up buying a gold wing in the states. He is now on a road trip from Illinois to our house in South Carolina. He is camping along the way. Might have to help him plan his trip back to Illinois if he is camping in spots next to RV’s.

 

If you change your own tires, try this method if you haven’t already. Saw it on some guys YouTube channel. Easier than the kickstand method of breaking the bead IMO.

 

This or 2 of them really helped me

Motion Pro 08-0471 Bead Buddy II

$17 Motion Pro 08-0471 Bead Buddy II

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035UDHZ2

The bucket helped for rear tire, but only for removal. I definitely used my knees too. Need longer than 12" spoons though.

 

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tre...ort-touring-tires-instead-of-hypersport-tires some good suggestions here

 

I have this goofy contraption that works surprisingly well:

https://bestrestproducts.com/product-category/beadbrakr-tcm/



It's some brackets and pins that turns your tire irons into a bead braker.. thing..

 

I have 3 or 4 bead buddies, a harbor freight bead breaker (works great), and then two 16" tire irons and an 8" tire iron and a couple of rim protectors for the Guzzi. They all work pretty good but I still hate changing tires on anything except a dirt bike. On the trail for the KTM 1290 I carry the 3 tire irons, a trail stand, a front tube (even though the rims are tubeless), a tube patch kit and, a tubeless patch kit, and a small mountain bike hand pump. Having friends have tubeless tires fail out in the bush 40+ miles from anywhere resembling a road and having had tubes fail makes me expect the worst and plan for the worst.

 

I think the best bang for the buck would be a sport-touring type tire. The Versys, while certainly a capable bike, isn't one you're likely to be hitting track days with so a full blown sport bike tire is kind of a waste. Sticky as used chewing gum but no real longevity and you'd just be buying another pair in less than 5k. I'm an admitted Michelin fan when it comes to bike tires. Went through probably a dozen pairs of Pilot Road 2's when they were available. Lowest mileage for any pair of those was just shy of 10k and a lot of that was riding 2-up. Best pair lasted just under 14k. They don't offer that tire anymore, sadly, so I'm now on a pair of the Pilot Road 4 GT's. The GT version features heavier sidewall construction for bikes like my FJR1300 so the regular version would be perfect for you Versys. I'm at around 7k miles on these since May 13 and they still look good. Suspect another 4 possibly 5k before I need to change them.

I tried a pair of Pirelli Angel GT tires on the FJR. I will say the dry performance was impressive. Wet weather was not bad. Tread life was not what I hoped though. Thrashed at just over 8k miles. When i bought this FJR it had a new Shinko Rave front tire on it so I put a Shinko rear on as the rear was still the OEM tire and it was badly worn. The Shinkos for me felt great in the try but I had a few sphincter clenching moments in the wet and with my style of riding would be unlikely to purchase again unless in a pinch.

My bike is probably 100-150 pounds heavier than yours and more biased towards high speed touring. I do long distance Iron Butt rides and rallies but it's also my daily commuter vehicle so quite a mix of riding for me. I've ridden for whole days in the rain traveling and in scorching heat just to give you some background on my experience and tire choices. Whatever you finally decide, keep an eye on the tire pressure and tweak it to the tires sweet spot just like on your truck. The FJR1300 owners manual calls for 36-38 psi front and rear. Owners forums and owning one will eventually teach you that on this bike 42 psi will make the tires last a whole lot onger with no ill effect on ride quality or handling so don't be afraid to experiment a little and figure out what YOUR bike likes.

Hope all this helps.

 

I felt like the rim protectors just got in the way for me. And then my rims had scratches at 1900 miles..

 

Morning ladies. I haven't been on this forum in a while - buying taco parts sparked my interest again..then remembered this thread.
Pics of 2/3 my bikes.

 

Great idea! But this did remind me how much I dislike changing tires

 

I bought a Nomar tire changer during Covid and now it's almost a breeze. I hate paying for sloppy work even more than I hate changing tires.

 

ever see this one?
https://tacomoto.co/collections/tools/products/baja-no-pinch-tire-tool