New Tires!

Inspired by CycleRob, this section is devoted to all flavors of the F800.

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OU812
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Re: New Tires!

Post by OU812 »

My rear tires always is long gone before the front. I do a lot of slabbing to get to the great roads. I have seen 4k- 8k for a rear. Never any better unless it was the ME880 which I can't fit on my r12RT. At least properly.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by Jed »

8K on my first set of Metzeler Z6's. I hoping to get 12K on this current set (at higher tire pressures).
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Re: New Tires!

Post by CycleRob »

In another 2,000 miles I'll need a rear tire. I'm thinking of going with a set of the new Sport Touring Metzeler Z-8. The much lower price is the reason. Not needing the higher cost Z rated tires is the other. Sport Touring is the kind of riding I do. What say you? :-k
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Re: New Tires!

Post by OU812 »

The Roadsmarts are very price competitive....
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Re: New Tires!

Post by angellr »

As a followup, purchased and have been riding on the Michelin PR3's for a couple of weeks now. Love this tire. Purchased the front/back for roughly $300 (included shipping). $50 to mount/balance them. Love the extra sipping on the tires, as they performed flawlessly in a huge downpour the other day.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by OU812 »

The PR3's have got my attention. :-k
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Re: New Tires!

Post by angellr »

OU812 wrote:The PR3's have got my attention. :-k
PM sent.
-Bob-

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Re: New Tires!

Post by OU812 »

RIDE TOO PRETEND, PRETEND TOO RIDE. :)
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Re: New Tires!

Post by dgates »

I replaced my Metzeler Z6 with the new Pirelli Angles. I really like the way I can "feel" the contact patch in the corners. Confident, especially on the wet road.
Also hear a lot of good things about the Michelin PR3s.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by CycleRob »

I now have the Metzeler Z-8 tires in my garage, waiting for the Z-6 tire set to wear out in about another 2,000 miles (3,218 km). The tread pattern is a little different, but there is still that desirable, solid, continuous band of center tread rubber. It is on both the front and rear. That means the bike will not get the jitters when riding over metal grid bridges or when traversing longitudinal road seams. That solid rubber band also provides more straight ahead wear surface that contributes to longer tire life.

Being that the cheapest mounting and balancing locally is $25/tire, I will be changing them by hand. No problem.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by Dr. Strangelove »

I put on a set of PR3s the other day and only rode once, but they feel good--maybe a little more comfortable ride??? in city riding. Again, no light spot dot, but they most ceratinly do have one. Two ounces of lead opposite the metal valve stem on the rear. The vale stem doesn't weigh that much does it? Same on the front, but less weight and at 11 oclock to the valve stem.

On the previous set of PR2s, my second and I really liked them, I got well over 9k miles with a couple of thousand left--readying for a trip. The new tread pattern on the PR3s is similar to the PR2s but with perpendicular to roll slits , many of them evenly spaced around the tire. They may be a little lighter than the 2s?

time will tell--got them at emototires.com for 271 delivered.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by OU812 »

I ordered a Dunlop Roadsmart rear as that is what will be ready in about 2k miles. $135 shipped. Then I will try the Z8's or PR3's as a pair. =P~
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Re: New Tires!

Post by dgates »

Dr. Strangelove wrote:I put on a set of PR3s the other day and only rode once, but they feel good--maybe a little more comfortable ride??? in city riding. Again, no light spot dot, but they most ceratinly do have one. Two ounces of lead opposite the metal valve stem on the rear. The vale stem doesn't weigh that much does it? Same on the front, but less weight and at 11 oclock to the valve stem.

On the previous set of PR2s, my second and I really liked them, I got well over 9k miles with a couple of thousand left--readying for a trip. The new tread pattern on the PR3s is similar to the PR2s but with perpendicular to roll slits , many of them evenly spaced around the tire. They may be a little lighter than the 2s?

time will tell--got them at emototires.com for 271 delivered.
How did you get them for $271? I went to their site and it is $291.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by Dr. Strangelove »

That's what they were when I bought them; their listed price. I would not have switched to something else though for $20 to be honest. I mount them myself so that was the total charge for me.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by dgates »

Dr. Strangelove wrote:That's what they were when I bought them; their listed price. I would not have switched to something else though for $20 to be honest. I mount them myself so that was the total charge for me.
OK , thanks. I thought you may have had a coupon code or something like that.
I only have about 2k on my Pirelli Angles, but just did a 4 day trip in Eastern Oregon which have very abrasive roads (mostly chip seal) and wore the tires pretty good. I have a 4k trip to Colorado coming up and I am afraid the Angles ST may not make it. I am thinking about the PR3s for the trip and saving the Angles for later.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by Dr. Strangelove »

the pr2s did well on the chip and seal of Texas hill country. I thought it would chew them up so that necessary replacement would be clear before my Colorado trip, but they fooled me and wore very well.

no, no coupon or special pricing.

good luck on your trip
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Re: New Tires!

Post by CycleRob »

Well, i still have not installed the new Z-8's yet, but the good news about the worn out Z-6 Interacts is that the bike still handles great with those worn out tires. That was not the case with my long gone 50R, with any brand/type tires it had on it.

A few weeks ago I was stopped for doing 51 in a 35 zone . . . . . I only got a warning . . . . [-( [-X :-k and get this, the ticket said I was riding a Suzuki !! When I pulled off the road, I immediately took off my dark shield helmet to show my grey hair and baldness. I was taken by the massively huge cellphone tower a stone's throw away and was looking up at it's stout construction. To a casual observer, it may have looked like I was addressing a higher power. The officer already had my clean driving record from the time he was behind me at the traffic light, just after he swooped out of his side street parking spot. When he stated my speed and asked me why I was going so fast, I paused a good 10 seconds then said "I have no excuse". When he asked for only my driver's license (and not the registration too) I figured it would be a warning. Credit goes to the prominent red "Organ Donor" wording on the license, and on his computer screen, for getting me the lesser no cost penalty. Oh yeah, the reason I brought this topic stealer up . . . the rear tire fails the copper penny tread wear test, yet the officer was not concerned. 8)
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Re: New Tires!

Post by CycleRob »

Finally got both Z-8 Interacts installed and it handles fantastic! Out on the road, going into a very sharp curve it takes no countersteer effort at all to initiate the turn. Near the maximum lean angle I can go faster and lean even further over with complete confidence, solid stability and a full sensation of solid traction. That's an amazing feeling of confidence. The CCS racers call it "really hooked up". I call it racebike handling. It allows you to make any +/- changes in your sharp turn course without any concern or drama. Another plus was the straight ahead stability. Much less hyper sensitivity to vary from the straight ahead course and it's less sensitive to side wind gusts. Almost like carrying a heavy overnight touring load strapped on behind me on the seat.

Pressures are set to 38 psi front, 42 psi rear. The suspension set-up is not stock. Fork tubes are reset slightly higher than the stock 12mm - - - the exact height is +10mm higher for GoldValve installation -??mm lower for portion cut off stock spacer (performed some months after GoldValve install, it was not recorded) to get the correct ride height +??mm higher needed for neutral cornering effort. Making the changes the correct direction about 3mm at a time, that puts them at 22mm. Also in play is the rear preload, whose knob is 2.0 turns less from the maximum spring preload stop. What that all means is that a rear preload change and a forktube height readjustment (like +3 to +5mm higher) may be needed to duplicate that racebike handling.

These Metzeler Z-8 tires are noticeably better than the previous generation Z-6 set they replaced. Riding now is even more satisfying and safer in the fast sharp corners. Thanks to the efforts of member CaptianCable (Mike) who arranged for us to use the M/C tire change machine of N.E. GA Tech College to change our front tires for free, his on his new-2-him R850R. Our common interest new friendship included shooting our pistols and shotguns (MANY times!!) in his (very rural) back yard. He also has an amazing wife and a cool small dog (Jack Russel). A week end day ride to the Tail-of-the-Dragon area is due sometime soon, before the leaves fall.
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Re: New Tires!

Post by OU812 »

Finally got the Z8's on!
Sounds like you had a good amount of fun outside the mounting? =D>
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Re: New Tires!

Post by CycleRob »

Steve, Yes, it was a blast. Mike even broke out his 12 gauge pump shotgun and we took turns blasting away what remained of the pistol targets -and- in dramatic fashion, a water filled plastic gallon jug. I think I only shot the 12ga 3 times where sight alignment aiming was NOT necessary for targets 35 ft away. I watched him shoot the jug as it exploded and jumped up off the ground! You have to see it to fully appreciate the power of a single 12ga buckshot load. My .410 shotgun was less powerful and less dramatic to the other targets (the water jug was already destroyed!!), BUT, nobody would knowingly risk being the target for it inside my house!! Both of the 2 half day gun & bikework visits to Mike's remotely located house were each the most rounds and shells I have ever shot. In exchange, he got some easy Fr&Rr brake fluid bleed work and a differential water manometer TB Synch.
Image Image Image Image
In using the water stick, after 1st checking it with a Mercury manometer in case there was a large synch error capable of evacuating the water out of the stick, mike had a wide eyed, joyous epiphany at the large visual accuracy the green water stick had over the Mercury stick. It is physically 13.5x more accurate, comparing their liquid's specific gravities of 1 and 13.534. I reiterated how the same minutes apart OilHead TB synch comparison test against the battery powered TwinMax was even more impressive with it's ability to visually embarrass it on accuracy (and ~$80 cost difference!!). The water stick's only negative is that it is TOO SENSITIVE to adjust a TB synch that is more than 4.4 inches of mercury or 5 feet of water out of calibration. A good plan B for the budget minded like me would be to build a Water Bottle Stage 1 Synchronizer like I did with 2 screw-top wine bottles:
Image

About the tire changes, we first balance checked the naked wheel rims to mark the heavy spot. That will absolutely minimize the weights needed to balance the wheel by locating the tires red dot (the light spot) exactly at that rim heavy spot. My front rim had already been balance checked and marked with a magic marker in the rim valley the last time I changed the front tire in my NJ shop, coinciding with a "nearby" PA Beakster Bash at the time. Once my tire was correctly mounted, it again needed NO weights! On another note, I recently wrote elsewhere where I said it was possible to mount the new tire by hand, without any tools in one smooth motion and have done it many times, sometimes while the customer watched in disbelief. Well it was true, but only with most 6" wide SportBike REAR wheels. Their weight saving deep center rim valley makes it that easy. Just lube ALL of the mating rim and tire bead sealing surfaces, "PLOOOOPP" and it's on. The install lube soaked brush we used was dunked into it's initially empty container, that we judged revived after we added some tap water and stirred it up. :cry: [-X Obviously, the over diluted lube did not function like it should've. With both our front wheels, we had a hell of a time using my new, fully functional, 3 small tire irons! (only because of the bad lube). We just did what we had to do with what was available, although I did not remember the empty wide mouth container and small bottle of dishwashing liquid I had in my truck 3+3 minutes away in the parking lot. #-o

It's amazing how dramatic the handling has improved with the new z-8's and a suspension set-up. The challenge now is keeping the speed down when traveling "the good roads" in the Georgia mountains on the weekends . . . when the budget slashed LEO's are out looking for violators. [-(
Last edited by CycleRob on Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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