Tires

[eagle]

I've been looking to buy new tires for the bike (not Darkside). I have my eye on Bridgestone D404's or Bridgestone Spitfire S11's.

Any better suggestions or experience with these two types of tires?

[MAS Tequila]

The D404 lasts about 6-8000 miles on the rear.

I wore 3 of them out.

Go 'Darkside'.

MT

[eagle]

How are the Darkside for riding the Twisties?

[zoom45]

I always get about 11,000 out of a D404 on the rear. Looks like the one I have now will go even further. Front last about twice of the rear on mine.
Zoom45

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by Eagle

How are the Darkside for riding the Twisties?

In my opinion, they're great in the twisties. They really come through on wet roads and panic stops. It takes a lot more effort to make a car tire slide than a moto tire.

[phred]

I put Pirelli MT66 tires on mine a few months ago. I've been really pleased with the performance and handling, but can't speak to the longevity yet.

[ringadingh]

Originally Posted by Eagle

I've been looking to buy new tires for the bike (not Darkside). I have my eye on Bridgestone D404's or Bridgestone Spitfire S11's.
Any better suggestions or experience with these two types of tires?

Arn't the D404's Dunlops? They are good tires for the money.

[jd01]

If you mean the Dunlop D404, I've never had much luck on mileage with those (maybe 6000 to 8000 tops). My last set of tires were Michelin Commanders and lasted 12,000+ miles. I'm on my second set of Commanders now with 5300+ miles and they still look great. Just a suggestion, if you're talking M/C tires.

[chainsaw]

I just put a thousand miles on curvy twisties on a new car tire on the rear and loved every minute of it. The whole tire remains on the ground and didn't have any problem with handling at all.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

I can see the air in my rear tire. Only 9,000 miles and I have sure been disappointed in the stock Bridgestones. I may have to give the CT a try. The front still has maybe 3,000 miles left in it. They both still ride smooth with no cupping or irregular wear. If I don't go with a car tire I will go with Dunlop Elite 3 or Michelins.

[clayton]

Well while we are again on the Tire subject....
As most of you know I am leaving for the Dragon next Friday....
So in preparation I am checking everything.
So I took a set of dial calipers and measured the amount of tread I had in the very center of the stock tire.
The measurement was .090 with only 7500 miles on the bike.
The rest of the tire tread looks great... :-[
The front tire looks fine.
I was a bit disappointed about this. :(" title="" border="0"/>
With that being said as much as I would like to try a CT I think I would prefer to wait until I have more time to get used to it.
So....
I am thinking about going up a size on a regular MC tire to 180/70/16....
Will this tire size clear on the rear as for the width?
I hate to just go buy another stock tire with the amount of riding I do and have to replace it again next mid summer or earlier...
Recommendations please???

Also, Assuming it will be cheaper to pull the rim myself will I need to re-grease the Spline on the drive shaft and if so what grease is recommended?
Thanks

[bigdave]

the 180/70- 16 fits just fine, im running a CT now but i had Dunlop E3s on in the 180/70-16 and got good wear and handling

[landman]

gene,if you have 9000 out of a stock stone rear tire you are over due for a new one.i changed mine out for an E-3 at 6300 miles.

[trosco]

Clayton, let me preface tire recommendation with a statement: tires are a mater of personal preference and what is a completely unacceptable tire for one rider is perfect tires for another.
I got over14000 miles out of two consecutive OEM stones on the rear of my 07 and 24,000 on my first front. They are relatively inexpensive for MT and I would have continued using them but I wanted a slightly taller tire to increase clearance and to improve speedo accuracy.
I went with the Dunlop E-3 but I didn't go the 180/70x16 route for two reasons. First it is a radial and my preference is not to mix bias ply tires with radial. I know people do rear radial and front bias with no problems but I just don't like to. And second the larger reason is the 180's width is at the ragged edge for what is acceptable tire for the width of our rear wheel. I chose the 160/80x16 which is taller than the 180/70 but matches up to our wheel width better. I hope the effect being that the tire is rolled less and with the eccentric (egg shape) profile wider spacing out the tire shoulders should spread the contact patch. Because wear is focused on the rear tires center contact patch this in theory will improve longevity.
People tell me they get double the miles out of their E-3 that they got out of the OEM stone so at the end of the year I will let everyone know if I can get over 20,000 safe miles on a rear MT.

[macmac]

CT's straighten out any sick twisted roads.. I ain't neva' going back to a mc rear on a Nomad.

A CT saved my life, so far as i am concerned. A jeep hit a moose and stopped it Right Now last August. I toss out both anchors and hit that jeep anyway, but just wrecked my ft fender, mostly because when the moose rolled off the rear jeep bumper came down on the fender.

I was aware, but misjudged a vehical stopping with no brake lights at night and RIGHT NOW fast.

There is a big difference when following any vehical that uses it's own brakes to panic stop, than there is when no brakes are used at all the vehical is stopped.

IMO a CT can do anything a bike tire can do and do it better than the bike tire on a "NOMAD".

We are limited in lean by hard parts.

I agree we need more pressure to counter steer, but you learn that in 20 minutes and the trade off is more stability. When I ride other bikes with mc tires on now they feel squirrelly.