1st Gen Tire Preference

[Rick Butler]

Guys,

 

It's been a while, but what is the general tire preference on your 1st Gens. I always like the ME880s but I know others preferred the Avon Venoms. Has anyone tried the new Avon Cobra or even the Michelin Commander III?

 

Thanks,

 

Rick

[zagger]

Guys,

 

It's been a while, but what is the general tire preference on your 1st Gens. I always like the ME880s but I know others preferred the Avon Venoms. Has anyone tried the new Avon Cobra or even the Michelin Commander III?

 

Thanks,

 

Rick

 

ME880's for me. They seem to have a fairly long life. Years ago I tried every cheap brand of tire to see if I could save some money. The cheapo ones had a very short life and the cost of changing tires completely wiped out the savings on the tire. Never mind the hassle of jacking up the bike, pulling off the wheel, and running everything to the tire change guy. I have two bikes and use ME880's on both.

zag

Edited November 26, 2018 by zagger

[frankd]

I've got Avon Cobras on my 89...I like them. They seem to handle very well, but my rear needs to be replaced after only 12,000 miles. Most of that mileage is 2 up, but I'm 70 years old and don't ride as aggressively as I used to. I'm not satisfied with their life and I'm going to try the new Dunlop Elite 4's. Puc tried one and he's getting excellent life from it.

 

Frank

[luvmy40]

Any reason to not consider the Dunlop D404 series?

[Beachbum]

I use Shinko 230s front and rear. Super sticky and good in the rain. I’ve ran 880s and 888s in the past. I don’t like 880s, they break loose in the rain if you think about them wrong. 888s are better, but still sketchy. So I ride shinkos and just replace the rear more often. But not as often as you’d think. About 9-10 k for shinkos, 12 for metzlers.

[cowpuc]

Hi Rick Butler, ya lop eared seat making varmint,, wassup .. Tires eay..

 

IMHO:

Didnt care for the strange vibes the random tread patterns produced when the Venoms got half worn.

LOVED the CHEAP (60 bucks) Full Bore I spooned on Tweeks out in Cali one time. GOOD Mileage (5k) on hot tarmac. Great canyon carving, rain tire! Like them so much I actually dropped a set onto my R1 and have now seen 200 mph with em - GOOD TIRE for the $$..

Have ran a couple dozen sets of Shink 230's out now.. EXCELLENT tire (wanna thank my good friend videoarizona for turning me onto them = THANKS again VAz!!). Dirt cheap, super handling, good mileage (5 to 6k) on rear, x2 that on front. VERY stable tire in extreme heat but still sticky in temps under 40. Way easy to spoon on and off.

Ran down a couple sets of Kenda's,, very similar to the wear/feel/price of the Shinks but the Kendas get way noisy in the corners when the tread hits 50%. So much so that you can see the "buzz" in the mirrors and feel it in the bars in the twisties at speed. For the price, the Shinko's a much better tire/deal IMHO.

Squidly noticed my new Metz when he and I were fixin on Tweeks at his place in Texas years ago.. Commented about a delam problem he and Sweet Nothin had experienced. Crazy as this may sound, on that trip to the west coast via Big Bend and Glacier, coming in from a VR rally in Oregon at The Dalles, sure enough,, DELAM (got pics if ya need to see what that looked like)! Never gave Metz a second chance. I have ridden down numerous flats, not that much fun and dont go lookin for em.

Michelin Commander 2 = GOOD top mileage tire at 8k wear off but not worth the price IMHO as I could buy 3 Shinks or Full Bores for price of one Michelin and the Michelin couldnt do there and back again to the coast (ended up a disaster cause I had to do the swap on the road instead of doing at my Daughters in Sacramento). I do my own tires so mount and balance is free,, besides,, I actually like scraping my knuckles and pinchin my fingers between the bead and the rim:223:..

I liked the 404's for handling and all that BUT,, WOWZY WOW WOW WOW did they wear FAST!! Tip/Tweeks and I took one down to the cords at 3500 miles once out doin the desert. Replaced it with another 404 in a Yam shop parking lot and, again, that one barely broke 4k before it was gone.

Got a smackin good deal on a couple Continintals and they were good tires too. Wore like IRON in the heat but not so fun in the rain. For some reason I had cupping problems on the front tire with both sets and only got half life from them. I would do Connies again.

Brings me to the E-4 that was mentioned. Right now, after a full, solid trip to the west coast and back,, the tire still looks BRAND NEW (down 1/32 on tread)!! For our way of riding, style of packing (we are/were tenters) and riding hot tarmac of the desert,, this tire is the FIRST tire ever to make the full trip out west and back!! I paid for the "dual compound" tire for a test (x3 of a Shink and it was on sale ) cause Dunny says x6 coast to coast in their advertising.. Looking at it now,, I have a hunch they are not to far off. Surprisingly, that hard rubber center on the tire does a great job in the rain and, get this, even on cooler pavement it is an amazing shoe for doing the twisties.. Only REALLY big issue (and one that will be a deal breaker if I ever have a redo because I MUST be able to do my own swaps) is there is NO WAY on Gods green earth that puppy is coming off there without a tire machine. On a Shink I could do a full rear swap in less than an hour. It took me all afternoon just to convince the E-4 that it wanted to go on the rim - SERIOUSLY!! Plus being it aint gonna slip the bead on a blow out I guess but WOWZY is that heavy duty thang!!

Ooppsss,, I know,,, wayyy long winded,, sorry bout that. Hope this helps..

Puc

P.S. - always LOVED your seat work brother!! Have recommended to MANY = GOOD JOB!!

Edited November 27, 2018 by cowpuc

[Venturous Randy]

With putting 150,000 miles on my 83 and going thru many tires, I found the best handling was to put an Avon on the front and a Dunlop on the rear. I tried the Avons front and back and had a problem with a rearend wobble at 70mph and up riding solo, as several others did at the same time. I was very impressed with how much changing to the Avons made the bike feel lighter, but did not like the wobble. When I needed to replace the rear tire, I went back to the Dunlop E3 and still had a good feel for handling with the Avon still on the front, so I stayed with that combination.

Randy

[CaseyJ955]

Guys,

 

It's been a while, but what is the general tire preference on your 1st Gens. I always like the ME880s but I know others preferred the Avon Venoms. Has anyone tried the new Avon Cobra or even the Michelin Commander III?

 

Thanks,

 

Rick

 

I've had the Metzler 800 and 880 on both my Vmax and Venture and I'm putting Metzler on my no fly list with Pirelli, but for very different reasons. I went with Dunlop E3s this time and I'm much more pleased with ride and wear characteristics. She is very light on her feet, she thinks she is a sport bike when I'm in the hills.

 

I'm ready to put new shoes on my Vmax and I'm pretty sure I'll stick with Dunlop for these. I have yet to try the Avons so maybe I'll give those a spin. In my world the Metzlers always feather and/or cup to the point of being unservicable before the tread is gone.

[bongobobny]

Most of us prefer round tires, the square ones don't work out very well...

[saddlebum]

I am running the E4,s and so far love them. Ran 2 sets of E3,s prior to the E 4 and loved them. So far I am liking the E4,s as much if not better. Puc pretty much covers it so no point in me repeating what he said. BTW run preasures at the tires recomended psi not the Venturers recomendation. Those old psi,s were for the tires available back in the eightys.

[s.tyler58]

Hey Everbody! Missed you all! I'm on my third job this year so riding wasn't the priority that it seemed like before March got here. Then I ran down my Shinko 230 on rear at about 5K by May. Budget crisis has had me doing 50 to 70 mile trips on it still but only when I couldn't stand to see her sitting around the garage. Now I'm ready to replace that tire and thinking of doing the E4 on rear. Will it be ok with a barely worn 230 on front?

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[frankd]

Hey Everbody! Missed you all! I'm on my third job this year so riding wasn't the priority that it seemed like before March got here. Then I ran down my Shinko 230 on rear at about 5K by May. Budget crisis has had me doing 50 to 70 mile trips on it still but only when I couldn't stand to see her sitting around the garage. Now I'm ready to replace that tire and thinking of doing the E4 on rear. Will it be ok with a barely worn 230 on front?

 

Probably....

[cowpuc]

Hey Everbody! Missed you all! I'm on my third job this year so riding wasn't the priority that it seemed like before March got here. Then I ran down my Shinko 230 on rear at about 5K by May. Budget crisis has had me doing 50 to 70 mile trips on it still but only when I couldn't stand to see her sitting around the garage. Now I'm ready to replace that tire and thinking of doing the E4 on rear. Will it be ok with a barely worn 230 on front?

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

Ty,, that is EXACTLY the combo I am currently running on Tweeks.. E-4 Rear, Shink 230 Front work VERY well together from what I have found and IMHO.

[Rafterd]

Michilens for me. Ran the Avon’s for years. I run the shinkos on my Harley-Davidson.