Best for highway/long distance?

[Tecumseh]

Hello,

I am new to this whole game and tires are a big, big world of information to digest and sift through.

I am about to embark on a long, long journey on my 2002 Katana and was wondering if some experienced riders wouldn't mind tossing some tips my way via rubber.

I am going to cruise down the west coast from Canada to Mexico on the 101 and then head back up through the mountains, over to Colorado to visit my brother and then not sure where to go after that. But I'll be putting 5000+km on this set and most of it will be highway. I do like the twisties (who doesn't?) but that won't be most of what I am doing.

Michelin Pilot 2CT seem to be out of the question based on reviews, they are awesome tires but not so much for extended highway.

Dunlop Roadsmart II seems legit, any reason not to go with these?

Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 also seems good and bit cheaper than the Dunlops.

I am assuming it's safe to stay away from the "value" brands, like Shinko? Or are they actually ok? (https://www.canadasmotorcycle.ca/shi...rear-tire.html)

Thanks for any and all help!

[92xjunker]

Any Michelin PR series tire will run for quit a lot of miles/KM. great traction wet or dry.

[shpielers]

Michelin pilot road 4. I ride 100 miles every day commuting to work, so tons of highway. They last. ~20k miles on my last rear, 17k currently on my front, maybe another 2k of life left.
They have great traction and supurb wet traction. ~$300 for a set. Little pricey, but I think highly worth it.

Also, I commute on 101 from San Jose to Hollister. Let me know if you want some fun roads in the area that still move you further south.

[loneraider]

Michelin pilot would be a first choice
Pirelli sport demon as I just got a set
for my 16 inch rims.. Great tire.
Can't say how long they will last as I've only had them a couple weeks
v rated and good for 150 mph.

[ZukiFred]

Another recomendation for the Michelin pilot road 3 or Michelin pilot road 4Radial (not the 4GT)( https://www.jakewilson.com/p/3841/46...otorcycle-Tire )

[steves]

Here's the current Michelin tire line up




I noticed that they are keeping the Road2 and Road3 on the roster, although from what I've seen no one is stocking the Road2 or Road3 any longer. The Road4 is only slightly more expensive per set than the Road3.

I've been on a Michelin kick for a long time now.

The last rear I ran on my street bike was a dunlop q3, and I burned it out in less than 1000 miles

In July I put a set of Road4 on.

I've also had 2CT and Road2 on this bike, along with the factory tire which was a Bridgestone BT020.

Now, when I ran the Road2 while I did like that tire it had a rather lengthy break in process until it felt solid. It took more more than 100 miles to get comfortable cornering on them. After that I switched to the 2ct which seemed to break in very quickly and felt great right up until the cords starting showing through. I would say I went through 2 sets of those, but I was cycling tires between my street and track bikes so it's sort of hard to tell what the actual life was at that point.

I have about 150-200 miles on the Road4 so far. Almost no noticeable break in period. They felt solid rolling off the lot so to speak (which was down a gravel driveway and up a hill to start

I'll also say, I've never ridden a Bridgestone tire I liked once in over 10 years of motorcycling. They all had some issue that I couldn't quite every get comfortable with.

The Q3 was a great track tire, but I don't think I'd run any of there other sneaks.

Also- It's worth mentioning that people have called the PP3 the worse tire ever so.....

Get a set of Pilot Road4 and call it done?

[Tecumseh]

Thank you all for the help! Michelin Pilot Road 2/3/4 looks like the winner. Time to see which tire shop has them in stock.

[steves]

I've heard Canadians should order from Pete's in Montreal, assuming you have someone that would install them for you.

[Tecumseh]

Thanks for the tip. I priced them out on canadasmotorcycle.ca and the pair was $371.80 shipped. My local shop did $380 so I had them order it. They charge $98 for install, but that goes to $140 if you bring your own tires.

Seemed like a good thing to go with them.

[Stinger02]

My katana has seen a lot of highway miles as my daily commuter. I have a 500 mile a week commute and my tire of choice is the Continental motion tires. I won't run anything else on my bike. I get a little over 10k miles out of them. The price is just right on these tires!

[Kat Floyd]

I have almost 1000 miles on my conti motion rear and it looks brand new!

[GoFastAngelYYZ]

Personally I think you did great with the choice of Mich PR's .. I'm running the 4 for my rear (160/60r17) and have been thru the ringer as far as weather goes and never felt a moment where my confidence wasn't high ..
BT45 front for now, okay tire but corners could be leaned over more on a Mich ..

[Any Cal.]

No idea if the BT45s are good, but I just bought a set from Bike Bandit. Came to about $235, and Bridgestone has a $50 rebate going. Ended up with stock sizes, was the only tires I could find in those sizes. Want to see what the designers intended... will see if I like it!

*Edit* They are biasply, so heavier than radials, FWIW. Supposed to be set up for touring, and dual compound in rear for increased life. I wasn't really looking for a full sport tire, was looking more for an all-around to include touring and poor roads.

[ZukiFred]

No idea if the BT45s are good, but I just bought a set from Bike Bandit. Came to about $235, and Bridgestone has a $50 rebate going. Ended up with stock sizes, was the only tires I could find in those sizes. Want to see what the designers intended... will see if I like it!

*Edit* They are biasply, so heavier than radials, FWIW. Supposed to be set up for touring, and dual compound in rear for increased life. I wasn't really looking for a full sport tire, was looking more for an all-around to include touring and poor roads.

I would not recomend biasply tires to anyone myself.

[ygolohcysp]

I've just put BT-45's on my crf150f race bike myself. They are bias-ply tires. That caused me to do a little research on the tires. There is nothing inherently dangerous about bias ply tires .vs radials. The biggest difference is that radials have a different number of plys for the tread area .vs sidewalls because of how they are constructed. That makes them lighter, and the sidewalls are thinner. Because of the profile of todays style of tires with low sidewall profiles, it doesn't really negatively effect the road feel.

Bias ply tires are better for heavier load applications, such as full touring bikes loaded down with luggage and or an extra person. For touring, specifically with bad pavement quality on roads, then having the extra strength of bias ply may very well be better than radial tires.

I can only guess that for a 200 pound supermoto bike, they do so well because the compound doesn't need to get as hot as real race/slicks do (the bike is so light, real race tires never get quite hot enough). Further, with the stiffer sidewalls that are thicker, I can run really low air pressure (16psi) for more grip surface, still have good feeling from the sidewalls, and the extra thickness also helps retain any heat I manage to get into the tires.