GOTTA GET NEW TIRES....

[tdrcomm]

Road around a little bit this morning and parked the bike in the driveway 'round noon. Two hours later I notice my rear is flat as a pancake. Guess it's time for new rubber, front and back. Any suggestions from the gang?

[Court93kat]

I run the Continental ContiForce Radials. They are Z rated, and I have no complaints about them. I am cheap, and do not rail my bike so they work really well for me. I paid less than $100 each for my front and rear.

[The CyberPoet]

Here's my age old recommendations, based on actual back-to-back tire swaps on late model katana's (one set a week, a few hundred miles inbetween):

1. If you primarily rail, live in a dry area (think desert, etc) and wet-grip isn't critical (buy dry-grip is), get yourself a set of Pirelli Diablos. Best dry surface grip and great triple-apex design. For street, go 150/70ZR17. For primarily track use, go 160/60ZR17.

2. If you primarily commute, tour, engage in all-weather riding or high-speed highway mile eating, get yourself a set of Metzeler Z4's or their follow-on replacements, the Z6 Roadtechs. They have a good triple-apex design, about 95% of the dry-weather grip of the diablo's, about 140 - 200% of the wet-weather grip, and quite a bit longer lifespan in them. Go 150/70ZR17 for best handling.

3. If you for some reason insist on having the biggest, widest damn tires you can squeeze in (which negatively impacts handling, but it seems to be bling-bling right now), Avon, a Cooper Tire subsidiary, makes a 170 that will fit the stock rear rim of the 98+ Kats. They also have a limited road-hazard warrantee in Canada & the UK & the USA (covers the tire, not the labor, valid for the first 3.5mm of tread depth wear).

4. Or, if you have the $$ and time to try it, do what I did and simply order yourself a whole variety of suitable tires (you can get quantity discounts this way, both from the vendor and from the local shop that will install them each week). Compare them back-to-back and sell the barely used ones on eBay -- if you shop wisely, you'll make back every penny you spent on tires when you resell them (at least I did). Keep the ones you like the best
I compared: stock Macadam 90x's, Dunlop 205's & 207's, Metzeler Z4's, Pirelli's Diablo's, Chen-Shins (never again!), plus rode other people's Avons and Bridgestones during that same timeframe. You can pick your own tires for your own comparo...

Notes:
Chen-Shins, aka Barracuda's, aka JC Whitney no-name house-brand, aka Maxxums: the crappiest, cheapest tires ever. Use only if you are showing threads and are in starving college student mode; expect no handling or stopping capabilities. Worst tire I've ever tried.
Macadam 90x: Broad, single apex design makes for wallowy, slow handling but decent breaking performance. Ran into scalloping, uneven tire wear. I suspect high road-surface temps in Florida, combined with my highspeed (100 mph+) style of riding played into the tire tread wearing unevenly.
Dunlop 205's & 207's: Dual-apex design, better than the Macadams, but advantages wore away within 1200 miles. Same type of uneven tire wear as the Macadams. I suspect high road-surface temps in Florida, combined with my highspeed (100 mph+) style of riding played into the tire tread wearing unevenly.
Pirelli Diablos: Triple-apex design, superb dry-weather grip, unfortunately grip nose-dives on wet surfaces, especially at first mist and in torrential downpours.
Metzeler Z4's: My tire of choice; been through 3 sets of them so far (almost 30k miles) between two late model Kat 600's. Triple-apex design, more grip than a stock Kat 600 can break loose railing as hard as possible; hyper-reliable grip in the rain (which we get a ton of in Florida). I liked the fact that when locked, the rear bunny-hops a couple times before sliding out...
Metzeler Z6's: I haven't ridden them yet, but Metzeler's engineers tell me that they are the Z4's with a smaller initial bead compound (10% more grip in the dry, 18% more in the wet, and 8% longer lifespan) and a modified tread-pattern for supposedly better heat & water dissipation. Others here on KP have tried them -- all have loved them.
Avons: Seem to be the Canadian tire of choice. Not sure why, but I suspect that road-hazard warrantee plays into it. I liked them, but they still weren't quite up to the spec of the Pirelli's and Metzelers, plus I got an uneasy feeling about the belt construction (can't recall the exact why's anymore -- perhaps bias tires?)...
Bridgestones: Longlasting, single and double-apex designs, but took quite a while to warm up and never were as grippy as the Pirelli's and Metzeler's.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[The CyberPoet]

TIPS:

1. When shopping for tires online, always include shipping costs into your calculations. Many firms low-ball tires and then make it up on shipping. I've bought my tires (except for emergency replacements) from chaparral racing ( http://www.chaparral-racing.com/ ); their site isn't always up to date on what they have in stock (call them), but they've always come through cheapest with what I wanted. Other standard sources include DennisKirk. Ask around about reputations -- some standard sources have bad ones when it comes to fulfillment.

2. Double-check with the manufacturer on recommended tire pressure on your bike with a specific tire. Not all tires are supposed to run at the same pressures as the OEM Macadams (the Metzlers and Pirelli's for example run 34 front, 38 rear rather than 32/36).

3. KNOW THIS: Pirelli motorcycle tires are built in Metzeler's factories. Metzeler is the only motorcycle-only tire manufacturer in the world.

4. Balancing is critical. Get the tires balanced at time of install. Also insist the valve is replaced at that time for your own safety.

5. Be cautious: depending on where you live, local dealers & shops may not be willing to mount tires acquired from elsewhere, or may charge an arm & a leg to mount tires they didn't sell you. Shop around for mounting prices before you buy the tires.

6. Most dealerships & shops will charge you half-rate or less if you bring them the wheels already off the bike (saves their mechanic's time). Ask about it.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[floxera]

I just got some diablos and I'm extremely happy with thier performance.

[BeekMan]

I'm going for these if available in a 160/60 rear & 120/60 front:
BT012 SS


I know these are available in the above sizes so I'll most likely get these instead (BT014)...Spedee loves them.

[The CyberPoet]

I'm going for these if available in a 160/60 rear & 120/60 front:
BT012 SS

The straight center groove on the BT012 SS would have me concerned, at least in our area; perfectly straight center groove(s) on the front tire track rain grooves pulled into cement that parallel the road, and the girders in girder-span bridges, making for very uneasy handling on those two types of surfaces (imagine the front tire hopping back and forth very quickly as it tries to keep the ridges running in the groove). If you don't have such issues where you live/ride, cool beans

Most manufacturers have stepped away from straight center grooves as a result, going either for a vascillating center groove, or eliminating the center groove all-together.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[BeekMan]

Good point. Might have to go for a combo then ie. BT012 rear/ BT014 front

[Junior]

Curious TDR.... what are the tire sizes on the BUUUUUUUUUSA?

[Anonymous]

Get the Diablo's!

[FatBlue]

I just put on a pair of metzler Z6s.
So far they've been great - a far cry from the Macadams that the Kat came with. I highly recommend.

[tdrcomm]

Curious TDR.... what are the tire sizes on the BUUUUUUUUUSA?

REAR: 190/50ZR-17
FRONT: 120/70ZR-17

[tdrcomm]

I'm going to try the Dunlop 208's, front and rear.
$268 a pair, installed. I'll give everyone an update in a week.

[OldandReallySlow]

Shame Shame on you guys.

Whatever happened to Michelin??? Pilot Sports are sticky and last a reasonable amount of time. My Pilot POwer on the front just went through some rigorous road testing up on Mt. palomar and I can tell you that they STICK!!! I have no chicken strips left on them and the poor little Rollo (Michelin Man) is all but ground off. For us SoCaler's I heartily recommend the Powers!!!

[ghelper]

I'm going to try the Dunlop 208's, front and rear.
$268 a pair, installed. I'll give everyone an update in a week.

thats a good deal priced some today for the katana and the front was 185.00 and the back was 234.00 not installed