Road tyres - Dunlop Roadsmart

I'm giving these a whirl too after deciding to try some different tyres on the old girl once in a while.

Started out like lots of people using the Tourances on the 1200GS and have to say they are pretty good, particularly on bad surfaces and/or slimey roads. After a yera or 2 got convinced to try road tyres and have been running Michelin Pilot Roads (well, Pilot Road front and Pilot Road 2 on the rear as that's they don't do 19's on anything apart from the basic version) which transformed the bike. Amazing in the wet and could take everythign I could throw at them in the warm once you'd warmed them up for a few miles. A very good combination I'd reccommend if you were thinking of trying a different tyre.

When I've had a bit longer than the 40 miles initial scrub so far I'll post up my viwe in comparision to the Michelin's though hopefully it'll be a few more months yet before a decent wet review :augie.
 
Hi, I am running an 08 GSA on Battlewings, no problems but I don't really go off road so would prefer the best grip I can for a European tour rather than looks so looking at Roadsmarts also. Read the post regarding Michelin Pilot Roads and wondered if anyone else has tried these. Only ask since Michelin state the GS tyre sizes are a road development of the Anakee 2 hence are radials marked 'R'; all other Pilot Roads are 'ZR' though looking at the forum Dunlops seem to be the more popular. Also looking at the Dunlop TR91 also just out, dual development of the Roadsmart I think??
 
I have now covered 4k + miles on the roadsmarts still tread left to go and can only agree with the others especially in the wet they just feel so sticky.

Watch out for wet tar, here in France on some back roads you will see random thin lines of darker coloured tarmac which seems to have been poured into cracks they heat up and melt, tyres will slide across them as if it's grease, trust me i know. :thumb2
 
On our recent trip to France, I used Tourances (which replaced a very noisy set of Michelins, possibly Anakees, at 6,000 when the back tyre was very squared off) on the GSA while one of the group had Roadsmarts on his VStrom.

Both sets of tyres were fitted just before we left UK. After approx. 2,000 miles of riding the rear Roadsmart was looking decidedly 'squared' off but the profile of the Michelin was unchanged.

He's much faster than I am through the twisties but apart from that there's little to choose between us in terms of riding style. He was probably carrying less luggage weight than me.


R
 
Just a few quick comments as promised comparing a couple of sets of Pilot Road 1 front/Pilot Road 2 rear combos on the GS with the Roadsmarts that went on over a month ago.

First impressions (though it's hard comparing back to back warn out PR's with new RS's) The RS is a better dry weather tyre and carries better corner speed. The PR feels softer (well it is if you squeeze them at normla temperature) and more secure in the wet with no problem even after the first 1 mile when they have a little bit of warmth in them. Feels like it takes a good bunch of miles for the RS to warm up and though on a very wet return from Cornwall to Hampshire I had no issues and began to push on really always had a sneaky suspicion the PR would have done the same speed but with a little more confidence.

I know the test track video of the RS's with a bunch of journos on each said the RS's showed better times than the PR's (think it was PR2's front/frear) that wasn't the real world (least not in my neck of the woods!) and if it was a test for A and B road blatting in the wet I think the outcome would have been different.

Certainly no need to change the RS and I'll get plebty of good miles in them with lots of grins involved, but I'll report back after a 3K mile blat around the Alps what the longer term comparision is.
 
My first set is looking to be heading for about 4k on the rear with the front doing a fair bit better.

Fitting new set for Alps next month so by the time I return I should have a good idea of life, but nothing to compare against, although I reckon wear rate is about the same as Tourance EXP - hard to be sure as the Tourance was just under "half worn" when I got it and replaced at "nearly worn"
 
Just swapped to new set of Roadsmarts for Alps trip.

The old set had done about 3600 miles, the front is about half worn (Have saved it to fit again) and the rear was at 2mm (down from 6mm when new) so assuming it continued on its 900 miles / mm average it would have made 4500 which I reckon is OK.
 
pilot rd 3

hi just fitted pair of pr3 to my 12 gs does any body know the pressures or should i just go with original. 14500mls on conti trail 3 rears 2 fronts fronts are both still good for a few thou rears were shot after 5k looking forward to trying the pr 3
 
Best tyres ive ever had IMO, always used michelins in the past on my sportsbikes, pilot powers and pilot road, but once i got the tiger1050 thought I'd try the roadsmart due to all the mags raving about them, absolutely will be fitting them again, wet or dry they perform superbly...
 
Just fitted my 3rd rear and re-fitted my 1st front (Bought new tyre for Alps trip as not sure if the one with 4k on would do another 3k)

2nd Rear is being pulled early as I have a 2k trip coming up, reckon the rears are good for 4k - 4.5k for my use (@50% two-up) but the fronts seem good for at least 8k and maybe 10k.

Wanted Roadsmart 2's but none available in GS sizes yet
 
I've had roadsmarts on a few different bikes, superb tyres in my opinion, excellent in the wet,the last bike i had them on was a kawasaki ninja zx10r, best tyres i ever put on it.
once i knacker my gs tyres, roadsmarts are going on
 
ChrisH said:
In 5 years of GS ownership I have only ventured off-road once and even then there was little if any need for off road/dual purpose tyres. I mentioned to my local BMW dealer I was thinking of road tyres and he told me he 'strongly advised against them' :ronno. But I decided to try some Dunlop Sportmax RoadSmarts anyway.
I simply cannot sing their praises enough, what a fantastic tyre they are on my 1200GS. They are very planted and feel just great for chucking about on the twisty's. In the wet they are far better than any dual purpose tyre I have ever had and I think I've been through most of them now. My last duals were EXP's which were crap in wet, got really bad mileage and were unpredictable at best. I cannot comment on wear for these Dunlop's as I have only had them on for close to 600 miles.
I can only guess that my BM dealer must make more money from the various dual purpose they sell and probably don't even stock the Dunlop's :augie
May I just point out that I do not work for any tyre company etc.
Hope this helps boys n girls.

Chris.
Click to expand...

Really helpful post Chris thanks:flag
 
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