What tyres shall i fit ???

[Deleted account 210609001]

My own opinion:

Bridgestone Trailwings (OE on 1150GS) - ok in dry, scary in wet.
Bridgestone BT020 - super grip, wet or dry. Not particularly good wear (5K rear)
Metzeler Tourances - good grip, good look, good mileage (8k rear)
Dunlop Trailmax (OE on 1200GS) - pretty good all round
Bridgestone Battlewing - only fitted last week, but seem to have great grip in the dry.

 

[GrinningGSer]

OK- but a few questions first

You're kidding

despite what you say about the tyre looking like new, at nearly 10,000 miles I would change it to match the rear.

For the sake of £80 or so.........................

All IMVHO of course

Andres

OK
1) How tight is the wheel spindle? I have a sparkplug socket which seems to fit the spindle when inserted in reverse and I could then grip the socket- but not with much force

2) Do you take the disks off (something that I,ve never thought about before) of take the entire wheel incl disKs to the tyre dealer ?

 

[VAL. H.]

I think the mileage acheived with different tyres is more dependant on riding conditions than the actual tyres (hence the disparity in what contributors to this thread report). I do 100 miles a day commute from rural Kent to SW London taking in coutry roads, M25 and gridlocked London snarl up. The original rear tyre is now due replacement. The original front looks good for a while yet, but the a closer look reveals that the leading edge of each 'block' is significantly worn (caused no doubt by frequent hard braking). Because the rear of the block is hardly worn it looks at first glance that the tyre has a way to go, but I am sure braking performance will soon be comprimised.

Although very impressed with the Anakees grip and life I think I will go BT020's next as the only dirt by tyres come across comes from horses and dogs.

Very impressed with the performance of the Michelin Anakees that came on the bike.

agree with thunder,good grip wet or dry but dont last long.,3 rears 2 fronts,10,600 miles

I was forced to change my rear anakee 8388mls when it picked up a screw.( I unscrewed it and air came out so I screwed it back in again) I reckon it would have gone to 9500+ maybe even 10'000. The front looks like it will make 12000mls.

I had intended to try torences because of reports of higher milages than the anakees. But if I do now I'll be left with a part worn rear.

With the performance of the anakees and suggestion of the torences I see no reason to use road biased tyres that only go 5000mls when I can get 10'000 out of anakees or torences that are cheeper to buy in the first place Maybe if I did track days on it I'd think differently

The Heidenaus sound good and are a great price, but I never go off road on the 12 and regularly do a swift sixty. Because of their speed rating the're no good use me.

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

OK
1) How tight is the wheel spindle? I have a sparkplug socket which seems to fit the spindle when inserted in reverse and I could then grip the socket- but not with much force

2) Do you take the disks off (something that I,ve never thought about before) of take the entire wheel incl disKs to the tyre dealer ?

The spindle isn't tooooooo tight, I reckon you should be ok with the method you describe - if there's a pinch bolt (my minds gone blank, I honestly can't remember ) don't forget to undo it.

Leave the disks on but it's easier to remove the wheel if you remove the calipers.

Andres

 

[Mouse]

Front spindle: 50Nm
Spindle pinch bolt: 19Nm
Front caliper bolts: 30Nm
Rear wheel bolts: 60Nm

I can't see how you'd remove the front wheel without removing the calipers first. It helps to hang the calipers from you engine bars with a bungee cord or similar to stop them getting bashed. Hope that helps

 

[The Burpster]

Any need to take both off?

To both the above posts.... Do you really need to take both front calipers off? I managed quite well with only taking off the offside caliper, this doesnt disturb the ABS sensor and despite a little jiggling is really easy. As to removing discs, I would only do that if your tyre supplier/fitter cannot be trusted, I stay and watch mine and he's quite happy for me to do that...... (top bloke is Martin at Sleaford, I can recommend him!) DO HOWEVER point out to whoever does the fitting that the ABS ring (if you have ABS fitted) s very delicate as it is easily bent.......

 

[Stig]

Battlewings Update - Sorted

Twas just a case of playing with the front pre-load... and rear damping.. tried a softer setting from Factory setting (on the front) to try to get the bike to sit up more at the rear... and set the rear damping one & half turns from "full hard".. Rear pre-load set to standard (I'm just under 12st) ... No real joy!!...

So tried jacking up front pre-load - a couple of notches at a time...

Now got Front pre-load at max (altho up to two notches from full is satisfacory).... and bike is sorted (steering is not as quick now and is more like it was with the Tourances on... I reckon)... Two notches down gives quicker steer.. but you get some "slight" bar wobble... here n' there.

I went on Abel's "Humps/bumps/fords and twisties" ride on Sunday

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76765 - ( See East Anglia section and/or Visordown.com.. day's out )

Bike and tyres both performed impeccably!

If you like 020's - These could be the tyres for you... I reckon you'll find them as good as.. but with the added advantage of thicker tread.... giving better overall mileage per tyre. (TBC)

Stig

 

[JayGee]

Just replaced the Mich Road Pilots with Battlewings at £168 for the pair (which I thought wasn't bad from the main dealer).
Too soon to say what the Battlewings are like, but they look to have about 8mm tread depth on the rear.
The road pilots did almost 10,000 miles which is unheard of for me, last D607s were shot at less than 4000miles. I would have gone for road pilots again but was desparate for a new rear and these were on back order and I saw some of you saying the battlewing was dgood so thought I'd try them. track day next Tuseday so we'll see what they are like- at this rate I might be scrubbing them in at Mallory
I can definately recommend the road pilots, they easily get you into peg scrapping territory and are especially good in the wet and at 10,000 miles the are very good value.

 

[Bazza]

Has any one changed the 150 rear for a 160? would this make much difference? better ? worse? any ideas?

 

[GrinningGSer]

You're kidding

My front 607 lasted the life of two rears i.e. 8-9000 miles. Even given different riding styles etc that seems incredible that yours is not worn........

To answer your question, I may be tempted to (but probably wouldn't) change just the rear if the front only had one or two thousand miles on it but, despite what you say about the tyre looking like new, at nearly 10,000 miles I would change it to match the rear.

For the sake of £80 or so.........................

All IMVHO of course

Andres

Done
Really- Andres, my front D607 still did look like new, despite wearing out two rears, but I have heeded your comments.

Purchased a front spindle removal socket, removed front wheel, removed discs and ABS ring before trusting the tyre dealer to fit the battlewings. Now have matching Battlewing front and rear... and let the battle begin !

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

Done
Really- Andres, my front D607 still did look like new, despite wearing out two rears, but I have heeded your comments.

Purchased a front spindle removal socket, removed front wheel, removed discs and ABS ring before trusting the tyre dealer to fit the battlewings. Now have matching Battlewing front and rear... and let the battle begin !

Great stuff - will be interested to see what you make of them / if you notice much difference.

I've just fitted another 020 to the rear as my front had loads of life left but fancy trying the new Battlewings next - probably in time for the Autumn.

Andres