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Showing results for tags 'tires'.
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First off, Happy New Years everyone! Hope to get a chance to ride more this year with ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Been having an issue since Biketoberfest with slow leaks in both tires. Running Avon Venoms, maybe 8k on them. tires seem to be in ok shape and have bunches of tread on them. I'd like to think they have plenty of miles left. Went down, filled both to specs and sprayed some soapy water on them. Both of them are leaking badly on both sides of the rims???????????????? I've removed both and hope to get them to the stealer tomorrow to have them busted down and hopefuly resealed. Is this wishful thinking or do I need new tires or worse new rims??????????????????????????
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Handling, Suspension, Tires, Controls, etc. (still under construction) Q: Man, this bike is HEAVY! And it feels like it is going to fall over every time I turn in the parking lot. Is there any way to improve this? A: This is a VERY common complaint for the stock RSV or RSTD, and it is generally considered the worst on a stock bike with OEM Bridgestone tires (much worse for this than with Dunlop D404s, the other OEM tire). There are two very easy and complete solutions: put on better tires (discussed below) and/or raise the rear of the bike slightly which changes the rake and trail of the front suspension and dramatically improves the low speed handling. The rear can be raised by 1" by replacing the stock lower struts on the rear shock with struts that are 1/4" shorter. See this article in the Technical Library for more info: [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=492]Raising the Rear of the RSV - VentureRider.Org[/ame] [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=492]Raising the Rear of the RSV - VentureRider.Org[/ame] Look for discussions about "Leveling Links" for an available retail solution. In addition, lowering the front by about an inch should provide the same dramatic improvement as raising the rear. See this article in the Technical Library for more info: [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=939]Lowering the Front End - VentureRider.Org[/ame] [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=939]Lowering the Front End - VentureRider.Org[/ame] Q: My legs don't seem to reach all the way to the ground - what options do I have? A: There is a commercial lowering kit available for the rear which involves both different shock struts AND a new bracket to move the rear brake calipers below the swingarm. Be aware, however, that lowering the rear of the bike without also lowering the front should make the low speed handling worse. I will note here that some owners who particularly like their bikes with the lowering kit disagree with this. Q: What tires are the best tires for my Royal Star, and what sizes should I buy? A: Let's take those questions in reverse order. The stock tire sizes are: Front: 150/80-16, Load rating: 71 (need to verify). Speed rating H Rear: 150/90-15 or MV85-15, Load rating 74, Speed rating: H Some people recommend switching to a slightly narrower front tire (130/90-16) to improve slow speed handling. While this is a fairly popular choice the opinions are mixed. It definitely makes slow speed handling faster, but many also feel that it reduces high speed stability. In addition, the effect of the narrower front tire is very similar to the improvement you get from raising the rear of the bike, and if you do both changes, some riders feel the result is not optimal. Do some research on the forums on the subject of tire sizes, front tire size, handling, etc. In particular, V7Goose has done a lot of tire testing and provided detailed write-ups, so an advanced search for posts from V7Goose and the key word "tire" should result in most of those discussions. As for the question of what tires are best, we will try to provide a few suggestions while recognizing that preference in tires is a very personal thing. In general, the vast majority of experienced Royal Star owners agree that the OEM Bridgestone tires are the absolute worst possible choice for this bike. The OEM Dunlop D404 is generally considered an acceptable but just average tire. The three most popular tires for the 2nd Gen Royal Stars are currently Avon Venom, Dunlop Elite3, and Michelin Commander. Any of these tires in stock sizes should provide you with an excellent handling bike and above average tire mileage. Q: Is it OK to mix brands of tires? A: Yes. While most tire manufactures state that they recommend you use only a matched front and rear tire from their specific brand for best handling, I do not believe any of them specifically prohibit mixing different brands or tread styles between front and rear. In addition, many many riders have chosen to change brands of tires when the rear wore out, but stay with the still good front tire without noting any ill effects. Q: Can I use radial motorcycle tires on my Royal Star? A: No. Both the tire manufacturers and the bike manufacturers say to only use radial tires on bikes that were specifically manufactured for use with radial tires. In addition, at this time there are no radial motorcycle tires available in the stock sizes for these bikes. Q: How long should my tires last? I see some posts where people claim to get over 20,000 miles on a rear tire - can this really be true? A: Now this is a REALLY controversial subject! In general it is VERY difficult to compare tire mileage between different riders, even when both are on the same bike and same tire. This is because even seemingly minor differences in riding style have a HUGE difference on tire life - the biggest factors being smoothness of throttle usage, amount of engine braking used, and differences between front and rear braking techniques. While it is certainly possible that some riders have achieved more than 20,000 miles on a rear tire with a Royal Star, this is VERY rare, and you should not count on it. But here is how you can predict with reasonable certainty what mileage you can expect from a particular tire by comparing it with others: If Joe says he gets only 8,000 miles on Tire "A", but 12,000 miles on Tire "B", you cannot necessarily expect the same mileage, but you CAN expect that you will get 1/3 more miles from tire "B" than you would get from tire "A", just like Joe did. For example, if you know you also only get 8,000 miles on tire "A", you can expect around 12,000 on tire "B", just like Joe. But if you have been getting 12,000 miles from tire "A", then you will probably get 16,000 from tire "B". Now with all that said, here are some average rear tire miles that we have seen reported over and over again from many riders on this site for some common tires (front tires generally last 1.5 - 2 times as long): OEM Bridgestone: 8,000 Dunlop D404: 10,000 - 12,000 Avon Venom: 14,000 Dunlop E3: 16,000 Michelin Commander: (need this info) Q: I am not happy with how long my tires last. Can I use a car tire? A: This is a question of intense debate and strong feelings on both sides. All tire manufacturers, motorcycle manufacturers, and many riders are emphatic in saying this should never be done. On the other hand, there are many riders on lots of different brands of bikes who chose to run a car tire and are just as emphatic that they believe their bikes handle acceptably with this modification. The arguments against using a car tire on a two-wheeled motorcycle range from "Your momma (or the manufacturers, other bikers, lawyers, etc.) said don't do it," physical incompatibility (15" car wheels are not the same dimension as 15" motorcycle wheels), it's dangerous and your bike will handle bad, and it gives your insurance company a legal ground to deny your claim in an accident. The arguments for using a car tire include they cost less, they last longer, a larger contact patch when traveling straight, better braking traction, and some people like (or are at least willing to accept) the way their bike handles with it. In an effort to reduce the arguments and animosity that can arise from a subject where the opinions are so strong, this forum has set up a special area specifically for this discussion, and we request that issues dealing with car tires installed on two-wheeled vehicles be kept here: [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=106]The Darksiders - VentureRider.Org[/ame] [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=106]The Darksiders - VentureRider.Org[/ame] -
I'm relatively new to the darkside (on this site) but with all of the concerns and opinions about ct's on a bike, I am curious as to how many ct failures have occurred compared to mt failures. I remember reading (here) about different tires falling apart, premature sidewall cracks etc. Just for conversation sake, how many ct failures have occurred by darksiders and how many mt failures have occurred with those that stay with motorcycle tires ??
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Hi guys. I'm reading that a 165/80 is the prefered size for our bikes. Is this because it is basically the same as the stock tire or will nothing wider fit? I like the unidirectional tread patters available on several 185/65 tires and it's only a 5% difference. Has anyone ever tried a 175 or 185? thanx
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Sometimes when going about 60 mph, I hear a high pitched sound coming from I-don't-know-where. If the bike is straight up, it goes away. If I lean slightly left or right, it's there, significantly louder than the wind and road noise. Doesn't seem to matter if I'm accelerating, decelerating or pull in the clutch and coasting. Since it only seems to happen at one small range of speed, gets much louder when at a slight angle, and doesn't seem to change with accel/decel, my guess is that it's the tires, but I thought I'd post here just in case it's something that needs to be addressed. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Do (Dunlop 404) tires whine at certain speeds?
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I am starting my projects today....lowering the rear, lowering the front, installing a HID Exnon headlight, removing the tape player for a storage box ( maybe the gauge set). raising the handlebars, having the seat reworked by Rick Bulter, installing a fake blinking alarm light when the bike is turned off, installing the front air shock 2 to 1 air value, filling tires with Ride-On......... Oil and tires are good.... is there something else I should do while on jacks. 2005, 8000miles . Already has passing light, XM radio, extra brake light, larger horns. Cb
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I'am planning on getting new elite 111 tires for my RSTD and was interested in getting opions of using the smaller front tire pros and cons What i was thinking was the 130/90-hb 16 for front 150/90 hb 15 rear Is this a good combination or would I be better to go with the 150/80 hb16 for the front Thanks Dale
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Hello to the Group, I'm looking at buying a couple of new tires off eBay. Is there a way of checking the age or Mfg. date of tires? I don't want new tires that have been in a stock pile for years:confused24:
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I'd like to start a thread about Black Friday sales, for bike related stuff that might interest riders here. I'll start it with a couple of deals I've seen. PEP Boys: - the Torin 1500 lb lift for $50 (after $20 rebate). It's normally $90-$100 there and at Northern Tools. Cycle Gear: - the Whistler 3300 Bluetooth headset for $99.99. Your can pre-order it now, and they'll ship it on Black Friday. - Scorpion EXO-400 Sting helmet for $69.95 - Battery Tender Jr. for $19.99 - on Cyber Monday (the 30th) is showing Dunlop 404 tires will be on sale. I know they aren't as good as Avons and others, but for those looking for inexpensive tires, this is an FYI.
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Every now and then I see someone mention about how to make your tires look good. Well, DO NOT use Armorall or anything resembling it, because that can cause major problems when leaning in a curve. Now, back in the OLD DAYS... We didn't have any of the fancy stuff they have now. What we used was 'sugar water'... Just mix a cup of sugar in a quart of warm water, stir ir until it disolves. Then take a rag and soak it with the water, ring it out slightly, and rub the tire with it. Your tire will look better than brand new after it dries. Now, I don't know how many bees it will attract, it depends on where you live....
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Oooh soon.. oh so soon.. I'll be moving into my new insulated 24x24 floor heated garage.. Someone had mentioned I shouldn't park the bike with the tires on the bare concrete floor as it may 'leech' the compounds out of the tires??? Once the builders have the mudding done on the drywall and the rest of the 20 amp services are connected, it's just a paint job and building a work bench to keep me busy this winter.. AHHHHHHHhhhh
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Screw the corporate overlords. If they will not take reponsibility for disintegrating tires, and my possible death, or the death of any rider, they can go to hell. Do car tires work on first gens? I'm ready. If someone starts a class action lawsuit, I'm all over it. -
weather was awesome. i took off on my nomad at 6am and got home at 3:30 pm i think i rode almost 350 miles. every time i headed for home i would make a wrong turn and head in another direction. i think i broke 25,000 mile again this season. i'm tired of riding this year, so now that the cold weather is moving in i'm going to limit my winter rides to about 75 mi. max. keeping up with tires on five bikes is getting expensive. almost succumed to the dark side, but just can't seem to go against the tire engineers. so i guess i will be hunting for tires for my nomad. just turned over 8000 mi. this morning and the rear is gettin in the danger zone. what a great day.
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I'm getting ready to buy a new front tire online for my 86 VR (120/90 18)...I've mostly used competition accessories but I thought this time I'd ask other members where they get their tires online and why... Thanks in advance -
Currently shopping around for tires and came across motorcycle-superstore's website and came across the best deal on Dunlop D404 (Rear and Front). - 150/90H-15 for $90.99 (Rear) and -150/80H-16 for $97.99 (Front). For both tires, it is free shipping. What do you guys think? Not sure if radial or bias, etc. I may go ahead and order these tires tomorrow, before Monday.
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Well, I decided to be the "test subject" for the new Shinko touring tires. My old Metzler 880's (which came on the bike when I bought it) were crappola. I've never seen a rear tire with such a "sawtooth" wear pattern. It's hard to describe, but I think you could use it as a large sawblade and cut paneling with it. The shop that changes my tires had never seen anything like it either. Rode ok in a straight line on smooth pavement, but curves weren't even fun anymore....bike vibrated like crazy with just a small amount of lean. Plenty of tread left but couldn't stand those tires anymore. Anyway, I had my shop order and install the new Tourmaster 230's. I've only got about 100 miles on them so far but will be putting a bunch of miles on this coming weekend on our Southern Indiana trip. Thus far I am impressed. Smooth....quiet....seem to grip well. And SO responsive. The bike seems to know which way I want to turn before I do....just a small input on the handlebar and the bike responds instantly. I didn't realize how much effort it took to turn with the old tires on it. Granted, any new tire will seem to be great when compared to ones like I was running. I will keep everyone posted on how these tires work out. At present you can order a set for the 2nd gens from Pinwall Cycle for $163 delivered anywhere in the USA. That's not a typo, $163 for BOTH front and rear.
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Looking for information/reviews on Continental Milestone tires. (Original post is in General Tech Talk folder.) Please click on link below to post reply, in order to keep replies in a single location. [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41260]Continental Milestone Tires - VentureRider.Org[/ame] Thanks, Phoenix -
Here is a heads up. I'm stripping down a decent running 83 XVZ12. Body is poor. Luggage not to bad if your going to paint. I AM KEEPING ALL PARTS THAT WILL WORK ON A 1986. Motor has 37K and a good 2nd gear. No idea if it has ever been repaired. I have a set of Dunlop Cruisemax tires (blackwall) with only 1000 miles on them. Let me know what you want. I want to sell stuff here before I try to Ebay. Listed in Classifieds
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Looking for folks' opinions on tires that they have found to perform well on wet roads. The OEM Bridgestone's were a bit greasy on the wet roads. When they wore out, I got Dunlop 404's. They have held well on the wet roads, however, the rear 404 is ready for replacement and only lasted for 7000 miles. Traction is more important to me than mileage, however, I would like something that would get me closer to 10,000 miles. As we all know, the concept of traction on dry roads is rubber contact and traction on wet roads is tread configuration. While the Avon Venom's and the Dunlop E3's look like great dry road traction tires, they seem to be a little short on tread configuration for wet roads. Your experiences with tires that performed well on wet roads is appreciated. Please provide both your traction opinion and service mileage. Thanks, Phoenix
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Just a little background.... I ran Car tires on my 2005 wing for 30000 miles or more and loved it.... So I had researched before buying the 2009 Venture. Heard a lot of folks on here talking about the Avon and Kumho so I decided I would "like" them on mine.....Not a chance.....Not only do I " like" this tire combo...I "Love" them. The ride is drastically greater. The handling is superb compared to the previous with the Bridgestone Bias tires. If you are on the fence about this .....Jump on board....JMHO
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I pulled in to the driveway Friday and felt the rear end wobble and within 50-75 feet I could tell I was getting a flat and stopped and checked to find the rear tire was flat. It's a new Dunlop Elite 3 with maybe 500 miles on it. I walked the mile down the driveway and got my portable air tank and went to the tire store and aired it up. Got my wife to follow me down the driveway and that was a good move. When I aired it up I could hear a big leak and felt around with my hand and found a nice stream of air in the center of the tread. I was only able to go about 1 minute before I could feel it getting loose again. I dind't want to ride it flat at all, so I aired it up and rode it and aired it up three more times to get back to my house. I have a gravel driveway and no place to jack it up safely, so I'll be trailering her down to Ken's Discount Tires in Woodstock Ga where I bought the tires. Kens is a mom and pop motorcycle tire store and besides being really nice, they seem to know their business. I've got an appointment Friday afternoon and they are recommending a tube be installed. I know I've read some who have plugged their tires and had no problems, and I've always chosen to have my AUTO tires removed from the wheel and patched on the inside. This is what I expected on the Venture. Do you think a tube is the way to go? I'm thinking he will patch the hole in addition to installing a tube. Maybe I could take it somewhere else and get it patched if that's a better repair. I just want to choose the best possible repair. Thanks! James
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I am looking around for new tires for my rsv and came across the avon corbra which is a radial tire . Has anybody used the avon cobra tires on there bike? My plan is to buy avon tires anyway but i was wondering if the radials were ok on a rsv. :confused:
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Decided to try out the Elite 3 and when I went to order at southwestmoto I got a cetificate problem eror with the web site. I over-road it the first time but then there was an eror and the order didn't go thru. Tried again but got nervous about the message about a fake site stealing identity so I tried to look up a number to call and since they decided not to take phone orders they don't list their number. Well I have ordered 3 sets of tires from them and know that squid always recomends them because of what they did for Charlie, but they just lost my buisness, sorrry. First off you can't contact them about a problem since they have changed owners, second their prices are a bit high even with free shipping on 2. I tried american motorcycle tires next and the order went thru at app.$239 with shipping compared to 248 at southwest. Then got a notice the the rear tire is backordered for 3-4 weeks, they let me cancel the order. Checked another site and the rear was out of stock. Then denniskirk who I have used a bit over the years and last I looked they scarred me with that $5 per tire charge. Well it turns out that is the shipping and still was cheaper than anyone else at $224 total and change for both tires.
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Hello to all; Purchased Avon Venoms last Sunday evening from SWMoto Tires (internetpurchase), had them in my hands here in NY on Tuesday 3:pm. Cannot say enough about that. Brought them to get mounted/balanced, and a few questions came up from my MotoMechanic. * No clearly marked spot on the tire for the approximate location for the valve stem to be placed(I think signifying the heavy point of the tire?)? * Could not seem to identify the date of manufacturing? (Generally, my mechanic seemed to be somewhat disillusioned about making a tire purchase via the internet. I am also aware that the local dudes do not get a chance to make a few dollars on the sale themselves.) These questions prompted me to make a couple of phone calls to SWMoto Tires. Here is what I just found out, maybe some or all knew this. South West Moto Tires is owned by Arizona Honda - Dealership. Their direct phone number is 1 800 892 2089. The fella I spoke with, his name was Eric. Very helpfull. I had him pull a couple of ties to see what the general date of manufacturing was from the lot of tires on the shelf. The dates he had on the shelf were from week:22 of year:08. I confirmed this information with my mechanic, same as the ones I received. Next question: Is this a normal amount of time which tires are in que before actual use? 2208 is June of 08 to now = 14 months old on the shelf.? Please advise if possible, share your story. Thanks very much for your time and input. It is always appreciated. Till next time, ride safe. If all else fails, look up...smile...and give thanks! Caio4Now. Ricardo.
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Hello all, I bought a new 09 RSV a few motnhs ago. I have put 6,000 miles on it and would like to impove upon the ride, so I have been reading your posts on the Elite 3's and the Avon Venum's. Can anyone tell me their experience with both tires, how they handle in the rain, and the overall performance as compared to the stock 404's?
