Bimota Forum

[welshlamb]

Further to the 'wheel weights' thread here is a start on an associated tyre comparison.

Below are a range of sport/touring and sports tyres suitable for DB2.
Front 120/70 ZR 17 M/C (58W)
Rear 180/55 ZR 17 M/C (73W)


Comments so far

1) Weights: I couldn't find this info anywhere even in manufacturers Tech Manuals. ( and I could only find that for Metzler so far!) I will try and find a support contact at each manufactureer and ask them.

Interestingly I did find a short thread on a Ducati forum which said that even for supposedly comparable tyres that there was a big difference between makes/variants and also that on-the-shelf weights varied from the specs and from each other (this sounds like a minefield!!)


2) Pricing: generally the newer sporty variants cost more and if you're prepared to have 5 year old variants then they can be a lot cheaper.. Of course the tyre is also older so depends on how/where stored I guess.

I was also wondering if at a time when I guess bike tyre sales are very low if there were any bargains on offer? All these prices came from Pneus Online website (I have found them giving consistently good deals in the past) Prices are given as Front, Rear and Total (sorry I can't get the figures to line up!)

The pricing that stood out was the Metzler M5 Sportec, which along with the Diablo Rosso II was the only sub £200 pairing.


3) Performance: All of these are probably vastly superior to OE fitments 'in the day' so on paper I'd be happy fitting any of them.

I'd be interested in comments from the forum members and of their experience of any of the featured tyres in an effort to choose something for my rebuild.




Bridgestone Battlax S22 (sport) £103.00 £132.00 £235.00
Battlax T31 (touring/sport) £95.00 £128.00 £223.00

Michelin Power 5 £102.00 £132.00 £234.00
Road 5 £104.00 £137.00 £241.00
Pilot road 4 £89.00 £131.00 £220.00

Pirelli Diablo Rosso III £106.00 £132.00 £238.00
Diablo Rosso II £86.00 £104.00 £190.00
Diablo Rosso Corsa II £116.00 £146.00 £262.00

Metzler Sportec M5 interact £74.00 £95.00 £169.00

Continental Sport attack 4 £114.00 £142.00 £256.00
Road attack 3 £113.00 £140.00 £253.00
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Not as many bikes as I would like and already too many to keep up with!

[Bud977]

Unless you're doing track days, I reckon it makes little difference to what tyres you fit to your road bike. There are no shit tyres. Fit whatever is readily available and good value. Or ones you like the look of.

I have fresh slicks or SuperCorsas on my race bikes, but anything round and black will do on my road bikes.

[Bud977]

I just looked at what I recently fitted to my FZ1. Mitas Touring Force. lol. Never heard of them before. My tyre supplier said it was a good tyre, it was cheap and it does a fine job two-up in the windies near my house. I'd even do a track day on it.

[brian]

I tend to agree with Bud. For the kind of riding that the constabulary will allow you to do on the streets, pretty much any tyre will suffice. On my road bikes I tend to go for something that looks good . Sticky rubber is nice on the race track though.

In saying that, I think this will be an interesting thread if you do end up getting some tyre weights etc. I wouldn’t have thought there would be much difference in weight between similar size and similar construction tyres, but maybe there is?
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'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851

[djk]

I have done a lot of road riding and about 7 years racing on smaller cc bikes(RGV250's, RVF400 and a few SV650's) and no matter what riding i have done i always put the best tyres on that i can get. I may not get the best mileage out of them but i have confidence in them. When the contact patch on the road is credit card sized having confidence in the tyres means a lot to me. I used to use Pirelli/Metzeler depending what was on special but now am using Bridgestone more.

In saying this i also couriered in London for four years on various bikes(CX500, CB500, Bros 400 and a GT550) and these were nearly always hire bikes and the rubber that they put on was normally cheap and cheerful and i never had a crash due to the tyres that these bikes had and i wasn't a slow rider either.

So my two cents is put on whatever you feel comfortable with and that works for you.

[welshlamb]

Have contacted Pirelli, will have to find the contact details or the others!
No hurry o this one.
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Not as many bikes as I would like and already too many to keep up with!

[2bims]

[glened]

I would echo 2bims on this one, had Pireli Diablo's and I would no longer give them house room, as the name implies they are a "Devil" in the wet and cold, as there is not enough tread pattern to generate heat in the tyre.
I have now fitted Michelin road 5's and are very pleased with the performance both in the dry but especially in the wet. A couple of years ago we went to Spain for our biking holiday, stayed in Pamplona. We went for a ride into the Pyrenees and over to France and on the way back it rained! The bike was shod with Pirreli Diablo Super Corsa's, the back end had multiple slides and then the front end joined the party, to add insult to injury I then became the target for GS riders who where with us, the shame of it being hunted down by a GS!! After a short it stopped raining the roads dried up and temperature returned to the tyre and the GS was dealt with. The Pirelli tyre's were history after that.
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Bimota DB10, Suzuki TS250, Kawasaki Z1A, T120 Trton, AJS650, KTM690 Duke

[welshlamb]

I have Michelin Road 5s on my Triumph Explorer (replacing the Pilot Road 4s previously fitted) and they inspire confidence thats for sure. Just waiting for weights back from Bridgestone and continental and then Ill post up the findings!
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Not as many bikes as I would like and already too many to keep up with!

[vort28]

Seem to remember last year that Michelin were advertising their road 5's as the lightest tyre in the class , can't remember the weights though.

[welshlamb]

Time will tell . Interestingly the front tyre weights for Michelin Power and Michelin Road 5 are the same but for the the rears the Power is a good half kilo less. A bit less mileage but not really the issue on most Bims! Still waiting for he laggards to respond.

BTW I sent the email enquiry to Metzler/Pirelli (effectively same sales and mktg staff as all part of same group and Pirelli bike tyres al produced in Germany)..... I got a reply with weights for 3 tyre types in 2 minutes. Fastest customer support response I’ve ever got!
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Not as many bikes as I would like and already too many to keep up with!

[vort28]

[Jaguar]

I am also in the camp of "there really isnt much performance between them"

There is no way that I am pushing hard enough, or a good enough rider for the tires to be what is holding me back.

I went with Michelin Power RS for everything in the garage.
SB6R
Ducati 1000SS
Ducati Monster S4

The tire looks good, is cheapish, lasts for ever and performs well.

[welshlamb]

Heres the data I can get as of now.

Continental didn't reply and the Bridgestone data I took from resellers adverts as Bridgestone UK seem to be absent as well.

Tyre weights are very similar across the board, with only the Power 5 combo getting in under 10kg.

Ineterestingly the Pilot 2 tyres I took off weighed 8.8kg so presumably about 1.5kg of rubber been left on roads somwhere.

Also a standard Oscam rear (5.5") with its tyre, cush and sprocket and brake disc weighs in about 15.5kg, with the wheel less cush drive weighing 7.2kg Going to a lightweight rear wheel would shave maybe 3kg from that (ie about (40% lighter than the Oscam) but the overall change in the rear rotating mass is 'only' down by about 20%. The tyre is clearly the biggest factor in the overall weight of a wheel assembly, although at the front the twin discs will also have a significant effect.

Depite that, the general consensus says that light wheels make handling quicker and also aid acceleration and braking due to a lower moment of inertia (maybe need a data logger to verify that!).

When I build my wheels back up I'll note all the individiual weights and see what the figures say. (as motorcycle tyres are hand made I am sure there are notable variances in 'actual' weights over a production run compared to the published specs?

Food for thought anyway.

And the Metzlers look a steal!!
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Not as many bikes as I would like and already too many to keep up with!

[bimotanige]

Yes Bridgestones for me - footpegs and toe ends limit the cornering lean until they are "reduced" on all but my Vdue.

I tend to go for grip thn mileage , as you say most Bimota tyres will probably last a few years mileage anyway !! [/quote]
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KB1x2, SB3 SB4 BB1 DB2 Vdue Evo YB11 RB1 Ducati MHR Suzi GS650