rear tyre

[ifm61]

anyone ran a Metzeler ME880 120/80-17 on their pride n' joy? just curious opinion wise... saw some new old stock ad and The Beast could probably do with an early xmas pressie!

[Jonesz]

Would never buy a NOS tire for my "pride and joy" . I try to buy the newest tire available when I go to the trouble to change them out. The DOT code is your guide. I see you are from Canada? Where are you shopping that offer NOS tires? Here is info on the DOT codes:

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/how ... your-tires

[ifm61]

yup, i hear that and its a great policy, but for $50... the ad was from a dealer in Kelowna

[5speed]

I have them on my 82 1100. The rear one I just put on near the end of riding season but the front one was on the bike when I bought it and I have no complaints.
How old is the tire?

[ifm61]

we never got that far on the deal as it turns out. i made an enquiry about the one mentioned above, but he got back to me to say he had one for the front instead?? smelled 'scam' and backed away...

[5speed]

good move. get your tires from fortnine..great service and prices.

[Sidecar Bob]

RE using NOS tires: It all depends on how old they are and how soon you expect to use them up. E.G. if they are 4 years old and you expect them to last one year that would be fine.

FWIW, for many years the Cheng Shin C-186 was my preferred front tire for winter use. After they were discontinued I bought NOS ones from my local Honda dealer for Eccles' front wheel, replacing them about every 1.5-2 years (the last one sooner because of checking). No, I wouldn't do that on 2 wheels and no, I wouldn't expect to leave an old tire on the bike as long as a new one but I when was wearing them out that fast it was safe and worked out cheap.

BTW: When they ran out of them I changed to using the same K270s on the front that I like on the rear. Now that I'm retired and driving it a lot less I will be replacing them because of age instead of wear so buying current stock makes a lot more sense.

[5speed]

the tires on my IROC are 16 years old.

[ifm61]

the rear tyre i've on at the moment is a Bridgestone dot 3610 (which i believe means June 3 2010) but theres only 40k+ kilometres on the ol' gal, so...

[Sidecar Bob]

See, that's why I recommend budget priced tires if you don't drive the bike a lot. No mater how good (or expensive) a tire was when it was new, 6 years later it just doesn't have enough grip for use on a 2 wheeled vehicle, particularly when leaned over on a cool, damp road. If you bought an expensive tire 6 years ago and and replacing it is going to be a significant investment you will be far more likely to say "I'll let it go another year because it still has lots of tread" but if it was an inexpensive one you would probably just replace it anyway, "just to be safe".

[5speed]

See, that's why I recommend budget priced tires if you don't drive the bike a lot. No mater how good (or expensive) a tire was when it was new, 6 years later it just doesn't have enough grip for use on a 2 wheeled vehicle, particularly when leaned over on a cool, damp road. If you bought an expensive tire 6 years ago and and replacing it is going to be a significant investment you will be far more likely to say "I'll let it go another year because it still has lots of tread" but if it was an inexpensive one you would probably just replace it anyway, "just to be safe".

hopefully no one cheaps out when it comes to bike tires. when the only thing connecting you to the road is a piece of rubber the side of a postage stamp..I want the best I can afford.
tires and brakes, don't scrimp..

[Sidecar Bob]

From my experience & what I've read on the forums, the difference between expensive tires and those made by Kenda, Shinko, Duro &c is that the less expensive ones wear out faster. If that is true, buying a less expensive tire that will wear out before it is too old to be safe makes sense.

[delling3]

From my experience & what I've read on the forums, the difference between expensive tires and those made by Kenda, Shinko, Duro &c is that the less expensive ones wear out faster. If that is true, buying a less expensive tire that will wear out before it is too old to be safe makes sense.

Well, first off, soft compound tires will wear far more quickly than a hard compound.Second, if you are riding a fully dressed Gold Wing two-up, loaded for touring, you are gonna wear out tires.

I suspect most budget and "touring" tires are a harder compound, as those customers may well value longevity over grip. "Sport-touring" tires generally are a compromise between longevity and grip. Sport tires favor grip over longevity.
I think "cheap tires" will tend to last longer, at the expense of handling. If you aren't dragging your pegs in the twisties, or ride in a cold wet climate, you will probably be happy with lower cost tires, which will likely have a harder rubber compound.

The low-cost suppliers (Shinko, Duro, Kenda, etc) all offer tires for a variety of applications. The same rules apply. It may be that someone like Shinko will bias towards life vs. grip a little bit more on a "sport tire" (for example) as compared to someone like Bridgestone, but you should still pick a tire based on it's use, regardless how much you want to spend.

[Sidecar Bob]

It depends on whether you buy cheap tires or inexpensive good tires. When I was driving bikes to work every day I went through a Kenda K270 every year on the rear of Eccles at somewhere around 10-12,000 Km. The guys on CURD tell me that is pretty good life for a rear on a sidecar outfit and it guaranteed that it would be replaced before it started to loose its grip.

When my 'Wing was a 2 wheeler I used Shinko Tour Masters for years until I ran into a bad batch and switched to Kendas. I don't tour much and in those days less than 20% of my riding was 2 up so I got pretty decent life out of them.

My best comparison between high priced and budget tires is on the rear of Mr.H. I splurged on an Avon SMII for it but it didn't last much longer than any inexpensive tire, it handled OK (not bad but nothing special) and it didn't grip terribly well in the wet. I replaced it with a Shinko E240 that cost about half as much, handles better, grips a LOT better and if tread wear measurements are any indication will end up being replaced because of age at higher mileage than the Avon was worn out at.

Anyway, I still maintain that if I was out in the rain on 2 wheels I would rather be on 2 year old Kendas or Shinkos than 6 year old Dunlops or Pirellis.

[ifm61]

thank you for your insights gents, good reading and notes duly taken. for curiousity sake though, how long can a tyre sit on a shelf before it's deemed unraodworthy - based on an appraisal that 6 yrs is too long from Sidecar Bob, not that i doubt his input. i'm sure there is bound to be a depreciation of the compound over the years, but is there any redoubtable scale out there to base that on?