• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Good ST tire?

LS1Bandit

LS1Bandit

Nautiboy
Joined
May 31, 2006
Location
Pacifica, CA
Moto(s)
'03 SV650
Name
Dave
Well, it's been at least 2-3 days without a tire thread, so I figure it's about time.

It's time yet again to shod the ole steed. The last 54,000 miles have been exclusively with Diablo Stradas, and I've been quite happy with them so I'm tempted to say "If it ain't broke don't fix it." But at this point the Stradas are getting to be "old technology" and I'm wondering what new and cool stuff might be out there that I could be missing out on.

The facts: SV650 (if it isn't obvious from my avatar), high mileage (>20K per year), mix of commuting, twisties (often the twisties are part of the commute), goat trails, and I ride rain-or-shine.

Last time I was at Supertireguy's he was saying I might look at the new(ish) Bridgestone 3 compound tire. I forget which model he said, but looking at the bridgestone site it sounds like probably the BT-016. However that seems like more toward the high-grip/lower-mileage side of the spectrum. I'd like to get at least what I've been getting out of my Stradas (typically about 7K rear 10K front, sometimes less, sometimes more, but that's about average).

Another obvious candidate is the Pilot Road2. I suspect that one is slightly less grippy than the Strada, but with more mileage. Not sure though.

I know it's pretty hard to go too far wrong with ST tires nowadays, which is part of the reason I've just stuck with the Stradas for so long. But every now and then I think maybe I should at least try something else ....

Thoughts?
 
Dunlop Roadsmart... Conti Road Attacks...

Or the nice combo of Sport Attack front, and Road Attack rear.
 
The Z6 and Avon Storm are both too "close" to the Stradas. I'd rather stay with my tried-and-true.

The BT-021s might be a possibility.
 
I was impressed with the Dunlop Roadsmarts after dumping the Qualifers. Center wore real well and still plenty of stick. Had good luck with Metzlers too.
 
LS1Bandit said:
The Z6 and Avon Storm are both too "close" to the Stradas. I'd rather stay with my tried-and-true.

The BT-021s might be a possibility.
Click to expand...

Agreed, the Z6 and the Storms are both long-standing tires.

I've change brands every time I wear out a set of tires. I've tried Avon Storms, Michelin Pilot Road 2s, Dunlop Roadsmarts, and Metzler Z6s. The Avon Storm STs have been my favorite set of sport touring tires so far, but every set of tires I've tried has been quite good.

The Z6 and Pilot Road 2s were reliable, but a bit boring (the Z6 especially.) The Dunlop Roadsmarts felt like riding on a set of qualifiers. The Storm was sharp, long lasting, and reliable. I liked the feedback they gave me.

Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with any set of tires, and the experience gained by trying new things is invaluable.

I'm currently on my second set of M3s - a friend gave me a like-new front for free, so it made sense to purchase a rear.
 
I ran a set of Roadsmarts. Got about 8k miles out of the rear and it felt pretty good. Then I stuck a set of BT016s on there and realized how terrible the Roadsmarts were. But the BT016s only gave me half the life of the Roadsmart.

I read some reviews on the BT021s that said they feel really good, except the front tire. So I kept the BT016 front and put on a BT021 rear. It feels exactly the same as if I still had the BT016 rear, and I should get more mileage.

On the Pilot Road 2s, I've only met one guy (out of 20) who didn't like them. And they're the highest mileage ST tire I've ever heard of. People frequently get over 10,000 miles on a rear.
 
I run an old race pirelli up front and a 160 STRADA out back on my street SV. This is a delightful setup with no grip compromises. The strada out back gives a good amount of mileage. I love stradas!
 
TheRiddler said:
On the Pilot Road 2s, I've only met one guy (out of 20) who didn't like them. And they're the highest mileage ST tire I've ever heard of. People frequently get over 10,000 miles on a rear.
Click to expand...

I got 6000 miles out of a set of Pilot Road 2s, and 7000 miles out of the Avon Storm STs. However, at the time I was commuting 110 miles a day, most of which was in the mountains. For that commute, dual compound tires sucked. The sides would wear out far faster than the center of the tire, ruining the tire's profile. Because the sides wore out before the center, the harder compounds didn't offer any improvement in tire life.

Frankly, I'm not entirely sold on the idea of multi-compound tires.
 
Burning1 said:
I got 6000 miles out of a set of Pilot Road 2s, and 7000 miles out of the Avon Storm STs. However, at the time I was commuting 110 miles a day, most of which was in the mountains. For that commute, dual compound tires sucked. The sides would wear out far faster than the center of the tire, ruining the tire's profile. Because the sides wore out before the center, the harder compounds didn't offer any improvement in tire life.

Frankly, I'm not entirely sold on the idea of multi-compound tires.
Click to expand...

You're lucky enough to commute through twisties. For the rest of us who spend 90% of our time on the super slab, multi-compound tires are a godsend. For me, they drastically reduce how quickly the tire gets squared off.
 
TheRiddler said:
You're lucky enough to commute through twisties. For the rest of us who spend 90% of our time on the super slab, multi-compound tires are a godsend. For me, they drastically reduce how quickly the tire gets squared off.
Click to expand...

I was lucky. Now I live in Fremont. :laughing

What pressures were you running, and what bike? I wore out the center of my last Z6, and while the profile did start to flatten out, but I never to the point of having the square profile I see on some moto-commuter tires.
 
Conti Road Attacks have been working great for me. I used them on my FZ6 and now my Sprint 1050. They been lasting around 8000+ miles. Compacc has them on sale for $259 a set and free shipping.
 
Burning1 said:
I was lucky. Now I live in Fremont. :laughing

What pressures were you running, and what bike? I wore out the center of my last Z6, and while the profile did start to flatten out, but I never to the point of having the square profile I see on some moto-commuter tires.
Click to expand...

CBRF3, 36/38 on the Roadsmart as well as the BT016 for commuting, 30/32 for backroads. I'd do 300 miles freeway/100 miles twisties a week. Roadsmart didn't square much, nor did the BT016. What little squaring there was could be seen, but I never felt it.

(Just put the BT021 on the rear last week)
 
Cycle Gear has a tire sale going on right now, so get a set (or two) and save some dough.

Our highest-rated (based on customer reviews) sport-touring tires are:

BRIDGESTONE BT016 - 5 Stars
DUNLOP Roadsmart - 4.5 Stars
METZELER Roadtec Z6 - 5 Stars
MICHELIN Pilot Road 2 - 5 Stars

Check 'em out: http://www.cyclegear.com/productlist.cfm?L1=5000&L2=10&L3=155

BTW, no reviews on the Avons yet. :x
 
Last edited:
I like the Pirelli Diablo Strada tires better than Bridgestone BT-020 or BT-021. I consider them about the same as Avon Azaro and Storm except that they cost less.

I plan to buy more Pirellis when my current set is worn out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top