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Sport Touring Tires in 2025

Mike95060

Mike95060

Work In Progress
Joined
Oct 16, 2002
Location
Santa Cruz
Moto(s)
2003 Aprilia Tuono
Name
Mike
Ok gang whats our favorite set of gums these days?

Bike: 2003 Aprilia Tuono
Tire size: 120/70 Front 180/55 Rear currently on old Pilot Power 2CT’s
Use Case: 50/50 mix of being slow in the usual Santa Cruz mountains and bay area twisties plus freeway slabbing to go places. I do want to take this bike to the city occasionally and even down to SoCal if the opportunity arises. Im not riding in the rain or wet unless it’s by accident. Dry grip and wear are a little more important to me than cold/wet performance.

What’s the hive mind suggest? I sure would like to get 7-8k miles out of a set but maybe that’s not realistic. IIRC back in the day 4k out of a set of Metzeler M2’s on my ZX6R was the best I could do. What are we looking at these days?

MCN review

Is this the premium “best of” price point?

Edit, I meant to post this in general. Oops. Can I get a mod to move it please?
 
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Personally I'm fond of Bridgestone Battlax T33's, I tend to average 8k on the rear and about 10 k for the front. I commute year-round and for their price point I enjoy them.

I tried the Michelin Pilot Road and I felt they wore quicker.

To reach their own!
 
My next set of tires on my RG will be the Metzler CruiseTecs. I've heard a lot of good things about them. I always liked Pirelli SuperCorsas for my sport bikes. I had Dunlops on my 2018 Goldwing. bagger and Battlax's on my K1600B and both were fine. Lots of good choices out there.
 
My favorites at this time are the Michelin Road 6. They seem to have a much longer wear life, and really decent grip compared to Shinkos, Metzler Tourances, Trailmax...
Pricier than others, but the mileage and confidence may make up for it.
 
Arminius said:
I always liked Pirelli SuperCorsas for my sport bikes.
Click to expand...
As do I, but they certainly do not meet Mike's goal for mileage.

So in otherwords Mike... I got nothing!
 
ucmgrad said:
Personally I'm fond of Bridgestone Battlax T33's, I tend to average 8k on the rear and about 10 k for the front. I commute year-round and for their price point I enjoy them.

I tried the Michelin Pilot Road and I felt they wore quicker.

To reach their own!
Click to expand...
^^^This^^^
End thread. :laughing
 
My go-to sport touring tires are Angel ST. They were good enough when released in 2009, and they're still more than good enough now at a good price point. I've tried Bridgestone T32/T33 and Dunlop Roadsmarts but didn't feel they were that different. Tried a Michelin Road 4; didn't think it was worth the extra money, especially the mileage wasn't any better.
 
I love me some Michelin Roads, regardless of the generation, but they're just about the most expensive street tires you can buy. I've dallied with Continental's ST tires, and been very happy with them as well. They maybe don't have quite the wet grip the Michelins do, but otherwise they're pretty damned stellar, and they're cheaper than the Michelins.
 
Just for data’s sake, I can report that the highest mileage tires at the shop seem to come from Roadsmarts and Angel GTs. But keep in mind I don’t seem to install any T32/33 or any Metzelers and not many Road6. I can report that most people like the Road6 much, much better than the 4/5.
 
Unless one is droning commutes most of the time, mileage doesn't come up for consideration for me. I want grip in turns, everything else comes after. That said, I've always had high powered bikes so- no matter what- the rear's wearing at about 2x the front. Darkies start just before turn exits- forever!
 
NorCalBusa said:
Unless one is droning commutes most of the time, mileage doesn't come up for consideration for me. I want grip in turns, everything else comes after. That said, I've always had high powered bikes so- no matter what- the rear's wearing at about 2x the front. Darkies start just before turn exits- forever!
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If cost were no factor and I wanted to ride like I did in my 20’s, this would be my battle cry too :laughing Im trying to be realistic about my current skill set. I bought a beast of a bike and had better respect that right hand giggle dial. I want a sticky set of gums that won’t square off too quickly while I build up my skillet and confidence on a mix of slabbing it and playing in the hills. The input is much appreciated guys.

Im leaning towards the Angels at the moment.
 
I can promise you that current ST tires can take any level of sport you can manage on the street, and in fact, will be better in most real-world situations than pure sport tires (especially track-oriented tires) will be. ST tires will work at more realistic temperatures than supersport tires will, warm up more quickly and have a lot more grip at less than optimal temperature.
 
^^^^ This is the answer ^^^^
 
Tally Whacker said:
I can promise you that current ST tires can take any level of sport you can manage on the street, and in fact, will be better in most real-world situations than pure sport tires (especially track-oriented tires) will be. ST tires will work at more realistic temperatures than supersport tires will, warm up more quickly and have a lot more grip at less than optimal temperature.
Click to expand...
Do we trust buying tires from wally world? I wish these had a date code on them. Im only seeing Angel GT’s from places like cycle gear or revzilla. I think the GT is just an update ST no?

The price is right. Im just a little skeptical buying from walmart
 
Tally Whacker said:
I can promise you that current ST tires can take any level of sport you can manage on the street, and in fact, will be better in most real-world situations than pure sport tires (especially track-oriented tires) will be. ST tires will work at more realistic temperatures than supersport tires will, warm up more quickly and have a lot more grip at less than optimal temperature.
Click to expand...
Just to be clear, Im not arguing in favor of full blown sport tires. Agree totally that a sport touring tire fits my needs here.

The specifics in question are Pirelli Angel ST vs Pirelli Angel GT. As far as I can tell, the ST got updated and renamed a GT. I don’t see the ST model anywhere online except Walmart or Ebay. Im never buying anything from ebay if i can help it. Walmart? Maybe but im skeptical and concerned they might be like 5 years old already. :Port

Edit: a set of Angel GT’s from revzilla would be $385

A set of Angel ST’s from walmart are $260

Think that $125 difference is worth it?
 
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I installed an Angle GT on the rear once and didn’t seem like it was ever going to wear out so I replaced it with Diablo Rosso III which I’ve been using front and rear on both bikes ever since and get good mileage out of.
Although the little amount I ride every year I should probably just go with the Supercorsa’s
 
Mike95060 said:
Just to be clear, Im not arguing in favor of full blown sport tires. Agree totally that a sport touring tire fits my needs here.

The specifics in question are Pirelli Angel ST vs Pirelli Angel GT. As far as I can tell, the ST got updated and renamed a GT. I don’t see the ST model anywhere online except Walmart or Ebay. Im never buying anything from ebay if i can help it. Walmart? Maybe but im skeptical and concerned they might be like 5 years old already. :Port

Edit: a set of Angel GT’s from revzilla would be $385

A set of Angel ST’s from walmart are $260

Think that $125 difference is worth it?
Click to expand...

No ST from Pirelli for a long while. If you’re buying them from Wal-Mart, I hope you’re putting them on yourself. I won’t rant about customer supplied parts :)

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