Tires for an 01 RS

OK I need some helpful hints. I am looking for new tires for my 01 RS. I currently have the Road pilots on now. I am looking for a tire to get a little more milage out of them, these lasted about 5k. The trick is money is a little tight right now. Any Suggestions? :???:

[vdlcinc]

Actually 5000 is not bad mileage, I know a lot of folks that are real happy when they get around 3K.

I do a lot of commuting, so I tried a lot of different tires to try to find the right balance between grip and mileage... I have finally settled on the Avon Azaro 45/46. I typically get between 6000 and 7000 miles on them. They are very good in the rain, and adequately provide the grip that I need for the occasional weekend twisties... although I am not a very aggressive rider as my chicken strips will attest to.

I don't know what was different, but I just changed my rear tire this past Saturday and it had 9K miles on it. Weird thing is that there wasn't any cord showing, but I definitley squeezed every bit of tread out of it. I don't think I did anything different with the tire pressure or how I rode... or if I did, it was unintentional. Perhaps I logged the mileage incorrectly, but I seriously doubt that... we'll see if it happens again.

[stevecro]

my tyre dealer told me to expect to get only 80% of the miles on my Pilots compared with my old Bridgestone 020s.
By extrapolation you could expect 6,000 from them if you want to sacrifice some road manners. But you may be able to negitiate a better deal with them.

[cyclebob]

I nsuggest you try conti road attacks. If you were ok w/ the pilot roads, you'll love the Conti's, as well as save money. I paid $200.00 U.S. delivered for the pair. Best luck. (I also recommend Ride-On, a sealer/balancer, that extends tire life)

[DrTriumph]

I replaced my original Bridgestone B 020's at 8000 km. I probably had another 2000km to go on them but I was headed on a 3100km trip a few weeks back. That works out to 6000miles on the originals. I am sure I will get more out of the new set because I have settled down quite a bit on the throttle on take offs. I had lots of fun with hard fast starts for a few thousand Kim's. I have friends that routinely get 12000km out of a B 020. They ride hard on sport bikes. They just seem to suit the roads and conditions around here.

Dr. Triumph

[Stlakid]

The BEST change I made to my bike was to wear out the stock 020's and replace them with Avon Azaro 45/46! I got 10k out of the stockers so no complaints on their life. As far as kudos that's where the list ends! The front tire cupped BEFORE 40% worn and the handling always seemed vague to me. I just figured it was me as I had been off bikes for about 5 years and my last bike was a 1981 900F Honda.....not exactly up to what is available now, but solid and 65-70 MPG! (honest)

To say the handling improved with the Avon's is an understatement! It totally transformed the bike! This bike should (IMHO) NEVER be shod with the 020's! They suck that bad! Maybe the other models are better (010,012,014, etc) but the 020's are only good for a straight slab run!
I actually got better mileage out of the Avon's as well! I know I was riding the bike harder, because I could, I still got 10.5K out of them and the rear still had a couple of thousand left on it! I guess I was using the brakes to much! :???: Even so they NEVER cupped and the handling did not 'go away' half way through their life. The rear tire did not square until it was easily 80% worn.

I now have some low end tires (Shinko 009's) to run to see if they are any good. (they were a bargain!) I must admit that I am quite satisfied with the new selection and would buy them again over the 020's any day. But since you are already on premium rubber I won't recommend them to you at this point.
The Avon's however are the best bang for your buck in a tire that WILL work on a sportbike and still give you AMAZING life and HANDLING at the same time.

Sorry, I do tend to ramble on! :-D

Best place to buy

The above link is where I bought my Avon's and they give FREE SHIPPING for buying two tires! Who doesn't!? The current price is about $234.00 for the pair to your door. The shipping is FAST in CA,AZ,NV with an overnight company they use and customer service is excellent as one of the tires they sent was labeled wrong and they had the new tire to me before they even picked up the old one!

You can pick up the Continental Road Attacks for about $10.00 less there too. I've heard nothing but good about them and was going to give them a try until my wallet got the best of me! :-D

[ This message was edited by: Stlakid on 2006-05-31 15:59 ]

[steventhechef]

I ended up with BT 014's after my 020's wore thin. They have worn well to date and the price was reasonable.

Stlakid > I had thought of the Road Attacks for my next set of rubber to be honest.

Maybe sport attack's on the front and road attack's on the back - even wear with different compounds!!.

That way there is very sticky tyre on the front but still a sticky tyre on the back.. That way I could replace the 2 tyres at the same time as opposed to 1 front to 2 rears.

Any thoughts from my learned colleagues?

[jefftarlton]

I got 5k front/6K rear from the OEM Bridgestones. I'm hard on tires.
The Metzeler ME880 lasts much longer. I have gotten 15K from a front, but 11K from the next one. 11K from the last two rears.
They don't have unlimited bite. When the peg feelers touch they are just about to let go. They take a few miles to warm up. They never get warm in the wet. You'll have to use a 170/60 on the rear.
I did a track day on them last weekend.
I don't have the money to replace tires every 3K either. I'm going to keep using them for now.

Ok, thanks for all the tips everyone. I need to order them quicker than I thought, found a screw in the tire last night.
I'll try and let everyone know what I go with. Right now I think it's a toss up between the conti road attacks and the Avons.
Thanks again everyone!

[sprintrsdawg]

I switched to the Conti Road Attacks after running the Michelin Pilot Roads for a few sets on my 01 RS, and I will continue to run the Conti's. I use my bike for sport riding and touring, and the Conti's provide the right mix of grip and longevity. The rear tread is deep--comparable to the Avons, which helps life.

Both my front and rear were done after 6k miles of hard, mixed riding, including a highway trip from Wyoming to Pennsylvania and lots of spirited riding in Colorado and West Virginia.

I got my tires cheap, too, paying $390 for two sets (this included shipping).

Good luck with your search.