Triumphrat

Saleen · 06-23-2012, 01:12 PM

Took the bike out this morning and road for an hour on some local twisties to scrub in the new tires. (stock sizes)...

great tire, compliant ride and handles very well. I am going on a North Georgia mountain ride tomorrow and will have more to say, but a huge difference over the stock tires. the stockers were flat spotted and cupping at only 3K... could of been from previous owner riding a lot of straight roads or from pressure neglect or a combination.

It always felt like i was going to fall over when heading in to a turn. while i never had a slip, and the stockers did grip well, it was a little feaky!

Blue UT6 · 06-23-2012, 01:29 PM

I'm interested to hear this. I currently have 2200 miles on my stock Merzlers and I have to be careful how I enter a turn because the bike has pushed the front tire a couple of times.

LittleJoe · 06-24-2012, 06:12 PM

I'm convinced that the Sport Demons are the best tire for our mag wheeled bonnies. I am on second set of SD's and am way more happy with the ride and wear of the tires.

DarkHade · 06-24-2012, 06:58 PM

I changed my Mag bonnie tires to SD. I like them a lot more then the stock tires. they have good grip but not sure how they will wear. LittleJoe what milage did you get out of your first set?

Saleen · 06-25-2012, 08:23 AM

Well, we had about a 6 hour ride yesterday. These tires are fantastic. I took her up to 90 and the bike was rock solid!

Now, it's not fair for me to bash the stock Meztelers, because like i said they were not right when i got the bike. But, i will tell you these tires feel a lot more compliant...The Metzelers compound seemed to be a lot harder than the SD's...I think someone here called them "rocks"...The SD's simply make the bike ride like it should, especially with the suspension work I did.

I will watch how they wear and report back periodically. I am the type that really doesn't care about mileage that much! If they last
6K, i will be happy. The most important factors for me are grip, ride and the confidence that theses tires give.

Now, if Pirelli made the Angels in our size, I would give those a try, but for right now, the SD's are wonderful!

aejotz · 06-25-2012, 08:46 AM

Demons are great on clean, smooth, dry, good pavement. They slide on anything else. And they showed wear almost immediately.

I switched to Tourance because I like not-so-good back roads. So far, they resist sliding on anything. And after several months I still don't see any wear.

If I was going to ride on a track I'd prefer Demons. On unpredictable back-roads I prefer Tourance.

Saleen · 06-25-2012, 10:36 AM

You really can't compare tires on a T100 to a Mag wheel. You can get an overall impression, but they are two different bikes!

We hit plenty of rough roads and they gripped very well.

i really only ride on clean, dry, smooth, good pavement??

Don't know what anything else means? Unless your backroads are packed gravel?? LOL

Or rain, in which I really don't care to ride in...

LittleJoe · 06-25-2012, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkHade

I changed my Mag bonnie tires to SD. I like them a lot more then the stock tires. they have good grip but not sure how they will wear. LittleJoe what milage did you get out of your first set?

I got about 8K out of the rear and 10K out of the front. I ride somewhat aggressively by myself and much more reserved when I have the wife and luggage on the bike. My riding is probably split 50/50 that way.

I also really liked the wear pattern better. Unlike the Metzelers, which squared off quite drastically, the SD kept a more round profile as they wore.

I agree with Saleen on the feel of the tire and its damping characteristics, it feels much better with with suspension and chassis.

As far as the SD only working on smooth, dry pavement, I can't say I would agree with that at all. I ride in all conditions from 15-degree frosty mornings, though rain, on hard pack gravel and packed sand and never noticed an unacceptable amount of sliding. Horses for courses.

aejotz · 06-25-2012, 07:55 PM

In answer to Saleen: Some of the backroads ARE packed gravel. And while most of the the roads around here are well-paved, every uphill gravel driveway spews rock all over the road during rainstorms. And sand. And vehicles entering and leaving the road from farms and construction sites leave mud on the road. And vehicles drop branches and grass clippings. And the trees hanging over the road drop leaves and branches on the road. I live in the country, not the suburbs. There's no street sweepers out here.

Demons are great in town but out here they slide around too much.

Saleen · 06-25-2012, 09:34 PM

If it's that bad where you are, I would consider another bike entirely...

I don't think one can expect a tire like an SD to perform in those conditions, let a lone on a street gike...

Tiger? GS?

Or, at the very least some type of good dual sport tire..I have used Kenda 760's with great results both on and off pavement on my little ds yamaha