Sport Touring Tire Showdown - Poll

Sport touring tire of choice

  • Avon Storm 2 Ultra

    Votes: 3 3.3%

  • Bridgestone BT023

    Votes: 9 9.9%

  • Continental Road Attack 2

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Dunlop Roadsmart II

    Votes: 10 11.0%

  • Metzeler Roadtec Z6

    Votes: 3 3.3%

  • Metzeler Roadtec Z8

    Votes: 6 6.6%

  • Michelin Pilot Road 2

    Votes: 18 19.8%

  • Michelin Pilot Road 3

    Votes: 39 42.9%

  • Pirelli Angel ST

    Votes: 3 3.3%

  • Pirelli Angel GT

    Votes: 8 8.8%
  • Total voters
    91
DemonPig

DemonPig

Do not cast your pearls before swine
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I'm trying to pick a new tire for my VFR800. It's on the heavier side and I'm just over 200lbs myself so need something solid. I know some tires are designed for light bikes and some for pigs.

I don't really commute on this bike so it does see a lot of side roads and twisties, even gravel at times but also a fair amount of hwy and city. Sometimes get stuck in the rain so wet traction is important. I would also prefer a long lasting tire. I've read a lot of reviews online but I'm wondering if you guys have some personal experiences or major disqualifying points about any of these tires listed.

I've omitted economy tires like Shinko Raven or Contimotion because even though they are half decent they are exactly what you pay for and I don't mind spending the extra cash for a top of the line product. Price wise, the tires listed are from ~ $270-$350 a set (Pete's pricing, without taxes or shipping).
 
I have Dunlop Roadsmart 2's on mine, absolutely amazing through every condition. Heavy rain, twistys, gravel, etc. Love em :)
 
Angel STs for me. I got home safely during the two storms this year with them on =D
 
I just bought a set of Michelin Anakee 3's from Pete's and they get excellent reviews for wet weather grip and long life. I have yet to use them and they just came out this year. I'm not sure if they fit your bike, but they are replacing my Meztler Tourances - both these tires are fine for gravel.
http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/michelin-anakee-3-tires
 
I had Angel ST - liked them, currently on Angel GT, so far so good. Didn't care for the Metzler Z6, not as sticky and got greasy in high heat.
 
Love my PR3s. Will be my next set when I wear the current ones out.
Wicked wet traction, predictable, getting good miles out of them too.
 
Unless you are riding right to the edge of your tire a Shinko Raven is plenty good enough on the street (and a long sight better than dual sport rubber!), and damn good in the rain. But it's your money.

Just go with PR3's and call it a day.
 
Ive had 6 of the tires you listed, also heavy 500lb+ bike and 200 myself. Roadsmart 2's have to be my favorite so far, followed closely by the pr2's. The 023's come in a GT series for heavier bikes but still doesn't change the fact they suck in the rain and cold pavement lol.
 
I like the 023 the best. It isn't quite as good in the wet as the Michelins or the Conti, but on dry asphalt, there isn't a sport touring tire stickier. Because I like to ride like a moron sometimes, I prefer to have the grippiest dry tire. That's not to say they were bad in the rain, but the Michelins I had before them were better for sure in the wet. The Conti was fantastic, and handles awesome. Made the bike feel like it lost 75 lbs....very light footed, but wore out too soon. Rear was toast in 10,000 kms, and front was almost as bad.
My current set of 023's have 15,000 kms on them. Rear is at 30-40% left, and front is 60-70%left......they wear like iron, and grip like a hypersport tire.
 
For what it's worth, I really like the Z8's that I'm running now. The PR3's I had lasted about 4-5k km less than the two sets of PR2's before them.

My general belief is you can't go wrong with any of the top tier sport touring tires, just go with whatever is cheapest. The Z8's were about $260 before shipping and tax from Pete's
 
bt 23 are awesome. 1 set lasted me the whole year and i hammered corners hard. this year i have run bt 003, bt 16, supercorsas, and now rosso 2. been a lot of tires this year.

i'll see how the rosso 2 hold up.
 
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Agree that all these tires are very good.
I love my Avon Storm, great grip on dry or wet roads, double the life of the 023's and one of the few that come with road hazard!
 
chiefswallow said:
[video=youtube;KX8fU6o20S8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX8fU6o20S8[/video]

If you can't find a shop that'll install it let me know.
Click to expand...


Dear lord the disease is spreading to sport bikes from cruisers... Horrible. ;)

I install tires myself, love how easy it is to take the rear wheel off on the VFR, it's like working on a car. 19mm lug nuts and even the torque is 80lbs as on most Hondas.

Anyhow, great reviews guys, exactly what I was hoping for. Yes, these are all great tires, I simply wanted to know their strengths and weaknesses from real life riders.

As for economy rubber like the aforementioned Shinko - sure they do the job but the tires on my list, do the job better. I have Contimotion on right now - it's ok but just okay. Gets wobbly at times, doesn't wear out the best, wet traction is average. My friend was running a Raven on his SV and had a similar experience. He's on PR3s right and says they are much better.

I mean, economy from a bigger company are better than no name Chinese tires but I want to have peace of mind when I ride and if something happens let it be my mistake, not the tire giving out on me.

I've compiled the poll list from various sport touring ratings. These were the models that generally came out on top.
 
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I'm running Metzeler M3s on my VFR800 right now, I find they're pretty grippy and good for flicking the bike into turns, but not great for longevity. 6k on them and probably a few more before they hit the wear indicators on the rear. The Z8 looks sportier than then the z6 so I wouldnt mind giving those a run.

On vfrdiscussion people say alot of good things about running a Michelin Pilot Power in the front with a Michelin Pilot Road 2 rear so that's gonna be my next set. I'd take the road 2 over the road 3 since I'm less concerned about wet weather, but I haven't used either on the vfr yet so who knows.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk 4
 
How about doing yourself a favor and you even save a few bucks and get some Conti Motions........nuff said
 
I run Pilot Road 2's... very very nice ride!! If you want PR 3's for the price of PR 2's all you need to do is grab a pair of PR2's and stab them all over the tire with a pen.
 
Been running PR2's for about 30k kms now - STILL not squared off, and last two seasons have been (mostly) super-slabbin' it across Toronto.

Heard some bad things about the PR3's, but I think it was an early production issue.
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