Best tires for a metric cruiser?

OK- I gotta buy new tires for my Kawasaki Mean Streak 1600. I heard nothing
but bad news for the OEM Dunlop radials that it came with, although I have
had no particular problems with them.

Since these damn things are so expensive anyway, I want to get the best
tires for my bike, SO WHAT BRAND/MODEL OF RADIAL TIRES WOULD BE BEST FOR MY
CRUISER?

Thanks

 

Round black ones.

Go to www.denniskirk.com and buy what's on sale.

Don't worry, be happy.

 

Round black ones.

Go to www.denniskirk.com and buy what's on sale.

Don't worry, be happy.

Well this doesn't seem to be too awful fucking helpful. However, they do
have one tire that will fit:

Bridgestone Exedra G850 Blackwall Tire

Are these things better or worse than the Dunlops I have now?

Other sites have Michelin, Avon, and Kenda tires listed for my bike. Maybe
more.

 

Worse. They will give you Excedrin headache #2 because they are so
hard.

Personally, I like Metzlers (made by the same people that make
Pirellis which they charge more for.

When I can't get Metzler's, I go for Dunlops.

Cheng Shin is a Chinese brand which is trying to improve its
reputation by rebranding their tires as "Maxxis". I have a SuperMaxx
front tire on my Yamaha because nobody else makes a tire in that size.

 

Oh, look, KrustyUS has morphed again.

No, it's not. It's Taiwanese. We've done this before.

The Maxxis has nothing in common the CS tyres of the 1970s. In fact,
it's pretty good in my experience, if you want a decent touring tyre.

 

Indeed - I remember earl '80s Cheng Shins as being teflon terrors and
was pleasantly surprised when we tried them on my wife's bike a few
years back. They gripped better than the Pirellis they replaced & lasted
longer.

If they were readily available in the sizes my Laverda uses I'd be using
them on it.

 

I had a set on my Kawasaki GT750 (I think - might have been my 900
Diversion). Neither was an out-and-out sports bike, but the tyres were
"fine for the type of bike". Lozzo on ukrm rather rates them as well,
and his is an opinion to respect.

 

The only advice I can offer is keep the same brand front and rear!

Greg.P.

 

Tires are designed in sets, of front and rear, and of course are
either bias ply or
radials.

A motorcycle owner is well advised to use the original equipment tire
(if he can still get it) and not to change the tire size or carcass
type.

Of course I learned all of this the hard way, by experimenting with
over-sized tires in the hopes of getting more traction from a
theoretically wider tire...

 

Nonsense.

 

Agreed.

Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with the OEM
tire, but that doesn't mean it's the best.

Generally speaking the OEM size is good, and is chosen
according to engineering calculations, but the brand and
type is picked by the lowest bidder for that size and type.

Tire technology also changes quickly, so do the research,
and IF you choose the OEM tire then so be it, but don't
choose it for any other reason than it was the best choice
for you.

Clay

 

Quite. I remember my Duke came fitted with Michelin Macadams - a
dreadful rock-hard touring tyre.

This is another good point that I hadn't considered. According to
Krusty's logic, if you have a 30 year-old bike, you should seek out 30
yer-old tyres for it.

 

That's a dated story from the mid-1970's. We live in the 21st century,
if you haven't noticed.

The bean counters at Japan Inc. used to buy tires in mass quantities
because they could save a nickel on each tire and a Honda CB750 only
had about 50 horsepower and would barely go 120 mph.

Japan Inc. could, and did, get way with selling motorcycles with
capital-C Crappy
tires.

But, as demands for performance and higher continuous speeds
increased, the demands on tires became greater and Japan Inc.
requested tires to be built to meet those demands.

So, if you go to the Bridgestone web site looking for aftermarket
replacement tires, you will find that there is a generic BS tire of
many offering, and there is
a *model-specific* version of a tire with an otherwise generic set of
model numbers.

IOW, there are versions of Battle Ax tires that are specifically
designed for BMW's or Kawasaki ZX's, etc., but you wouldn't know which
Battle Ax was specific for a particular machine if you were browsing
the tire rack at a discount
parts outlet.

And, when the online catalog stores are offering deep discounts on MC
tires, you
need to know whether the tire you're mail ordering is a generic
aftermarket replacement or model specific part number.

 

That was from experience as I used to work for Bridgestone
in the sales and engineering group. I don't know what
article you are referring to either way.

As I said tires are engineered into the bikes according to
the needs of the bike and riding type. Then, and this IS a
fact even today, the specifications are sent to the tire
manufacturers and they BID on the project.

You are correct too in that model specific tires are used.
However, the model specific tire are in fact a CHEAPER
version of the same non model specific in most cases. In
cases that the model specific tire is not a cheaper version,
then they are the SAME as all the other tires of that type
and model.

 

No argument. But thast was because Japan itself couldn't *make* decen
tyres, and they were unwilling to import quality rubber.

Well, duh.

In other words, Japan does make decent tyres.

And they're called 'Battlax' tyres anyway.

You really don' know what you're talking about.

 

Fair enough.
My comment was a little too broad, and was directed at the
post that you should always use the exact same tire as was
put on at the factory.

In your case and in others there are no tires that fit the
stock product lines, and special tires are developed to meet
the engineering criteria for the motorcycle. I stand by what
I said though, that the specs are given to the
manufacturers, and the lowest bidder typically gets the
business.

That doesn't mean there isn't a BETTER tire available.

 

Two typos in one sentence, from an Englishman who's arrogantly proud
of his
superior knowledge of the language?

The horror! The horror!

So far as I know, there are NO rubber trees in Japan, and all natural
rubber is probably imported from Southeast Asia or South America.

Natural rubber is very adhesive and offers good traction, but it wears
out rapidly.

The OEM tires on my 1974 Suzuki GT750L were natural rubber Inoue tires
made in Japan. They only lasted 5000 miles and that started me off on
a search for tires that would last much longer in touring use.

I tried exactly ONE Dunlop K-81, it was a natural rubber Irish-built
K-81 that
only lasted 3,000 miles.

But the grip was fantastic! All the Ricky Racers in Los Angeles knew
to look for the "made in Ireland" on the sidewalls when they bought
K-81's off the rack.

A cheapskate BMW rider steered me towards Cheng Shin tires which
lasted longer, but I didn't like the tread pattern. He claimed that he
was getting 22K miles on Cheng Shin rear tires on his /5 (or whatever)
Beemer.

I also tried Nitto tires, which wore very well and Dunlop provided
long lasting K-81 Mk II's and K-181's that wore like iron under daily
commuting on California's abrasive concrete freeways.

I finally got scared of the hard Dunlop K-181 rear and replaced it
after nearly 15K miles. That's the longest-lasting rear tire I ever
used.

Sometime during the 1980's Bridgestone began compounding more
expensive synthetic rubber with natural rubber to make their Spitfire
series of tires wear better.

I don't know where Japanese manufacturers get their synthetic rubber
from, but it would seem reasonable that it comes from some place that
has lots of petroleum,
perhaps Malyasia?

That remark seems to fit you and your catamite Smee very well.

Since the mid-1980's, anyway. But the OEM Excedra front tire on my
1982
GS-1100EZ was memorable for having very little grip and the the front
end didn't feel
"planted".

A knowledgeable friend who owned a Yamaha Eurosport wanted to show me
how he could slide my GS1100 around corners like he'd slid his own
GS-1100ET around, on a road that was very well known to both of us.

So we swapped and I rode his Eurosport which had race compound K-81 MK-
II's and I flat ran away and hid from him on his own motorcycle.

About five minutes later, he arrived at the hangout and declared that
my Suzuki's front wheel didn't seem "planted" at all. Part of that was
due to the difference in weight distribution between his Suzuki and
mine, but it was mostly that gawdawful BS Excedra tire.

Oh, goody. Now I can point out your typos, too!

 

Actually those are excellent tires. I rode a friends FJR and
can say those tires STICK.
I personally am a fan of Metzeler tires and have been for
years. I haven't had any issues from any I have used or abused.

Clay

 

So far as I know, the first British tires to be compounded with
synthetic rubber were Avon Speedmasters in the mid-1960's. The parts
guy at a large motorcycle emporium in Inglewood steered me to the
Avons when I told him I was going to mount wider rims and tires on my
Yamaha 250cc cafe racer.

He called the high hysteresis synthetic rubber "cling rubber".

But I wasn't a good enother rider to find out how well they would
stick...

Then Dunlop came out with their K-81 trigonic section offerings, but I
was getting heavy into desert riding and didn't buy any at that
time...

 

By "rubber "I meant "tyres" obviously.

And your attempts to divert posts away from your fatuity is pathetic.

You were, and are, talking nonsense.