Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Tires

My tires are OEM and the bike was built 10/2002. I have read a few places that tires should be replaced after six or seven years regardless of tread depth.

I have been looking at tire options with this in mind. I have a 2003 BA with close to 7K miles. The tread depth is fine.

I understand this is a Tubed Tire (TT). I have looked through links in the Tech Vault and looked at tires recommended. Not all of them say TT. Do I have to choose from those with a TT mark or can I put a tube in a TubeLess (TL) tire?

It seems like I wold be stuck with OEM Bridgestones if I have to buy tires with the TT mark.

Also,
Is there a way I can get numbers off the tire to see how old they are. I'm just assuming they are eight year old OEM's not OEM replacements.

Any M/C tire will do just fine if ya throw a tube in it!

This link tells you how to read the age of your tires.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

Thanks!!

Tires were made in the 37 and 39th week of 2001.

Agreed, Your life is resting on those tires.

Well, ******!

Yeah, I figure they are in need of replacement due to age alone.

They feel soft to the touch, but there is minimal cracking.

What tires is everyone recommending? Primary focus is performance and ride comfort. Longevity is of lesser importance.

Is there somewhere that rates MC tires based on different criteria? (Like Tirerack's rating scale)

I have looked at the Tech Vault tire thread, but it is older and didn't say which tires were best suited for different types of riding.

I like the IRC Wild Flare myself. They hold the road very well and ride nice. They wear a little faster than the Metz. 880 but are also quite a bit cheaper. I like them better than the Metz to be honest.

Well, 1K of those was from me in the last month of owning the bike.

Yikes! Sorry about that. Given the bike is new to you, and the current grand-a-month rate, you do need some new skins! Motorcycle superstore has rear ME880s for $139 delivered. Fast Eddy sells spitfires for the front that I would recommend as I currently have close to 15K on my front spitfire. Why the front spitfire? At the current mileage, no front shimmy is detectable when the hands are off the bars. The front Avons and front Metz have a tendency to cup and wear and consequently wobbly after like 5 or 6 thousand miles.

Also, be prepared to wire brush your rims when the skins are off. They will be rusty. Also might consider some new OEM rims strips. The aftermarket ones are too narrow. And by all means REPLACE the tubes! Careful with the back tube as you want a 90degree valve stem.

My front Lazertech has over 23,000 on it and there is no shimmy. I can let go of the bars and glide down a twisty hill around all the corners without touching the bars until I need to stop or shift. The tread is nearly gone now, wouldn't go through inspection now if I ever did that.

I know nothing about motorcycle tubes as they apply to Triumphs, but if there is a way to position a 90 valve for the rear wheel, to point it toward the right would make life easier when checking air pressure. This would be especially true for a bike with saddle bags. The only hindrance to doing this may be if the tube is directional.

When I bought my New to me 2006 America, it had 12k miles on the original tires. I figured that the first and one of the most important things was going to be a new set of tires, and went with Metz because my husband said they are the best. I may mouth off sometimes, but I actually do what my husband says. He's very wise about these bikes.

I can tell you that the tires feel AWESOME when they are new and soft! I rode a good distance on the old ones, so I had time to see how they felt...the new ones made a noticable difference. I had to keep reminding myself to take it easy on the first hundred miles or so, because I felt so safe with my bike!

You won't regret new tires.

I like Kenda Kruz from American Moto Tire.
You can't beat the prices. And the wear is very close to Metzler Marathon.

I got the IRC WildFlare from americanmototire for the front, so far it has lasted the longest of my 3 fronts and it still has quite a bit of life left. I plan on getting one for the rear this summer.

tire opinions will be like oil or helmets around here

Yes. But, personally, I use the 130/70-18.
I like the fatter look, it fits with no fender mods needed,
and doesn't mess up the handling.

I guess it's worth repeating.
110/90=99mm sidewall
130/70=91mm sidewall(what I use)
110/80=88mm sidewall(one of the two stock sizes)
100/90=90mm sidewall(the other stock size)

110/90 size tire means that the tire is 110mm wide at the widest point (not tread width) then the 90 means that the side wall height is 90% of that.

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents:

I'm using the Dunlop D404s on my bike. They are good but I'm not thrilled with them. I don't trust them as much as I've had some slippery moments out there. On smooth road surfaces, sometimes the bike will slip on tight turns. I can also spin my back tire rather easily on quick take-offs on smooth surface roads also. The grip just doesn't seem all that wonderful. I'm happy with the tire and it wears well but I think I'm going to try the IRC next and see what I think of those.
So far I've had Metz and now the 404's. We'll see about the IRC.

Thanks for all of the responses thus far. Keep them coming. I'm learning a ton.

How much should it cost to get tires installed if I bring the bike in and let them do everything?

What tubes are everyone using? One of the Triumph dealers told me I had to use Triumph brand tubes on the back and I could use whatrever brand on the front. Any thoughts?

Ha Ha, so true, so true. All I gotta do now to stay safe is get myself a bright orange or Yellow shirt, put a leather vest over that, wear my chapps in 75 degree weather, and park in a lot. Good to go...I mean stay...

Don't forget the free hot dogs and ZZ Top cover bands!!

Sorry guys, we can now resume our regularly scheduled tire discussion

I got a new ME880 130/70 (front tire).
Installed price was $173 otd. Not too bad.

These are pretty good prices for tires!
http://www.americanmototire.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=33_155_156

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/__?_from=R40...673&_sacat=

Not bad at all!

For example, Motorcycle superstore wants $147.99 for the tire alone. Had you bought it then I doubt you would have found a place to install it over a new tube and balance it for $25.01. Perfect example of why we should call around. Shops need the money and will work a good price on the total package. Lot's of shops don't like installing tires they don't sell and needing the business will cut a total package deal. The only caveat is having to drive the wheel to them and wait. I used to have a guy who would install tires for killer prices (buying the tires from him). Unfortunate for me, he got a job at Triumph corporate, Newnan, GA. That's when I tooled up to change tires.

aside: What's up with the rear tire 170/80-15 being sold for $138.99, i.e., cheaper than the front tire?

i have to mention this just a a personal experience kinda thing... while i can understand some people have gotten lucky with the Metz Lasertecs, I've had nothing but trouble. The Lasertecs and the one Dunlop (wanna say 404) wore terribly on either side of the centerline, giving bad headshake when I take my hands off the bars. The Dunlop was the worse of the two, because the tread came to points in this area and when the points wore down, it was just like riding a cupped tire. I originally thought the first Lasertec was cupped, but now that I've run thru my second Lasertec bought new, I see it's the tire design. I love Meztler, but will not be buying this tire again.. probably move up to the 130/70-18 ME880. just my 2 cents.

Hi Jim, how's that steamy Florida Weather goin mate? I just was interested how you mentioned you "tooled up" to change your own tyres and was interested what tools you used and how hard it was to do your own. It seems every time I get my tyres changed I've had dramas. The first time the 15 yr old boy scratched my front rims and 2 other times my speedo cable has been broken by the mechanic turning the front axle and stressing the cable. The first and even the second time I watched it happen but the last time the cable didn't brake immediately but after 15,000k.

So now I'm thinking if it wasn't that hard I'd rather do it myself. In the long term I'd have a lot less grief I think.

Hi John!

The weather just turned steamy the very next day after my return from the GA Rally. May 11, 2010. Lucky for me as I got to ride home from Silver Spring, Maryland through the Shenandoah Valley then on the Blue Ridge Parkway down into Bedford VA then dropping down through Dixie to Florida without hitting any slabs and not even breaking a sweat. I digress.

Check out this thread.. The links might still work.



Bead Breaker, wheel holder I wrote the total tool up cost was $56.61. However $109.00 for a Wheel Balancer & Weights were also needed which was obtained from Marc Parnes. That brought the total to $165.61.

Tooled up April 2009. Since then have changed out 6 tires. Had to buy some rim protectors for Tom Vance's Tiger's alloy rims.

Six tire changes and each had a unique circumstance. The last change was a rear skin on Vera Lynn. For the life of me I could not get the last bead off the rim, i.e. the tire off the wheel! Usually that is the easiest. grrr. However, the tube's valve stem was a breeze, I cleaned up the rim, sprayed the wheel well where the nipples seat with Amsoil metal protector, installed a new oem rim strip, and mounted the tire in under 15 minutes after that 'last bead' snafu. And 10 minutes of those 15 were spent wire wheel cleaning the rim well.

Time before that I had a real hard time getting the 90 degree valve stem in the hole. If only Tiger had that problem... (Cinnamon Girl's rear ME880).

Seems like every time something that was once easy gets difficult. Luck of the draw?

In hindsight, after Tom's tiger I realized that my cager wheel rim was a 14". ooops. Should be a 15" rim. Tom used his friend's bead breaker then we changed out both his tires.

When spooning the tires on and off, take small bites. Three levers are needed even though you only use two, leap frogging one with the other all the while with that third iron remaining stationary. My knee holds it while I wrestle with those leaping frogs. I say wrestle but that is not the case. Using the third iron and leap frogging in small increment (with an occasional dab of soapy water) gets the last bead on fine and dandy.

You have to keep the bead in the wheel well for sure. Use a small block of under the tire to help keep the lower bead in the wheel well. After you get the skin on, remember to leave the inner tube valve stem's core out, as you seat the beads. POP POP then reinstall that little bugger and inflate the tire to spec.

Tire changing is easier each time, or so I thought (see above) Truly is it a breeze. The primary issue being holding the wheel while you spoon. Thus the primitive cager wheel technique.

Now then. Having bored you with all that gibberish, this is ticket!

Now back to your issues. Scratching the rims is always a concern. Steel rims don't scratch easily. You have to try to scratch them almost! Alloy rims are another matter. Rim protectors are the ticket in those cases.

Here are the irons I use. [url=http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/9/205/4456/ITEM/Motion-Pro-Assorted-Tire-Iron-Set.aspx]Motion Pro's
Assorted Tire Iron Set[/url]

You have the link to the balancer above.

You'll need a way to remove the valve core.

rim protectors

This Valve Stem Fishing tool is tempting but I have passed on it up to this point so...


Regarding messing up the speedo cable, Even if you don't tool up for tire changing, you can remove your front wheel yourself, thus ensuring that it is reinstalled correctly and torqued to specs. The only time someone other than I removes my wheel(s) is when I flat out on the road. That brings to mind an essential item: A motorsickle lift!

Good luck with it!

When I used to change my tires before I had a tire machine I used a big bench mounted vise to break my bead then 2 big screwdrivers with 2 chunks of leather. I put the leather between the screw drivers and rim to prevent scratches. I partly inflated the tube so it wouldn't get pinched before I put the 2nd bead on. I did that on an old piece of carpet. I never damaged anything doing it that way.