Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Who's running what for tires?

I want to change that stupid freakin' ribbed tire that came
on the America, I hate it. I was looking at the Avon Venom and
wondered what people are running. I hit a steel grate bridge
last year and liked to kill myself trying to control the bike
and that was after I saw this coming and slowed down. I also
found it to be crappy in the rain.
Todd

The tyres that came on the Speedy (Metzeler something) seem pretty good to me. Replaced the rear with a Bridgestone G702, and to be honest I can't tell the difference, except that I think it's wearing a bit quicker.

Another vote for the Metzlers, they are very nice tires. You can get them in tubed versions for the BA I hear. The Avon Venoms are also one of the tires used largely by the BA masses. Can't go wrong with either.
I have Mets on Speedy and go over a lot of steel deck bridges and rode thousands of miles in pouring rain without a problem with either.

i run avon venoms. a huge positive difference in handling.

I have Metzler ME880's front and rear.
Nice tire, handles the rain well.

I just got a set of the Metzeler ME-880's myself, love 'em, WAY better than stock.

I have the orig. tires on my BA. They seem fine to me. Steel bridges? No problem. When they wear out I'll probably replace them with avons just because a lot of the guys seem to like them,

kennymc

Got avons last year, very good stuff.

I gotta vote for the METZLERs. Great tires.

I've had the metzler ME 880's for about 5000 miles. I'll buy Metzlers again when I have to replace them!

Todd,

I replaced the stock Bridgeslugs with the Avon VenomX's.
Bought them online for $215 delivered to my door.

Like nite and day.....

The stock Speedmaster tires are a Metzeler 880 in the back and a Metzeler ME 33 up front. If you go with a Metzler 880 up front, it only comes in a size that's 10 taller than the ME 33. The benefits to a taller tire up front is better handling in parking lot speed manuevers, plus the speedometer will be closer to reality(reads only about 5% high instead of 10% high). The only downside is that through fast sweepers, the front end feels a bit lighter. When I went shopping for a new front tire, I found the 880 front to be about $40-50 cheaper locally than the ME 33.

I have just replaced the front tyre on my BA, after 2000 miles as the Bridgestone just seems to follow lines in the road. It sure made me a little nervous a few times. Replaced it with a Metzeler do not know any more than that, as I just took it round to a mate and asked him to change it. Seems a lot better handling and I can finally go over them lines and not feel as though I am stuck in them.

Hi BigTC,

Tomorrow, Thursday at 9am Vera gets Avons front and rear. AM41 front & an AM42 rear. I have ran an Avon 42 on the rear for about 3000 miles before the nail happened. The front is/was a Metzeler ME330. Lots of miles on this skin, but found that it cupped rather badly after 5000 miles. I'm replacing it because I don't like it and some fresh front tread will be nice this May in the Brasstown Ranger District. The OEM front tire, although it had a cool retro look to it, handled like a retro too. Tracked every little groove.

MOE,
That was my thought too, cool retro look and crappy handling.
Let me know how you like the Avons.
Todd

Strange getting cupping from the Metzeler ME33. I didn't have that problem at all. Got almost 17,000 miles out of that stock front tire. I hope the 880 I have on there now does just as good. I also didn't have any tracking issues either, but then we don't have a lot of rain groove roads out here.

Hi Sal,

I was talking about the ME330:

not the ME33:

Heck, looking at the ME330, you can almost feel the weave that may cause the wobble after loads of miles and time.

Todd, I had the tires mounted this morning and not until tonight will Vera get her wheels put back on. So as it is raining, Friday evening looks like the first post new front and rear skin test ride...

I,m running on Dunlops,recomended on the site for a couple of years ago,can't fault them

Metzler 880s, 110/90 front 170/80 rear. EXELLENT performance on all surfaces.