Tires

Hi

It would be nice to know what tires you are using for on-road driving.

Fabricate:
Type/model:

Your experience concerning:
- Handling in corners
- Stability at higher speed
- Dry grip
- Wet grip
- Braking
- Whatever

Dunlop Qualifier 3. All ratings based on a scale of 1 - 5.

Handling (how well it turns in and holds a line): 4
Stability: 5, at both high speeds and entering corners
Dry Grip: 5
Wet Grip: maybe I'll have to ride in the rain someday
Braking: 4
Durability: 3
Price: 5 ($260 per set, delivered to my door)

They work so well that my Ducati dealer is stocking them.

For comparison, here are my ratings for the Scorpion Trails:

Handling: 4
Stability: 4
Dry Grip: 4
Wet Grip: see above
Braking: 4
Durability: 4
Price: 4.5 ($290 shipped)

I will be getting Pirelli Angel GT based on my pervious experiences (and Diablo Strada before that) on my ZX14, ZX6R and VFR750.

Corners: neutral with good feedback. Confidence inspiring.

High speed: did just fine at 290kph on my zx14.

Dry grip: freshly installed, right into the twisties. Had no edges left on them. Very good, my favorite road tire.

Wet grip: rode in torrential rains, and Axel deep puddles. I have never felt out of control. Excellent!

Durability: 18,000km on a big bike with lots of luggage. Surprisingly didn't go too square even to the end. Amazing value!

Michelin Pilot Power 3's I only ride mountain twisties and, for that purpose, the PP3 Michelins are superb with tenacious dry grip on the edges. I have them on two bikes!

From 1 to 5:

Handling: 4.5
Stability: 4.6
Dry Grip: 4.9
Wet Grip: ?
Braking: 4.5
Durability: ?
Price: 4 ($275 mail order)

BT023 bridgestone, 30 psi cold front and rear..scrapping pegs and center stand, great wet and dry

I just put on Michelin pilot road 3 and so far prefer them over the scorpion trails. Bike feels smoother, turns in much better. Maybe feels better because my scorpions where toasted at the end.

mentalist said:

I just put on Michelin pilot road 3 and so far prefer them over the scorpion trails. Bike feels smoother, turns in much better. Maybe feels better because my scorpions where toasted at the end.

Click to expand...

how many miles did you get out of them? I guess you tracked yours a bit, though.

Got 4200 miles, only one track day where I did only two sessions. The front wore on the sides and the rear squared off nearer the end of its life.

damn, that's light. My front is nearing the wear bars at 6400 mi. Hard to say about the rear as I had a blow out around 3000 mi. I hear the P3's get significantly better life.

Damn!! I was running the Dunlop D616's, I have about 5k on them and the rear is shot the front is still good. I wanted to replace the rear but it looks like they are discontinued now.. I liked the overall performance of the tire on road and the aggressive tread pattern was good on fire roads. Now I'm back to square one looking for a 20/80 tire, which is proving difficult in this tire size. Any suggestions out there?

Mike

Pilot Road 4s

I got 5,000 miles out of the original Scorpions, and they were about 500 miles past what I would have preferred - was on a trip to Little Switzerland NC.
Have used Pilot Roads for the last 7 (?) years and so I went straight to the PR 4s. Love em. This is my eighth set of Pilot Roads.
$290 (incl shipping) from Rocky Mountain ATV.

Bridgestone T30's

I got 3500 out of the rear OEM Pirelli but it was very squared off. I did a track evening at Knockhill with Ducati last year and the OEM tyres never missed a beat. I'm not super quick but was keeping up with some faster machinery.

The limitation was the ground clearance not the tyres. I ground the gear change lever away (we did the circuit anticlockwise) and to replace it was £64 nearly doubling the price of the 2 hour session If we'd gone clockwise the rear brake lever looks a lot more expensive...

I asked Ducati Glasgow if the T30's (recommended by MCN) were a good fit for the Hyperstrada and they were fine with fitting them. They thought the Angel GT's were better for a heavier bike. MCN really rated the T30's and I hope to get 6-8K out of them. £228 for the tyres plus £50 fitting by Ducati.

The ride home was 70 miles but I went the long way round to 115 miles. The new T30's were excellent. The biggest difference on the road for me was the additional subtly of the ride and the feedback. Running at 36psi on both but might try a little harder on the rear.

I don't ride in the wet any more unless I'm caught out, but I would rate the T30's on 1-5 scale as one point up on the Pirelli's in every area. If they last twice as long they will be a bargain.

I always worm the bike. tyres and rider up for 5 miles when I get on the road so warm up time isn't really relevant but again MCN were impressed.

Still loving the bike, I can't imagine anything that would be more fun to ride, superb.

Here is an article on wet road testing of the Dunlop Q3 - quite informative, and it's always nice to hear someone else agree and expand upon one's opinion.

PS the Q3 is now available in 170/60. Have them on the SV.

Soup :: Dunlop Sportmax Q3: Making A Great Tire Even Better :: 07-03-2013

Metzeler Tourance Next

I'm leaning toward the Metzeler Tourance Next for my next set of street tire, any opinions?

Got my self a Dunlop Q3 from 4wheelonline. Well with zipppy4 9's review I do get the same experience. But I find the thread to soft that it tends to worn faster.

Just put on a pair of Michelin Pilot Road 4

2600 miles on my bike. I have pirelli diablo corsa. Seems like a pretty good tire and had no complaints in some heavy rain. Never hit any scary puddles so I can't comment how they handle in "oh ****" situations.

The edges are definitely a soft compound. Even though I don't ride too aggressive on the street, im getting used to the bike and accelerating harder through turns. The tires warm up quickly, get sticky and scrub easily.

Of course it's all relativity. I used to run a Battleax, upgraded to Q2 which was a huuuge improvement with more aggressive lean angle, and better stability under hard braking. The Q2's actually had the tread inversed on the front tire to aid with grip under hard braking. The downside to that is it channels water inwards as opposed to outwards. Some Dunlop owners mounted the tire the correct way to help with rain... I have been told the Q3's are even more of a improvement over the Q2's and Dunlop is on their A game.

When I finally got a Ducati 848 they had the Diablo Supercorsa. That was a very aggressive tire with minimal tread patterns. Many clueless people, would kindly let me know my tires were bald (they were not). It looked more like a track tire and I think it behaved more like a track tire. On the street, I could never get that tire sticky on the sides.

Now I have hyper with diablo corsa. I have no complaints with them and I find myself having a hard time comparing to any other tire because the bike itself is so different from the sport bikes im used too. I could probably get 4000 miles out of them. I really dont kow what tire im going to try next.

I seem to be one of the few that take the Hyper off road !

I have 8500km on the Scorpions and they seem to be ok to me, but are $600 for a set here in Aus.

I was also considering the Conti Trail Attack 2 as they see to have a little more aggressive tread pattern. Anyone tried them ?

Obviously the Pirelli Diablo Rosso etc is good for the road, but not so much for the dirt.

Any word on the Hiedenau K60 in the US yet to fit HS

Frank33m

The K60s only come in a 150 wide rear so no fit and they don't make a 17" front.

Guyw

You take the Hyper off road because your from Oz!