Rain Tires

[ray]

I am looking for advice and opinions. So I know that I've come to the right place. And hoping that I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.
I have recently relocated from sunny Southern California to not so sunny Washington State. Just about 15 miles south of Olympia. I own a 1982 R65LS which is in need of new shoes. And could definitely use the aforementioned a-and-o concerning tires for my area. I am guessing that sandals will no longer be the hot set-up. Two lane country roads are now the soup-of the-day and hydroplaning not a good thing.
One other thing, after six decades in So Cal what the heck is 'winterizing a bike'?
I await the onslaught with fear and trepidation. And I thank (I think) everyone in advance.      :-/

[DanielMc]

Over on this side of the pond the weather is normally windswept, cold, gray and wet, often all at once. I've fitted Bridgestone BT45s to three airheads now and I rate these tyres highly - they give great grip and are surefooted in the wet.

[luxlogs]

Good Question

Awaiting replies as well being that Chicago weather is Crap too.

[Ed Miller]

Over on this side of the pond the weather is normally windswept, cold, gray and wet, often all at once. I've fitted Bridgestone BT45s to three airheads now and I rate these tyres highly - they give great grip and are surefooted in the wet.

What year is your R65 and what size front are you using for the BT45?  I've been thinking of experimenting with them for my next set, to see if I get more miles than I do from the S11 Spitfires that I've been using.

Ray, winterizing my R65 means wearing my Olympia Phantom one piece suit, which is water proof.  I've never had problems hydroplaning on wet pavement with my Sptifires, or any other motorcycle tire that I can remember.  We can ride year round here, though it's not always fun.  (I'm in Western Oregon, in case I don't have it in my signature.)

[ray]

Over on this side of the pond the weather is normally windswept, cold, gray and wet, often all at once. I've fitted Bridgestone BT45s to three airheads now and I rate these tyres highly - they give great grip and are surefooted in the wet.

Thanks DanielMc, for your reply from across the pond. Sounds as though your weather is identical to mine.

[ray]

Good Question

Awaiting replies as well being that Chicago weather is Crap too.

Looked up the BT45s on Bike Bandit. They are talking about $80-$85 per tire. Pretty inexpensive for good tires. Can't wait to get more input.

[ray]

Over on this side of the pond the weather is normally windswept, cold, gray and wet, often all at once. I've fitted Bridgestone BT45s to three airheads now and I rate these tyres highly - they give great grip and are surefooted in the wet.

What year is your R65 and what size front are you using for the BT45?  I've been thinking of experimenting with them for my next set, to see if I get more miles than I do from the S11 Spitfires that I've been using.

Ray, winterizing my R65 means wearing my Olympia Phantom one piece suit, which is water proof.  I've never had problems hydroplaning on wet pavement with my Sptifires, or any other motorcycle tire that I can remember.  We can ride year round here, though it's not always fun.  (I'm in Western Oregon, in case I don't have it in my signature.)

Thank you Ed. I can tell by the weather today that a good, warm and waterproof suit is in my future. Care to give up an inside line on an economical place to purchase one?
Also, it sounds like the S11 Spitfires are also a good tire.

[ray]

Any one have any insight on the Avon Rear AM26 Roadrider?
I would think the British know a thing or two about wet weather tires.

[DanielMc]

What year is your R65 and what size front are you using for the BT45?  I've been thinking of experimenting with them for my next set, to see if I get more miles than I do from the S11 Spitfires that I've been using.

My R65 is an LS and is an '82 model. Bridgestone recommend a 90/90 18 front running at 2.5 Bar and a 4.00 18 running at 2.8 Bar on the LS but suggest using a 120/90 18 on the rear if you have the regular R65.

Any one have any insight on the Avon Rear AM26 Roadrider?
I would think the British know a thing or two about wet weather tires.

The Avon Roadrider has a good following over here and a friend who fitted them to his R100RS has nothing but praise for them. I haven't tried them myself.

[Ed Miller]

Here's the suit I have:

http://www.olympiamotosports.com/phantom/phantom.htm

Mine is the hi-viz yellow version for cruddy gray foggy rainy dark weather.  It has leaked a little bit a couple of times, when riding in hard rain combined with high winds from the side.  My Windjammer on my R65 protects well, but not from side winds.  This suit is about 400 bucks, maybe Firstgear sells one for less.  Or pants/jacket combos can be just as waterproof.  In fact, Aerostich says their Darion two piece set is more waterproof than their Roadcrafter one piece:

http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits

I rode all last winter without even putting the liner in my suit and don't have it in yet.  My commute is almost 50 miles one way.  I wear a polar fleece jacket under the suit.

[nhmaf]

I don't do a huge amount of wet weather riding on my R65LS, but since I put the BT45 tires on her I've been very confident of the grip wet or dry.  I'm running 100/90 on the front, 110/90 on the rear.
You could go with the 90/90 on the front tire, but I find that the bike already turns in quickly enough and the 100/90 give it just a little bit more straightline stability on the interstate.

Here in the northeast, most folks do have to witnerize their bike - there are the odd few who keep their bikes in operational status for the rare 1 day per month when the temps might be above 0 F and the roads clear for riding, and the few Ural/sidecar riders who take it as a personal challenge to ride through snow.   But, I don't like getting all that highly corrosive road salt and crud powerpacked into every cranny of my bike where it can fester and rust..   Barring snow covered roads beforehand, I usually ride until thanksgiving or so, then give it up until March.. change the oil, block up the bikes, plug the places mice and chipmunks will get in, drain the tanks, bring them inside with the batteries and put the batteries on the tender, etc.

[DanielMc]

I'm running 100/90 on the front, 110/90 on the rear.
You could go with the 90/90 on the front tire, but I find that the bike already turns in quickly enough and the 100/90 give it just a little bit more straightline stability on the interstate.

Looks like your combination raises the front by about 10mm and drops the rear by a similar amount. Over here in the UK fitting a 100/90 BT45 to the front of an R65 would breach European regulations on recommended tyre fitment.

[nhmaf]

I'm running 100/90 on the front, 110/90 on the rear.
You could go with the 90/90 on the front tire, but I find that the bike already turns in quickly enough and the 100/90 give it just a little bit more straightline stability on the interstate.

Looks like your combination raises the front by about 10mm and drops the rear by a similar amount. Over here in the UK fitting a 100/90 BT45 to the front of an R65 would breach European regulations on recommended tyre fitment.

It might be slightly different from the original 3.25 and 4.00 OEM tires, but I don't think that it is 10mm different.   The tire sizes "100/90" for example, are a ratio of the height and width dimensions, but are not absolute numbers or measurements.   One can get (2) 100/90 x18 tires (or tyres) from different mfgrs and measure them to have both different "heights" and different "widths", by as much as several millimeters, but the numeric ratios of each mfgr tire will still essentially meet the "100/90" fraction/ratio... this is a common misunderstanding with 'metric' motorcycle tire sizes.

[DanielMc]

It might be slightly different from the original 3.25 and 4.00 OEM tires, but I don't think that it is 10mm different.   The tire sizes "100/90" for example, are a ratio of the height and width dimensions, but are not absolute numbers or measurements.   One can get (2) 100/90 x18 tires (or tyres) from different mfgrs and measure them to have both different "heights" and different "widths", by as much as several millimeters, but the numeric ratios of each mfgr tire will still essentially meet the "100/90" fraction/ratio... this is a common misunderstanding with 'metric' motorcycle tire sizes.

I agree that different manufacturers' tyres will not necessarily be identical in size despite claiming similar aspect ratios. However I was comparing like with like - Bridgestone's own figures give the 90/90 as being 622mm in diameter and their 100/90 as being 642mm in diameter - a difference of 20mm which will give a 10mm increase in ride height at the front. Also the nominal rim width recommended for the 100/90 BT45 is 2.5 so pulling one onto the R65's skinny 1.85 rim is even more likely to add to the ride height (and reduce the contact patch) albeit by a very small margin.

[nhmaf]

The 110/90 REAR tire mounts on the REAR wheel, which is 2.5" for the regular snowflake wheels, and the LS wheels are as wide or slightly wider than the snowflakes, so it is perfectly fine to mount on the rear as I've done/recommended.  The front snowflake rim is 1.85", which is fine for the 90/90 tire.   I agree that the 100/90 tire is a little bit squeezed in comparison to the 90/90 on the front, but I've not observed any ill handling effects and chassis geometry appears as it was with ancient imperial unit metzlers on them.   Perhaps since the 110/90 tire on the rear is also slightly taller than a 4.00 tire, the net effect on the steering geometry/angle is essentially nil - the front and rear tires being slightly taller than their nearest imperial equivalents.

I may try a 90/90 front tire on my next round of tires to see if there is a noticeable difference in handling with the same BT45 model tire - there certainly aren't any clearance, wear, or traction issues that I have experienced with the 100/90 on front thus far, though as I suspect, the larger, heavier tire will provide a slight increase in gyroscopic effect and slightly slow the steering response.  IMHO, the R65 can turn in  quite nicely as it is, and a slight increase to its high speed interstate road stability is a plus, for my uses.