Tire poll

[jackshan101]

Nice one, thanks very much for the helpful point in the right direction. When i took the wheel off yesterday I brought it to "Tire Stop" (a local garage) where a big fella named Finbar just put it on with his hands. To be honest it didn't look that hard. I thought maybe the tire was a little too big or something. I wasn't sure what pressure you could put in the tire before it went through the roof so he stopped at 60psi. After reading that it could take up to 100psi I went back to Finbar who put extra lube on the tire and re pumped it until it popped at around 75psi. Happy days.
Also there is no problem with the swing arm getting in the way. There is adequate clearance, about 8 millimeters best guess. I'll get a photo of that shortly. Thanks again. John

[Darwin_R65]

Well went into the motorcycle shop today for new tyres. The rear is beginning to look a bit slick and the wet season is just around the corner (humidity has risen heaps last few weeks) Front tyre has developed a wobble, i replaced the front wheel but wobble is still in the tyre. When I mentioned I had 3.25 x 18 and 4.00 x 18 they looked at me blankly. Whats that in metric? They then decided 110/80-18 and 120/90-18. I ordered the tyres (they need to come from South Australia to Darwin, about 3 days) and then came home to look through this forum. I quickly went back and quoted peoples experiences from this website and re-ordered 100/90-18 and 110/90-18.

So a big thank you to everyone on here. You gave me the necessary information the bike shop couldn't.

Funnily enough when she spoke to the distributor and gave my sizes they recommended the same sizes. She was also suggesting i just fit the front tyre 110/90 they had in stock to fit to the rear but the distributor said NO, don't do that.

so now i better change my vote for the tyre poll.

john

[k_enn]

I loved the Conti's that were OEM with my bike.  They were very sticky and handled well.  The one drawback was that they did not last too long.  But that is a price I am willing to pay for the handling they provided.

k_enn

[nhmaf]

I used to run Continental tires back in the early 80s, but even with the 400cc twins and 650cc twins I rode then the tires wouldn't last very long.

[Bob_Roller]

My '81 R65 came with Continental tires, RB2 front and K112 rear, never really felt like good tires from day one .

[mimmo66]

I started with Metzeler but found them to be to slow into the corners, on the expensive side and not lasting more than other brands.

Switched to Avon Roadriders, handling is much improved but will track Kalifornia rain Grooves. I think the rubber is too hard for my taste.

Will move to Bridgestone as I had the chance of comparing them to the Avon I previously had on the K75, even better gripping and cornering and no tracking.

As a side note:
My bike probably sees 5/6 k miles per year which means on average the tires last from three to four years.

Although happy on the financial side, I would like to have fresh rubber under my bike more often, say every two years regardless of mileage.

I am of the opinion that tires become old fairly fast regardless of usage, meaning the rubber tends to harden and consequently not performing as expected.

Domenico

[interiorak]

I'm currently running metzlers … that seem to do fine around town . . . slush, wet or dry.  I’m not wild about their traction (go or stop) in gravel.  Once was enough . . . I won’t do the Dalton Hiway on them again.  Can anybody recommend a tire best in gravel and ok on asphalt.  I’d like to ride the R65 more often next season . . .  read that ride off pavement more often.  I use TKCs on the 1100gs and am willing to trade the short life for their excellent performance on gravel roads here in AK.  Not sure where to start with the R65.

[Darwin_R65]

May yet be changing my tyres on the R65. The BT45's i bought have created a corrugated road feeling at 60kmh.
Proving almost impossible to get the local motorcycle shop to admit they are a problem.

I have raised the front wheel slightly off the ground and when the wheel is rotated the rim is straight.
The line halfway down the tyre stays true, but the tyre varies by 2mm in roundness.

As the line on the side of the tyre does not vary I believe it to be a manufacturing defect.

However the motorcycle shop has pointed the finger at my steering head bearings, forks, wheel bearings, "It' is a 30 year old bike you know".

I was happy to hand thebike to them and pay to get this fixed, but after his accusing verything else on the bike, I don't think I'd trust them to change the valve cap now.

I'm going to contact Bridgestone directly with a video of the tyre showing out of roundness, and hope to get better service, otherwise I'll be trying a different shop and different brand of tyre.

John

[Mike V]

Idiots, sounds like a shop to stay away from.  They probably wouldn't know how to repair the forks, steering head bearings or wheel bearings correctly anyway - on a 30 year old bike, since they can't plug it in to a machine to tell them what to replace.  Diagnostics and workmanship is a thing of the past except for this forum and others.  Find a private Bridgestone Tire supplier or deal with them directly.  These dealers would rather throw money all over themselves than keep us safe.  I'm tired of all this crap.  it's time we start standing up for ourselves and demand we get our money's worth.

I just purchased 2 sets of S-11's from a private supplier here in San Diego.  I couldn't be happier with the tires and the small business owner and his service.  Great care, prices, product and service.

[Darwin_R65]

Forgot to mention this was the same shop when i picked up the tyres I asked "have they been balanced?, there's no weights" The guy on the counter said yes they've been balanced, obviously didn't need them.

Came back 2 days later to complain about the 60kmh shake, so they rebalanced them and when it needed three weights on either side had the gall to say, you must have thrown the weights off. I looked at him and said do you recall me asking about the weights when I picked the wheels up. I'm so glad I noticed and mentioned it.

They are an independant store, I'm going to approach Bridgestone directly and complain.

John