Finally, a tire thread!
Howdy,
I can't believe it took us several months before our first tire thread!?
I do tons of miles every year on both of our VFR's so I go through tires like candy. Here's my take. I usually run a sport tire on the front and a sport-touring tire on the rear. This has always worked real well for me. I also mix brands
OEM D204 front and back
Bleech! changed then out for something else when both bikes hit their 600 mile service! Hard and slick, worthless in my opinion.
D207 front
Some people love these tires. Personally, I am not wild about the triangular profile. I don't like the bike to fall into turns. I prefer the seamless turn in with the more rounded profile. I guess you could call the tires I like, nuetral. They don't fall in or want to stand up, they just stay where you put them. The D207 gives real good grip. VFR's will cup them really fast. I got about 3500 miles out of them back when I was new to the VFR and not even riding remotely agressively. I doubt if they would last more than 2500 with my riding style now. I've never run the D207 rear.
D205 Rear
I ran this tire on both of the VFR's for several years. It goves a great combination of grip and wear. The best I ever did was about 9000 miles and the worst somewhere around 5000 miles. Rear tire life is extremely sensitive to your riding style. If you blow away from stop signs and lights, you'll flat spot the center pretty fast on any tire. Same for heavy braking. Even though the D220 supposedly replaces the D205, you can still get the D205's for around $100. In nearly 50K miles, I don't recall ever having the rear break loose on me. Although there was this two wheel drift in the rain in the mountains of North Carolina a few years ago...
Anyway, I highly recommend this tire if you are looking for long life and decent grip.
BT 010 front
I had one of these put on my VFR while out in North Carolina. I immediately went out and put a few hundred miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway on it. I loved it!! This is one of the nuetral profile tires I was speaking of earlier. I stretched that tire out for nearly 16K miles. It was so shagged and severly cupped! In retrospect, I probably should have changed it at around 10K miles and it would have been fine. For several years, I ran the BT 010 front and the D205 rear. This is an excellent combination. Then about a year ago, a whole bunch of new tires started hitting the market so I began experimenting with others.
Pirelli Dragon GTS front
While in Colorado, my current front tire (BT 010) went away real fast and the shaking got pretty bad from the cupping. Fortunately we were right next to a Honda dealer and they fixed me up with the Dragon GTS. I really like this tire. So far, it is the most resistant to cupping on the VFRs. It has excellent grip wet or dry. It lasted nearly 15K before it finally started cupping enough to induce a slight headshake when leaned over in turns. This is the tire I am currently running on both VFRs.
BT 020 rear
When it was new, it felt awesome! Unfortunately, they don't stay that way very long. The one on our 98 has less than 4K on it and the center has started coming apart, literally. The one on the 01 is not far behind it. I won't be getting anymore of these. Can't afford to replace them so often. Even though they are cheaper initially, having to buy them so often makes them more expensive per mile.
Metzler M1 Sportec front and rear
When these tires came out, they got rave reviews from all the magazine guys for their longevity. I figure these guys are probably brutal on tires so if they think a tire last a long time, it should do great for me! Wrong! These tires are absolutely hands down the best tires I have ever run on the VFR. I never once had to even think about traction being an issue. It was like being superglued to the road. BUT... the rear was toast after 3000 miles, about 1500 miles of which were done in North Caroline on serious twisties. The front managed to last about 4000 miles. EXPENSIVE. However, if you are one of those guys that barely manages to put 3500 miles a year on your bike, I highly recommend these tires!!
Pilot Road rear
This is the next rear tire I am going to experiment with. They retail for $175!!
So anyway, I got them for $126 which is still not the cheapest tire I have seen. But if they last longer, then the cost per mile may be lower. Besides, having to change the tires less often counts for a lot as well. I will be installing them tomorrow (Thurs) so I'll have them on for the Heart of Texas ride this weekend. I'm hoping they will last through a trip to Arkansas for several days of riding, and then a full seven days of riding in North Carolina. I'll report back after they get some miles on them.