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Tire recs?

Joined
Apr 23, 2020
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Location
Cedar Park, Texas, USA
I noticed hyper sensitivity to tar snakes on the road surface and then saw that I'm nearly to the wear indicators on my front tire... time to consider something new.

This is for my 2012 Bonneville SE. Stock tire sizes are 110/70-17 front and 130/80-17 rear. I have a 140/70 in the rear now and I like it, will probably keep that size.

The tires on the bike are a Pirelli Sport Demon in front, and a Michelin Pilot Street Radial in the rear. I really like this tire combo even though it's not recommended. The front tire has worn faster than the rear; probably has about 7K on it and it's getting close to the end. The rear Michelin has a little too much slip for my tastes especially on the wrong-camber roundabout in my neighborhood that I literally have to ride on every single time I go out. But it is wearing about half as fast as the front, which seems odd.

I ride 100% on good pavement with this bike, almost never in the rain but I will ride through rain if I get caught out. If I anticipate gravel or bad pavement, I pick the other bike. I favor nimble and connected road feel over comfort. I don't ride fast, basically at the speed limit, and don't try to rip through corners. I don't care about looks of a tire, and I'm not averse to mixing brands or bias/radial. I'm probably putting about 3-4K a year on my bike, a lot of that in utility routes, which means just running to the grocery store etc. so I tend to wear the middle of the tire and don't get hard on the edges.

Any recommendations? I am currently leaning towards Michelin Pilot Road 5s or Avon Spirit ST. PR5s are available in the sizes I need, but with Avons I'd have to go with a 150/70 in the rear, which is not really recommended for my 3.5" rear wheel. The Michelins are just way more expensive. Maybe I should mix and match again.
 
Without ever having a bike like yours I couldn't say. My experience has been that almost every bike I've owned ran different manurfacturers - Yamaha FJ loved Contis, the big BMW Michelin, the Ducati Pirelli, etc.

I did find this link for your consideration. No surprise that Avons and Dunlops were featured. It's a Brit thing I guess.

 
Yeah, and Rideapart is British too IIRC.

Bike had Avon Roadriders on it when I got it. The mashup I have on there now was an astronomical improvement. I did notice the RA article points out Pilot Road 3, predecessor to the PR5 I am considering. But the Avon Spirit ST were not available when that was written.

The Speed Twin crowd (Triumph's current 17" mag wheel sporty Bonneville) really like the Spirit ST and the PR5s. My only apprehension about the Spirit ST is the 150 rear tire. If they made it in a 140/70 I'd probably have my choice made already.
 
My front tire has made the transition to "truly scary", way into the wear indicators on the right side. Oddly enough the rear tire only has wear indicators on the right side... guess they are for North Americans only! But it's pretty close, probably 1mm or less to the bars. So I think I'm going to give the Avon Spirit STs a shot and go ahead and fit the 150/70 even though the manufacturer doesn't recommend it for a 3.5" wheel.

Now it's just a matter of where to buy them. I wish some of these local shops would let me order online for in-shop installation. Gotta call RideNow in Georgetown and see if they can get the tires for me, I can ride over there and get them changed, which would make my life a lot easier.

Bummer is that I think I am going to have to quit riding my Triumph until I can get this tire sorted.
 
I hear nothing but good things about the Michelin Pilot Road tires. I'm short on personal experience with road only tires, however I could recommend some street biased adventure type tires.
 
Yeah, reading the reviews, the Avon Spirit ST get similar reviews to the Pilot Road tires, and they are much less expensive. On a Triumph, I want to give some British tires a chance. Those guys ought to know a thing or two about rain traction.
 
Yeah, reading the reviews, the Avon Spirit ST get similar reviews to the Pilot Road tires, and they are much less expensive. On a Triumph, I want to give some British tires a chance. Those guys ought to know a thing or two about rain traction.

Michelin are the only tires I'll buy for my car or truck specifically because of they're wet weather performance. I would hope they MC tires do the same.
 
The only experience I have with Avon tires were Storm series. I put a set on a Versys 650 at one point and a few years later on a VStrom 1000. The first set was comparable to Pilot Roads...Pilot Roads that had already spent 3 riding seasons on the bike that is, not great traction but predictable. I sold the Versys with those tires still on it. The second set was mediocre in the dry and scary in the wet. I pulled them off the VStrom after less then 1k miles and put them in the dumpster. I've seen good reviews, but that wasn't my experience. I went back to Michelin after that.
 
Interesting. It seems the Avon Spirit ST are essentially the identical tire to the previous Storm 3D X-M, updated mostly branding. You can currently order both. For a period of time, the Spirit ST were less expensive than the 3DXM, and now they are opposite. So I ordered a set of Storm 3D X-M tires. We'll see! Reviews from Triumph riders are excellent, other reviews all over are very good, equal at least to Michelin Road 4/5.

I guess I'll find out. They were a decent deal and my front tire is history so I had to do something.
 
While I haven't had the opportunity to experiment, I do know different bikes behave differently with the same tire and you have to match the tire to the machine. They may well be great for yours!
 
They weren't cheap, but I am very happy with my Michelin Road 5's. They are very sticky in wet and dry. They ride smooth and wear well.
When these wear out, I will probably buy them again or the next generation.
 
I got the Avon tires on and first ride out, it rained. They were terrific wet and dry. Bike feels a little more eager to turn with the 150 rear tire vs the 140 it had, but not a lot different.
 
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