changing tyre brands

[mouser]

Hi Guys,
Help, Newbie here, I have a 2000 Fazer 600 with Bridgestone Battlax BT021 on front and rear and I was thinking of changing them to another brand ,can I have some recommendations please.

[ChristoT]

First - Maxxis Supermaxx are terrible. I had a set, kicked them off as soon as I could.

The Michelin PR3s I now have are epic though. Warm up fast, and grip like stink! Good reports of longevity too.

[adeejaysdelight]

Not to start an argument, but I also have Maxxis Surermaxx sport touring and find them good value for money at £140 a pair. I actually bought another rear which is sat in the garage waiting to go on (before I head to the ring). I used to have BT021 and though they were terrible. But the Maxxis have served me well, and there are hardly any chicken strips on them. If you have an extra £100, go for the Michelin PR 3 though.

[Yamazer-92]

I put Metzeler Z8 interacts on mine recently front and rear and there was a very noticeable difference handling wise. I have never scraped anything on the bike before or on any of my old bikes but now if I'm being a bit silly I scrape the pegs and have even scraped a bit off my side stand because my bike doesn't have the footpeg blobby bits. I would thoroughly recommend them, got tyre of the year 2012 and are great in the rain too. Cheaper than PR3.

[fireblake]

I have Bridgestone 023's and they are perfect, I found the 021's wore very odd.


Mickey

[Punkstig]

Unfortunately tires are a personal choice and it will take you a while to find your favourites.
I've been through Bridgestone, continentals and michelin's,
The Michelin pilot road 3's give ridiculously good mileage and very good grip but are more pricier initially, although for £'s per mile work out cheaper, in this heat they'll heat up too quick and are capable of going off too hot if you're going to thrash it about the twisties, so are good for winter use.
I'm currently on a Bridgestone s20 on front which I'm really liking, absorbs bumps well, gives very good grip- I had no issues with it at a hot track day.
I got a Michelin pilot power 2 on the back and they're very grippy with a decent mileage!

[ChristoT]

Unfortunately tires are a personal choice and it will take you a while to find your favourites.
I've been through Bridgestone, continentals and michelin's,
The Michelin pilot road 3's give ridiculously good mileage and very good grip but are more pricier initially, although for £'s per mile work out cheaper, in this heat they'll heat up too quick and are capable of going off too hot if you're going to thrash it about the twisties, so are good for winter use.
I'm currently on a Bridgestone s20 on front which I'm really liking, absorbs bumps well, gives very good grip- I had no issues with it at a hot track day.
I got a Michelin pilot power 2 on the back and they're very grippy with a decent mileage!

a) what's too hot, and:

b) what happens if they do get too hot? Worried now...  :eek

[chaz]

I changed from bridgestone battleaxe I was getting 3,700 miles out of a rear, to super maxis diamond the rear has done 5,000 miles and is ready for changing but has never moved an inch on the corners, I'll be putting another maxis on, cheaper and better in my opinion than bridgestone, but tyres are personal choice and the more confident you are the better they will be?

[Punkstig]

[quote author=Punkstig link=topic=9075.msg90360#msg90360 date=1374776898]
Unfortunately tires are a personal choice and it will take you a while to find your favourites.
I've been through Bridgestone, continentals and michelin's,
The Michelin pilot road 3's give ridiculously good mileage and very good grip but are more pricier initially, although for £'s per mile work out cheaper, in this heat they'll heat up too quick and are capable of going off too hot if you're going to thrash it about the twisties, so are good for winter use.
I'm currently on a Bridgestone s20 on front which I'm really liking, absorbs bumps well, gives very good grip- I had no issues with it at a hot track day.
I got a Michelin pilot power 2 on the back and they're very grippy with a decent mileage!

a) what's too hot, and:

b) what happens if they do get too hot? Worried now...  :eek
[/quote]


Only if you're pushing it for a while and this is because of the extra sipes on the pr3’s (good in cold not so in heat)
There's a big misconception that hotter ='s grippier, it doesn't, if they get too hot they'll lose grip not gain it! These are road tyres remember, not sports ones,
in racing they have the hard and soft options partially for what the temperature is!

[Grahamm]

I have a 2000 Fazer 600 with Bridgestone Battlax BT021 on front and rear and I was thinking of changing them to another brand ,can I have some recommendations please.

You can have a *lot* of recommendations (and it looks like you already have!)

Personally I've got Bridgestone 023s on my FZ6 Fazer and they've stood me in good stead, the rear lasted about 9,000 miles and I think the front did about 14,000 with a mix of motorways and putting it through the twisty bits

[Dead Eye]

BT023s for me as well

Second pair that I've had but might opt for something different on my next set, probably be S20s :lol

[bigbluebear]

Just bought Dunlop Roadsmarts....not fitted yet but were recommended....will let you know when scrubbed in

[Arfa]

I put Metzeler Z8 interacts on mine recently front and rear and there was a very noticeable difference handling wise. I have never scraped anything on the bike before or on any of my old bikes but now if I'm being a bit silly I scrape the pegs and have even scraped a bit off my side stand because my bike doesn't have the footpeg blobby bits. I would thoroughly recommend them, got tyre of the year 2012 and are great in the rain too. Cheaper than PR3.

I'm on the Metzeler Z6. Front one went on last Autumn, matching rear last month. Would have liked to try the Z8's, but weren't in stock when I recently had a puncture (and were an extra £30 for the rear).
Found them great, much better than the old Dunlops that were on before (but they came with bike, so were getting on a bit). Well worth checking out either way.

[JoeRock]

[quote author=Punkstig link=topic=9075.msg90360#msg90360 date=1374776898]
Unfortunately tires are a personal choice and it will take you a while to find your favourites.
I've been through Bridgestone, continentals and michelin's,
The Michelin pilot road 3's give ridiculously good mileage and very good grip but are more pricier initially, although for £'s per mile work out cheaper, in this heat they'll heat up too quick and are capable of going off too hot if you're going to thrash it about the twisties, so are good for winter use.
I'm currently on a Bridgestone s20 on front which I'm really liking, absorbs bumps well, gives very good grip- I had no issues with it at a hot track day.
I got a Michelin pilot power 2 on the back and they're very grippy with a decent mileage!

a) what's too hot, and:

b) what happens if they do get too hot? Worried now...  :eek
[/quote]

To be honest Christo at 33hp nothing is going to happen, you won't be able to push a tyre hard enough with that for it to get too hot - I would seriously doubt that with that much hp even slamming the throttle wide open in the wet would be enough to get it to spin up properly!

[stevierst]

Got maxxis Supermax on my 600. Its my third set now, and for the money, they're brilliant! But then again, so were my bt020, bt023, dragon EVO's, contimotions, etc, etc. ..
I've edged each set of Supermax with ease, been on thrash-outs with litre bikes and kept up with them.
Ignore the tyre snobbery, its all in their heads. If you can out ride modern s/t tyres on a fazer 600 (not many will!) then you need to go to sports tyres or stop bullshitting.
For your average road rider most of the s/t tyres will do the job, admittedly they do behave slightly differently (021's :o ) but it depends mostly on how skilled a rider you are, and how deep your pockets are!
Bottom line is, you can't go wrong with most of them ;D

[ChristoT]

[quote author=ChristoT link=topic=9075.msg90364#msg90364 date=1374777588]
[quote author=Punkstig link=topic=9075.msg90360#msg90360 date=1374776898]
Unfortunately tires are a personal choice and it will take you a while to find your favourites.
I've been through Bridgestone, continentals and michelin's,
The Michelin pilot road 3's give ridiculously good mileage and very good grip but are more pricier initially, although for £'s per mile work out cheaper, in this heat they'll heat up too quick and are capable of going off too hot if you're going to thrash it about the twisties, so are good for winter use.
I'm currently on a Bridgestone s20 on front which I'm really liking, absorbs bumps well, gives very good grip- I had no issues with it at a hot track day.
I got a Michelin pilot power 2 on the back and they're very grippy with a decent mileage!

a) what's too hot, and:

b) what happens if they do get too hot? Worried now...  :eek
[/quote]

To be honest Christo at 33hp nothing is going to happen, you won't be able to push a tyre hard enough with that for it to get too hot - I would seriously doubt that with that much hp even slamming the throttle wide open in the wet would be enough to get it to spin up properly!
[/quote]

Don't underestimate it. At low speed, I get as much torque as a stock bike, and BECAUSE of the restrictor, I'm very hard on my accelerations etc. I have locked up the rear wheel a couple of times on engine braking (or at least felt it slip!  :eek ).

Got maxxis Supermax on my 600. Its my third set now, and for the money, they're brilliant! But then again, so were my bt020, bt023, dragon EVO's, contimotions, etc, etc. ..
I've edged each set of Supermax with ease, been on thrash-outs with litre bikes and kept up with them.
Ignore the tyre snobbery, its all in their heads. If you can out ride modern s/t tyres on a fazer 600 (not many will!) then you need to go to sports tyres or stop bullshitting.
For your average road rider most of the s/t tyres will do the job, admittedly they do behave slightly differently (021's :o ) but it depends mostly on how skilled a rider you are, and how deep your pockets are!
Bottom line is, you can't go wrong with most of them ;D

Sorry, Stevie, but I'm going to call you out on this one. As the LoFos know, I'm no slouch when I ride my bike (33hp or not!). I corner very aggresively, and try to get the most out of my tyre. No chicken strips on the Maxxis when I dumped them! That being said, half worn, I found they squirmed waaaay too much for my liking in the wet. I lost all faith in them, apart from in perfectg conditions. Even then, the rear would give me the occasional sphincter-loosening moments as it lost grip for a half a second round corners!  :eek

Personal preference obviously plays a part - I've found the Michelins way nippier than the Maxxis, the bike tips much more readily. The Maxxis felt (in later, squaring days) like trying to lean a tractor over!! For my part, I'm never fitting Maxxis to a road bike again. But the key word is again. At least I tried the buggers, and unfortunately, trial and error is the only way to learn what tyres you like.

[stevierst]

Stick some of the old square deaths on your bike, or the first macadms, THEN you'll know what slimy tyres are like. :

[nick crisp]

Tyres have come a loooong way since I started riding bikes, the vast majority of them are much better than back then. These days tyres don't seem to be that bad that they earn nicknames, like Dunlop Ditchfinders and Avon Roadrashers! And I forget which tyre it used to be said of that were Slip On, Slip Offs! I like the PR2s on mine well enough that I have no real desire to look for anything else now, after all, I'm not getting any faster these days :\

[kitcrazy]

did'nt like the BT023s in the wet just got a set of road pilot 3 they seem great in the dry.

[fireblake]

I might be wrong but I'm sure Ron Haslam uses 023's at his race school on his CBR600's and Fireblades.

Mickey