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Question Looking for tire reccomendations under $200 for whole set.

RubyRider

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Hello all, I am looking for a some tire reccomendations. I want to keep the full set around $200. I do mostly inner city riding, some highway and I hit the backroads most weekends. I am looking for a more mileage but i recognize in this price range beggars can't bw choosers.

I have been looking at :

DUNLOP Sportmax GPR-300
Dunlop Roadsmart II
Dunlop Roadsport II (not entirely cleat what difference is between the sport and smart)
Shink Raven 009
 
Shinko Raven 009 is my recommendation. I have not tried the other tires in your list. They may also be good. Generally speaking, "sport" tires have shorter tread life.

I currently have around 16,500 miles on my Raven front. That is my highest mileage front tire to date on my NC. There is still plenty of center tread but I have worn down the sides in the twisties, so it is nearing end of life. The tire has a nice quick turn-in feel and sticks very well in corners. Tread and wear bars in the center line means no surprise cord showing; that is to say you have good visibility to how much rubber is left as it nears end of life.

My Shinko Raven rear has not been on long enough to evaluate expected tread life. The rear Raven also has tread at it's center line so tread depth can be easily monitored.

Cost for a set of Ravens at AmericanMotoTire for the NC is $155, free shipping in USA. It's hard to beat that price!
 
Shinko Raven 009 is my recommendation. I have not tried the other tires in your list. They may also be good, but generally speaking, "sport" tires have shorter tread life.

I currently have around 16,500 miles on my Raven front. That is my highest mileage front tire to date on my NC. There is still plenty of center tread but I have worn down the sides in the twisties, so it is nearing end of life. The tire has a nice quick turn-in feel and sticks very well in corners. Tread and wear bars in the center line means no surprise cord showing; that is to say you have good visibility to how much rubber is left as it nears end of life.

My Shinko Raven rear has not been on long enough to evaluate expected tread life. The rear Raven also has tread at it's center line so tread depth can be easily monitored.

Cost for a set of Ravens at AmericanMotoTire for the NC is $155, free shipping in USA. It's hard to beat that price!
Wow! Thats a lot of miles! I could probably get a little more life out of my tires but its a 2013 at almost 7k miles and I suspect the tires are factory. I have read OEM tires arent the best since that is where costs are usually cut. Not to mention age. I was leaning towards the ravens. I was planning on getting my tires from cycle gear. I have no problem removing my wheels, but I lack the equipment to mount tires.
 
Another low cost tire to consider is the Continental Motion. I have run a set of these, as have other forum members. The tires are fine, but tread life is average. I got almost 12,000 miles from the Motion front, and only 8000 miles before cords were showing on the rear. I won’t be buying them again, since I think there are better choices.
 
Another low cost tire to consider is the Continental Motion. I have run a set of these, as have other forum members. The tires are fine, but tread life is average. I got almost 12,000 miles from the Motion front, and only 8000 miles before cords were showing on the rear. I won’t be buying them again, since I think there are better choices.
I'm surprised you got that kind of miles out of the Contimotions. They are pretty grippy tires for sport riding, I ran a rear once. Sold the bike before I got a chance to wear it out. Felt really good in curves though.
 
I'm surprised you got that kind of miles out of the Contimotions. They are pretty grippy tires for sport riding, I ran a rear once. Sold the bike before I got a chance to wear it out. Felt really good in curves though.
Riding style will dictate the tire life, but by comparison, the Motion rear tire got the worst mileage of all my NC tires, even slightly worse than the stock Metzeler Z8s.
 
I have a set of Z6s waiting to be mounted, to try them out. Do you have any experience with them?
 
Yep, I agree with 670cc...I have the Ravens on and have used 2 sets of them....Use to have the Conti Motion Pros, but they dont have a center thread pattern and no wear marker in the middle and cords show before you know you need a new tire....the Ravens have center thread and wear bars in the middle to monitor the center wear...Ravens are inexpensive, good in dry and wet conditions and not too bad on gravel either...
 
To all that are new to the Raven, particularly the front, davidc83 and I both independently noted a different feel on the front end. Turn in is quick and steering effort is light. After 500 miles they either break in or you adapt to them. I think it's great but it is a bit surprising on the first few rides, compared to your old worn tire.

Speaking of Shinkos, I just mounted a Shinko SE890 Journey on the spare rear wheel for my Goldwing. Looks like a nice tire and the reviews are good.. It was a much lower price than other brands, some of which I didn't much care for anyway. I'm anxious to see if it performs well and gets good life.
 
Thanks for the heads up. I'm looking forward to different feel (hopefully better). Currently have the original tyres on with 7 yrs and 10k miles on them.
 
Dunlop RoadSmart 3 have been great for me on my NC, my wife on her CTX, and I now have them on my VFR.
Out of curiosity, I checked out the price of the RoadSmart III at AmericanMotoTire. It looks like that RoadSmart III set for the NC runs around $288. Have you found them elsewhere for under $200 per set? I do see the RoadSmart II is available for about $160 for the set, so that could have been an option for the OP.
 
Out of curiosity, I checked out the price of the RoadSmart III at AmericanMotoTire. It looks like that RoadSmart III set for the NC runs around $288. Have you found them elsewhere for under $200 per set? I do see the RoadSmart II is available for about $160 for the set, so that could have been an option for the OP.
Nope. I overlooked his budget requirements.

EDIT; Revzilla has them for 234 and 40 dollar rebate. May be irrelevant to Ruby Rider at this point though.
 
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To all that are new to the Raven, particularly the front, davidc83 and I both independently noted a different feel on the front end. Turn in is quick and steering effort is light. After 500 miles they either break in or you adapt to them. I think it's great but it is a bit surprising on the first few rides, compared to your old worn tire.

Speaking of Shinkos, I just mounted a Shinko SE890 Journey on the spare rear wheel for my Goldwing. Looks like a nice tire and the reviews are good.. It was a much lower price than other brands, some of which I didn't much care for anyway. I'm anxious to see if it performs well and gets good life.
I did notice a difference, but I seem to have gotten used it. The turn in is quite shocking, but they have great grip. Although anything was probably better than the rubber I was running before.
 
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