Various tire brands' length of life...

[MZ5]

That pic does not make me feel good, L.B.S. I had hoped to have at least a _little_ wear/warning showing in the grooves of these Metzelers before I see belt/cord. I'm struggling to maintain the confidence that these tires will still make the Boise trip I hope to ride in October. I'd much rather buy tires when _I_ plan to, from the place I want, rather than having to take whatever I can scrounge wherever I am. Speaking of which, the middle of Nevada is NOT a good place to have to try to scrounge tires for the NCX... <sigh>

 

[StratTuner]

I can tell you that they won't last as long as the stock Bridgestones. I have a buddy that ran them on his C14 to save a few bucks and he shagged the rear in one weekend of hard riding down in Arkansas (no burnouts, just enjoying the awesome camber built into the corners). Same guy ran a Bridgestone 023 for 3 full trips down to Arkansas and even had enough left to make the 300 mile trip home after the third time. I have always had good luck with Michelins. I love the Pilot Road 2 and am thinking about going to them when I wear out my stockers (if I can find the stock size for the rear).

same here... I've always had good wear from Michelin (on my Road Bicycle), and at this moment, I have the PR2's on my motorcyle.

 

[cyrano138]

The Z6 on my BMW looked virtually brand new in the morning, not even a really discernible flat spot in the centre, and then about 2 hours later...

I had the same experience, except over the course of a few days. In response to the posters above, yeah, I check my tires every couple of rides. The tread was a bit thin, sure, but there was no metal showing and everything was solid. Two days later, the tire looks like someone took a cheese grater to it. I didn't even get the best parts in the pictures. There was metal showing on the sides, too, in bigger patches. Like I said, two days ago it was fine, more or less. It still rides more or less the same. The guy is putting on a Bridgestone rear tomorrow.

I'm just speculating, but do you think Metzler or other companies might be using poorer quality compounds for some parts of the tire because they expect people to have replaced them before it would normally be exposed? If that's the case it would basically be setting these tires up for spectacular failures.

 

[Harald]

That pic does not make me feel good, L.B.S. I had hoped to have at least a _little_ wear/warning showing in the grooves of these Metzelers before I see belt/cord. I'm struggling to maintain the confidence that these tires will still make the Boise trip I hope to ride in October. I'd much rather buy tires when _I_ plan to, from the place I want, rather than having to take whatever I can scrounge wherever I am. Speaking of which, the middle of Nevada is NOT a good place to have to try to scrounge tires for the NCX... <sigh>

I've had to pull tires 2 years in a row now due to an upcoming long trip. I'm just not willing to deal with tire changes on the road where you may not get the brand you want, may not find your size at all and will most definitely pay too much.

This is a great reason to get setup to change your own tires if you have the inclination to do such a thing. Right now I'm running one of the old tires that I pulled early because I'm just commuting around town. This is feasible because I change my own tires, which costs nothing after getting setup and can be done at my convenience. And new tires can be bought MUCH cheaper online for delivery to my door.

 

[Beemerphile]

I've had to pull tires 2 years in a row now due to an upcoming long trip.

Agree. I do this as well. For my other bikes I have spare wheels, so it is even easier. I don't demount the old ones. That is cost prohibitive right now for the NC because the only source of wheels is the new parts channels. Once they are available on eBay from dismantlers, I will try to get a set for the NC as well.

 

[L.B.S.]

That pic does not make me feel good, L.B.S. I had hoped to have at least a _little_ wear/warning showing in the grooves of these Metzelers before I see belt/cord. I'm struggling to maintain the confidence that these tires will still make the Boise trip I hope to ride in October. I'd much rather buy tires when _I_ plan to, from the place I want, rather than having to take whatever I can scrounge wherever I am. Speaking of which, the middle of Nevada is NOT a good place to have to try to scrounge tires for the NCX... <sigh>

You wouldn't believe how much a replacement tire cost me...

I was here, where the little red dot is lol. From Haida Gwaii, it's an 8 hour ferry ride to the mainland, and from there, it was a full days ride to the closest (only) new tire available. I stopped and was able to buy an old used tire in Prince Rupert, which lasted me a few hundred miles until I was able to get to where a new tire was.



I could have literally bought an Ohlins shock like Beemerphile has, for what it ended up costing me for a new rear tire ...

Had I known, I sure would have rather installed a new tire prior to my trip, but like I say, it looked perfectly fine to me, darn it!

 

[MZ5]

"Like" isn't quite the word for how I feel about that post/information, so take that "like" more as a "thanks."

I don't have but 1 tire iron, and it was in some tools my Grandpa left me. He didn't ride a motorcycle, so I suspect it's from a car from a loooooooong time ago. Anyway, I've decided to use Ride On, so at least I don't have to worry about balancing. I think a couple more irons wouldn't be a bad idea for me to pick up. I'm going to give my preferred dealer a chance to sell me tires for a good price before I jump to Revzilla, though. I'm also going to start a thread with a question about tire profiles/shapes (hint, hint)