Going abroard for thr first time on bike, tyre choice?

[cashy]

Hi folks, hope all this good weather is to your liking and not too sunny for the biking days out!!!!

I am going to france on the bike soon for 2 weeks and will need a new set of tyres, what would be the best type/make to go for and any good places for ride in fitting in the south cheshire/ stoke area.

Cheers.

[simon t]

Hi cashy, I got back from France a couple of weeks ago with a rear tyre totally sh*gged down the centre line. All that straight-line high-speed stuff in the north. So my first recommendation is to find some twisties as soon as you hit Calais and even out the wear.

That said, I dont have any complaints about my Bridgestone 020 which seems a fair sticky/wear compromise. I think I got about 6000 miles out of it. (I have 010 on the front to help the turn-in and that's still got loads of tread left.)

Enjoy the trip - whereabouts are you off to?

[Orange Robbie]

The first set that were OE on my bike were Dunlop, 1700 miles new set required, I have now completed 2500 miles on my Mich High sports, which were good for 4 - 4500 on my CBR 600, and now have a max of 500 miles left on them = 3000 miles. Bobbly and worn all over the tread, I have been riding hardish, full width of tyre used -1mm each side, power on and accelerating through the bends, high speed stuff mixed in 120+ regular, with an indicated 155 yesterday. My mates Thunderace which was with me all yesterday, tyre still smooth, thats fours for ya.
I am off to either France or I.O.M in September so I will be facing the same decision as you. I will have a look at the Mich Pilot Road, and take some advice from dealers. Will try and post anything helpful.

[Sharpe1]

I do mainly straight commuting so I went for the Metzeler RoadTech, which is supposed to be as good as the Pilot Road, same price anyway. It seems very good so far but it's only been about 1000 kms.

[loosescrew]

I did 10k over 2 trips, on the continent on my previous storm!! Used BT020's! (2 sets) The centers were hard enough on the auto-routes and left the sides with plenty of grip for the alps!!

Piolts?? They were OE on my Boxer Cup rep....I would NOT recommend them! Grip was good and tread lasted 4500miles, but the sidewalls started to flex after about 2k miles making the rear feel very unstable under hard acceleration out of corners!!!

But when it comes down to it.....it's YOUR choice!!

Have a good trip!

[cashy]

Thanks for the comments folks,

I have been doing some work on the matter myself, and have decided to get a set of Bridgestone 014's which I'm told is the newer version of the 020 on a ride in service at Derby for £177.00 all in fitted the full monty!, will have to see what happens.

[loosescrew]

.........B I G suck in of breath.....

.....I had an 014 fitted to my blackbird prior to a continental trip in 03, I was NOT impressed! Fantastic grip but very slow/heavy to turn, and the spanish motorways destroyed them in 3000 mls!

But I'll say again they gave fantastic grip, and the storm being naturally lighter and more nimble than the bird you may not notice any difference in the handling! Finally if you stay away from the corregated concrete motorways, which will reduce tyre wear anyway, 3000miles should be no problem!

As I said in the above post the choice is yours.....just have a ball on your trip!

[RAINMAKER]

matched 010's on mine got 4.500 miles on the rear and abour 2,000 left in it I think.
notbeen going too quick recently . but still thats 80 - 90 ish average speed
this is much more that i expected.
advice
RIDE WITH THE TYRE THAT FEELS THE BEST AND BUDGET FOR A CHANGE