New Boots- choices
 

At 5000miles now and the rear Sirac is in need of replacement. I can't fault them at all, there's been no lack of grip wet or dry and they supply loads of confidence. No chicken strips front or back but now that replacement is due I'm wondering about maybe going for something with more road bias as I don't really go off road much.

So after looking for choices using Cambrian Tyres which threw up plenty of choices.
Currently I'm looking at the Bridgestone Battlewings following an F800GS-riding friends recommendation, but also thinking about the Conti Trail Attacks.
I had Metzeler Tourances on the Caponord and they didn't do anything for me, I'd probably go for Siracs over them. I've used Contis in past (Sport and Road Attacks) and had mixed feelings about them; they were fine on the Speed Triple but not so good on the Firestorm.

So, any recommendations?

Yeah I read the forums already but couldn't find anything about people using either the T/A's or the B/W's. I know deiaccord uses BT45's but I never really liked them on my old GPZ500.

If you want a more road focused tyre then I can recommend the Pirelli Scorpion Trail.

Al.

It's hard for me to give a fully accurate comparison as this is my first bike and i have only ever had the siracs' and bt45 to compare.

The sirac's did bi 11.5k miles before i replaced them but they would have been legal for a few thousand miles more yet. Generally i was extremely impressed with them never had any grip problems wet or dry (commuting over the winter/spring months). My only complaint, which may be due to them being somewhat square (as oposed to the heavy tred) was they really cought on overbanding or the side of speed humps. They're

I was very happy with the siracs them but chose to try different tyres so i could learn to appreciate the differences they offered.

I've done about 3k miles on the BT45's so far and while their dry grip seems ok (as you'd expect) i've not been as impressed with their wet grip, i've had a lot more moments where they seem to have started to struggle compared with the siracs. They also cause the speed to read about 3% higher than on the Siracs. I've not noticed any noticable difference in vibration, road noise or fuel economy (after allowing for the fact the trip meter reads 3% higher than before - 188.5 vs 183.4 miles for the same trip)

Honestly the only benefit i have noticed over my squared off siracs is they are less afected by rough road surfaces, at the expense of wet grip. It's too early to compare tyre life yet. If I wern't planning to try the touraces tyres next time round i'd be going for the Siracs' again for my next set, especialy as i'll be riding them through the winter

My Sirac's whiteline really badly too now that they're squared off. I'm leaning towards the Bridgestones I think, I expect I'll need to replace them before winter and the snow so might go back to Siracs then.

I had Trail Attacks on my R1100GS. Superb on road, wet or dry. Acceptable in gravel. Pants in anything remotely slippery. But as others have said, tyre preference is a very individual thing. Be interested to hear what you choose, and what you think of them.

I've just bought and had fitted to the rear wheel an Avon Gripster.

Not tried it yet as I need to sort out a new set of cush-drive rubbers as mine fell out in individual pieces when I took the wheel out and removed the rear sprocket and hub cover.

I have read good reports such as long life and grip plus useful off-road. I am also being patriotic and supporting a English made tyre!

I bought it also due to cheapness from National Tyres on-line fitted at my local centre all in for under �70.00.

I will let you know what I think of it when I get the new or put back in the old cush drive rubbers next week. see seperate thread on cush drives-help needed please?

Cheers Stridey but I ran Gripsters on my TS125 and broke my first bone trying to get my knee down on it when the tyre ran out of tread. If this seems optimistic I already had the pegs scraping and with youthful ignorance I assumed you just stuck out your knee and it happened :D

The Gripsters have been around for a very long time but i've heard nothing but good things about them. I'd be keen to know how you rate them as they (along with Avon Distanzia's), are one of the 2 tyre choices i'm contemplating once the Siracs bite the dust..

Hi,
I have done about 400 miles since re-ftting the rear wheel with new (warranty) ruber cush drives- wow what a ball ache trying to replace the wheel by myself. Got a mate to help me eventually and it took about 10 mins to line up and hold spacers and put the wheel back in! Not looking forward to a puncture out in the field now though!

Anyhow. The Avon Gripster fitted to the rear is really good. Grip is superb in the dry and was fine in the wet eventhough I still ride cautious so havent pushed it over too much but will try a little harder in the next rain. Stable at 85mph indicated (5000rpm in top) and with no additional tyre noise.

With the Gripster you have 10mm of tread when new so it should last reasonably well but only time will tell. I previously had Tourance on and these lasted 7600 miles on rear and front still on at just under 8000 miles. However I feel more confident with the Gripsters on bends-they just seem to be more grippy and have a better pattern shape?

Front will be changed to a Gripster asap and again I will use National tyres as pice is very good at �49.00 inc vat and fitting to loose wheel!

Why struggle and fit it yourself buying from Busters to save a Fiver?

I am planning to try the Gripsters off road in the next few weeks on a long distance Byeway in Wiltshire and will let you know how they perform off road.

cheers :026:

Gripsters hmm i would like to here what you make of both of them once fully fitted, i put on a set of Distanzias (XTR) and the front was ok until it got semi worn and then became lethal mid lean in the wet there the pattern changed and gave a front end slide. The rears the same but had only started happening i think more as the rears squared off after my england trip.

But the gripsters look as if they have more tread ie grip so maybe you will not suffer it.

Well I went for the Battlewings as they were the cheapest I found and I thought I'd try something new. Will fit them this weekend and see how they fare. The Siracs are currently spinning up in the wet so anything with tread would be an improvement! :D

Would be good to hear how you find them once you've had them fitted a while.

You must have run your Sirac's really bare then from what you said. I still had nearly 3mm tread on my rear when it was changed at 11.5k miles and never any serious slips.

BT45's still doing well and showing early signs of some squaring at 5k miles so far, looks like they should be good for 10-15k miles or so again.

Cush drive shows signs of being shot after the same distance as the tyres though. At least as the chain is ok this time I can tell what it feels like :) (guess I'll get them replaced at the 18k mile service)

Well I changed them today. Note to self, wielding tyre levers after a beery night is not a fun thing to do. Urk.
I changed them as a pair as the front Sirac had started to mis-shape the tread, the rear had no tread along the centre line, hence the spin ups. 5081miles was the life of them. I'm sure the wear is due to my riding style so will be trying a few different things out to do with that.
So the Battlewings. Well after 12 miles I'm almost out of chicken strips. The bike feels smoother with them on, quite possible due to the low land-sea ratio of them compared to the Siracs. I have noticed that coming out of roundabouts and bends that the front seems to want to push out more as the rear squats, this is where the Siracs would slide a little so I've got good feelings about the grip of the Battlewings.
Will report on how things feel after a few more miles.

Sorry to hijack the thread but is there any chance of people posting a picture of what tyrea they are running, as im looking to change the boots shortly for something more offroad.

Ok, I did just shy of 400miles today riding to a funeral and back. Got to say I am well and truly smitten with these Battlewings. Loads and loads and loads of grip and feel. Really very impressed.

Try Avon Distanzias they are more road biased than the gripster :icon_flower: should be better in the wet too

Had my Avon Gripster on rear only (on front is original Tourance 8400 miles) and done about 800 miles now and I really rate the Avon on both wet and dry road conditions which at present is mostly wet!

Avon state 80% on road and 20% off. I will be using next month on a long distance green lane which is a bit mud-a bit stoney and semi-metalled in places so i will report back after this on the off road side of things.

The Distanzia I find look too close to the Tourance pattern and are I agree more road biased like the Tourance. I think Avon say 90% road against 10% off road.

The Gripster on the rear has 10mm of tread when new which is deep and the compound is sticky so grip good on road for sure. After about 800 miles its worn 1mm which is good in my opinon.

Gripster is cheaper than the Distanzia too by about �15.

All in all so far I am happy but like all tyres only time will tell!

Plumping for Distanzia..
 

The rear OE tyre is bordering on the illegal now after 2800 on my 2006 XTX. Having read the forums I'm plumping for replacing it with a Distanzia, �110 fitted to the loose wheel just half a mile away at Burnout Tyres :)

I'm hoping it won't cause stability issues when combined with the OE front as I'd like to get more tyre life out of it - cash seems to be flowing in the outwards direction only at the moment - anyone had any issues with this combo?

Cheers

Selina

Wow 2800 miles-not very long lasting-what OE tyre is it?
I got 7600 miles out of my Z using the OE Tourance.

Your Distanzia price is not cheap so if not too late check out National tyres website and you can get a Distanzia fitted for about �70.00-80.00 to a loose wheel.
Check you rubber cush drives as if you only got 2800 miles it maybe also due to the power transmitted through the wheel you have worn these. They will be visible once you remove wheel and the chances are will fall out when you remove wheel as the rear sprocket will almost fallout from the hub and expose the rubbers. Check them over for wear and they should be attached in four pairs but mine weren't but i had done nearly 3 times your mileage. you should get these replaced under warranty as I did if not about �25 for the set.

I run a Avon gripster on the rear and the original OE Tourance on front which is up for replacement anytime soon. But up to now its been no problem running the two makes together.

cheers

I run a Distanzia on the front and a gripster on the rear of my ttr it seems like a good combo for road riding. as for grip off road fine in the dry not much cop in the wet.:SPanikengun77:

looking at the national tyres site it appears you can get AVON roadrunner tyres front and back. If anyone is not going in the dirt these look like a great grippy tyre for tarmac use. also seem a reasonable price too.

hmm now thats got me thinking still fancy some moto rims though so I can put nobblies on the original rims.:068:

The OE is Pirelli Dragon, I wasn't impressed with the mileage either!

Just checked www.national.co.uk - not 100% sure if this is the site you meant - and the total price fitted to a loose wheel there is �111.60..... though a new valve isn't strictly necessary imho.

Selina

Hi Selina,if at all possible change the pair youre bike will be transformed by Distanzias.Your deal is fair for rear tyre fit loose wheel.If i was you i would say �175 fitted to loose wheels for a pair they might go for it .I always haggle over tyre prices. http://www.xt660.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

Hi Selina
checked the national.co.uk web site again and a Avon Distanzia 130/80/17 65T (118 mph rated) is around �75.00 and less if you dont get it balanced as the national fittting centre told me they dont balabce bike wheels!

What tyre size are you running?

cheers

there's hardly a need to balance rear wheels anyway...

160/60/17 R, its an XTX just realised this thread was in the Tenere forum sorry! Found it doing a search for Distanzia's so I could read some reviews :)

I thought the price was fair as at Round&Black on eBay they're �115 inc delivery.. obviously with no fitting involved!

I think you're right about the pair too, just that I have major cash outlay both last month and this... but knowing me I'll spend a week on the new rear and decide 'ooo i've just gotta try it with the front too' :p

Cheers,

Selina

these tyres will blow ure mind,ure lean angle and confidence will go up 100%.just do it,tell ure other half to lend it you
http://www.xt660.com/images/icons/icon14.gif