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: