Tyre advice please?

[Stevemr]

So two of my bikes are going to need new tyres this year.
XJR1300 I’m thinking Michelin road 6 GT.
Triumph 795 T100 I’m thinking Michelin road classics.
Am I making wise choices?
No track days, just days out in the Dales, maybe a bit of a tour up to Scotland on the Yamaha.
Not worried about how many miles they last unduly, because I will probably change them on time before mileage.
Any advice gratefully received!

[Jazoli]

Any modern tyre from one of the premium brands will be more than adequate for normal riding, it’s been a while since I’ve bought tyres but the Metzeler Roadtec 01 and Michelin road 5 were great, I can only imagine that their successors will be equally as good or an improvement.

[Cakey_]

I put a pair of road 6's on my gsx1250f last year, enquired at the time if I'd be better getting the GT and the tyre fitter said the normal one is more than adequate for my bike which weighs 270kg.
Ive got about 3k miles on them so far with and probably less than half worn, over 1k of those were touring 2up with luggage so they last well.

[Bob_Defly]

Road 6's on both.

[cliffords]

The Road 6 is the only tyre I ever fitted that I hated so much I took it off.
Almost every other rider I know continually fits them time after time and says that are fantastic. It was just not my view against all the positives from many others .

On cars I like Michelin on bikes I like Pirelli now .

Some years ago I was at a tyre factory in China being shown around . I was working for a Bank at the time.

Near the end of the manufacturing process the tyres were in a machine that formed the tread and marked the tyres with the name and all the numbers and size markings etc . The chap said that today they were doing xxxx brand and marking them accordingly. I asked how the different brands complicated matters with different specs and materials etc. No he said all of them are identical recepie, it's purely the branding and marking at the end . The day I was there they were making probably the most recognised car tyre brand you can imagine, but that evening they were changing to a Chinese budget name . Same recipe.

This was 2015.

[trickywoo]

cliffords said:

The day I was there they were making probably the most recognised car tyre brand you can imagine, but that evening they were changing to a Chinese budget name . Same recipe.

This was 2015.

I’m a fully paid up cynic but there is no way a Michelin primacy (for example) is the same as a ling long with different tread and markings.

Tyres are one product where you still get a far superior product by paying a bit more.

[Fat Albert]

Michelin and Metzeler are the 2 brands I tend to go for, will probably upgrade the Road 2s to 4s on my FZ1 this spring

[WarnieV6GT]

I've had the Metzler Roadtec 01SE twice now, and will probably go with it again on my 1200 multistrada.

I think you can only buy the sports edition now (se)

[Soloman Dodd]

I would be happy with all the above mentions, and would like to add Continental as well.

[cliffords]

trickywoo said:

cliffords said:

The day I was there they were making probably the most recognised car tyre brand you can imagine, but that evening they were changing to a Chinese budget name . Same recipe.

This was 2015.

I’m a fully paid up cynic but there is no way a Michelin primacy (for example) is the same as a ling long with different tread and markings.

Tyres are one product where you still get a far superior product by paying a bit more.

I am purely recounting factually accurate evidence I witnessed first hand in 2015.

[black-k1]

As mentioned above, any name brand sport touring tyre would be ideal. Good wet grip, good wear rates and more dry grip than you can use on the road. My personal favourite is the RoadTec 01SE.

[s p a c e m a n]

cliffords said:

trickywoo said:

cliffords said:

The day I was there they were making probably the most recognised car tyre brand you can imagine, but that evening they were changing to a Chinese budget name . Same recipe.

This was 2015.

I’m a fully paid up cynic but there is no way a Michelin primacy (for example) is the same as a ling long with different tread and markings.

Tyres are one product where you still get a far superior product by paying a bit more.

I am purely recounting factually accurate evidence I witnessed first hand in 2015.

Have you never stood in a tyre shop and felt the rubber on multiple makes of tyres all next to eachother? You can even feel the difference between different styles of the same brand. I would suggest that you might have been somewhere that was either making knock off fake tyres, they were winding you up or the Chinese brand wasn't a budget one.

[Biker9090]

If you're not worried about the mileage then get Dunlop Mutants.

Absolutely nothing comes close to the grip in bad conditions and gravel/mud strewn backroads whilst also giving stability at speed.

I've been all over the picos and northern Portugal this week in the most horrendous weather and they didn't let go once.

Even downhill hairpins on what was an effectively gravel tracks posed no issue.

[Stevemr]

Thanks for all the replies.
Interesting about whether to use Gt version of the road6 or not. There doesn’t seem much advice either way on Michelins site.
Can’t use them on both as triumph has a 19 inch front wheel.
I think the consensus is anything modern will likely exceed my abilities.
Back in the day it would have been Pirelli phantoms, on my Z1.

[NITO]

I’m firmly in the Pirelli camp, I think the turn in is wonderful. I’ve never got on with Michelin or Bridgestone particularly, I don’t like the feel. I like Metzeler who coincidentally are owned by Pirelli and I have to say a couple of bikes I’ve bought which came fitted with Dunlop Sportmax qualifiers have left me relatively impressed.

[carrot99]

Stevemr said:

Thanks for all the replies.
Interesting about whether to use Gt version of the road6 or not. There doesn’t seem much advice either way on Michelins site.
Can’t use them on both as triumph has a 19 inch front wheel.
I think the consensus is anything modern will likely exceed my abilities.
Back in the day it would have been Pirelli phantoms, on my Z1.

GT or standard choice is set by the weight of the bike (GT having a stiffer carcass), and not really by one being 'better' or 'worse', longer life etc.
The fitter should know which is suitable for your bike, or you can look it up yourself ahead of time.

Occasionally Mich change their advice from version to version. For example my bike changed from GT to standard when Mich went from Road 5 to Road 6, so it's worth checking by the version, not just the tyre name.

Mich, Pirelli, Metz, etc - they're all brilliant and better than most riders on a normal road (not true on track), but some suit certain bikes more than others, so your choice is best driven by checking an owners club forum if there's one.

[Biker 1]

I had Maxxis on my car - good grip, but noisy & didn't last. I just changed to Yokohama - a bit more ££, but grip even better & they have way more feel.
I have Michelin Road 6 on my current bike. I'm no bike god - they are really nice & after 2000 miles there is no sign of wear. They seem well suited to our climate & roads. My previous bike had Bridgestone S23 which I also really liked.

[SS427 Camaro]

Stevemr said:

Thanks for all the replies.
Interesting about whether to use Gt version of the road6 or not. There doesn’t seem much advice either way on Michelins site.
Can’t use them on both as triumph has a 19 inch front wheel.
I think the consensus is anything modern will likely exceed my abilities.
Back in the day it would have been Pirelli phantoms, on my Z1.

Phantoms ! I had them on my modded 76 Z900 !!

[Stevemr]

I think we all had Phantoms.
This ate rear tyres about every 1500-2000 miles. But it did have a P and M endurance engine in it.

[Fat Albert]

Just wanted to say that Demon Tweeks have a sale on with around 30% off of Michelin Tyre packages, so got a set of Road 4s for £240 with delivery for my FZ1