Anyone try these yet?

5082 Views 19 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Poncho, Jul 19, 2019

Afta

Discussion Starter · Jun 28, 2019

https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/motorcycle/all-tires/sheet/angel-gt-ii

They look good to me. After much research, I've decided to go with the 120 70 19R and the 190 55 17R. I always had good luck with Pirelli in the past. Keeping my fingers crossed that you guys don't come on here and say you tried them and their junk. lol

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Geepers

· #2 · Jun 28, 2019

Can I ask why you're not going with the stock Dunlops?

Hot Rod

· #3 · Jun 28, 2019

Wasn't the main reason most tried something else lack of wear from the OEM tires ? Lots of folks with the F6C went with the Michelin. I rode a VTX 1300c for 13 years, it came out with Dunlops & they wore fast & rode bad .....go figure ....Rod

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Geepers

· #4 · Jun 28, 2019

Hot Rod said:
...lack of wear from the OEM tires ?

I got 20,000km out of mine

Crabballs

· #5 · Jun 28, 2019

Got 13,200 out of the front and the back is still going strong. Got a Michelin on the front and another waiting to go on the back.

Afta

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 28, 2019

Geepers said:
I got 20,000km out of mine

How on earth did you do it?

I have maybe 4000 miles and my front is smoked. The rear is fine. I've run 38 to 40 lbs in it from day one. I run hard at times but mostly cruise the Northeast all I can. I never had good luck with my Dunlop sneakers on my metrics. Surprisingly my buddies run them on Harleys and do pretty well

I was thinking Michellin commanders but I'm thinking they might lack performance. IDK. Guys love them.

The Bridgestone Exedra looks good but they don't typically wear well.

Geepers

· #7 · Jun 29, 2019 (Edited)

Afta said:
How on earth did you do it?

I ran front and rear at one pound over recommended - ie front at 37psi and rear at 42psi - working on the theory that under-inflation wears tyres quicker than pretty much anything. I was religious about it too. Checked pressures daily (I ride daily) and made sure they were always at those levels. Other than that I guess I just ride pretty conservatively. Even at 20,000km I could easily have snuck another couple of thousand out of them, no problem. Maybe our roads chew less rubber than yours? You guys have concrete highways, right? None of that here. All asphalt and, where I live, all in good condition. Modern asphalts are very smooth, not the "sandpaper" of old. Other than that, I don't know

. I've replaced the originals with the same Dunlops again. I know some guys who ride hard say they're not as good in the wet but I've never found those limits and am happy to take the longevity

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Rich Wentz

· #8 · Jun 29, 2019

I have them on one of my Guzzis. Decent sport touring tire. I don't think they make a front in our size though. To be honest these would prolly suck on a heavy cruiser. But I could be wrong.

Crabballs

· #9 · Jun 29, 2019

Geepers said:
I ran front and rear at one pound over recommended - ie front at 37psi and rear at 42psi - working on the theory that under-inflation wears tyres quicker than pretty much anything. I was religious about it too. Checked pressures daily (I ride daily) and made sure they were always at those levels. Other than that I guess I just ride pretty conservatively. Even at 20,000km I could easily have snuck another couple of thousand out of them, no problem. Maybe our roads chew less rubber than yours? You guys have concrete highways, right? None of that here. All asphalt and, where I live, all in good condition. Modern asphalts are very smooth, not the "sandpaper" of old. Other than that, I don't know . I've replaced the originals with the same Dunlops again. I know some guys who ride hard say they're not as good in the wet but I've never found those limits and am happy to take the longevity

I ran 38/42 and the front wear pattern looks like it was underinflated as I had a lot more meat in teh center than the sides. Had I even wear the tire probably would have yielded another 5,000 miles. I'm disappointed I only got 13,200 out of it. I'm running the Michelin at 39.5 in hopes of even wear. I agree road surface has a lot to do with wear. They are milling our roads and they are like cheese graters.

Geepers

· #10 · Jun 29, 2019 (Edited)

There seems to be a bit of a knee jerk reaction amongst riders that stock tyres are always no good. What's funny is reading another forum where a guy says "I took the crap stock tyres off and put some Dunlop Sportmaxx on"(!). I work from the assumption that Honda's engineers probably know more about tyre selection than I do. I also take on board the HD engineer's comments where he said "people don't realise that a motorcycle is a system and the tyres are an integral part of the system - change one part and it affects the other parts - suspension, handling characteristics etc". I think there's a perception that moto manufacturers design their bikes and then just chuck on any old tyre they can at the end as an afterthought. I don't think so. Not these days anyway - and almost certainly not with reputable brands like the Japanese big four.

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Hot Rod

· #11 · Jun 29, 2019

I bought a new Honda Accord back in 2015 guess what the tires were ? JUNK ! Didn't last 20k. I am very adamant about the importance of proper inflation so that wasn't a factor. All my past bikes(and cars/trucks) seem to have tires that came from the "low bidder". Maybe things have changed ? I hope so. I also ride a 2014 KLR. Factory tires were pure crap! Running Heidenau K60 Scouts & performance and wear is triple. My brother in law bought his bike same day & I've installed 6 rear tires in 40k miles on a single cylinder rode by a 65 yo guy. The jury is still out on my Valk but I can say that a whole lot of people were not happy with the stock tires . Besides all that if you get enough people experimenting you may just find a tire that does everything better like I almost always have .........Rod

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Afta

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 29, 2019

Geepers said:
There seems to be a bit of a knee jerk reaction amongst riders that stock tires are always no good. What's funny is reading another forum where a guy says "I took the crap stock tires off and put some Dunlop Sportmaxx on"(!). I work from the assumption that Honda's engineers probably know more about tire selection than I do. I also take on board the HD engineer's comments where he said: "people don't realize that a motorcycle is a system and the tires are an integral part of the system - change one part and it affects the other parts - suspension, handling characteristics, etc". I think there's a perception that moto manufacturers design their bikes and then just chuck on any old tire they can at the end as an afterthought. I don't think so. Not these days anyway - and almost certainly not with reputable brands like the Japanese big four.

I would add that the manufactures, work within certain parameters during the design of our machines. Certainly, the budget is one of them. Testing is another and so on. If I don't fit in that box it pushes the parameters. I"m 6-3 250. I'm not within the normal size rider the bike is built for. Example, I use to see this when I worked for Skidoo years ago. if a customer was over 150-160 or very aggressive, we changed the rear springs on the suspension from the factory to get them back in the range the manufacturer built it for.

My front OE tire is just not up to the task, again the rear is doing well enough so far, I've just started looking at replacements that may or may not to better. I really wish Bridgestone would make a 130 70 19 for this bike jn the exedra tire. my feeling is the taller sidewall would feel better and eat up some of the tiny stuff.

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Geepers

· #13 · Jun 29, 2019

Afta said:
I would add that the manufactures, work within certain parameters during the design of our machines. Certainly, the budget is one of them. Testing is another and so on. If I don't fit in that box it pushes the parameters. I"m 6-3 250. I'm not within the normal size rider the bike is built for. Example, I use to see this when I worked for Skidoo years ago. if a customer was over 150-160 or very aggressive, we changed the rear springs on the suspension from the factory to get them back in the range the manufacturer built it for.

My front OE tire is just not up to the task, again the rear is doing well enough so far, I've just started looking at replacements that may or may not to better. I really wish Bridgestone would make a 130 70 19 for this bike jn the exedra tire. my feeling is the taller sidewall would feel better and eat up some of the tiny stuff.

Fair call.

Tbear

· #14 · Jun 29, 2019

I thought the pressures were supposed to be 32 front and 36 rear? Please correct me if I am wrong so I can fix my bikes tires.

Crabballs

· #15 · Jun 29, 2019

Geepers said:
There seems to be a bit of a knee jerk reaction amongst riders that stock tyres are always no good. What's funny is reading another forum where a guy says "I took the crap stock tyres off and put some Dunlop Sportmaxx on"(!). I work from the assumption that Honda's engineers probably know more about tyre selection than I do. I also take on board the HD engineer's comments where he said "people don't realise that a motorcycle is a system and the tyres are an integral part of the system - change one part and it affects the other parts - suspension, handling characteristics etc". I think there's a perception that moto manufacturers design their bikes and then just chuck on any old tyre they can at the end as an afterthought. I don't think so. Not these days anyway - and almost certainly not with reputable brands like the Japanese big four.

I know that the new Michelin on the front handles so much better in the twisties than the stock. I was disappointed the stock only yielded 13,200 miles. I haven't a clue how well the Mich will do long term. Might be a short lived dog.

Geepers

· #16 · Jun 30, 2019

Tbear said:
I thought the pressures were supposed to be 32 front and 36 rear? Please correct me if I am wrong so I can fix my bikes tires.

In my owner's manual it says 36 front and 41 rear for the stock Dunlop tyres.

Afta

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 3, 2019

I was given a D 408 s Harley tire guess Ill give it a go. I think its a Bias but for free why not run it out.

ashram1974

· #18 · Jul 3, 2019

Michelin Commander II's are supposedly the longest lasting - approx. 20 - 25k miles based on how you ride, I have it on my 750cc Honda shadow, but then it is 200lb lighter than the Valk.. Michelin's handle the twisties really well... it grips the road really well and you feel the control right away... first-hand experience.

Tbear

· #19 · Jul 19, 2019

Geepers said:
In my owner's manual it says 36 front and 41 rear for the stock Dunlop tyres.

Boy do I feel dumb. :redface: It says 36/41 on the bike too.
Bet I get better gas mileage now!

Poncho

· #20 · Jul 19, 2019

Geepers said:
? You guys have concrete highways, right? None of that here. All asphalt and, where I live, all in good condition. Modern asphalts are very smooth, not the "sandpaper" of old.

North and East states use a lot of carbon in their asphalt. crushed up klinkers. what is left after coal is burned in power plants. this stuff is like glass. sharp crystals that give good traction in bad weather. It will also shred the skin off of you if you should try to do the m/c slide.. like that James Taylor song "slip sliding away" .. as always, how would I know? poncho

ps. 20km 12k miles is not shabby on these soft tires. mine front is going fast at 7k. Metzlers have been my go to tire. but this time I think to try those Dunlop Elites. my 850lb chieftain got 25k miles out of a set. good handling, no issues.

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