Dual Compound - Worthless for my riding style???

[FZ09Bandit]

I'll toss up a shameless plug for Shinko 009 Ravens, I have 11k+ on them now. I just ordered the 005 Advance to try them out. I ride mostly to work and back, but get in 400+ mile forum rides when they pop up. I've had the 009's for 2 east coast seasons.

+1 bought a set of those and had 0 complaints.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I have about 11,000 miles on my front PR2 and it MIGHT be half worn.

I currently have a PR3 on the rear (picked up crap with the old PR2) but when it (PRII) punctured, it was like new with a fair amount of miles on it.

The PR3 has better wet grab, but with more separate tread grooves, it'll likely scallop faster than a PRII. Both a dual compounds of course.

My experiance with them is the about the same as you, just 2 hours away, flat without many twisties..

The original Bridgestones, at least on my FJR, didn't last 5,000 miles, ft scallopped really bad, the rear, flat as a board across the tread at the end of its life.

The PR's, on a lighter FZ is lasting 2-3 times in mileage. I don't see the local shop nearly as often which is really nice...

 

[SweaterDude]

Okay, in 2011 I replaced the original tires with:

Rear: Dunlop SportMax RoadSmart
180/55ZR17 M/C 73W

Front: Dunlop SportMax RoadSmart
120/70ZR17 M/C 58W

After speaking with the knowledgeable person about my riding habits and my milage per day (65 mile commute) these were the tires suggested because they were a dual compound tire and since the bike is mainly used to get me back and forth on as little fuel as possible. Now, about 10,000 miles later, I am not impressed one bit!
How could the stock tire last so long but yet a more expensive higher tech tire barely last two years +/- the same amount of miles between the 2 sets of tires?

Did I just buy bad tires??? Or am I just expecting too much out of a W rated tire??

Not to mention, is this a picture of a tire defect? Or am I doing something wrong when weight adjusting with/out passenger?
Why does it seem like there's strips missing from the center of the tire, supposedly the hardest part of the tire...

DUNLOPS SUCK!!!!

except their super crazy track tires.....

get some michelins or metzelers

 

[DeepEmissions]

10,000 miles out of a motorcycle tire sounds good to me. As said, a lot depends on riding style, psi, weight, and even road surface.

I buy my tires online and try to get the best tire I can for ~$200. My current set is the BT-023 which I highly recommend. I then have a guy on my local bike forum mount them for $40 - wheels off. If I get 10,000 miles or 2 years or more of riding, that's a little over $100/yr for tires - cheap IMO.

Yeah, thing is... I mainly use the bike for commuting, because it saves buku bucks on maintenance and fuel, when compared to a 1998 Ford Explorer!

Math time!
65 miles/day times 5 days a week = 325 miles a week.
325 miles/week times ~30 weeks a year = 9,750 miles a year.
Depending on many factors, I'll be buying at least a tire a year.
Best case scenario here:
$455 Front and Rear tires including labor
$1740 in fuel
$144 in oil/filter change(x4 changes)
$500 Generic maintain/customize
=====
$2839 total costs in one year.
I spend just $3360 in fuel for the Explorer!!!
So, all in all, still not bad.

 

[OneCheekRider]

you left out one major calculation... the cost of enjoyment of riding the FZ6 vs driving your car. While many would argue this is "priceless" I would say it would take out any expenses you incur while riding and net them to zero.

you said ~$2800 in gas/maintenance/tires. Enjoyment cost = $-2800

2800-2800=0.

you're welcome. :thumbup:

 

[OneCheekRider]

Yeah, thing is... I mainly use the bike for commuting, because it saves buku bucks on maintenance and fuel, when compared to a 1998 Ford Explorer!

Math time!
65 miles/day times 5 days a week = 325 miles a week.
325 miles/week times ~30 weeks a year = 9,750 miles a year.
Depending on many factors, I'll be buying at least a tire a year.
Best case scenario here:
$455 Front and Rear tires including labor
$1740 in fuel
$144 in oil/filter change(x4 changes)
$500 Generic maintain/customize
=====
$2839 total costs in one year.
I spend just $3360 in fuel for the Explorer!!!
So, all in all, still not bad.

I don't understand how you come up with $1740 in fuel costs unless you're averaging 25mpg...

figure: 10,000miles/45mpg (average)=222gallons. 222gallons x $4/gallon = $888.

Also, do you really change your oil every 2500miles for commuting (4x/yr only traveling 10k miles)? Seems wasteful, especially if using synthetic.

Also, you can definitely get tires & mounting for half that cost. If you're paying ~$450, then ~$200 of that is purely for convenience.

sorry, I do numbers all day and your logic got me thinking.

 

[Nelly]

Good luck with the 6k miles. I had my first rear get about 4,000 miles and then I replaced it before a 1800 mile trip because it was about 1mm to the wear bar. The front I'm sitting down at the wear bar at 8,000 miles, started to scallop bad around 4,000 miles, flattened out a little, the traction is ok, a little sketchy sometimes though for the last 4,000 miles. The second rear has 4,000 miles and looks like it's about to get down to the wear bar again. I've been a lot easier on it than the first but I'm guessing for 5,000 miles.



I had a set of PR2's and they were at 8,000 miles before I got a nail in teh rear. I could not stand them for sport riding, but they are solid for street riding, commuting. I'm gonna go for some PR3's next because I heard they have better stick than the 2's and am waiting for the T30's to be released in the US. There are some members on the Fz1 forum getting 18,000 miles out of a set of PR3's, average seems to be about 12,000 miles.

Mileage should be much more on the 6 then, less weight and power going through the rear ?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
Mini rant (Hoe I gate touch screen rexting, it's so vloody inaccurate)

 

[DeepEmissions]

you left out one major calculation... the cost of enjoyment of riding the FZ6 vs driving your car. While many would argue this is "priceless" I would say it would take out any expenses you incur while riding and net them to zero.

you said ~$2800 in gas/maintenance/tires. Enjoyment cost = $-2800

2800-2800=0.

you're welcome. :thumbup:

100% agreed!

I don't understand how you come up with $1740 in fuel costs unless you're averaging 25mpg...

figure: 10,000miles/45mpg (average)=222gallons. 222gallons x $4/gallon = $888.

Also, do you really change your oil every 2500miles for commuting (4x/yr only traveling 10k miles)? Seems wasteful, especially if using synthetic.

Also, you can definitely get tires & mounting for half that cost. If you're paying ~$450, then ~$200 of that is purely for convenience.

sorry, I do numbers all day and your logic got me thinking.

I only looked at what i spent in gas last month, just for a very rough calculation, the being said, I spent way more time in the seat of the FZ6 than I did in the Explorer. I should've said that in the post but I didn't think about it because I knew whatever that number would be, it'd be significantly less than what I pay a year to drive the Explorer.
BTW, also forgot insurance, not a requirement in FL, but I just like to have it. $48/Month for the FZ6 and $98/month for the Explorer.

Same thing with the Oil, as I said it was a best case scenario.
Generally changed every 3-5 thousand miles.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Just a note,

Bought my 2001 Four Runner new, currently 14,000+ miles..

Bought my 2007 FZ6 used, currently 16,000+ miles...

(there have been other bikes ridden in that time frame, but most have miles have been, obviously, on 2 wheels)...

:Sport:

 

[DeepEmissions]

FYI:
I've dropped off the FZ6 to ARS for a rear tire swap to the PR3, chain/sprocket replacement, and a #12 code that popped up friday and had since left the FZ unrideable.
Both the other subjects are unrelated, and I'm actually going to talk a little about the Chain/Sprocket on the appropriate thread.

Thanks everyone for the info!
Once again, one of the best Forums I've had the pleasure of being a member of!

 

[dpaul007]

Just thought if chime in and say so far I'm happy with my PR2. This is with about 5300 miles on it. Obviously a lot of straight commuting.

 

[DeepEmissions]

Just thought if chime in and say so far I'm happy with my PR2. This is with about 5300 miles on it. Obviously a lot of straight commuting.

Thanks dpaul007!
I've heard pretty much everyone has had no real complaints from the PR3's.
I'm guessing there's not much difference in between the tires, IDK I haven't really looked into the specs.

Originally, I was starting this thread because I thought that maybe I had done something wrong in preload adjustments and/or a poorly built tire.
I was amazed that a 2 year old tire with ~10K on it was outlasted by the factory tire that came on the bike!
As my own evidence starting making sense with everyones posts, it was clear that 10K out of those tires wasn't bad at all.
I'm hoping I get about the same out of these PR3's, at least this time I'll be watching my tire wear much more closely!
Thanks Everyone!

 

[The_Paragon]

DUNLOPS SUCK!!!!

except their super crazy track tires.....

get some michelins or metzelers

AGREED... for mileage, especially the Q2. I put one of those one for a trip from WI to sw Colorado. 3600miles later it was worn down to cords. But I half expected this running freeway all the way out there at 80mph, and being the Q2 is a soft tire made to eat up the corners!
(ohh and the tire was free, so I wasnt going to say no to that!)

Ive heard good about the Michelin Pilot Road 3's. On that same trip to Co. My friend slapped a set of those on his bike. When we got back home, his tires both looked like new yet!

 

[FIZZER6]

Oh the phone with ARS Power Sports
They also Suggest PR3's
I'm being told a rough estimate of about $455 for the tires and installation.
Is it worth it to just take the rims to them and I do the manual labor on the bike myself to remove and reinstall the rims?

Please don't pay that much for PR3's installed! Shop around.

You can order PR3's (Front and Rear) from Jake Wilson online for about $270 shipped to your door. So that means that shop is charging you almost $200 for installation and I'm sure tax is not included in their estimate either.

If you were closer to me I'd offer to help you install them. It takes me about 1 hour to remove the wheels and install and balance both tires on my FZ6 using simple motorcycle tire changing tools.

I do agree that PR3's are the way to go though! I have Michelin Pilot Power 2CT's on my FZ6 now and they have about 5,000 miles on them and look like another 2K is doable!

 

[2nd childhood]

Please don't pay that much for PR3's installed! Shop around.

You can order PR3's (Front and Rear) from Jake Wilson online for about $270 shipped to your door. So that means that shop is charging you almost $200 for installation and I'm sure tax is not included in their estimate either.

Did you have a coupon for that price? I just went to their site (I'm looking for tires also) and came up with $316 for the original size tires for an '07 FZ6. Cheapest place I've found is JC Motors at $296 with free shipping. Not a huge difference in price, but I'm 1/4 Scottish and am always looking to save a dime. Let's me do more mods. :rockon:

 

[Prince Valium]

10,000 mi seems like a lot. I just got a pair of Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport S20's after getting a nail in my rear tire which was the OEM Bridgestone BT20 that I put about 6500 mi on. Mechanic said he wouldn't fix the patch as the tire was too worn. I love the S20's!

 

[FIZZER6]

Did you have a coupon for that price? I just went to their site (I'm looking for tires also) and came up with $316 for the original size tires for an '07 FZ6. Cheapest place I've found is JC Motors at $296 with free shipping. Not a huge difference in price, but I'm 1/4 Scottish and am always looking to save a dime. Let's me do more mods. :rockon:

That's the price I got last winter. A lot of times you can find tire sales in the winter due to the significantly decreased demand.

 

[2nd childhood]

That's the price I got last winter. A lot of times you can find tire sales in the winter due to the significantly decreased demand.

Thanks, I may try to take it easy on my current ones until later this year.

 

[dpaul007]

Thanks, I may try to take it easy on my current ones until later this year.

I managed to score some tires over the winter, and since I have a buddy at a local shop, he offered to change them for me at no charge since they aren't too busy when the snow is flying.

...I still owe him a few beers for that! :spank:

 

[red06]

i put 25,000 km on pilot road 3, 20,000 + on z8 metzler,
i just put on a single compound set continental road attack,
HUGE mistake , i cant even feel the road now , probably great for mileage though and they sorta corner good though

sticking with michelins not going to try any more other stuff