[Daboo]

Comparing tires is both meaningless...and meaningful. It's meaningless in that the kind of mileage I get, won't necessarily be what you'll get if you live in Texas. Our temperatures are cooler, and our road surface is probably different than what you'd find riding in Texas.

But it is meaningful when comparing tires that have been used on the same bike on the same roads. This tire has 9000 miles on it now, and looks good for another 2-3000 miles. It'll get flatter than some will accept, but I'll keep it on till I need to change it.

I've tried the OEM Metzeler Z8, two sets of Metzeler Roadtec 01s, two sets of Dunlop Roadsmart IIIs and now two sets of Continental Roadattack III tires. Out of the group, I'll stick with the Continental RAIIIs. They are confidence inspiring. They warm up immediately. And it looks like they will last well.

Chris

 

[Daboo]

so could one safely say you're not a Michelin man ?

Hah! I can see where you'd come to that conclusion, but it isn't that at all. I just like to get some value for my money. I've never seen anyone walk up to my bike, look at the sidewall on my tires and comment on the name written there.

I just updated my Tire Prices spreadsheet. I do it a couple times a year because I go through a couple sets of tires a year. And rebates change through the summer, which changes the sort order on the spreadsheet.

Here's a snapshot of it.

Right now, for the next few days, the Dunlop Roadsmart 3 is a phenomenal value. Buying a complete set of those tires, is less than the cost of the Michelin Road 5 rear tire alone. And I found the Dunlop RS3 tire good enough to buy it twice. I probably would've kept buying it, but I wanted to try the Continental RA3.

I've ridden a F800GT with the Michelin Road 5 tires installed. It was a great tire, but not anything better than the Dunlop, or Metzeler or Continental tires I've also tried. Turn in was different, but neither good nor bad in my opinion. It just was.

Look at the Owner Ratings. Granted that all the reviews are a little bogus...the owner rated the tires with maybe 100 miles on them. Of course he likes them. What would you expect? But the new Pirelli Angel GT II is rated at 4.2 by owners, verses the older version being rated at 4.8. Hmmm... And the Michelin Road 5 is rated at 4.7, while the Continental RA 3 is rated as a 4.9. The same prejudices are there for both tires, but for some reason the owners who bought the Conti's like them marginally more while the tire costs less. Add in the normal summer rebate, and the Conti RA3 is also a great value.

I rode in the summer of 2019 with some extremely fast riders with the Continental RA3 tires. They were confidence inspiring. My "chicken strips" were about a quarter inch...almost non-existent. I can't figure out why I'd want to spend more money to buy a tire that won't perform any better.

Chris

 

[Daboo]

That's what I saw at the time, and I thought it strange too. The GT version is still priced like that for the front, but is also listed as out of stock. The price is now $70 for the front.

I'm pretty much convinced to stay with the Continentals, so for me, the price of a Bridgestone is a moot point. On a previous bike, I went through just about every tire that was sold for it. I thought I was doing the forum members a favor by trying them all and giving them feedback. In the end, I went back to the first tire I swapped out for the OEMs. The other tires weren't bad...but they cost more and gave no better (and possibly less) performance.

 

[Daboo]

You don't have a center groove to measure with, but the dirty area covering the center of the tire and extending out to the nearest grooves shows that those grooves will serve to give you an indication of wear.

Tread life is hard to compare between one rider and another. Your road surface is different than mine. You are riding two up. And you probably accelerate and brake differently than I do. All factor into how fast your tire wears. Plus, there's the mental aspect. What do I feel comfortable with...and especially with my wife on the back?

The other factor is that you either have to plan on the full round-trip mileage, or to get the tire changed on the road somewhere.

James (jtvisions) convinced me last summer to buy a second set of rims. So I'm riding on my "local" set of tires now with about 10K on some Dunlop RS4s...and I have a second set of wheels with Continental RA3s sitting in the garage as my "road trip" set. I'll ride the local set down to the last bit of life in them. And when a trip out of the area comes up, I have fresh rubber available.

Chris

 

[Daboo]

Maybe paying a premium price for the latest version of a tire isn't necessary.....especially now that I own a the NoMar tire mounting machine!

I was going to suggest you bring the bike to my place, and we could try out my new Rabaconda tire machine. But you went out and bought a NoMar...

FWIW, I am really really happy with the Bridgestone T32 tires. Smooth. Good grip and feel. They are my top choice, even over the Conti's.

Chris