Had the front tire replaced and on Tuesday (09-Jan) got out for the first ride with it.


Went from an IRC tire  (Factory?) to a Dunlop 404 ($69.95 + $24 for mount & balance).   I was going to mount it myself but then looked at my fingers and like the way they look now (healed).  Didn't want all the pinched finger marks and brusies to come back.   Plus had them check the bearings for play while I was there.


The ride to work was damp and foggy   , but they predicted 65 deg F temps, so I rode .   Also, I can now say that I've ridden in January which for Eastern PA is unusual because it's normally 10-20 deg on January monings.    


My first impression leaving the house and going to the main drag, was not much different.  Beacuse of the dampness I really didn't open it up on the very few twisties on the way to work.  


BUT.... the four lane road in front of the office campus I work at has rain grooves that aren't cut in a MC friendly way. ( Uneven and slightly wavy)   The new tire was a big improvement over the old tire.  It barely felt the grooves. Yea!!  


Next test,  ride over to I-78 where the guy cutting the grooves must have fallen asleep, 50 - 100 feet of wavy grooves (3 to 4 inch back and forth).   The old tire wobbled like the bikes you see on videos just before total loss of control.    What I call a    monent....

  Anytime I replaced tires on my bikes it didn't  follow grooves  like the olds ones did, I have a new s40 and it doesn't follow the grooves.

 They are IRC they are good tires. I  think new tires are softer and not as slick. When they get old they are harder. And maybe be flater

skrapiron -FSO wrote on 01/10/08 at 19:25:13:


The IRC had 12.4K.  

Did  you get out in our warm weather the other day?  

T-Mack from the eastside of PA.

I noticed that the stock tires on my bike tended to follow the grooves and joints pretty badly.  The rear tire was smooth at 7k miles and the front had tread but was cupped pretty badly.  I put spitfire S 11's on front and back and am very happy with them.  I had a bit of pucker factor when i first rode them cross a groove and was happy to see that there was now very little tendancy to track in the grooves after that, hardly notice the little joints at all now

I put the Shinko Tourmaster 230 on the back last summer (at around 7500 miles)  I have since put nearly 7k on that tire and it STILL looks brand new.  I'm VERY pleased with the wear I am getting from it.

Hopefully, the D404 that I put on the front wears as well.  I have heard that the D404 is a softer compound tire.  It sticks to the pavement like glue, but wears away like a pencil eraser.....   We'll see.  (the tire was $55.00 and the shop charged $34.00 to mount it, so I am not all that worried about having to replace it in the future..)

skrapiron -FSO wrote on 01/12/08 at 08:26:33:


There's the eternal choice..."wears well" or "sticks like glue".  Finding both features in one tire is the hard part...that and getting a good price, too.  Me, I kinda prefer "sticks like glue" 'cause I don't wear very well anymore.

The stock tires I got with my 2002 LS650 were junk. The rear tire had to be replaced at 3519 miles and the front tire had to be replaced at 5060 miles.
Now, I put the SuperTrapp on at 1767 miles, that might explain the wearout of the rear tire, but it doesn't explain the front tire.
I replaced the tires with Metzlers. These have held up much better, and they look better too. Get good tires, they're the last link between the you and the road.