gerald.hughes
Serious Thumper ModSquad
Offline
FSO
Posts: 1100
Tucson, Az
Gender:
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I guess that I am more in line with Serowbot's line of thinking. Most of the comments are about price, mileage, and handling. While all of those are important factors in selecting the right tire for you, they are not the only factors that you should consider.
An important factor should be how many miles you ride a year. If you only ride 2000 or 3000 miles a year, you really shouldn't buy a 20,000 mile tire. The sidewalls will be cracked and unsafe long before the tread wears out. (You see this all the time on bikes for sale where they only have a couple of thousand miles on them and are six or seven years old.) I like the Metzler because I ride 15,000-20,000 miles a year on average, and it is nice to only have to have one set of tires a year put on the bike. Serowbot likes the Shinkos because he only puts 4,0000-5,000 miles a year on his bike. Once again, it is one set of tires a year.
Another important factor is the weather where you live and ride. Here in Tucson, we get a lot of really hot weather, and if the bike is not in a garage, the heat eats the tires (and kills the batteries.) Of course, really cold weather also is very hard on rubber. We can't all live in Southern California. So, you should consider how long you can have a tire before the weather gets it, not the tread.
As a general rule, I prefer to change tires and least once a year, but then I am rather anal about tires, brake pads, and oil (no, not the brand, the frequency of oil changes.)
Just my 3 1/2 cents
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