how long did your back tire last?

[tchicken11]

I will be buying a new back tire before to long and i was wondering if my 4900 miles is normal or a little soon to be needing one. I am a very cautious rider and have never spun the tire for the sake of turning heads or getting attention. i let the bike do that while sitting still.

 

[Rocky]

That seems a bit short, but there are so many variables to consider in order to make any kind of informed opinion; tire compound, weight of bike, weight of bike and rider, throttle hand, just to name a few.

 

[Qship]

You may not spin the tire, but if you get into the throttle heavy, it will wear the tire faster. I get about 10-11K kms out of mine, but I ride two up quite a bit.

 

[tchicken11]

the tire on it now is the OEM Metzeler ME888 marathon. i was some mixed reviews on this tire when i got the bike 2 years ago used. it only had 49 miles on it so i know the tires were basically new. i am not throttle heavy by any means, i don't think i have ever seen 75 mph or 4k on the tach. i average 50+ mpg when i ride if that gives any indication as to my throttle habits. Thanks to all for the feedback.
oh and as for rides, i weigh 175lbs and the wife 125lbs, no saddlebags and i try and keep the gas tank above 1/2.

 

[Qship]

Doesn't sound like you put too much strain on the rear tire at all. I am going to get new rubber front and back tomorrow. I stick with the Avon Cobra AV71 that came on my LT stock. I like the secure handling and ride. They are not a long lasting tire. Got 28K kms on the original front, which is pretty good, and the back is being replaced for the third time so about 9K kms for the rear each time. I know some are trying the Michelin Commander and getting good wear out of them.

 

[Scott Storm]

I average between 6 and 8000 Miles

 

[tchicken11]

I am looking at the Michelin Commander 2, the issue is size. stock tires are 200/50/zr17 and Michelin Commander 2's come in 200/55r17 . now i know enough to know what each number in the size description means so with that being said my issue is that extra height. there is plenty of room under the fender and between the tire and frame i just like staying with what the manufacturers put on them on that 1% chance of something not working right.

 

[Scott Storm]

The 55 fits and the extra diameter fixed the speedo inaccuracy

 

[Slingshot]

11,000 on the OEM Avon WW Radials.....right to the wear mark and could have done another K

 

[keystiger]

Now days the Tiger TIres last a while---- the Speed Triple tires--- I was lucky to get a year out of a rear

 

[shanered6]

ITs a diffent style of bike but the standard metz Turrances on my tiger 955i last a long time and wear quite even and i get about 5 -6000 miles out of the back and almost double out of the front , but i have eaten a rear tyre on my GSX1400 k6 in 1200 miles and it is a hard wearing Brdgestone .
I guess what im trying to say is that even with a light throttle hand if your bike like my GSX makes it power low down and has a lot of torque it will eat rear tyres , and if it makes its power higher up the rev range like the 955 and your light on the throttle hand then the rear will last longer !

 

[dazco]

The commander is a good tire, tho nothing to write home about IMO. I just put about my 12th or 13th rear on mine and i get about 6k and everything with somne minor variation. The bridgestone excedra was worse at about 5k. commander and avon storm 3d were tied for beat at around 7k or close. My advice would be get the new avon sprint ST. It's my current raer tire and while i can't speak to wear since it;s fairly new, avon says the mileage will be greater then the previous storm 3D it replaced. And i gott tell you, this tire i a total standout in handling. It's not subtle, it goes around corners like it's on rails. And while i have calmed down a lot in the last few years, this tire has got me reliving my boy racer days. It just handles so incredible i can't stop pushing the bike on twisty roads. I have never scraped the pegs anywhere near this much because the bike literally feels dead solid no matter how leaned it is. I swear if not for the peg clearance i think you could drag knees with this thing and feel completely safe. The tread is also very deep so i think mileage will indeed be great. If you want the commander it's an ok tire, but i had 2 of those and i can tell you the new avon sprint st is in a whole different league while remaining in the same price range as the commander. It also comes in the regular 50 size while the commander is 55. (if you WANT 55 the sprint may come in that too, but i never checked) I used a lot of 55's but once i went back to a 50 it just runs more "right" to me, but thats subjective i suppose. In any case consider the sprint. I liked it so much i bought a sprint for the front too and i am going to change the current tire soon even tho it has 1/2 its tread left. I have tried 7 or 8 tires so far and the sprint is easily the best of them all and by a good margin. The second best was the avon storm 3d but this one is very noticeably better. Can't wait to get the one on the front too, but if that one doesn't go the distance (tread seems shallow unlike the rear) i can always go back to the cobra which as front tires go was very good with 10-13k lifespan which is great.

 

[shanered6]

Great right up dazco some good info there !

 

[dazco]

Odd...i see no edit button. I just posted that not long ago so am i missing it somehow or dioes it just give u a few minutes?

 

[shanered6]

Ive never noticed before but it looks like you have to edit before you post ??

 

[shanered6]

I have it in between report and delete so it looks like you only get it for a short time after posting .

 

[dazco]

Thats what i figured but i never saw the time limit set that low. Usually it's hours or days.

 

[Rusty Lugnut]

I will be buying a new back tire before to long and i was wondering if my 4900 miles is normal or a little soon to be needing one. I am a very cautious rider and have never spun the tire for the sake of turning heads or getting attention. i let the bike do that while sitting still.

THe wider tires wear out faster, I just replaced the 200/50R17 rear on my Commander at 6,100 miles and it was shot, front tire looks good. I think next rear will be a 200/55R17 which is a little taller, it will lengthen the final gearing but I hear they corner better than the lower profile 50 series.

 

[dazco]

THe wider tires wear out faster, I just replaced the 200/50R17 rear on my Commander at 6,100 miles and it was shot, front tire looks good. I think next rear will be a 200/55R17 which is a little taller, it will lengthen the final gearing but I hear they corner better than the lower profile 50 series.

Dont go by what u hear. I used 50's for the first maybe 4-5 rears on mine then went to 55's mainly because at the time there wre few 50's in our size. A couple years i saw avon had a new 50 and went to that and was surprized at the better cornering. I remembered how much i liked the way the bike handled when i first got it in mid 09, but after a time i wasn;'t feeling that like i recalled. Seems that was when i was using 55's, and going back to 50's was a ahh haa moment. And of the 50's the new avon sprint is the best cornering tire to dat and quite a bit better than the next in line. Itls well above the rest of the pack, surprizingly good. I also noticed no difference in 50 vs 55 for mileage. Tho this one has real deep traead and so far it looks like it might go beyond my typical 6k i get from most every tire. There are benefits to 55's....a tad better MPG with freeway miles and less RPM's at a given speed. Not a huge dfference, tho i DO notice the 50's roll on spunk at freeway speeds is noticeable better then 55. I would highly recommend the avon spirit ST. It really is a fantastic tire. To date i have use the metzeler, dunlop american elite, michilin commander, avon storm II, avon storm 3D, bridgestone excerda max, and the avon sprint ST whick will be my go to tire unless it wear extremely fast which isn't likely given how it;s gone so far. As to fronts, the avon cobra is very good, The sides actually go bald long before the center and i have gotten as much as 13k from them. I have the ST on the front now just because the rear is such a good tire i had to try it, but i don't think it will last near as long as the avon given the very shallow tread. So if not i'll be going back to the cobra which is a gret cornering tire too.

 

[triumph david]

You can never go wrong with a Avon tire.