Tire Advice

[VMAXXIMUM]

I was hoping someone could give me some tire advice. I need new rubber front and back. I know a lot has been posted on tires but I was looking for a specific brand and model suggestion. This will be my first time buying tires for my 1995 Max. I have read lots of good things about Shinko's handling but they are soft so wear quickly. The bike shop I use of thumbs their nose at Shinko's and suggests oe tires. I was looking for some real advice from people that ride so of course this is the place. Thank You for being here.

Christian

 

[Miles Long]

Metzler Marathon 880's, in the stock sizes. More expensive than the Shinkos, but great handling and long wearing. I wouldn't use anything else.
Cheers!

 

[Bill Kratzenberg]

I'm a fan of the Meltzer me880 too, long lasting, good tire..

 

[Traumahawk]

When I bought my Vmax.....I had OE Dunlops (hard stock tires). I didnt like then.....they are hard, and have great mileage....suck in the rain, and I could feel them move when I had the bike leaned over.

I like the shinkos.....because a softer tire GRIPS better. They may wear out quicker, although most people got 4000 miles out of a rear, and 6 to 7 out of a front, but they are cheaper in cost as well. You can buy front and rear together for under 200, and usually have some 20's left over as well.

 

[Fire-medic]

Get a 17" or 18" X 5-1/2" rear wheel and go radials. The best handling improvement you can make (my opinion).

You probably want to just replace the stock tires, but this is a good time to do the upgrade. You can use the stock front wheel and just replace the rear wheel.

For tires, I like Dunlops, Bridgestones and Metzlers, either bias or radial.

 

[DMAN999]

Personally I like the Shinko Tour master 230 Rear and a decent sport touring front like the Batlaxx BT45-V or the Metzeler Lasertech.
But I tend to ride pretty hard on back country twisty roads and need the bike to stick to the road as well as possible.
And the Shinko TM230 sticks like glue.
I get around 5,000 Miles out of a rear and usually about 10,000 out of at he front.
But if you don't ride very hard in the twisties the Metzeler ME880's are good all around tires that will last a bit longer.

Here's an Excel Spreadsheet that lists all known BIAS ply tires (mileage, handling, etc) that fit our stock rims:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55030067/V-Max%20Tires.xlsx
If you don't have Excel installed you can use this viewer to look at the tire spreadsheet:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10

 

[DigitalArts]

Check out the Michellin Commander 2 tires. They make a 170 rear and stock size front and I've heard nothing but phenomenol things about them.

I know the 880/888 series seems to be the go to favorite around here but the michellins are probably as good, potentially even better.

 

[VMax-Mike]

Man did you open a can of worms. From what I can see is that didn't help much at all. Lol.

 

[VMax-Mike]

Rule of thumb is shinko if you want drag race traction or high speed safty. Rated for 149mph. Or if you will be hitting the twists hard . Michelin are great for rolling burnouts but be careful in the hard twists because the rear tire will slip on hard acceleration out of a turn. If you got the money go with different rim size set up but the Gen 1 will only give you $5000 or less when you go to sell it. In most cases

 

[DigitalArts]

Man did you open a can of worms. From what I can see is that didn't help much at all. Lol.

LOL I just got a bike with the vgas set up pre-installed so everytime I ask about it I open one up xD

From what I can tell this Jon guy was the wrong type of superstar around here o.o

Either way, I'm sure the Michellins have cons as well, I know the shinkos grip crazy well but I think the 880/888s handle the same as the michellins (michellins just last longer due to higher density rubber or something like that)

But hey I'm no tire expert xD seems like most here like the 880s, so there's probably a reason I'm alone on this :biglaugh:

Before I say anything else, I haven't had the chance to try the 880/888s or shinkos :rofl_200:

 

[VMax-Mike]

If you ride a vmax like most of us do 4000 to 6000 miles is all you will get out of any rear tire. If i get 5000 miles out of a rear tire i all ready pushed it to far.

As for Jon if your talking about this guy he looks like a vmax superstar to me. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0H7AJbYEUQ

 

[TheFleshRocket]

The Shinko TM230 "Tourmaster" is hardly marketed as a performance tire. It doesn't look like something I'd trust when attempting to probe a bike's limits.

The fact is that the best you'll find in the stock sizes is sporty touring tires.


'04 Cobra, '94 Caprice SS Wagon
'08 1125R, '05 Speed Triple, '03 Vmax, '98 VFR, '03 DRZ400

 

[Traumahawk]

I've had the Shinko tourmaster tires....front and rear. They were light years ahead of the dunlops that came with the bike. They are softer than stock....and I've had to bike up to 135 with them on. If I didn't have radials on the bike....I would buy them again.

 

[Redbone]

I ran the Tourmaster 230 on the rear for about 5 years without issue and I've been above 140mph too many times to count. I've switched to radials now and guess what, I'm running Shinko Verge 011 radials which have been excellent.

 

[liptoss]

Performance the Dunlops are on the bottom I'm guessing from all the comments. But for looks in my opinion, nothing I've seen looks better than the whitewall Dunlops. My '06 with Ghost Flames and redline rims looks vintage Hot Wheels.
AND if the Dunlops were good enough for Pee Wee... I'm just saying.

 

[sdt354]

Performance the Dunlops are on the bottom I'm guessing from all the comments. But for looks in my opinion, nothing I've seen looks better than the whitewall Dunlops. My '06 with Ghost Flames and redline rims looks vintage Hot Wheels.
AND if the Dunlops were good enough for Pee Wee... I'm just saying.

I agree with the looks part, they look nice. But, Dunlops I've had on my bike were plain dangerous. I'd skid in hard stops, often. Any throttle in a big turn, like a rotary, would beak the tire loose. In the rain, forget it, bad traction. The Shinkoes alleviated all those conditions. I ran multiple sets until I went radial.

 

[TheTwistedNomad]

I run Pirelli's on my 2004, Night Dragon on the back and I think the Speed Demon on the front, rear tire is a 170 instead of the stock 150. Had the bridgestones on it when I bought the bike, but found them a little wonky in hard cornering, the guys I ride with said that the rear tire tread would stay flat to the ground but the sidewall would bend over and the rim would sit outside of the tread patch zone. I put the Night Dragons on at the beginning of the season last year and have around 6000 km on the now and they are wearing really nice, huge difference in handling compared to the Bridgestones, are they the radials we all want, no, but so far I like them a lot until I can come across some cash for radial rims these will be my tires.

 

[DMAN999]

The Shinko TM230 "Tourmaster" is hardly marketed as a performance tire. It doesn't look like something I'd trust when attempting to probe a bike's limits.

The fact is that the best you'll find in the stock sizes is sporty touring tires.

Actually the Shinko Site says they are "Designed for long distance, high speed riding".
And they are V Rated (for up to 149 mph)
http://www.shinkotireusa.com/tire/230-tour-master

And like others have stated above I have had them up to 145 a few times and up around 140 more times than I can recall.
As far as cornering goes, I don't know of any BIAS rear tire that will match it's performance on a Vmax and I've run almost of them that are made in our stock rear size over the years.

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

Shinkos are the best bang for the buck, period. If money is no object, I'd run the Marathons, but they are literally twice the cost.

 

[jagco1]

Shinko all the way, Good rain tire, a good sticky tire for the stock rim if you like to go to the drag trip to.