Sport Vs Sport Touring Tires

I would have thought 11500 kms out of a sport touring tyre is good.is that not more than 3 times as much as you would get from sport tyres?

 

I’ve just changed my rear Roadtec 01 after 7300 miles and it had tread left but the handling wasn’t quite right, the bike needed quite a lot of countersteer to track where I wanted it to go, so I could have gone to 7500+ miles and been legal. But the idea for me is how the bike rides, not maximum mileage out of a tyre, tho I have to say owt over 5000 miles from a rear tyre that allows you to ride briskly with confidence at good lean angles is ok with me.

 

I think @SteveRS is right, latest sport touring tires are really that good nowadays. Tires have developed that much over the last years, so for most of us it would be the right choice on country roads. Sport tires are more and more in trouble because of their narrow positioning.

Because the latest development of the sport touring category is so good the segment of sport tires is under pressure.

However, I'm going to exchange the Pirelli Supercorsa SP when they are done for Rosso III's, too. Even if a modern sport touring tyre should be the better choice for the average naked bike rider like me...

Should be as good as the Metzeler Roadtec M7 RR's (sister tyre) - fitted to many power naked bikes around my area. I like the looks of the Pirelli profile - love this lightning design, haha...






The Supercorsa SP is a superb tyre on dry conditions in summer time when air temperature gets really hot. But on country roads I doubt that even aggressive riders can test out the limits of this kind of tyre. You have to get on the track for that. Temperature range of super sport tires is comparatively narrow and you won't get the Supercorsas on temperature on normal spring or fall conditions here in Germany...

 

I've got PR5's on my Tracer. Have done 8500 kms on them in mixed riding and there is loads left.

 

I have used Dunlop Sportsmart 2's for several years and I like them a lot. I agree that they can be a bit slippery when cold but once warmed up I had complete confidence in them. last tyre change I had Pilot Road 5's fitted by accident (due to mis-communication with the tyre fitter.) I wasn't real happy about it as I had used a set of Road 3's once and didn't like them. because of the mistake, the bike shop gave me a discount on the 5's and I kept them. I am really impressed. They are excellent in the wet as expected, but on a recent trip which involved a lot of twisties, they were great and I would even say confidence inspiring. The transition from the soft side compound to the harder wearing centre compound is obvious and after some spirited riding the softer sides of the tyre were feathered up like you might expect from a sports tyre.
I've done about 8500km so far and I reckon I've got about 3000km left. If I get about 11-12k out of them I'll be happy. (About twice what I get out of a sports tyre.)

 

I used Conti Race Attack on the front and Road Attack on the back of the GT and like that set up.
The thing with a large tourer is you end up making it work,too hard on the twistie roads, and they held up great.

 

The more twisty roads you ride the quicker your tires wear out - the abrasion on the sides of your carcass is the crucial factor then.

With a view to my weekend area (Eifel - a twisty wide play ground with the famous Nürburgring race track in between) and riding profile even one of the latest optimized sport tires won't last longer than 5 to 6 Tkm I guess. If you drive a lot on flat landscape with straight country roads I can imagine the mentioned mileages in this thread. Yes, a sport touring tyre should last significantly longer, but depends on your riding profile as well.





For a comparison: to my adventure bike I fitted the Pirelli Scorpian Trail II - tires of the touring category, which should last even longer than touring sport tires. But more than 10 to 11 Tkm I won't squeeze out of them on my BMW GS - a summer trip to the alps once a year included. Again it depends on riding area, more rounded or aggressive riding style and last but not least the power of your bike.

 

The standard Pirellis are too slow to warm up for normal riding, nearly had a high side leaving work one afternoon, and I wasn’t even giving it the beans. I’ve now fitted Road 5’s, and they are fantastic. Looking forward to seeing how many miles I can get out of them!

 

If you are getting 8000kms which is almost 5000 miles out of the rosso 3 (that seems a heck of a lot of miles from a sport tyre) then you will definitely get way more than double that with a sports touring tyre

 

Does anyone find the Road 5's give a harsh ride (feel every bump)?

 

Chester
I thought that as well bit hard.
So lowerd couple of psi on the back from standard settings happy now.
Love them.

 

Hahaha! Love your comment "the guy could ride the crate a bike comes in & still be quick". That's awesome. I'm gonna steal that one from you, if you don't mind!

 

I'll be bookmarking this super helpful thread and referring back to it for sure! Lots of food for thought. I live in Tucson and our road quality is quite bad (and I'm being kind) and not getting any better. I ride all through our summers here, too, and the ambient air temps regularly go well over 100°F. Any tire suggestions relative to these two variables? Oh, and I regularly ride our local mountain, Mt. Lemmon, which is very twisty--goes from 2500' in elevation to to 8500' in 25 miles.On those 100° days it can be a cool 75° at the top. Otherwise a fair amount of straight line stuff or some routes with nice big sweepers.