Tire selection

I resently purchased a 2008 ST1300. I have been back into riding for about 4 years and still looking for the right bike. I am in need of new tires. I will be riding on 2 lane roads in the sierra foothills. Looking at Michelin Pilot Road 4. I am 74 and not looking at setting any speed records. So far I am very happy with the bike. Any feedback on tires would be appreciated.

Hey "J"

Lots of info on tires on numerous threads here . . . and lots of opinions.

In my case, after trying many different brands, I've settled on the Michelins for handling, wear (good mileage), and specially . . . wet road handling. They'll stay glued to the road in even heavy rain. I use PR4s and PR3s for now. The 3s wear a little better while the 4s wear well but handle a little better in the curves. Both tires handle better than my capabilities to test their limits . . . and, that's a good thing.

Ride safe and enjoy the smiles/miles.

Shuey

Tire preference posts are kind of like oil threads - widely varying and strongly held opinions. The PR4's are what I use and would be a fine first choice. Read up on the other threads and maybe try something else next time, and then you can weigh in on the next tire thread.

Maybe just pole what others are using. Then you can have a starting place of tires to try... Bridgestone BT30 EVO GT for me...

I've been using Bridgestone products ever since I bought my ST1300 in 2009.
Was really happy with their Sport touring tire BT 023 GT. Now they don't make them any more, so I'm going to try the Brigestone T 30 EVO GT on my next go around.

I currently have a little over 11,000 miles (18,000 km) on my current set and there is no cupping or scalloping on them. Due for change out in the next 4,000 miles.

I am getting a little over 15,000 miles on these 023 tires on the last 3 sets. I ride on the west coast and really hope I get the same mileage with the T 30 EVO GT's.

Here's a video that kind of sum's up the sport touring tires depending on how you ride.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EzcgeHLZMvw

Hi J:

If you are considering the Michelin PR 4 tires, I suggest you get the PR 4 'GT', which is the heavy-duty version of the PR 4 designed for larger touring and sport-touring motorcycles.

I bought a 2012 ST 1300 2 years ago, and installed PR 4 GTs on the front and back when I took delivery. I just changed the two tires this past month: the rear tire gave me 17,000 miles (28,000 km) and the front tire gave me 20,000 miles (32,000 km). In each case, the tire was not yet down to the wear bars, it had about half a millimeter remaining before hitting the wear bars.

For me, this is unprecedented mileage for a motorcycle tire... I'm used to getting about 6,000 miles (10,000 km) at most from the Metzeler ZR 6 or ZR 8 tires that I have used on my ST 1100 for the past 15 years.

I'm happy with the Michelin PR 4 GTs in all respects: They have adequate grip for my moderately aggressive riding (although if I was spending most of my time riding the Swiss Alps or Deal's Gap I might go looking for a stickier tire), they have nice grip in rain, they are round, a nice black colour, they hold the air I put in them, etc. etc.

Michael

Al Gully said:

Here's a video that kind of sum's up the sport touring tires depending on how you ride.

Click to expand...

Al . . . thanks for posting up this video. Hadn't seen it before. I'll try one or two of these choices and make my own comparison. My past experience with Metzler Z tires was that they were great for handling, but just didn't hold up for enough miles. Maybe time for me to give them another try. We'll see.

Shuey

Shuey said:

Al . . . thanks for posting up this video.
Shuey

Click to expand...

Again, it just goes to show you that the tires we all use are the best in the world for our sport touring application. As he said in the video that anything above a 6 is perfect for us on our sport tourer.
Ride Safe

I sincerely believe that most of the high performance tires that are recommended for the ST 1300 have capabilities that will not be tested by the vast majority of us. And that means that any tire that does not have specific issues with your bike (i.e. any tire that does not cause handling issues) will be fine for you.

I found that I paid as much attention to how someone reviewed a tire as to what he said. In other words, I gave an articulate reviewer more attention than someone who was not, and I often looked for corroborating reviews when I whittled my choices down to a few tires. This was not a good way to select my tires, but I kept thinking that they are all limited reviews in the sense that a back to back comparison would be more meaningful when tested under fully explained conditions. If you want a sticky tire for wet weather riding, it would be better to have an expert compare several brands on an ST up to the limits of adhesion than to have one of us say "I found this tire to be great in the rain" (unless you know the guy who said that, his style of riding, and where and what kind of roads he frequents).

As said above by Shuey, I would suggest you go to Forums > Technical and the various tire brands and read read read. And after you decide on a tire, check availability and cost - I ended opting out of the PR4's because the wait to get them back when was more than 6 weeks. If you cannot get them, they won't do you much good.

Shuey said:

Al . . . thanks for posting up this video. Hadn't seen it before. I'll try one or two of these choices and make my own comparison. My past experience with Metzler Z tires was that they were great for handling, but just didn't hold up for enough miles. Maybe time for me to give them another try. We'll see.

Shuey

Click to expand...

One thing about the comparison video. The Roadtec 01 does not come in 18" front and the rear does not come in 170/60. That being said, I have a Roadtec Z8 on the front and a Roadtec 01 in 180/55 on the back now just to see how they work. I have been running PR4 GT's but am not all that impressed with the wear. The mileage (in my hands) is only so so (10,000 km s on the rear, 14,000 kms on the front) but more importantly is that they wear in such a way as to affect the handling (especially the front). They tend to get rather triangular shaped (with a flattened top if that makes sense) and the bike tends to be a bit hard to initiate a turn and then falls into it. This is characteristic of the last half of the tread wear.
Caveat....this is my experience, on my bike, my riding style, the roads I ride. YMMV.

Rod

Shuey said:

My past experience with Metzler Z tires was that they were great for handling, but just didn't hold up for enough miles.

Click to expand...

That has also been my experience with the Metzeler Z series on my ST1100 (the Michelin PR4 GTs not being available in the correct size for the ST1100). The Metzeler tires are wonderful, amazing grip, very comfortable, etc., but they don't last very long.

Michael

I really like the Angel Gts and have ridden them for about 12000 kms without problems or much wear .

drrod said:

The mileage (in my hands) is only so so (10,000 km s on the rear, 14,000 kms on the front) but more importantly is that they wear in such a way as to affect the handling (especially the front). They tend to get rather triangular shaped (with a flattened top if that makes sense) and the bike tends to be a bit hard to initiate a turn and then falls into it. This is characteristic of the last half of the tread wear.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what my experience has been with the last 2 sets of PR4 GT's. I also found that the steering begins to feel really heavy after the halfway wear mark. I also tried 2 sets of T30 GT's but only got about 9000 kms out of a rear and 22000 out of front. My latest set I have gone back to the OEM BT020 F just to see for myself if I can get better value for the dollar out of them.

gmtech94 said:

I really like the Angel Gts and have ridden them for about 12000 kms without problems or much wear .

Click to expand...

They have my vote too. great tire. Dual compound, super grip wet or dry and reasonably priced. they also come in the correct sizes. Best tire I've found to date. Check out some of the reviews.

Al Gully said:

I've been using Bridgestone products ever since I bought my ST1300 in 2009.
Was really happy with their Sport touring tire BT 023 GT. Now they don't make them any more, so I'm going to try the Brigestone T 30 EVO GT on my next go around.

I currently have a little over 11,000 miles (18,000 km) on my current set and there is no cupping or scalloping on them. Due for change out in the next 4,000 miles.

I am getting a little over 15,000 miles on these 023 tires on the last 3 sets. I ride on the west coast and really hope I get the same mileage with the T 30 EVO GT's.

Here's a video that kind of sum's up the sport touring tires depending on how you ride.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EzcgeHLZMvw

Click to expand...

Watching the video at the 39 second mark they show a stack of tires supposedly the ones they used in the test. However, at the 39 second mark they show what looks like a Pirelli Angel GT front and rear. However this tire is not mentioned as one they tested. The unique thread pattern is unmistakable. At the end of the video when they are rating the tires, this thread pattern does not show up on any of the tires they rate. Strange.

bass_on_tap said:

Watching the video at the 39 second mark they show a stack of tires supposedly the ones they used in the test. However, at the 39 second mark they show what looks like a Pirelli Angel GT front and rear. However this tire is not mentioned as one they tested. The unique thread pattern is unmistakable. At the end of the video when they are rating the tires, this thread pattern does not show up on any of the tires they rate. Strange.

Click to expand...

You are right, there are Pirelli Angel GT's in that stack, therefore one of the six variants actually tested wasn't in the original stack (I don't know which one).Pirelli sponsored this test, so I'm reaching my own conclusion as to why the Pirelli results weren't discussed.

Here'a another tire review that was posted up on 4Apr'16 that some might find interesting.
Shuey

Compared:
-Michelin PR4 GT
-Bridgestone Battle Ax BT 023
-Perelli Angel GT
-Metzeler Roadtec Z8 Interact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRd0bmxNVRY