another tyre thread

[bobbertandsammy]

Looking over the 900 I recently acquired and I'll be wanting to change the 12 year old pirellis that are currently on there. When it comes to tyre sizes the 1995 m900 has a bit of a strange set. Would I be ok running standard 120/70 and 180/55?

[Darkness]

Originally Posted by bobbertandsammy

Looking over the 900 I recently acquired and I'll be wanting to change the 12 year old pirellis that are currently on there. When it comes to tyre sizes the 1995 m900 has a bit of a strange set. Would I be ok running standard 120/70 and 180/55?

Those are the tyre sizes now recommended by Pirelli.

https://www.pirelli.com/tyres/en-gb/...149478#/search

[Other tyre makes are available and you shall no doubt be inundated with "helpful" advice on who likes what, and why the same tyres are rubbish]

What you want depends on availability, how and when you ride, has the suspension been modded, how much you want to pay, and what you are used to.

Good luck choosing, and pretty much any new tyre should be an improvement on ancient tyres.

[Mr Gazza]

Those sizes for a 900 are what everyone is using now, no worries. Flip will tell you that they handle better with a 170 on the back, but the choice in that size is very limited.

Since I know that you understand the date codes, I'll let you into a secret.
There are some proper bargains out there, being sold as old stock. In fact some of those are actually brand new stock, but the sellers say they are old to disguise an offer below the retail price, from the tyre manufacturers.

here's one example, http://www.tyretectrading.co.uk/pire...pair-deal.html .. There are plenty more on ebay.

Just check the date codes with the seller before ordering to make sure they are not so old that they will be out of date before being worn out. Recommended tyre life is 5 years from date code.

Factor in the fitting and balancing cost, which is about £12 per wheel, some fitters are reluctant to fit tyres that they haven't sold!

I like Pirellis myself and can recommend the Diablo Strada as a nice handling good all weather tyre with a long life (6000 miles from my last rear, 8000 on the front)

I have Angel ST now and they handle very nicely although I think the Stradas were a little sweeter when new?
The performance figures for the ST are nearly identical to the Michelin PR3 in the wet and dry.
You have dual compound on the ST so they should resist squaring longer than the Strada.

Then you have the Angel GT which I have no experience of but is also an all weather tyre, with a stiffer sidewall option for heavier bikes and a spec that slightly exceeds the PR4 in the wet and dry... Not so many bargains on those yet as it is the most recent model.

[Mr Gazza]

This sort of thing.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-pair-P...UAAOSw1WJZMuU5

And.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pirelli-Di...UAAOSwA3dYSEBo

12 year old pirellis

good lord ..

[Yorkie]

Originally Posted by garry

12 year old pirellis

good lord ..

I just changed the rubber on my 916 they were 10 on the front and 11 on the rear, and didn't warm up at all!

Back on thread you can easily use a 170 to 190 on the rear of a 900 Monster. With a 190 some of the tyre makes have different profiles, but I have never had an issue.

My latest tyres (on the Monster) were Maxxis, the stickiest ones, and they look good to me for under £140.

Yorkie

[Dukedesmo]

My experience is that using a 180 means the chain runs very close to the tyre. I got 'witness' marks on the tyre from contact, in fact I still get them with a 170 but not as much.

As far as I know my wheel/sprocket setup is the same as other Monsters and I couldn't space the sprocket further away from the tyre anyway as a wider setup wouldn't fit in the swingarm and would involve narrowing the brake side.

An added complication is that I have a braced swingarm, so if the chain hits the tyre, it then knocks it away so that it hits the (aluminium) bracing and I have had to repair the swingarm a couple of times - last time I 'widened' the brace to try to avoid it in the future.

So, I would advise caution on using too wide a tyre, that said I think a 170 is probably a sweeter handling option than a 180 as it is also a little taller and Pirelli, at least, offer most tyres in a 170 size.

[Darkness]

If you are tempted by a 190 on the rear, check the clearances between the tyre and the chain and the hugger. They may touch, especially the hugger at speed. I've got 180/55 on the rear of mine without issues.

[Doggy]

Pirelli angel st is a good all round tyre . I've had a few pairs on a few different bikes, all worked great . Just put a pair on my monster 796 £150 delivered, local garage charge £10 to fit the pair, bargain.

[Flip]

Yep, as Mr G says, I will bleat on about the fact that (to me at least) a 170 section rear does make the Monster handle a little sweeter without the 'slowing' effect on the steering that a 180 has and as others have mentioned, with some tyre brands there seems to be clearance problems with the wider section on a Monster.

But tyre brands and even models within brands can give a quite different profile so if you are thinking of fitting a 180 or 190 perhaps run a quick survey here to see what people are using.

As for me, I am currently running Michelin Pilot Road 3's after many people singing their praises.

Initially I felt they slowed the steering of my 900 horribly after the Pirellis which I was running with the forks pulled through the Yokes and the rear raised up stopping the Monster's standard set-up tendency to under-steer (feeling like it wants to push wide on a steady throttle through a corner) but giving a slightly flighty ride down bumpy B roads (until Maxton worked their magic on my forks).

After another tweak to raise the rear a little more my quick steering, line holding Monster is back but I am still not convinced by the Michelins. In the dry they feel great (as will almost all modern tyres to the average rider) but in the wet (and it's probably a personal thing) I don't quite have the trust in them that I did with Pirellis despite all the claims made about the Michelins.

So when it comes to change time I think I will go back to Pirellis- either the road based Diablo (which is what I used last from them) or the Angels.

All that said the Michelins do seem to be holding their profile and lasting very well.

[Yorkie]

Jacked up by 1" at the rear running a 190 tyre.



This one is a Maxxis the last 190 was a Metzeler Racetec, the smallest tyre I have run on the rear was a 180.

Yorkie

[Darkness]

Originally Posted by Yorkie

Having the back wheel so far back in the swing arm, and a short carbon hugger probably helps with clearance to the tyre.

[Yorkie]

Originally Posted by Darkness

Having the back wheel so far back in the swing arm, and a short carbon hugger probably helps with clearance to the tyre.

There is plenty of room when it is fully forward as well mate, I will try it with a standard hugger to see the difference.

Yorkie

[utopia]

I was originally running a 160 rear on my M750, when it had the original wheels.
When I changed the wheels I was kinda forced into changing the original 4.5 in rim size to 5.0 in, ie the same as the 900.
Thus I was forced into fitting a fatter tyre.
To minimise the effect of the change, I chose the narrowest one available for the 5.0 in rim, which is a 170/60 (a Michelin PR3 as it happens).
The increase in width did create a noticeable slowing in the handling as far as I could tell.
Although the water was admittedly muddied slightly by other minor changes made at the same time, I would nevertheless tend to agree with Flip that the narrower tyres handle better, and I wouldn't go above the 170 myself.
Given the choice, I'd fancy trying a 160 again to be honest.
Just a personal opinion though, and not based on extensive experience.

[bobbertandsammy]

Think I'm going for the Diablo strada's with a 180 rear. Found a pair dated 2016 for £115