Best overall high speed tires for a gen 2

Ghost81

Ghost81

Registered
Good afternoon to all. I’ve just registered myself on this. Have just recently acquired my first gen 2 (3 weeks now) I’ve been looking at the posts regarding tires and I’m a bit confused. I need tires, I also sell tires (Avons) I own a stroked Harley Davidson as well as an MV Augusta. I’m a yank, but I’ve been living in Europe for many years. So…. I see guys posting they’re getting 7k on a set of tires!?! I see guys putting Avon Cobras in Busas (WTF?) àd I’ve seen guys complaining about the Battlax from bridge (I iSednto race a 750 fixer on those and ride from Normandy to Dublin 400 miles of which was in pouring rain and ran consistently well over 180km/h during most of the run.. As a spirited driver, I’ve never gotten more than 3000km on a rear and 3800-4000 max on my 750. I live in Malta and the roads suck àd when it’s windy there’s always I thin film of sand on the few interesting roads there are. I get my knee down on the MV sporting Avons but they won’t last a year in an island that’s only 35km X 16..Reading some posts makes me wonder how people ride..
I want stick, I plan on going overland all seasons with the Busa. I want wet àd dry grip.. I’ve never been fond of Dunlop àd I don’t like Michelin (got a 659bhp Nissan Z32 and hated the Michelins on my car)
Àd people seem to dislike the makes to which I seem to have a better relation with.
So, if there’s a serious fast rider who comes across my post that can shed me a little insight as to what really works in the busa for my kind of driving I’d be much obliged.
Thanks for read.
Stay safe ✌
 
Welcome,

Tire questions are one of the most controversial threads on this forum....it's almost as sensitive as the politics thread..

You seem to already know what you don't want so I guess it is reverse engineering of what you do want...

You seem to like the Battlax...so go get a set of S22Rs like the gen 3 has...

After quite a bit of searching and researching, I bought Michelin PR5s and they have been stellar, good grip in all conditions, quiet and give confidence in corners..I'd wager car tires are different than bike tires.

Before that I had Bridgestone Battlax S21Rs and they were Ok but scalloped bad and wore out fast..

You will find the Hayabusa is hard on tires.
 
I love Dunlops, Q2, Q3, Q4, and the Roadsmart 1 and 2(sport touring)are all excellent.
Years ago at the advice of old @Tufbusa
I started running a Q2 front(sport) for max grip and control, and a Roadsmart(sport touring) rear, for more mileage, as the harder compound held up longer to the Busa's torque, so much so that I could change the tires in sets, vs 2 rears to one front(a little over 2k miles average, but I was happy with that, I want grip over mileage, and you really Cannot have Both).
The Roadsmart still had Plenty of grip too. There are old pictures of them here somewhere, but no chicken strips, and nicely boogered edges.
At 185-190lbs in gear, and with 7w fork oil instead of stock 5w, I had great sag numbers(mid 30's mm), and the Busa stuck like glue.
I kept both tires at 36psi hot, and down to 34psi hot on great roads.
36psi hot front always.
38psi hot rear with a passenger.
I got my old gen2 coming off of 1000's, and had to learn the Busa, as I could put it Too Far over in corners, dragging the bottoms of the stock mufflers, and leaving an egg shaped and size scrape on the lower right fairing(right fairing sticks out further than the left).
Dragging hard parts is bad, and asking for trouble, and I quickly adjusted.
The point is, I was chewing sidewall edges and Still Stuck to the road.
 
Hayabusa Wannabe said:
Consider that the motorcycle products can be very different from the car products. I do not have a recommendation myself, so I can merely suggest that you do not automatically exclude the Michelins due to this reason.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with this statement...even though I hate Michelins on the Busa, lol.
I tried several of Pilots, Powers, Roads, and although they were all decent tires, I found All of them to be very finicky and picky.
As in, the psi had to be dialed in for corners, but out on the highway, they were way off, unless you added a psi or 2 back.
Same with low or high speed wheelies, different psi needed.
Now the different psi for the application is understandable, but I found All the Dunlops to be Much more forgiving, as my 34 psi hot tires railed corners, then cruised triple digits on the highway, and handled any speed wheelie with ease.
No adjustment in psi was Needed, not to say a small adjustment didn't help.
Just my Busa experience with them, whatever it's worth, maybe 2 cents.
 
So the other component is the speed rating. While a Z series tire is a 200 MPH tire, unless you plan on driving that speed the Z rating is overkill. And it extra $$.

So a good 160 mph rated (forgot my letter scale) opens up more sticky choices.

Where will your bike live. Buy the tire for that environment. Tires will be one of your biggest recurring cost.

I do want to make a note on Avon's. I think you can do a search here. I think there was some delamination issues on them. Specific to heavier bikes. The Busa being a heavier bike.
 
@c10 ran the Michelin PR5s on RJ and he rode that bike like it was meant to be ridden... @GAmedic is a huge PPR5 fan as well and he rode that thing of his all over "God's creation."

I figure if these two fine gentlemen can run a PR5 and run it hard, it would be fine for me...

However, like I pointed out in my first thread, tire choice is a real touchy thing...
 
Bumblebee said:
Welcome,

Tire questions are one of the most controversial threads on this forum....it's almost as sensitive as the politics thread..
You will find the Hayabusa is hard on tires.
Click to expand...
@Ghost81
I know you know this, but stickier = less mileage
You ran which Dunlops on which of your bikes and didn't like?? How long ago was that?

My suggestion would be the Dunlop Q series (personal positive experience with Q3+ on a Gen 2) as long as you don't mind <5k kms. This will give you a Busa reference point from which to more accurately judge the other brands.

No one's mentioned Pirelli yet??
 
Avon recommend storm 3d or spirit st,
I personally are on my second set of Avon storm 3d with the first lasting 7000 , could have gotten 8000 but was squaring off .I mostly run country lanes but mostly only tour as I need my license for work and it's too dangerous here in the UK.That said they feel good with no grip or deflation issues ( I think that was older style Avon's) On the Avon site they will give you recommendations on the right tyre for you
 
dave s said:
Avon recommend storm 3d or spirit st,
I personally are on my second set of Avon storm 3d with the first lasting 7000 , could have gotten 8000 but was squaring off .I mostly run country lanes but mostly only tour as I need my license for work and it's too dangerous here in the UK.That said they feel good with no grip or deflation issues ( I think that was older style Avon's) On the Avon site they will give you recommendations on the right tyre for you
Click to expand...
Ive run the Storm 3D and liked them very much just very hard to get in New Zealand. Tim (pashnit round here) is a good bloke to talk more on these tyres.

Pilot Rd 5s on the BKing summer and winter no probs + they wore very evenly for me.

Both are very good all round tyres and get very reasonable kms around 8000.

Ran a set of Pirelli Super Corsas on the BKing man they were an awesome short term summer tyre but at retail over 600 bucks and 2000kms life bank cries 'no more' :laugh:
 
HayaWakened said:
@Ghost81
I know you know this, but stickier = less mileage
You ran which Dunlops on which of your bikes and didn't like?? How long ago was that?

My suggestion would be the Dunlop Q series (personal positive experience with Q3+ on a Gen 2) as long as you don't mind <5k kms. This will give you a Busa reference point from which to more accurately judge the other brands.

No one's mentioned Pirelli yet??
Click to expand...
Pirellis..yes no one has yet mentioned them àd the couple of threads I saw weren’t very rewarding. Thus said, I’ve had fun on the Corsas with a few Italian bikes but noticed they sucked on the ZX10 for example
 
With the Busa and the Zed14 , both their setup and type of riding I like to do , my tire preference is grip first and mileage second . I run Bridgestone RS10 on both bikes , but now the RS11 is out the Busa is wearing one on front .
The Busa and the 14R both were fitted with Pirelli SC3 to try out , they were okay on the Busa , and a lot better on the Kawasaki .
 
Ghost81 said:
I want stick, I plan on going overland all seasons with the Busa. I want wet àd dry grip.
Click to expand...
Just forget about everything else and get a set of Pirelli Diablo Supercorsas. There's not a lot of siping but I imagine enough as long as you're careful in the rain.

I've used Pirelli Superbike Pro slicks (no longer manufactured) and Metzler Racetec RR CompK slicks for street duty and they are my alltime favs but I wouldn't recommend those for rain. I did ride at least 50 miles on the highway in a heavy downpour with slicks and had no issues but I wouldn't want to have to go fast or brake hard in those conditions with slicks. If you want ultimate confidence in warm, dry riding conditions, I suggest you try a set of racing slicks that are designed for cold tracks and without tire warmers. That seems to me to just about equate to "street riding." Some say the repeated heat cycles of street riding will make slicks unreliable but I never noticed a problem. I have a feeling the Superbike Pros were the same compound as Supercorsas just without sipes. I can't speak for other slicks but from here on in, I'd always use slicks even for the street...just not for touring. Of course, all these tires I mentioned won't last long. If what you're after is stick, I don't think you can expect high mileage as well.
 
I'd also suggest you try a 190/55 or a 200/55. the elliptical profile is better for hard cornering and also seems to retain a rounder shape even with more center wear until the tire is close to worn out.

IMHO, the RS10 lacks the elliptical profile I favor. Even the 200/55 has a neutral circle shaped profile as opposed to elliptical. When a circle profile wears on the center, it looks squared off pretty quick. If you have the skill to wear the sides more than the center, the circlular profile can actually wear into an ellipse shape. I hear the RS11 has the same profile as the RS10 but it's stickier and wears even faster.
 
I as a rule do not commute on either bike , so they generally get ridden out of town , to the hills and ridden there . My 200/55 on the 14 is less rounded , because it is on a 6.625" rim , but it corners very well , on the edege predictably last ride , a bit squirrelly on the way out of some , but control is good . The Busa is very nicely rounded , and tends to stay just off edge on the same roads as the 14 . I guess I am used to it , but I am always amazed at how good both bikes perform out in my fav roads .
The 200/55 RS10 is made to ideally fit 6.25" / 6.5" rim , so the 6.625" is pushing it .
 
59C05D9B-D630-4304-A025-D7A40B0FF385.jpeg
 
I ran P2CTs for a long time and liked them including a track day that ate the front and rear in one day! Then I switched to the Q's (2 & 3) and really like them a lot. According to my TPMS, the Q's heat up really quickly and the carcass seems to allow a lot of PSI ranges as @sixpack577 said.

I ride medium-fast twisties through cornfields and don't usually ride Busa in the weather. I have been caught out a few times though in both rain and even snow once and the Q's handled it acceptably. The bad side is 3-5K tread live max.
 
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