New bike-looking for tire advice

[InstruMike]

I've recently purchased my first bike. Its a '07 DRZ-400SM and the tires are bald so I've been doing research and trying to figure out the best tires to buy for the kind of riding I will be doing. I'll need both front and rear. So far I'm leaning toward the Avon Distanzia. I'll be riding about 50/50 pavement and logging roads.
Anyone out there have experience with these tires on the same bike. I want good traction on the logging roads but at the same time, because I'm new to riding, I want to feel confident that on the pavement I'll still have good traction in the corners. Any one have these tires on their bike or have advice/experience with these? or think I should be looking at a differnt tire?

 

[eviljimbo]

ill be riding with a couple DRZ riders today ill ask them what they recommend I ride a DR650 and am using a Heidinau very good lots of riders like em

 

[Mad Max]

I have a set of Distanzia's on my sumo rims that I ran on my DRZ last summer. They are the only street type tires I have ever used and found them far superior to knobbies on the pavement. That being said I used them on FSR's for lotsa KM's as well and they have OK traction on mainlines BUT when they let go they let go hard and fast! In riverbottoms or round pebbly / loose gravel they really do not offer much in the way of traction for forward travel or lateral stability. If you want a 50/50 tire I personally would go with something a little more knobby-like. I am not sure of the model numbers but send a P.M. to Sebastion101 as he has a set of Heideneau's on his KLR that are long lasting and good on and off-road. I would personally rate the Distanzias as 90% street - 10% off-road.

Good Luck

Jay

 

[c337b]

I have a 400S. I bought a second set of used wheels I have my 17 sumo wheel for the street and my 18/21 for the dirt Best of both worlds

Frank

 

[cactusreid]

Why don't you contact colin at mx-1 canada, one of the sponsors here. He carries mitas tires, the whole line is dot approved i believe, and he will walk you through the choices available. Great tires at a great price point.

 

[Mad Max]

I was wrong, Sebastian has a mitas e09 dakar and a mefo explorer and is very happy with traction and tread life.

 

[Chad]

I had a pair of Kenda 270's for my XT 250. They were great until they were half worn and then they wore exponentially fast.

 

[ejfranz]

Hate the Kenda 270! I had them on my WR 250 and had zero traction in mud and loose gravel. At the newbie ride a newbie with a DRZ had them on his bike and had a hell of a time hooking up. He got stuck in the first mud crossing.
I took them off the WR after 400 km. Both my son and I found them sketchy on the FSR and absolute hell on the trails.

 

[eviljimbo]

I'm not a fan of the 270's either, the Mitas E-09 is a good tire. I did 6 K on mine in the rear and it still has good life left approx 50% running about 60 % street and 40 % dirt including the Orca Run and NI run till I broke my arm. I am trying the Heidi for about the same and decide on what I want for my big adventure ride. Went for a ride on Saturday and one was running a 270(The Wozza), we were in a sandy slop and his wasnt that great clogged up real easy . My Heidi, I dropped to about 20 PSI (should a dropped way more i know). It stayed nice and clear got a nice roost in on the guys :clap: ,the other rider( Mike P.) cheated and was riding a TW 200 with the balloon tires.

 

[mike_123]

http://www.canadasmotorcycle.ca/shinko-705-series-dual-sport-rear-tire.html
I used these for many years on my drz sm

shinko makes many different read patterns to fit the sm wheels

 

[cactusreid]

mike it's kinda nice , and worth-while for everyone if we recommend and shop at the shops/stores that help support this forum. not only nice, but these people have some top quality products as well. the walmart theory of the lowest price, doesn't always win. that being said, our sponsors do very well with their price points most of the time. i may be mistaken but i don't think your link, which is in quebec is a sponsor of DSBC?

 

[mike_123]

I was just pointing out the brand I used and had good luck with
i don't really care where he buys them
the link was the first to come up in a google search for me and was used to show the tire more so then the where to buy

next time I won't take the time to give my opinion witch in turn hurts sites like these more so then sponsorship

cheers

 

[cactusreid]

mike i was just trying to gently point out that lots of the sponsors that help support this forums existance, have lots of great tire choices, and a whole bunch of other good stuff as well. it was not meant as a stab at you. my apoligies to you.i've been caught in the same opinion trap on this and other forums as you describe. it's not a lot of fun. but i'm sure the original poster found "value" in your tire suggestion, keep up the good work.

 

[04klr]

Just for shitzngiggles, I fact checked it all (because it's nice and warm where I'm sitting). I googled 'shinko 205 rear" and WHAMO! the first option is,, motorcycle superstore (though not canadas moto,, and I may have use different search words, so sue me). Next. While I'm there, just how much IS a, say, 205 120/80 18 TT rear tire at Canadasmotorcycle you may ask, and I thought you might, well it's listed at $93.13 shipped free (same price at the us moto-super though shipped free to the border y'all). lastly I while sitting in front of this computator (and a ceramic heater) I checked with a sponsor at this site and, looked for a, shinko 205 128/80 18 TT and found the price, picked up or shipped, was, , , $75.56 which is a terrific billboard for shop local! nuff said, what is really much more important is.
What the hell does "found valve in your tire suggestion" mean??
and yes Mike123 keep up the good work and don't worry too much as to reactions to opinions here, it's just a place for yakikity yak, save the serious stuff for the politicians, which reminds me I have to call Rob Ford, he still owes me for some crack I sold him awhile back. Juuuust kidding (he paid me back).

Retired in Kamloops after three cups of Joe, sitting in front of a heater, 04klr (which was a baaad handle choice)

 

[joker650]

HA!!
Tires are a funny thing.
I know some have posted against the Kenda K-270, but I have used them on my Super Enduro many times.(REAR ONLY, NOT FRONT they suk)
It was my tire of choice for quite a few years, probably burned through 5 or 6 in the last 20,000k or so.(and that's good mileage...beleive me, the SE can burn up tires 400K once)
This new K778....lasted 1 day, 400k

THey were cheap and were the longest lasting tire I could find, usually about 5000k, mix of dirt and street, every day commuting to and from work , close to 60k a day.
With full throttle on the pavement I could feel the caucus wobbling/flexing but it didn't really bother me.
IN the dirt it actually worked pretty good, It got the 9-five-OH in and out of some pretty good places.
I changed brands because of a flat I got in town on a 4-lane rd. I heard a "TING" then the back wanted to pass me. The front kicked up a nail, it hit the skid plate then went right into the rear tire.
THe sidewalls were soo weak the tire almost rolled off the rim.

I switched to MOTOZ tires.
The "worn out" one lasted a whole summer (5-6000k or so), but it was soo noisy on the pavement I switched it out for a new MOTOZ Desert Tractionator.

It has lasted so good that it is my new tire of choice (have another one to spoon on)

The rear MOTOZ has tonnes of rubber on it.

This is 5000k.
The cracking showed up at 2000k but caused no problems and never got worse....even up to 200kph

Even worked great in the snow.

I use the matching MOTOZ front.

The front at 5000k

Keep your bike a long time and try lotsaaaaaa tires!!

On my old DR650 I used the MITAS E-09 twice.
They wre good on the pavement but lacked traction in the dirt, the slid out way too easy.

 

[Island Hopper]

I' m running a tractionator up front and quite like it... For how gnarley the tread looks on this tire it actually does quite well on tarmac, you don't get the squirmy feel that you often get when running more aggressive knobbies on pavement...

I tend to agree with joker on the K270, the fronts suck but the rear tires do OK... If your running them on sm rims you'll need to run a rear designed tire on both ends....

 

[Curse]

Picked up new bike looking to also change out tires I am currently looking at IRC TR8 Battle rally tire link http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/19574/i/irc-tr8-battle-rally-rear-tire and http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/19572/i/irc-tr8-battle-rally-front-tire.. Now I know that the front will work with my 2008 KTM 530 EXCR however from what I have read the rim size is 2.15x18 and options for this tire show as 4.00-18 and 4.50-18 will this tire fit or no? From what I have read I think I need a 5.00-5.10 is that correct ? Anyone on here have any thoughts good tire / bad ? I have run Mt 21's on several other bikes and they track well on street with 28PSI or so and I used to get about 5-6000k's out of a rear and double out of a front but hate the feel of front tire on any gravel and over traction offroad was ok but nothing great. I have run a AC10 with a tractionator before it was DOT appv don't remember what version it was a few years ago rear felt good but the front was super soft on road and didn't have good road feel for me. I will be doing more offroad with new bike however still do some travel on tarmac to and from riding areas.

 

[Island Hopper]

Picked up new bike looking to also change out tires I am currently looking at IRC TR8 Battle rally tire link http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/19574/i/irc-tr8-battle-rally-rear-tire and http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/19572/i/irc-tr8-battle-rally-front-tire.. Now I know that the front will work with my 2008 KTM 530 EXCR however from what I have read the rim size is 2.15x18 and options for this tire show as 4.00-18 and 4.50-18 will this tire fit or no? From what I have read I think I need a 5.00-5.10 is that correct ? Anyone on here have any thoughts good tire / bad ? I have run Mt 21's on several other bikes and they track well on street with 28PSI or so and I used to get about 5-6000k's out of a rear and double out of a front but hate the feel of front tire on any gravel and over traction offroad was ok but nothing great. I have run a AC10 with a tractionator before it was DOT appv don't remember what version it was a few years ago rear felt good but the front was super soft on road and didn't have good road feel for me. I will be doing more offroad with new bike however still do some travel on tarmac to and from riding areas.

I have ran 2 of the battle rally front tires on my 640 and wouldn't say they're anything special... The carcass and rubber compound in them seems very hard so they last a little longer in exchange for some traction... The price for the 2 tires was very low, but after going through them both I chose not to run them again... When picking tires I prefer to run a good tire (more expensive?) up front and will settle for something less expensive out back... IRC doesn't list very wide sizes in a lot of their tires, the 4.50 x 18 is roughly equivalent to a 120/80x18 and while being a bit skinny, will still work on your bike...

 

[Rydr]

Lots of information on tires on this thread. Just thought I'd throw my two cents in. I've used many different dual sport type tires over the years and all had their good qualities of OK to great depending on the use and the motorcycle. I won't go into all the different manufactures and models of the tires I've used but I will tell you about a set I purchased last year for the DR650SE. Kenda K784Big Block. Listed as a 50/50 tire I was impressed by their dirt capability. They worked well in all conditions from mud to loose dirt to hard pack and gravel. On pavement I would give them an OK+. They lasted well getting just over 8000 km. The front still has some life left and the rear is totally done. Sorry no pictures. To address another point brought up in this thread I did purchase them from Canada's Motorcycle. Total for both tires shipped to my door was $163.58. When I first started looking at these tires the the to local shops in my town quoted over $250.00 for a set and that didn't include tax. I try to shop locally if the price point is close. The price from Canada's Motorcycle included a 10% discount for buying a set and GST. They didn't charge the BC PST so that was another 7% saving. I was well satisfied with the tires considering over 3/4 life was off-pavement. The next set of tires I have waiting to install on the DR are Dunlop 606's. I'll post a review of them when I change them out if anyone's interested.