Tyre choice

[Boomer]

Beegee, Sciotland is good for empty roads and big empty spaces, but there is a reason why it is big and empty.
It's cold, wet, and windy. Not all the time to be fair, but if you manage to get 3 days in a row with no rain it's a  miracle.
Personally I would choose the Ardennes over Scotland every time. For you the Ardennes are only 2 hours away.
More traffic yes, but great roads and better weather and MUCH better food that Scotland.

[mecki]

Beegee, Sciotland is good for empty roads and big empty spaces.

Unless you get stuck behind a bus on the road along Loch Ness 

[patrick]

I recently did 1400 miles to, in and back from Scotland over  days.

It chucked the rain down every day although not all day but we still had lots of fun on dry deserted roads.

Loch Lomond.... we made progress on the narrow bits despite the caravans and coaches.

[MGvalerio]

Angel GT's fitted yesterday, ended up at £290 all in ride in/ride out.

Put about 150 miles on them so far, and have to say I am VERY impressed with them.

Angel GT,una vera libidine per il GTR 1400 ,percorsi 600 miglia.

MGvalerio.

[BigAlan]

Angel GT,una vera libidine per il GTR 1400 ,percorsi 600 miglia.

MGvalerio.

Does this come with chips?

Alan

[MGvalerio]

Does this come with chips?

Alan

http://youtu.be/m-wHeDgD94k

MGvalerio.

[Rossendale Rider]

Some pretty nifty (if that's the word) riding from MG there.  Not quite sure about the rider on the silver GTR though. Seemed confident there were no doddery old Fiats coming around the bends

[MGvalerio]

Some pretty nifty (if that's the word) riding from MG there.  Not quite sure about the rider on the silver GTR though. Seemed confident there were no doddery old Fiats coming around the bends

Not quite sure about the rider on the silver GTR though,...obvious! the knight on gray bike was on Yamaha FJR 1300 .

MG valerio.

[Rexr]

So far have done a 100 miles and alls well tyres are very grippy and stable in corners and have only a couple of mil left to the edge... great front end feel, going to malliag for a run tomorrow so will see wot they are like after 300 odd miles 

[aljaxon]

I am new to touring and just bought a gtr caf and its fitted with new-ish bt021;s

im a bit of a bridgestone fan I have bt45's on my old rd350A and bt16's on my 200 zx6r. on my 6 I like the way you can lean right over on the 16's no chicken strips and I can brake heavily right up to the apex of corners cranked right over and suffer no loss of grip.
only downside is they don't last long, the fronts go v'd and the rears go bald in the middle with loads of tread left on outer.


I tired bt 23's on the 600 and found I could corner almost as fast - cranked right over there was a bit of traction loss. the 23 didn't last much longer than the 16 so wasn't worth the sacrifice of grip.
I am assuming the 21 will be the same as the 23? not very durable but loads of grip?

I am just learning about stiff and hard carcasses combined with different pressures to give different grip factor. but to be honest its all a bit too much.
I just want a decent tyre
is there such a thing as a grippy( no rear chicken strip territory ) /long lasting tyre?

I am used to changing tyres on the zx6 every 1500 miles.


what am I gonna experience with the bt021's?
apart from a tyre change in 2000 miles

[Martin#30]

Modern tyres are simply stunning these days. The progress over the last few years has been huge.

My favourite for the GTR are Michelin Pilot Road 3s, or PR3s as they are known. 10,000 miles, astounding wet grip, and enough in the dry to scrape the footpegs on the GTR. I think they would probably overheat on track, but they are a miracle road tyre.

I am trying a set of Pirelli Angel GTs at the moment. Supposed to last as long as the PR3s, but too early for me to tell. Dry grip is good on them, wet grip not quite as good as the PR3s in my opinion. I will be going back to PR3s next time.

Don't obsess about removing chicken strips. This is down to the tyre profile and width as much as rider heroics. In my experience, the rear tyre on the GTR will wear all the way to the edge, but I don't get within 10mm of the edge on the front.

Martin.

[Winston Smith]

I appreciate it's a different bike, but the Angel GT's compare quite well with the PR3's on the K16.

Wet weather grip is likewise comparable.  I will be hard pushed to decide which to put on next time round, although I may explore the new Bridgestone's - but not on the recommended list yet....

[aljaxon]

ive never tried any Michelin pilot having been told that they are a harder compound than people think but have a softer carcass which fools you into thinking you have a stickier tyre.
it isn't as sticky but grips better due to the softer carcass. which I suppose is the end result and all we are bothered about.
I don't obsess about chicken strips I was just using that as a barometer of my riding style. my zx6r front ive only ever got rid of a handful of times. most rides its 5mm sometimes 10. and I know that no chicken strips means you cant lean much more. (more than you would think mind...)
and when the front is going the rear usually squirms as its close to the limit

I think I will try the pr3's next. those mileages sound amazing compared to what im used to.

I cant corner  in wet weather. mental block from tt100's and roadrunners in the seventies.
that's why I have never done track days. knowing my luck it will be damp and I could go round faster on a push bike.


so until the next set of tyres what are the 21's gonna do for me?

[Martin#30]

so until the next set of tyres what are the 21's gonna do for me?

Mine came from new - as I think they all do - on 021s. They were good tyres for about 6,000 miles. Not great, certainly not as good as PR3s, but good nonetheless. The next 2,000 miles were interesting, when the 021s square off, they feel quite nervous tipping into a corner. Plenty of grip once you are over, but very flighty or nervous feeling to start with.

Regarding your wet weather riding comment, you will be stunned at the PR3s. When Bike magazine tested them, they were managing knee down in the wet on a 1250 Bandit. I never pushed that hard myself, but they gave me the same confident feeling in the wet as the full race Wets I use on my race bike. Truly stunning tyres.

@Winston, regarding your comment on GTs vs. PR3s, I do think the GTs have comparable wet grip to the PR3s (magazine tests I have read seem to concur with this too) but on my GTR at least, they do not give anywhere near the same confidence to me. Yes they do grip, but I always have a half-second 'will they, won't they' type feeling on them. As you say though, may be a bike thing rather than a tyre thing.

Martin.

[aljaxon]

are the oem 021's (the ones fitted as std)  different or inferior to the aftermarket ones we buy from the shop?

im sure I read that they aren't mc? or 3 compounds instead of 5?
I cant see why that would be but I did read it somewhere?

my bike has 6300 previous owner miles on it and what look like fairly new tyres

I just cannot believe that knee down is possible in the wet.
I see the racers get their knees down. but then again they also fall off....