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Most economical tires for my gs850

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Anonymous

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I have just bought a 1979 GS850 and it needs new tires. However I have no idea of which ones to get.. I traded my KAW S3 Tripple for it, and I do not ride alot ( I plan on riding alot more). Any suggestions of a good economical tire would be great. I need both front and back.
 
Welcome to the forum, uhhh, Maggot. 8O

Anyway, lots of people have used Cheng Shins for a cheap tire with success.

I myself don't trust my riding to anything but a real high quality Dunlop.The K505's are my current fave.

I guess it's all a matter of how hard you ride and of course how much scratch you got.
 
If you shop around (including eBay), you should be able to pick up a pair of Dunlop K491 Elite II tires at a reasonable cost. They are excellent, because they work well on wet or dry roads and will give you decent mileage.
 
the Maxxis M6102 (front) M6103 (rear) pro maxx is the wat to go for a premium tire at a economical price.

and they come in our sizes.
 
The Dunlop Elites are good over-all tires. So are the Bridgestone Spitfires.
 
I've been running Bridgestone spitfires on my 850. If you get 'em, I wouldn't do any balls out cornering in the wet, although they are wearing nicely. It's a tradeoff................ 8)
 
I have been using Bridgestone Spitfires on my GK for the last year and they have serve me well enough that I picked up another pair for my 750.
 
I ride fast and far in all kinds of weather on Cheng Shin HiMax tires.

The other Cheng Shins aren't that great, but I've been very happy with CS HiMaxes, and they're a great value.

I can get a fresh set mounted and balanced at the local shoppe for $130, which is $20 less than one Dunlop.

Folks, please remember that not all of us have the equipment to mount our own tires. Internet tire prices are pretty useless -- what matters is the mounted and balanced price at the local bike shop. And none of the local shops around here will mount tires at all unless you buy the tires there.
 
bwringer said:
I ride fast and far in all kinds of weather on Cheng Shin HiMax tires.
Click to expand...

I am running Cheng Shing front and rear tyres for 12.000 KM in all conditions without any problems.
 
The best tires I've gotten are unwanted tires. Go to your local bike shops and ask if they have any old tires that they want to get rid of. I've been given some fantastic deals doing this. :) If you try this be sure to check the tires for imperfections and date stampings.

Steve
 
Most economical tire 850

Most economical tire 850

I have 2- 1980 850"s,One a G model,the other a L model.I had ChenegShin front&rear-3000mi. later the back tire was showing threads& the front was 75% gone too!Put a KendaK 657 on back & have gone 3500 mi.-still got 50% tread left!Oh-by the way I'm not doing burnouts/wheelstands either.They both cost about the same & the performance increase w/Kenda(esp. wet weather)-no brainer.Later put a Duro BLVD. HF296A up front & too early too tell about milage but happy about performance.Best place to get them is DennisKirk if you can wait a week.Since you need both tires you'll just clear $100 & that will get you free shipping!I went oversized front/rear.Front-110/90-19 & Rear-130/90-17w/no clearance problems.Have been a repeat customer w/Kenda on the rear of other bike too! HAPPY CAMPER :D
 
I recommend Cheng Shins from JC Whitney. I just put a front tire on my 750 and it only cost $40. My dad and I mounted it ourselves to save money. After about an hour of wrestling with tire irons, we finally got it. And it only cost me a pulled forearm muscle. :lol:
 
I've run quite a few different tires and have run Cheng Shins (I think I liked the Hi Max better than the others). If you can find Kings tires they run about the same price and last better than the Cheng Shins they also seem to have a little better traction but they are still not a really sticky tire.

I haven't had any problems with either of them except that they are usually shot in under 5000 miles. I pretty much run Dunlop 491 Elite IIs anymore due to there longer life and pretty much all round good performance but these also are not a sticky tire.



action-smiley-083.gif
 
Ouch... I have to admit, when I bought a bike I had no idea that tire life was quite that bad.
 
I use to only buy Dunlop 491s for the 4 GSs I've owned but the last 2 or 3 fronts have developed premature cracks in the sidewalls. The last set I bought were Bridgestone Spitfires and I've been very happy with them. I just ordered a new front Spitfire S11 for my 1100 from MAW (http://www.mawonline.com/) for $55 plus $9 shipping. I can usually take the wheel in and get a mount and balance for $20.
 
If you're buying from eBay or a local shop, you have to be very, very careful about getting old tires. One or two years really makes a huge difference in traction -- the rubber ages and hardens even if it's just sitting on a rack.

I'd much rather have a nice fresh set of Cheng Shins than a two year old set of Dunlops or Metzelers or whatever.

Other than gas, tires are by far the most expensive part of owning any motorcycle. (er, I should say riding a motorcycle, not just owning) It's just a fact of life.

I've gotten 7,000 miles out of a set of Cheng Shins used for commuting, and as little as 3,000 out of a set of Bridgestones mostly used on a couple of fast, long-distance sport-touring trips. Since you're also on an 850, that's the sort of range you might expect. If you're a fairly new and/or nonagressive rider, you could expect to be in the upper end of that range.

As I've gotten my bike more mechanically sorted in the last few years, I've started using up two sets of tires a season. I buy them at a local high-volume shop, so I don't really encounter problems with aging these days.

For me, the strategy of cheaper tires replaced a little more frequently seems to work quite well. Cheng Shins are cheap enough ($130 a set mounted) that I can replace them before they get too square. If they were Dunlop$ or Met$eler$ ($300 a set mounted), I would have more trouble coughing up the money, and would be more tempted to let it go another few weeks. And another few weeks. And another few weeks...
 
old, unused tires

old, unused tires

I was a chemist for Firestone. Tires do not age appreciably when properly stored for up to ten years or so. The synthetic SBR rubber used in the treads is naturally resistant to oxygen and ozone, but the natural rubber in the sidewalls isn't. Both rubber compounds contain antioxidants and antiozonants to retard deterioration.
If a tire company is too dumb or too cheap to formulate the rubber to last ten+ years, they're too dumb or too cheap to do the complicated things right and you shouldn't buy their tires for anything faster than a riding lawn mower.

Tom
 
I am using Dunlop 404's. The price up here in canada is about $100 for the rear, I have seen them online for 50 bucks. They seem to handle the wet pretty good although I don't push it hard in the rain. Got 7000 miles out of the rear, the front is still on and is doing just fine.
 
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