Tires for 1982 GS1100GL

[JustRide]

Hey folks,

I just picked up a 1982 GS1100GL and i need tires. I think I have narrowed it down to the Bridgestone BT45-v but I wanted to get some suggestions or recommendations from other folks.

Up to this point I have had all newer bikes so tires were easy to get and decide on which ones work best. So this is my first vintage bike so I am looking for some advice.

Thanks all,

Jay

 

[Steve]

BT45 is an OK tire, but many of us are using Shinko Tour Master 230.

If you mount your own tires, they are about $130 for the pair, shipped to your door.

If you don't mount your own tires, they are still about $130 shipped to your door, but then you will have to find someone to mount them.

.

 

[JustRide]

Tires

Tires

Wow really. In the sportbike world Shinkos are like bottom of the barrel type tires. Guess this is a different animal.

 

[Nessism]

Shinko 230's stick fine, they just wear fast. Avon Roadriders are the forum favorite for people that ride hard and appreciate a little more mileage from their tires. These truths have been proven out in the real world by actual riders.

As for those "sport bike guys", some of them know their $hit, and others don't. The devils in the details. Diesel engine oil is the forum favorite here (for example), but most sport bike guys are aghast by such a suggestion. Go figure.

 

[Steve]

Yes, although it will depend a bit on your riding style.

If you habitually scrape hardware around every turn and drag race everyone from every light, there are much better choices, but for those of us that don't do that, the Shinkos do quite well.

One of our "more-spirited" riders did an evaluation of the Shinkos on his 850 and pronounced them quite reasonable.
They grip better than you would expect from a cheap (inexpensive) tire and longevity is not all that bad, either.

If you are into more spirited riding on your vintage machine, Pirelli Sport Demons are good, but don't last long, and Avon Road Riders are used by several here. Both are considerably more "spendy", though.

.

 

[JustRide]

tire

tire

Cool thanks. Yes i did use Rotella in my sportbike. Used to do a bunch of track days and such and never had an issue. As a matter a fact a friend of mine just had his ZX6R motor torn down for a refresh and he has been using the Rotella and the internals were near perfect. The bike has only been on the track too very little time below 8K. I will be using Rotella in the GS as well.

I would probably be on the more spirited side of riding so I will check out the other tires and see what the difference is.

Thanks, Jay

 

[JustRide]

Is there room on the rear for a 150 or will it touch the swing arm? Has anyone tried a 150 and did it negatively effect the handling?

Coming from the sport/track side of riding and as far as mileage goes, if I get more than 1500 miles or one weekend at the track I am doing well for wear.

 

[Steve]

Is there room on the rear for a 150 or will it touch the swing arm? Has anyone tried a 150 and did it negatively effect the handling?

The width of the rear wheel will not properly support a 150, and there is probably not enough room to the swingarm, anyway.

Since you do track days, I would hope that you know that you need proper-sized rims to hold a particular size tire. If you mount a larger tire (say, your 150) on the 1100's rim, you will pinch the tire into a tighter radius than that for which it was designed. This will actually give you a smaller contact patch, which is probably the opposite of what you were looking for.

Just get a good 130/90-16 for the rear and a 100/90-19 for the front, and you will be good to go.

.

 

[Nessism]

EDIT: Steve posted while I was typing.

I believe a 150 is too wide for the GS wheel, which is 2.75" wide. Most forum members use a 130, maybe because 140's are hard to locate. A 100 front is the accepted proper size, again based on wheel width.

 

[JustRide]

Thanks. When we used to do track days we would change tire size and compound depending on the track we were going to. No worries just needed some advice. I will stick with the stock size.

Thanks for the advice!

Jay

 

[Steve]

Wow! If some of the others were that easy to convince, we would not have much to do on the forum.

.

 

[JustRide]

I didn't ask for advice to not take it when its given. Finding things out the hard way can be expensive and hurt.

 

[Alan Schlosser]

I just mounted up my second set of Dunlop Elite 3's. Super impressed with the first set. Great handling and mileage out of them.

 

[Steve]

I just mounted up my second set of Dunlop Elite 3's. Super impressed with the first set. Great handling and mileage out of them.

What kind of mileage did you get?

Just wanting to compare with what I got from the E3s on my Wing. :-k

I have contemplated them for my 850, but they are not available in a 17" rear.

.

 

[Alan Schlosser]

Not sure of the exact starting mileage, but near as I can figure, about 11-12k. I still could have kept the front, and the back might have passed again this year, but I found some money in the cookie jar and had a set mounted up a month ago. Figured I'd be all set for the season that way.

 

[Steve]

I wonder why the mileage is so low, compared to my Wing. :-k

I had THREE sets of E-3s on my Wing, each of them went well over 20,000 miles.

Yep, two of them went over 23,000, the third set was changed out at just under 21,000, but only because I was headed out on a trip that would probably add about 3,000 miles. Since about 90% of tire problems happen in the last 10% of the tread life, I put new tires on.

Yes, the Wing gets ridden a LOT. I have had it for seven years, and have gone through those three sets of E-3s and one set of Michelin Pilot GTs and am into the second set of Michelins, putting on about 90,000 miles in the process.

.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Why a V rated tire when an H will suffice?
I only Use the more expensive V rated tires when nothing is available readily in H.

 

[bwringer]

I believe the Dunlop E3 available in GS sizes is a very different construction that that intended for the Gold Wing. Still, an excellent, long-lasting tire.


Anyhoo, one minor point to make is that for the Dunlops and I think the Avon RoadRiders, you may only find the 16" rear in a "letter" size, MT90-16. The corresponding front would be MM90-19.

Most models of tires use the numeric designations, 100/90-19 and 130/90-16. You can mix and match these pretty freely -- a 100/90-19 front with an MT90-16 rear would be fine.

Also, the 100/90-19 front for the Avon RoadRider is a front/rear design (it can also be used on the rear on really old bikes that use this size on the back), so it can be a little hard to find the right category on some web sites. You might need to look under rear tires.

It's been pretty well proven that these bikes handle best with stock tire sizes. And with a bit of attention to suspension and braking (and skills to match), they handle shockingly well.

 

[JustRide]

Going with the "V" rated as that is the stock setup.