Bad tires

[earlfor]

Going back to the original poster, I just bought Kenda Challengers - have about 300km on them. I was out for a ride last night, first time on wet roads on the Kendas. (It had rained earlier, the roads were wet but drying.) I was turning onto a side street - regular slow turn in second gear, not braking at all - when the rear slid out on me. I stopped, got off the bike and went back to see if there was anything on the road surface; nothing that I could see except a somewhat wet road.

Makes me wonder. I'll put some more kms on the tires and report back later...

Kenda is notorious for that. You couldnt pay me to ride on Kendas on a wet road.

Earl

[Road_Clam]

I have been running Maxxis (AKA Cheng Shins rebadged) on my 1100 and I love them. They seem to stick very well, and the longevity so far is great. The were about $80 each, and they handle the road both smooth and crappy excellent. I have tried ton's of tires from cheap to expensive. I don't notice substantial differences on the street. More importantly is maintaining strict tire pressures.... you can crash running 15 psi in an expensive Dunlop, just as easy as 15 psi in a cheaper Kenda tire....

[ddz]

DK rules !

Just an update .I took my time returning the tires but, One week later i get a FULL REFUND! Gotta love D.K.
I bought the avons everyone talked about. What a difference
Thanks guys!
Vinny

[chiphead]

I've had the Hi Max on my 1100 for a couple of years now. On my last ride a couple of weeks I was ago proceeding quite briskly into a corner on a favorite back road and ran into a 5 foot long marble gravel patch right in the apex of the turn. Rear tire broke free and started sliding but instantly hooked up with pavement once it was free of the gravel. I pulled my testicles out of my abdomen and continued on my way.
I'd buy them again.

[martyman]

I didn't see anyone mention that when it starts to rain the oil comes up from the road and makes any tire slick...

[Billy Ricks]

If you drive or ride at all you should know the streets are extra slippery when it first starts raining. Some tires simply have better wet traction due to compounds and tread pattern.

[Flaggo60]

.....the Metzelers are supposedly very sensitive to underinflation and recommended to run them above 40 PSI pressure ( I run 38 PSI on the rear) He was very convincing and supported his arguments with illustrations on paper. Excellent service.'

I'll ditto this with gold stars. I've run nothing but Metzelers on my 650G for the past 19 years, and learned one sunny afternoon what the the Metzeler man meant. Joyfully riding the twisties near Mont Tremblant Quebec in the early '90's, I was in a gentle right bend when all the air blew out of my front tire, an ME33 Lazer. I got vertical real quick and ended up on the far shoulder, intact. I won't elaborate on the result if there had been a car coming the other way. I had read the Suzuki manual and it said 24 psi, or some such, so that is what I was running, in the absence of any advice otherwise. An indignant trip to the dealer, he made a few calls, and, yeah, you gotta run 'em hard, you rolled the tire up over the rim. Surprise. I run 35-38 in the front and 38-42 in the rear now.

I still use Metzelers exclusively, I'm still really happy with them. Apart from that one episode, they've never slipped or squirmed on me, wet roads or dry.

[Overdrive]

Seems I'll be looking into purchasing some Cheng Shin Hi Max tires come Spring time. Right now I think it does have a set of Cheng Shins on it (the sidewall simply reads "Barracuda" and the tire dims), but the center of the treads on both are pretty worn considering I just got a glimpse of how they look brand new, plus they're full of little hairline cracks on the sidewalls, not something I'm all that comfortable seeing on any tire on any vehicle I own. For $120 for a set, and the praise that seems to go along with them on this forum, they seem like a great deal.

[BentRod]

I have run CS Hi-Max for 2 seasons now, mostly because they are the only available tire to me that fits my rims. but allow me to throw in my two cents.
I have had quite a few... 'bum clench' type moments with my bike on the chengshin, and in the warm and dry they have held to the road in less than legal interchanges. BUT just because they are good value doesn't make them a great tire.... compared to the BT45's my friend has on his 550, they break loose in the wet earlier, and once they do start to slide they are harder to recover.
On that point, hats off to Grandpa. I have no doubt that he loves his Hi Max tires, but then he DOES have 250 000 miles of riding experiance, so i would expect him to be just fine on well... almost any tire, purely as a matter of his understanding for how the bike and tyre will respond, and what they can and cannot do.

I will be getting BT 45's for my 550 Kat, because while the HiMax is a competent tire, the BT 45 is more forgiving.

[anthonygs1000]

kenda problem be the rider ?

I put a set of kenda tires on a 1980 gs1100e this summer and they were better than the banana slicks I had on before but I wore the back out in 4k miles high speeds, wheelies and burn outs and 1/8 mile drags
it was a good bang for the buck under 100.00 each I rode in the rain and no problem

[klhilberg]

I put a set of Pirelli MT66's on my 1000 for 125 bucks. So far I've they have been good although I don't have much time on them. I read a lot of reviews before picking this tire.

[bwringer]

Cheng Shin will stop making motorcycle tires at the end of this year, and many sizes are already NLA.

IRC has some good alternatives, and of course, the Avon RoadRiders come in a huge array of sizes although they're a bit more expensive. Continental has recently released the "Go" series of tires, although in limited sizes.

Also, keep in mind that not every tire distributor stocks or can get every size available. I've ordered tires from http://tiresunlimited.com that don't show up on any other seller's web site. I think it would also be worth calling them if you're at wit's end looking for some oddball size.