Tire shopping

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uncle meat

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Looking for some feedback on some tires I'm looking at. If you've actually owned these, or know someone who has, feel free to comment.

http://www.bikebandit.com/tires-tubes/motorcycle-tires/bridgestone-spitfire-s11-motorcycle-tire
http://www.bikebandit.com/tires-tubes/motorcycle-tires/dunlop-k70-vintage-motorcycle-tire
http://www.bikebandit.com/tires-tubes/motorcycle-tires/irc-gs-11-motorcycle-tire

Looking at getting a set for my 75'.
Also, has anyone had experience with balancing beads? I just had my rims powder coated and would rather not have weights stuck to the rim. I had spoke weights before, but want a cleaner look. Heard about the beads and thought about that option.

Thanks,
UM
 
I'm using strictly Shinko Tour Master and Shinko 712 on all of my bikes. I get them from Chaparral on ebay. Good price, good tires, free shipping, great delivery, every one that I've bought has been 3 months or less from date of manufacture. I think they are very comparable to the Bridgestone Spitfires that I had been buying. I had a bad rash of deep sidewall cracks on the Spitfires less than 2 years from manufacture date. Don't believe I will ever buy another Bridgestone.

Scott
 
I wore out a couple of sets of K70's..
They aren't a long life tire. And the profile isn't rounded so if you like cornering hard you may not like them. If you are wanting a period look and are a casual rider they are OK.
 
I'm running K70s. Lots of country dirt/gravel roads out here. Plus slippery algae slime low water crossings. They work fine on the highway. I don't canyon carve, but enjoy sightseeing...
 
I use K70's and balance beads on the XS1, they handle fine and don't add to the normal vibration. That being said, back in the day iirc we just put the tires on without balance and just rode. john
 
I've used K70s on most of my Brit bikes until I switched to Avons. Now I use Avons on just about all my bikes. I have a set of Road Riders ( I think that's what they are called now???) on my XS and love them. K70s are easy to mount and have that vintage look, nothing wrong with that at all.

Beads, yep been using them for years. A little fussy to get in the tube but once you have that figured out they are a snap. I keep 4-6 ounces in the shop all the time. Just don't try to use any of the magic gooey tire repair stuff.......put that in your tube along with beads and you have a mess. I'm not 100% convinced the beads do exactly what they say but I've never had a problem that I could pin down to an out of balanced tire as long as I've used them.

Gordon.......who just ordered some Dunlop 404's for another bike in the shop......there are so many choices out there...learn to read the dates on them..(as mrtwowheel pointed out)...that's important.
 
I'm using the beads in my tires and they have been a constant aggravation. Occasionally, when checking the tire pressure, a bead will get lodged in the Schrader valve and I'll have to let all the air out of the tire, pull out the Schrader valve and clean it [or replace if it was damaged] then fill the tire back up. Seems to happen most often when I'm already late to get somewhere.

To minimize the chance of this happening; roll the bike so the valve stem is at 6:00, tap the stem several times, give it a quick shot of air, then check pressure.
 
My dealer told me he won't use the beads. He said if any moisture gets in there, they clump up and cause a bad imbalance. I've always stuck with the plain old wheel weights. But as mentioned, years ago, we just levered the tires on (usually with big old screwdrivers, lol) and rode.

I recently rode a 650 with a K70 on the front. Not good in the turns. The guy bought it for the "look". He obviously didn't care much about handling, a point reinforced by the fact that the original buckhorn bars were still installed, lol. I finally convinced him to change them to something lower (after about two years of nagging, lol) which revealed another major problem with the bike - his steering head bearings were absolutely shot, worst I've ever encountered. There was a HUGE notch in the straight ahead position. Funny thing is, you couldn't feel this at all with the buckhorns. This nicely illustrates how little steering feedback (none, lol) they give the rider. Honestly, people who like those things need their heads examined.
 
I've been using copper coated BBs in my tubeless tires. I use the same weight that the bead websites recommend. No, they do not rust, they do not destroy the inside of the tire, and they are not noisy. The BBs are too large to clog the valve stem. If the BBs worked with tubes I would be using them.

Scott
 
I've used the beads for years. Never had one clog a valve?????? (at least not yet) there's so few in there and they're so tiny????? When it comes to tire pressures I'm pretty anal and check it a lot....I keep at least a couple of ways to inflate my tires with me most of the time. I try my best to stay away from cheap wet air....it's just to easy to carry a small hand pump and do it myself or if I'm in a hurry and need to fill a complete tube....I have the one shot cylinders. I've reused the beads over and over.....tube to tube and never have had any mosture problems... but have heard the stories and seen the videos. I spent more on the drying loop for my compressor than I did on the compressor itself because I wanted dry air to soda blast with it. But most of the time when in the shop I just use a good hand pump.

Results seem to vary.......but I like the beads. I bet I've put over 40,000 miles on them over the years.

I've never thought of BB's.......I think that's pretty cool. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to get them in the stem???? are they just too big? If they would fit it wouldn't take long to load them (yep, pun intended)

Now that I think about it isn't the valve on a tubless tire the same as the one on a tube....size wise??

Gordon
 
Last edited:
Gordon in nc said:
- - - I've never thought of BB's.......I think that's pretty cool. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to get them in the stem???? are they just too big? If they would fit it wouldn't take long to load them (yep, pun intended)
Now that I think about it isn't the valve on a tubless tire the same as the one on a tube....size wise??
Gordon
Click to expand...

Hi Gordon,
ain't a BB 0.177" in diameter? If so it's not gonna fit down a valve stem.
Think smaller.
Hasta be a birdshot size that'd work. #4 or smaller? #7-1/2 Trap or #8 Skeet shot available just about anywhere.
 
Yep Fred you're right. .177 for the BB and it fits the threaded part of the stem but once it gets to the seal area and taper it's too big. I always thought (and I must be wrong) a Schrader valve was the same size for a tubeless.....but now that I think about it the only tubeless tires I've owned are on four wheeled rides and I've never worked with them, always paid somebody else to do it.

The beads aren't what I'd call cheap but wonder what raw lead would do inside the tube ????? You could probably pour water in there with them and they wouldn't stick together.

I have friends that slime a new tube........ride with that stuff in there all the time and swear by it. I guess some of this stuff is like an oil thread.........all kinds of opinions and results.

Pups to feed.....gota go. Your friend in NC, Gordon
 
I use the same procedure on the bead website to place the BBs in the tire after one side of the tire is fit over the rim. I've tried to pass a BB through a valve stem, it doesn't fit. Yeah, I've read about people using bird shot in tubes, never tried it, I've heard claims that the bird shot does not turn into dust.

My brother-in-law had someone mount his whitewalls on his chrome rims after I quoted him $20 per tire. The installer used about 7 stick on weights on each nice chrome rim after my brother-in-law bought the beads and gave them to him, no good reason why the beads weren't used. Soon after there were broken spokes on the rear wheel, I'm not sure why, that's just how it goes with brothers-in-laws.

Scott
 
mrtwowheel said:
<snip> to place the BBs in the tire after one side of the tire is fit over the rim.<snip> Scott
Click to expand...

WOW.........NOW the light bulb comes on......duh. :rolleyes: Got it.

I'm not sure Mr Fred was suggesting that I use bird shot...it might be that he was just giving something to compare to. He might have known that we're prone to taking shotguns to TV's for fun around here.:) So bird shot is something I'm familiar with. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for the input fellas, I will definitely check into the date code during my purchase. I plan on stopping by Cycle Gear this weekend to see what they have to offer, if they don't have anything I'm looking for, I'll just order them online. Last weekend I stopped at 2 shops, the Honda dealership being one of them. They had no tires on display and when I asked, they sales guy said he would go in the back and see if they had any in the size I was looking for, which they didn't. Just thought that was odd that they wouldn't have them out front.

UM
 
Just sayin', tires and batteries have a service life and wear out, just replace them. There is no such thing as buying tires that last a lifetime, can't get my brother-in-law to understand this concept.

Scott
 
Well, how about this one? I know guys who think their bike is worth every penny's worth of tires, oil, chains, etc. they ever put into it. Now, how weird is that? I mean, these are wear items. Your bike isn't worth more just because you burned through 2 or 3 sets of tires and several oil changes. That stuff doesn't count as far as the value of the bike goes. But some people seem to think it does. Weird, like I said, but "clueless" may be a better explanation, lol.
 

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