Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Can anyone recommend some 'budget' tyres for my bike?

I'm currently running a Mitchy Power on the back and a Mitchy Sport on the front and they are now both dead.

If I had the cash then I would be putting Power's on the front and back but I think they are one of the more expensive choices

I'm after something 'sporty' that will suit the bike but which will also last a while (I know, a big ask).

Maybe I should put a Power on the front and a Sport on the back, would that be a good performance/cost compromise

Cost up a set of Shinko 005's , they should get close to what you want.
Cheers Brett

Pontikat wrote:Cost up a set of Shinko 005's , they should get close to what you want.
Cheers Brett

eewww
what about a sport touring tyre
cheap IRC
or less cheap BT014fr and BT020rr

redzedx7r wrote:or less cheap BT014fr and BT020rr

I'd say that would be the better option. Haven't heard much about the shinko's

well, those bridgstone's mentioned are top of the line (what i run) and are great, but not exactly cost effective. yeah, try those Jap brands that were mentioned (IRC, Shinko, Yokohama, etc..)... depending on what type of riding you are doing (obviously nothing major if you are trying to burn the candle at both ends) they should be fine to get you from A-->B with minimal slippage and longish wear......????
but why be cheap on the only thing that connects you to the road? (i hate preaching, when i am a recently converted)

I'm not putting any shinko or jiang-jiang or Panda brand tyre on my bike as they decide wheter you're off or not ... The rest can be saved (oil, brake pads, etc).

I guess by budget I just mean 'not as expensive as Powers' but still good enough for the likes of me. I'll get a price on the Bridgstones and see how they compare, thanx for advice

I'm running Michelin Pilot Roads on the 9. Its a Sports Touring tyre which is what I need it for at the moment. A lot of kms to do this year. I've had them for a bit over 2k now.

In the dry they are great. Very predictable and I can lean hard over with confidence. In the wet they are absolute shit. I have no confidence on them at all in the wet, but part of that is I'm shit scared of wet roads!

Jen got Pilot Roads for the VFR at the same time, and she loves them, and doesn't have the same complaints about the wet.

I had Bridgestone BT20s on the Fizzer600 to take to Tassie, flawless for the task. VFR had the same. My ZX6R had BT14s, but I didn't have that long enough to comment on the tyres.

I did some phoning around at the Bridgestone's weren't any cheaper than the equivalent Mitchy's. Best deal I can find is a set of Dunlop 208's for $380, even those 'shinko' things were only $10 cheaper.....

I've been running a Shinko 005 on the rear of my Z750 for the last 2,500 k's.
They are as good in the dry as the Pilot Roads I once had on another bike and are more than adequate for the ZX6s power as long as you aren't trying to win any races.
But they are only just adequate in the wet.
As long as you don't do anything stupid with the throttle they're fine but you need to keep that in mind.
I've had a couple of BIG slides in the wet when I was testing the boundaries of grip ...
the rear just lets go with almost no warning.
But for $175 FITTED for a 180/55 rear it's been good.

Personally I'd recommend:
Pilot Power front, Pilot Road rear
or BT014 front, BT020 rear

NovaCoder wrote: <snip> even those 'shinko' things were only $10 cheaper.....

Yeah but that's because bikeshops are ripping people off on them.
I can get a 120/70 front Shinko for $125 fitted and $175 for rear.
That's $300 for a set and that's the most they should be.

Still $300 - $380 isn't that much of a difference. If you can get any of the Bridgestone or Michelins for about that price, I'd go for it.
Personally, I would rather have Shinkos on my bike than Dunlops ... or should that be Dunslips

$300 pair! Damn my new tyres for my 05 Liberty cost $368 each! dammit! Bridgestone Potenza RE050's!

swabio-ACT wrote:$300 pair! Damn my new tyres for my 05 Liberty cost $368 each! dammit! Bridgestone Potenza RE050's!

Well just dont lookinto 255/40 r17 pirreli pzeros. $1235 each.
furgin jags

so, how did u go nova? what did u get? as a little update of my own (bt014 front, bt012ss rear) i have found this rear to be shit! i loved the bt014 rear waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better!!! so next time i am going for the matched pair of 014's again!!! i could never get the 014's to slide at all, whereas this 012ss is all over the place coming outta corners (and the K&N air filter didn't add that much power to the 6!)
anywho, just wondering how you went (nice to compare notes with like bikes)

Yankee wrote:so, how did u go nova? what did u get? as a little update of my own (bt014 front, bt012ss rear) i have found this rear to be shit! i loved the bt014 rear waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better!!! so next time i am going for the matched pair of 014's again!!! i could never get the 014's to slide at all, whereas this 012ss is all over the place coming outta corners (and the K&N air filter didn't add that much power to the 6!)
anywho, just wondering how you went (nice to compare notes with like bikes)

Well I went to the bike shop with the intention of getting a Power front and a road rear but got talked into a Dunlop 208 front and a Dunlop sports-tourer for the back (forgotten what number it is already) as they were $100 cheaper than the Mitchys. Anyway I thought I'd made a big mistake because the rear is very 'groovy' but after taking it for a ride on Sunday I was actually very impressed with this combination. It might not be quite so good on the Spur on a hot day but at this time of year I think they'll be fine. I might replace the rear with a matching 208 when that time comes around though.

Talking of K&N's, I also stuck one in mine recently and was actually really impressed with the difference, the mid-range feels stronger and the sound is awesome Esp. with the air-box mod to remove the resonators

Mind you the last filter was stuffed + mine also has a Yoshi end-can + I also ran it through with a fuel treatment at the same time.