Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

can someone that rides a ZX12R, please advice me on the best tyre (from all manufacturer's) for our bike.

pls go here.........

http://www.ozzx12r.net/viewtopic.php?t= ... ight=tyres
and
http://www.ozzx12r.net/viewtopic.php?t= ... ight=tyres

very informative

after having ridden the big guys the only thing i'll suggest is to go for a 190 rear, its makes it steer like a sports bike, not a tourer

he has pilot powers on his, i wonder what the gosmeister thinks of his m3's

I’ve only tried the Dunlop’s it came with and the pilot powers. The pilot power are great and as Phil said go for a 190 rear. I’ve heard that the M3's are good also and are supposed to last longer but are a bit more expensive.

Smitty you have led this naive soul to possibly the most opinionated thread on the web, he'll be lucky to get out of that one alive

Mate, go the pilot powers (190/50 rear 120/70 front) , or the metzelers or diablo's in the same combo, you cant go wrong. If you want 'super frigin' sticky whack some metzeler sportecs on it, but dont expect much life out of them, they are practically a race tyre.

Phil wrote:after having ridden the big guys the only thing i'll suggest is to go for a 190 rear, its makes it steer like a sports bike, not a tourer

he has pilot powers on his, i wonder what the gosmeister thinks of his m3's

Hey Phil, how about an elephant update ! (the little ones on the sides)

hoffy wrote:

Phil wrote:after having ridden the big guys the only thing i'll suggest is to go for a 190 rear, its makes it steer like a sports bike, not a tourer

he has pilot powers on his, i wonder what the gosmeister thinks of his m3's

Hey Phil, how about an elephant update ! (the little ones on the sides)

they have been extinct for quite some time on the rear the fronts look like they were living in the times of the french revolution - headless .

hoffy wrote:Smitty you have led this naive soul to possibly the most opinionated thread on the web, he'll be lucky to get out of that one alive

Mate, go the pilot powers (190/50 rear 120/70 front) , or the metzelers or diablo's in the same combo, you cant go wrong. If you want 'super frigin' sticky whack some metzeler sportecs on it, but dont expect much life out of them, they are practically a race tyre.

...ta

and as Hoff sez
go a 190 rear..its a must

Phil I am in shock "its makes it steer like a sports bike, not a tourer"

What they have said 190s are the go, pilot Powers are the shit too.
BUT some ppl (in briz) swear by Shinko's which are sticky and cheap (apparently) but damn I mean Shinko
Did have some bridgie 012s (I think they were) too, not bad and prob equal of the Pilots.

They obv hang on all right

Depends if ya touring oz or doin track days I`d think but hey just go racetecs and replace em ever 1500ks.

kawa zx12R wrote:can someone that rides a ZX12R, please advice me on the best tyre (from all manufacturer's) for our bike.

"Best" tyre......for touring ? or commuting ?? or spirited road riding ??? or a track day ????

Its pretty subjective, and is the reason why there are a lot of different brands/compounds etc on the market.

Stock 208's = pretty bloody ordinary.

Pilot Powers = nice and sticky, imho they wear out too quickly

Dunlop Qualifiers = best tyre for all-round commuting / fanging. There are better tyres if you do a lot of touring on a 12.

002 Bridgies - excellent track-day tyres. Stick like Neka's tongue to Mina's bum.

Haven't tried the M3's yet, but they get a good rap from those that use them, as do the Pirelli Diablo's.

The only way to find out what suits you is to try a new brand for the first few tyre changes ( god knows you get plenty of opportunity to change tyres when you own a 12 ), and then decide what is the best tyre for *your* needs - it may not be the same tyre that the bloke next to you has on his 12, but it won't make them *worse*, its what you need that is important with tyres.

Don't skimp, 12's deserve the best tyres you can afford.

i recently fitted pilot hpx's to the beast. I stuck with the 200 rear and am alot more confident in the tyre. I think next i will be going the 190 though and see how i go.

Yeah I stuck with the 200's for too long, tried a 190 as a joke, ferk me it was like so much easier to handle, awesome.

hammer wrote:Depends if ya touring oz or doin track days I`d think but hey just go racetecs and replace em ever 1500ks.

Great hoops man, prolly best around!

If you are using your bike 5000km a year, thats affordable and a perfect tyre, some of us do very high mileage as you know , personally i did near on 50 thou' kms every year and that gets damn exy for tyres, I found a dual compound the best for the rear(BT020) and a good front was a softer tyre ,(bt014j made for heavy bikes and a 2 ply and later the 012, not as puncture prone as the pilots) worked great for me, do not ever skimp on the fronts, ever and I was keeping up with certain 12Rs through the twisties that had stickier rubber no problem

Shinkos were good for a while, some now run qualifiers, all comes down to what you want to do.

Gosling1 wrote: "Best" tyre......for touring ? or commuting ?? or spirited road riding ??? or a track day ????
Its pretty subjective, and is the reason why there are a lot of different brands/compounds etc on the market.

Stock 208's = pretty bloody ordinary.
Pilot Powers = nice and sticky, imho they wear out too quickly
Dunlop Qualifiers = best tyre for all-round commuting / fanging. There are better tyres if you do a lot of touring on a 12.

002 Bridgies - excellent track-day tyres. Stick like Neka's tongue to Mina's bum.

Haven't tried the M3's yet, but they get a good rap from those that use them, as do the Pirelli Diablo's.

The only way to find out what suits you is to try a new brand for the first few tyre changes ( god knows you get plenty of opportunity to change tyres when you own a 12 ), and then decide what is the best tyre for *your* needs - it may not be the same tyre that the bloke next to you has on his 12, but it won't make them *worse*, its what you need that is important with tyres.

Don't skimp, 12's deserve the best tyres you can afford.

I am with Gos...good post

btw
I am finding my Pilot Powers are wearing nicely
now I have scrubbed in my new 190 section rear
best thing i ever did...chucking out a ½ worn 200

cheers

Smitty wrote: best thing i ever did...chucking out a ½ worn 200

Was that the middle half?