Does anyone know a good site to research motorcycle tires?

[Bluebellylint]

[Jeff P]

Tires are a pretty regular topic on this board.  Do a search for "tires" and read up.  

For regular, stock size, non-budget tires the Bridgestone BT45 and Metzeler 330 (front) and 550 (rear) are popular choices.

jeff

[dgyver]

gsJack usually posts the most informative write-ups on tires. Add his name in your search and you should find what you are looking for.

[Rippa_MD]

definetely gsJack is your source,

he posted some great info on shinko tires, avon tires, and a whole bunch more. read on and if you have a specific question posted I'm  sure someone will have an answer for you.

[Nomak]

definetely gsJack is your source,

he posted some great info on shinko tires, avon tires, and a whole bunch more. read on and if you have a specific question posted I'm  sure someone will have an answer for you.

I have the BT45s and they are a fairly good tire and last long too I am goin at around 8000 miles now ...

General info on Tires 1 stolen from Pantablo's site
General info on Tires 2 stolen from Pantablo's site
General info on Tires 3 stolen from Pantablo's site
gsJack's opinion on tires for the GS
GSJack has logged just under 70K miles on his GS and knows a thing or two about tires.

and Pantablo's site and invaluable GS reference site

[Bluebellylint]

ThanX you guys have been real helpful. I think I am going to go with the BT-45's I found a good deal for them at chaparral-racing.com front and rear for $157 after shiping i think the sale ends tonight. any last words of wisdom?

[tkm433]

ThanX you guys have been real helpful. I think I am going to go with the BT-45's I found a good deal for them at chaparral-racing.com front and rear for $157 after shiping i think the sale ends tonight. any last words of wisdom?

Good choice in tires the BT-45's in stock size.

Have you found someone to install them?  Some shops will not install tires that they did not sell you or might charge more.  I have not run into that problem but have seen it listed on this site and others.

I install my own tires so no real big deal for me but if you do not have the know how or the tools it could become an issue.

[RedShift]

Our collective riding hero, gsJack, knows all about tires.

A recent favorite post was Whats the Widest Tire you can Use?? in which Jack offers experience with Avon tires.

I've liked the Avon tread pattern, but they don't make them in GS500 stock dimensions.  Jack explains you can get a larger rear tire on a stock rim.

I have and like Bridgestone BT-45's and seem to be popular.  Pirelli and Metzeler make tires in GS500 sizes.  I think it's more a matter of personal taste as to the tire you choose.  Given the type of riding the average GS500 owner would do, I doubt there is a bad choice, but conceed some are better than others.

Roy...

[gsJack]

ThanX you guys have been real helpful. I think I am going to go with the BT-45's I found a good deal for them at chaparral-racing.com front and rear for $157 after shiping i think the sale ends tonight. any last words of wisdom?

Good choice, I think.  The BT45 works very well on the GS500 and provides good life when used moderately.  When pressed very hard rear tire life dropped off quite a bit for me and I found the radials to give much better tire life for me.  I kinda peaked out in the wild riding thru the mountain twisties a couple years ago and have moderated my pace a bit in the last year.  Time for an old man to slow down a bit (but never quit).  :lol:  :lol:

I've mentioned the old Metzeler ME33 Laser being one of the best front bias ply tires ever made and one that would run with any good rear tire.  It's the only front I've tried in about 100k miles on the GSs that wore evenly all the way down.  Most of my front tires show a lot of cupping (turned the front rotor blue a couple times) and beveled tire wear.  Not so with the ME33.

Well it's back!  The new Metzeler Lasertec tires are available now with the ME33 front and ME55 rear tread patterns and also with modern rubber compounds and the multi radius tire profiles now in popular use.  And they come in GS500 OEM sizes.  Gotta try a pair of these on one of the bikes one of these days.

http://216.239.37.104/translate?hl=en&u=http://www.metzelermoto.de/product_info/catalogo/scheda.asp%3FID%3D327%26name%3DLasertec%26imageField.x%3D26%26imageField.y%3D4&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmetzeler%2Blasertec%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

I've found some of these Lasertecs listed by US tire suppliers already.

[Bluebellylint]

[Bluebellylint]