D205s report

[JamesG]

Since there is so much interest in tires these days...

It cleared up and sort of warmed up (50 high), so I finally got a chance to test ride & break in the new shoes on Lita's GS.
They are 110/70 and 140/70 Dunlop D205 radials and I left the suspension where it was from the old set, forks raised 10mm in the clamps and the rear preload on #4. Only had 30 lbs and 35lbs of air in the tires because its so cold.

I was very impressed. Of course I didn't do any hard cornering because of the cold, but I did take a few sweepers at a good clip once I had a few miles into them. Normally new tires, especally different brands behave differently, sometimes wierdly differently. But these were very confident and never even hinted at squirm. They seem to turn in a little faster stock BTs, but it was progressive without the "gotcha" of that falling in feeling. Either they are forgiving or I just happened to have the geometry just right for them.

The are supposed to have a harder sport touring compound, but when I parked the bike and looked at the tires, dirt and gravel was sticking to them and I could leave fingernail impressions in the crown.  It might just be the racer in me, but that always seems like a good sign that they are some good tires. Hopefully we get good miles out of them to, so she gets her cake and eats it too!