I've gotten almost 6k out of my stock rear tire (bt45). The front still has a lot of tread, so I'm looking to order just a rear tire soon. I'm undecided between getting another BT45, or a Pirelli Sport Demon. Is it a bad idea to mix the stock front with the sport demon on the back? How often does your front tire last? I thought the front would last twice as long as the back, but 12k on the front seems like a lot.
I got 13-14k miles on the BT45 fronts on my first GS. I wouldn't be concerned with that brand mix. The BT45s have been updated in compounds and profile shape since I used them.
Tire life can vary greatly between riders and even for the same rider depending on how they are used.
Tires I've used and miles used:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GS500tirelog.jpg
i've gotten 12K miles out of the rear, but changed it for a nail in tire.
i'd assume given the amount of wear i could have gotten another 5-6K befor the wear bars were showing badly.
the front looks to have another 10K or so befor it needs changing. i'm hoping ot squeeze 20,000 out of my this next set.
Quote from: ohgood on April 25, 2007, 12:52:21 PM
i've gotten 12K miles out of the rear, but changed it for a nail in tire.
12k on a rear BT45?! I thought the average life was about 5k, and that I've done pretty good squeezing 6k out of it.
wear down on a tire depends on; person weight on bike, tire pressure, temperature of the road, tire coumpound, (pirelli wear down faster than michelin for example) how much speeding you do, rabit starts, etc etc you get the idea, usually a batlax lasts anywhere from 4K-15K, probably averageing for someone that rides every day, drives normally and mostly does highway speeds ~8K on the rear.
Cheers
PS: I have a Metzeler in the front and a BT45 in the rear without any ill efect.
PSS: if you have radial tire stick to radial, if you have 2 ply stick with 2 ply dont mix those types (ie: front 2 ply with radial in rear) as those tires dont have the same shapes /change change under pressure/cornering.
Quote from: pbureau69 on April 26, 2007, 03:48:08 AMPSS: if you have radial tire stick to radial, if you have 2 ply stick with 2 ply dont mix those types (ie: front 2 ply with radial in rear) as those tires dont have the same shapes /change change under pressure/cornering.
A bias ply front with a radial rear can be a good mix, but a radial front with a bias rear is a no-no and actually illegal across the big pond to the east.
Metzeler's recommended fitment for the new Bonnies is a bias Lasertec front with a radial Z2 rear. I'm currently running a bias Lasertec front with a radial Conti RoadAttack rear and it works great.
Metz claims radial type handling for their new Lasertecs and I wore out a pair of Lasertecs last year and found them to handle almost as good as the Z4/Z2 and AV45/46 sport touring radials I've used. The latest bias ply tires have the new compounds and the multi arc profiles first used on radials; the Demons, Lasertecs, and Activs included and also the older design BT45s have been updated to be the same.
I've found that generally I go through 2 rear tires for every one front. I don't think that it's too big of a deal to mix different tires front and rear (except for the previously metioned radial and bias mix) but I think generally it's best if anything to have a better front tire than a rear. I don't think you'd get any more performance with a better rear tire with the stock front, you'd just be wasting money.
I'd just replace the rear with the bt45 (or equivilent) and then next time both your tires will probally be worn out at about the same time and you can replace them both with some better rubber. This is actually exactly what I did and it worked out just fine.