Ok, so far all of the advice I have gotten so far has been right on target. As a new owner/rider I appreciate it all.

My front tire has plenty of tread an in good repair, however the rear needs to be replaced. Any suggestions on a good rear tire for a "commuter." I do not trust the local sales guys farther than I can spit, so your advice is very welcome.

Second...I am decent at identifying engine sounds in cars, but the bike is another issue. Whenever I throttle in gear as I am going down the road it sounds like someone is flipping through a deck of cards, the more a throttle the faster the flipping sounds; and the less throttle the slower...

Any ideas?

The recommended battleax works good for me. I commute and tour on the weekends. I'm not a racer, and neither is my gs

You said something about throttle, and being in gear. I'd bet that's your chain begging for some attention. If the tires are worn out (did you mention milage ?) maybe the chain and sprockets are done too ?

The discs will make some noise occasionally, but usually only after heavy braking. Sounds alot like a deck of cards to me.

Cheers.

Thanks for the thoughts. I will look into the recommended tires.

I have check the chain and sprocket and do not see any shark teeth and the braked are fine. The sound come from the engine area and is directly in relation to the throttle.

Bridgestone Battlax BT-45:



This is not to say there are no better (or worse) tires out there.  However, this one is a good balance of grip & durability.  My front BT-45 still has a lot of tread left, but my rear squared off too much for my tastes at about 6,500 miles.  (Too many straight roads around my parts.)   

+1 i use the battleaxe too

+1 ., thats what i got also

I commute on a stock set of BT-45s. I have 13.6K miles on the stock rear. It was safe up until about 11.5K, now I'm just waiting to get my new tires put on.

I guess I am the only commuter that HATEs the battleaxe tires...

well my vote goes for much better rubber, Avon Av45/front /46 rear great on dry and much better than BT on water
and you get to  use 180's instead of skinny 170's

wait... how the hell are you running 170s or 180s?

where do you guys get your tires from? and how much did they run you?

What kind of front tire do you have now?

Check your chain slack.

Quote from: NiceGuysFinishLast on July 30, 2007, 09:36:29 AM
wait... how the hell are you running 170s or 180s?

see what happens when I post before coffee as been ingested....

I men 140/80's instead of 130/70's sorry....

Repeating what Scratch said, what kind of front do you have?

Don't overlook the Avon Roadriders for commuter tires, hard to beat considering the price and early performance reports from others.  I haven't tried them personally yet, but I've chased after a pair of them for a few hundred miles now.   

I've been running Pilot Roads in 110/70 and 150/170 for about 12K miles now.  Rear had a puncture at roughly 8K, so I'm on my 2nd there.  Confidence-inspiring to the point of where I felt comfortable taking it to the track with the front (Had to last-minute borrow a Pilot Activ rear because of aforementioned puncture, the night before track), and have dragged knee many times on many sessions on my local twisties.

Pretty expensive, but well worth the money over AV set that I have tried, and definitely better than my buddy's current ride with BT45 set.