Anybody tried 880's

[shovelstrokeed]

I'm thinking about a set of harder tires, or at least more touring oriented. Read that as freeway slab type tires. I live down in S. Florida and have to ride nearly 200 miles to find a pair of linked curves on a back road. I play when I can on freeway on/off ramps, way dangerous with snot and car parts all over them. There are a couple of high speed roads around but, I think my recent 87 in a 70 will curtail my riding fast for a bit. I had great life and good wet weather traction out of Metzler 880's on my LT. Are they still livable on the S?

thanks for input.
Ed

[johnty288]

What kind of tires have you used? I agree (mostly) with what you're saying. I just put on a set of Z4's which (I hope) will offer a decent compromise between sport and mileage. I got tired (no pun intended) wearing out a sport tire just to get to an area where there are roads that you could use them on.

[roger albert]

Yes, it would definitely help to know what you're coming from now.
Sounds like you are due for something more durable. Also, what inflation pressures do you run. There are many different pressures suggested by many different people. You should at least consider being near the upper end of that range. You can always bleed a few psi if you happen to find any twisties.

[smallj]

I had a pair of 880s on the S last summer when I had a flat and there was no other tire available that would fit the bike. I got about 8000 miles out of the tire before I traded them in on some 'sporty' BT010s. I was starting to gain confidence in the corners and was learning to push the bike and myself. The 880s were clearly designed for a heavier bike. I could easily slide the rear into a corner by downshifting (I have ABS) and spin the tire up on the way out. The tire will probably last well over 10K miles if you ride like a sane person, but I was going through a phase.

The problem came with wet traction, it seemed ok when the tire was new, but as I got closer to the wear marks, I was spinning the tire up in third gear not trying to. I mean I had to start off the line in second gear so the tire would not spin and third gear below 3K RMP was spinning the tire too. Corners became very dangerous and I ended up changing out the tire with at least another 1 or 2 thousand miles left on it. To be brief, I WAS SCARED.

Take a look at the BT 020s, they run them on the K12s without too much trouble.

[repoe3]

since my experience with these tires was on smallj's bike, i could not recommend them...they are a phunky shape that required a little extra effort to lean the bike in and then once it was over, LOOK OUT...the rear would way too easily break loose. smallj's was the first S i rode with some mods to it and having extra torque and power made the problem more pronounced as i would power through a turn like i normally would but get a completely different reaction out of the bike.

i know the eternal debate will be a good tire with decent mileage attributes. if sporttouing duty is your bag go with the bridgestones or metzler MEZ4 or similar. if you are more aggressive and sporty, then nothing beats the metzler M1 sportecs. they rock even in the rain.

repoe3

[shovelstrokeed]

Thanks guys,
It came with Brigestones and I have used Michelens on my RS with some success, with the type of riding I'm stuck with = 90 percent upright, I hate wearing a flat spot in the center of tire. I have a little over 6000 on the current set of what I remember or B020's. I'm in Calgary and I rode my GS Adventure home to Fla from Salt Lake last month so I haven't been on the S in a couple of weeks. Got a nice flat stripe down the middle of that rear on the S at this point, I know it is going to need replaceing soon. Front will probably last for 1/2 the new rear as that is my usual pattern. I just might have to spring for Z4's. Sounds like 880's are a bad thing. Thanx SmallJ and all others.

Ed

Ps Roger, I run 39/41 f/r for the most part. I weigh 245 in gear and I tend to stuff some extras in the bags. No! Not Twinkies. Rain gear and tools.