[larry0071]

I do not plan to dirt the DL1000 at all, consider mine an ST1300 that looks rough and tough.

Type of riding will be commuting to work 55 miles a day, 2-up mini-adventures that can be hundreds of miles per weekend on the super-slab to get to a destination where I hit 2 lane twisty mountain roads. I ride rain, sleet or sun. I ride wheelies, drag pegs and generally enjoy myself on the bike.

On my 09 KLR I run the Shinko 705 front and rear and get 4000-5000 from a rear 705. I feel that on the V-Strom I do not need the 705 so that I can pretend it is a dual sport, for me it absolutely is not.

Is there a tire out there that fits my DL1000 and will perform well, look sexy and last for 10K miles?

I was looking at the Continental Road Attack, but I am open any suggestion. I love the sporty look of this tire though!

PS: I know there are a few multi page tire threads, but I do not desire digging through hours of posts trying to find what might relate to my specific tire question.

 

[BlueLghtning]

I think the Metzler Tourance still remains one of the top choices for mileage and handling, but its also one of the more expensive choices, but worth it. Its a great tire that will get you from 7k-12k depending on how you ride it. I usually had no trouble making 7k-8k on one while a buddy of mine regularly saw 10-12k on his rear the way he rode.

I think the absolutely longest lasting street oriented rear tire you could buy is the ME880, but there is no matching front for the strom. Its more of a cruiser type tire, but comes in the vstrom 150-17 size.

I actually run the 705's on my strom now, but that's because I do take it off road and love the way it handles with them off road. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably keep running the Tourances or an Anakee front and Tourance rear which is my favorite setup.

 

[ga-surveyor]

I am having an incredibly difficult time associating "SEXY" with a [email protected] tire? Are we now so vain that even a tire has to be attractive and even somehow make a category for it's sex appeal on a review chart? Maybe rank it with a Hottie Factor or the increased likelyhood that you can pick up chicks if your sporting that particular brand of tire?

 

[Phodius]

I think the Metzler Tourance still remains one of the top choices for mileage and handling, but its also one of the more expensive choices, but worth it. Its a great tire that will get you from 7k-12k depending on how you ride it. I usually had no trouble making 7k-8k on one while a buddy of mine regularly saw 10-12k on his rear the way he rode.

I think the absolutely longest lasting street oriented rear tire you could buy is the ME880, but there is no matching front for the strom. Its more of a cruiser type tire, but comes in the vstrom 150-17 size.

I actually run the 705's on my strom now, but that's because I do take it off road and love the way it handles with them off road. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably keep running the Tourances or an Anakee front and Tourance rear which is my favorite setup.

The ME880 Marathon comes in 110/90 19 Front and 160/70VB 17 Rear. I just bought the set and am waiting to run the remaining miles out of my Tourance EXPs before I switch them out.

 

[larry0071]

I assume that I am hard on tires because on the KLR sites I read that these folks get 7K-8K miles out of a rear tire and I'm at just under 4K miles on the 705 now and the tire is getting close to done for my taste. I will not run them to bald, at about 2mm tread depth I will toss them, on the KLX250 (dirt use) I run the MT21 and at about 1/2 tread depth I am pulling tires off.

The 705 is less then 1/2 the price of most tires and does handle the street very well on the KLR, I can drag pegs on it with no fear and I have run I-70 in massive rain at 75 MPH with no hydroplaning... so it's not that a 705 is a bad tire, but I was thinking that going away from a dual sport tire may get me a much longer lasting tire.

That ME880 is not sexy..... Looks like a tire for a 20 year old Heritage! :mrgreen:

What are you getting from the 705 on the Strom and do you do much 80MPH interstate riding?

 

[larry0071]

Have any of you troopers run the Continental Road Attack and seen what kind of service life you got from them?

 

[Byronw]

You might get 10K out of the Battle Wings, I'll put on my second set soon, they handle the roads well, wet or dry, for me. They can be found for about $200 a set too.

 

[ga-surveyor]

My last set was Road Attacks & I got about 7500 on the rear, still have the front one. I replaced the rear with a Trail Attack but am starting to question the wisdom of that since 99% of my riding is on pavement.

 

[greywolf]

I stopped using Road Attacks because of fast wear. The Road Attack II is supposed to have a longer wearing center now.

 

[swingset]

I have some awesome tires on mine right now, but they're not attractive. Unfortunately they're just black and round with grooves in them. It's a shame to ugly up the otherwise sex-on-wheels Vstrom, admired throughout the motorcycle world, with such pedestrian shoes but the pickings were slim at the local tire boutique.

 

[qgrubbs]

ME880

That ME880 is not sexy..... Looks like a tire for a 20 year old Heritage! :mrgreen:

True, the ME880 isn't sexy, but the first 110/90H19 front gave me 21K miles. I'm on my second one now at 13K with half the tread remaining, so I'm gonna stick with them.

My rear tire is SEXY, no doubt about it .... Achillies ATR Sport 205/45ZR17

 

[BlueLghtning]

I assume that I am hard on tires because on the KLR sites I read that these folks get 7K-8K miles out of a rear tire and I'm at just under 4K miles on the 705 now and the tire is getting close to done for my taste. I will not run them to bald, at about 2mm tread depth I will toss them, on the KLX250 (dirt use) I run the MT21 and at about 1/2 tread depth I am pulling tires off.

The 705 is less then 1/2 the price of most tires and does handle the street very well on the KLR, I can drag pegs on it with no fear and I have run I-70 in massive rain at 75 MPH with no hydroplaning... so it's not that a 705 is a bad tire, but I was thinking that going away from a dual sport tire may get me a much longer lasting tire.

That ME880 is not sexy..... Looks like a tire for a 20 year old Heritage! :mrgreen:

What are you getting from the 705 on the Strom and do you do much 80MPH interstate riding?

I'm on my 4th 705 rear. 2 bias rears and now 2 radials. The first bias was used on a long trip where I was fully loaded and we probably did over 6k miles and I remember there was still life left when I got back. It really wasn't that easy of a trip either. My wife and I did plenty of highway riding and higher speed runs including some ridiculously hot days. I remember temps well over 100 several days of that trip. I think I ended up around 7500 miles on that one when I pulled it.

The 2nd bias was sold with the bike (07 strom), but I'm friends with the owner and I think he ended up with about 7k-8k miles on it. I know he went through a 3rd rear before ever replacing the front. I think it had 22k+ miles when he pulled it and only pulled it since it had been on there so long.

When I got my 09 strom, I went to the Radial 705's. The first one only got about 6k, but I was honestly playing a lot on that tire and did quite a bit off road at lower pressures, so I expected it to wear faster. My current rear is probably going to be the worst mileage yet, but once again, I spent an entire weekend off road with pressures around 22psi when it was brand new and have done a ton of playing and off roading with it over the course of it. I'm thinking I won't see 5k out of this one, but that's playing pretty hard on it.

I was happy with the 7k+ miles. 5k is getting a little low for my taste, but that is playing in dirt too and why I like this tire. If you never did any off road, you could probably easily see 7k+. Speed limits around here are 70mph on the interstate, so yes, I do see lots of 80mph too.

We also put 705's on my wife's F650GS. She's still on the first set we put on her bike and they are still looking pretty good at 5-6k on them. She's much easier then me on tires though.

 

[SlingBlade]

Have any of you troopers run the Continental Road Attack and seen what kind of service life you got from them?

I have them on the Wee now. So far, so good. Somewhere around 4000 miles and they still look real good. Unless they start to go away real fast, I expect a minimum of 10,000 and probably more. That being said, my next tires will probably be the Battle Wings due to the good reviews on them.

 

[The Golden Monkey]

1. The Conti Trail Attack is basically the same as the Road Attack but with deeper tread. I have about 3000mi on mine and the rear is just starting to flatten a bit in the center.

2. No one can see what the tread looks like when you're rolling.

 

[danketchpel]

So far I'm super happy with the Tourances I just mounted up but am considering some more road oriented tires the next time around, maybe.... if they will last long enough. But so far I have no complaints with them as a road tire. I am waiting to see if the front cups as it wears.

The Tourance EXP "seems" like the right thing if they lasted long enough. I like the Battle Wings as the second choice from what I've read and seen.

I'm very interested to hear how these tires have been holding up for Vstroms, particularly on the 1k.

I ran the ME88 (then ME880) rear and Laser front on my BMW road bike for years and they are good tires. The ME880 rears don't have quite the grip of a slightly softer tire but they aren't bad and last a long time.

I'm considering testing out a set of Shinko 705s on my KLR. I ran a Shinko 700 on the rear for ~5k miles. I'm a bit leary of the tread separation issue Shinko has. I was starting to get a bit of that on my 700 near the end but never actually lost any part of the tire.

 

[griffin800]

tires

LOL...well put

Designer tires? ok I've now heard everything, and wish I hadn't. Dumbest reason ever to buy a tire.

Bill H.

 

[OydnaR]

LOL...well put

Designer tires? ok I've now heard everything, and wish I hadn't. Dumbest reason ever to buy a tire.

Bill H.

I was going to suggest Tomahawks, but they no longer make them in colors :thumbdown:

 

[Phodius]

LOL...well put

Designer tires? ok I've now heard everything, and wish I hadn't. Dumbest reason ever to buy a tire.

Bill H.

Absolutely. If a bike is nothing more than "curb-candy", why bother?

 

[Dino M]

Have any of you troopers run the Continental Road Attack and seen what kind of service life you got from them?

Had a set on my BMW RT1100. They were good for the first 4000 miles but then went south very, very quickly. I pushed them to the very end (6000 miles) at which point I couldn't wait to get them off. I'll never buy another set. Oh and by the way, I'm easy on tires (11000 + miles on the OEM tires) and I'm in the North East so the road surface temps are fairly mild.

 

[Buckee]

My first 500 miles on the 705s have been fantastic off road and on, but it's true they don't draw the chicks in Camaros when I'm waiting at a light. My "sexy" tires are mounted flanking the big mirror on the ceiling of the garage; they winch down and make a swing. Let your imagination take it from there...

Couldn't resist - ride safe, Buckee