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Highest Mileage Tire for the FJR. What say ye???

17K views 41 replies 21 participants last post by  Oldjeep 
#1 ·
Planning several long trips on my 2012 FJR this spring. Looking for the highest mileage tires. I'm willing to give up a little handling to get a higher mileage tire. Currently running Pilot 4 tires and got 8K miles out of them. What tires have you used and how many miles did you get out of them? Continental advertises a high mileage tire for The FJR. Anyone tried The Continental tires? Results? Thanks y'all.
 
#2 ·
How many miles are you talking? Do you not want to change during the ride? If you're really concerned about milage and say you are willing to give up a little handling, then consider a car tire on the rear. Search for Darkside threads. A lot of info on those threads.
 
#3 ·
I've been spoiled. . . . . .

My previous mount was a 2001 V-Max. Hard rubber was fine on that bike b/c V-Max bikes handle so bad anyway. I was getting 16K out of my front tire and 12K out of my rear tire. For my FJR, I'd like to find a 10 - 12K mile tire. May not exist. That's why I'm asking the experts (The FJR Forum). :smile2:
 
#5 ·
Car tire, definitely. I got 28,xxx miles from my first one, I shredded the second one, currently on my 3rd. Up front I use a Pilot POWER 2CT, generally get about 10K miles from it.
 
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#10 ·
Michelin PR2's are a harder compound, will outlast a PR4. Dunlops usually known to be harder as well, try RS3's. These two will grip quite well in the warm and dry, less so in the cold and wet.
And there you have it Yamaha4ever, you've gotten a definitive answer in just a couple replies. Now do, and go on your ride with confidence, grasshopper.
 
#6 ·
PR4 or PR4 (same) is the longest life tire on FJR that I have experience with. There was another thread here where one claimed spectacular life from a Continental something-3.
 
#7 ·
That was my thread...yes, about 13K from the Continental Road Attack 3's. But there are so many variables affecting tire life: weight, riding style, temperature, tire pressures, road surface, etc. That's while I detailed my stats at the beginning of my tire thread.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
#8 ·
How heavy are you rolling?

You could be looking at whole different spectrum of tire.

I enjoy my sticky tires but the tire I never seen comeback when working in the shops was the Metzlers.

Once again like many people have posted you need to look at weight, rid"er" Style, What your temps are going to b,e what your speeds are going to be, and are you planning on leaning, soft pack KOA, asphalt all the way, Nasty city roads, overly looked roads, concrete, wet roads dry roads mountains.

The bridges New Orleans will jack up a tire not to mention down in Florida crossing back and forth on them big metal bastards!

Get what makes you happy don't worry about the fuel millage think about the twist smiles!
Take a tire pressure gauge and check pressure daily and account for temp weight altitude humidity how the bike feels If it feels soft add a little to firm ... you get the point!
 
#9 ·
Michelin PR2's are a harder compound, will outlast a PR4. Dunlops usually known to be harder as well, try RS3's. These two will grip quite well in the warm and dry, less so in the cold and wet.
 
#13 ·
I don’t want to rain on the dark side but I had the opportunity to ride FJRs back to back one with a car tire one without. The difference in feel and handling was shocking. I actually checked the car tire to see if it had air in it(it did). I ride a lot of long distances on the interstates and I’ve had good luck using PR4s. ZI’ve used GT and non GT without a noticeable difference in wear or mileage. I can usually get 9-10,000 miles out of a set.
 
#14 ·
I don't want to rain on the dark side but I had the opportunity to ride FJRs back to back one with a car tire one without. The difference in feel and handling was shocking. I actually checked the car tire to see if it had air in it(it did). I ride a lot of long distances on the interstates and I've had good luck using PR4s. ZI've used GT and non GT without a noticeable difference in wear or mileage. I can usually get 9-10,000 miles out of a set.
Yeah, The Darkside isn't for everyone as it does take some getting used to. I like it especially for slab commuting and the straight-n-flat coastal rides of North & South Carolina where I do at least 1/3 of my yearly miles. IMHO the precise handling that most desire becomes a non-issue in the flats. For me, it hasn't slowed me down a bit in the hills though I must say I'm not a canyon carver and I don't feel the need to hang off to get every mm of lean available plus, with peg lowerers, mine will touch down a bit sooner than others. I also have a spare rim with a bike tire so I occasionally swap depending on where I'm going to be for how long.

I've been riding a car tire for so many miles that I barely notice the differences any more and not chucking tires in the trash with cord-showing centers and basically untouched sides doesn't make my wallet cringe.
 
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#15 ·
I agree you have to get used to it, but when you do...... When I had the car tire on my '07, I found it stuck in the corners better than any motorcycle tire... finally wore it out (almost) on the right edge after a rather spirited run on the Cherohola... 37,000 miles and maybe coulda gone some more....
 
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#16 ·
And wet traction far exceeds anything available with a bike tire even through standing water.
 
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#18 · (Edited)
My limited input is this, I have a pr4 on the front that currently is a little over 13k and will probably go another1-2k, not bad, I’m happy with that. I will add that initially though I wasn’t real happy with the pr4 because it feels pretty soft riding and the tread provided a strange corduroy noise for the first 100-150mi and then got quiet. I’d buy another but they are a bit expensive.

On the back I had a Shinko Raven that had 12-13k when I replaced it with a Shinko Verge that now has about 1k on it, no complaints with either so far. I don’t think the Verge will last 10k but we’ll see, with the clutch issue ihad this past year I was pretty hard on the throttle verifying the fix and it shows on the Verge.

The only really crap tires I’ve ridden on this bike are the OE Bridgestones, pure crap tires ! Really did nothing well.

Dark side: Russ gave me a lot of really good info on this a couple of years ago and I’ve been dancing around this for a couple of years now and just haven’t pulled the trigger. Just can’t justify it if my very low last year mileage continues. I think a spare rim with a car tire is the way to go but if this past years mileage is any indicator a normal bike tire will last me 3-5 years, just not worth the expense or trouble for me, but a good possible option. My .02

As a side note, I find it interesting that the OP hasn’t been back and only has 8 posts in 2 years 2 in this thread alone, but the info shared here has been good.
 
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#20 ·
I’ve always run Michelin PRs or Rs on my ‘06 and gotten 8-10k until this year. Just had to replace a rear R5 that was purchased in April 2019 and got less than 6k. I’m replacing it with a R5GT and have contacted Michelin in hopes of some type of rebate for the poor performance. Hopeful that this was a one time thing as I’ve liked the tires overall.
 
#21 ·
I've always run Michelin PRs or Rs on my '06 and gotten 8-10k until this year. Just had to replace a rear R5 that was purchased in April 2019 and got less than 6k. I'm replacing it with a R5GT and have contacted Michelin in hopes of some type of rebate for the poor performance. Hopeful that this was a one time thing as I've liked the tires overall.
Have said before that I fear there are two different Michelin Road 5s in the wild. Some claim similar life as PR4 but many others got much worse. Your situation is not unusual.

There are too many other good tires out there for me to buy a Road 5. Michelin generally makes premium tires but I don't think the Road 5 is one of them. A new set of PR4GT is waiting in the garage for my current T31s to wear out.
 
#29 ·
It is amazing to me that two people using the same motorcycle and the same tires could get such different mileage. I can get 12-14,000 miles on the FRONT tire of my Shinko Ravens, but 8,000 miles is the max I can get out of a REAR tire.

I know that some people really ride hard, not only in the twisties but even using the power of the FJR accelerating and braking hard on flat roads and interstates.

But I am not one of those. I seldom use the power of the FJR and am one of those guys who watch the "mileage" figures on the instrument panel like a hawk, always trying to keep the mileage above 42-43 mpg!! and I still cannot get more than 8,000 miles out of ANY rear tire. {except the CT, LOL}

SIGH
 
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#31 ·
Phil, if I'm right, the Ravens are a single compound tire, so if you want more rear mileage, pair up a dual compound rear (Verge?) that has a harder center...... OTOH, many have their fronts last longer than rears... it's your riding style. I doubt I'll get anywhere close to your mileage on my front Ravens. I usually wear my fronts out about the same time as my rears.
 
#32 ·
Phil, if I'm right, the Ravens are a single compound tire, so if you want more rear mileage, pair up a dual compound rear (Verge?) that has a harder center......
Shinko Verge 2X 016 is dual compound, softer on sides. Not harder in center than Raven 009, probably softer than Raven as fast as mine wore. Left side wore first, center not far behind.

The 016 will wear faster than the 009. The 016 was the worst tire, front and rear, I have used on FJR. Wore fast. Steered heavy no matter how much air. Didn't like to lean in turns and never inspired confidence.
 
#33 ·
I did not like dual compound tires. My front wears out first. Our roads suck, are rough, the concrete sections have ripples like the grinders had egg-shaped tires. The BT023 is the only other tire I've tried though, just because it came with them. The Shinko's are far superior and I probably would not try the 016's. The front could use more grip though and I've only kicked out the rear a few times when getting on it a bit hard in wet turns (BTW, is the TCS indicator supposed to flash when it's activated? I haven't seen it but maybe I haven't given it enough opportunity to take control).
 
#34 ·
Well sounds like trying Verge's is out. However, all you can do it try tires, and I even advocate a different front than rear to find the combination that works for you. I run Z6's most of the time with whatever rear, recently tried other fronts, happy with a couple, we'll see..
 
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#36 ·
I am surprised to see that you guys get such high mileage out of your tires. I rarely get 6,000 out of a rear tire and I always change the front at the same time as the rear. My most recent bikes have been a Kawasaki ZZR 1200 a Suzuki B-King and now the FJR. I do tend to ride aggressively and prefer stickier sport bike tires like the Perelli Diablo or the Michelin Power Sports. I have gone down before and found it is cheaper to change worn out sport tires a couple times a year then to replace all the plastics and pay medical bills. I have done the Dragon’s tail at a pretty good clip in the rain and was surprised at how well sportier tires can do in many conditions.
 
#37 ·
Put a new Pirelli Angel GT 2 (A) on the front today. Wil see what milage I can get on it. I have been getting 14000 - 14500 Kms on the Angel GT (A), probably had another 500 to 800 kms left but changed due to the scolloping on the right side down to the wear marks and knowing when you get down this far there's not much rubber left as I found out on the rear tyre last year which I thought at that stage I had another 1000 or so kms left but was showing belt after only another 450 kms.
 
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