KZ750 Tires?

My first set of Sport Demons lasted about 7,000 miles. At that point the rear was showing considerable wear, although I'm sure I could have ridden at least another 1,000 miles on it. The front showed much less wear, but I replaced both tires. For me that much mileage was excellent, and the grip was excellent, so I bought another set of Sport Demons. This set now has about 5,000 miles on them and they still have plenty of meat left, so I suspect they will last even longer than the first set. The Sport Demons have lasted longer than any other tires I have run on my KZ650-C1.

In the past I have run several different flavors of Dunlops - they were NOT good tires as they offered barely adequate grip and they wore out quickly. Also I ran Michelins (M48/A48) with PZ2 racing compound - their grip was unbelievably great, but the rear tires would last only 1,000 miles and the front would last only 2,000 miles - fun but after several sets I found them to be too expensive. I ran Michelins (M48/A48) with normal street compound and they offered excellent grip and lasted longer. The last Michelins I ran were the Macadams and they absolutely sucked! They offered very poor grip (they were the only tires I could lock up front and rear on dry, clean pavement) and long before they were worn out they induced a speed wobble. Ed

Mac55 wrote:

Nessism wrote: In all my years of hanging out in vintage motorcycle forums I've never once heard of anyone running those Michelin Commander II tires. Sport Demon's are nice. An older design focused on grip for sport riders. Short lived compared to other tires like the Roadriders which offer about 85% as much grip.

So what I got out of that is the Sport Demons are good but don't last too long and that someone needs to try out the Commander II tires, is that correct?

Yes, Sport Demon's are shorter lived than most other tires. They are designed for aggressive cornering. Interestingly, I recently saw a report on the GS Resources where a guy went to the AMA vintage races and he said that just about every racer was using Avon Roadriders. The Avons last longer than the Sport Demon's by a fair bit too.

Regarding the Michelin's, personally, I would skip. There are far more popular tires on the market that have a solid reputation behind them.

Nessism wrote: Yes, Sport Demon's are shorter lived than most other tires. They are designed for aggressive cornering. Interestingly, I recently saw a report on the GS Resources where a guy went to the AMA vintage races and he said that just about every racer was using Avon Roadriders. The Avons last longer than the Sport Demon's by a fair bit too.

Regarding the Michelin's, personally, I would skip. There are far more popular tires on the market that have a solid reputation behind them.

From looking at reviews the Michelin's are some of the best ones I've seen. They have more reviews than BT45s and the Pirellis, and are rated higher. And those are really the only three pair I've found. I've looked into the Avon Road riders but have only found one that fits my rear. it looks like a lot of websites don't carry it for my size rear? I am definitely looking for strong cornering and I ride year-round in Georgia if that helps. When I ride with people I'm keeping up with a 16' FZ-07 and a 2000 YZF-600 (basically an R6) so I ride my 750 like a sportbike.

I was going to just try and let availability decide what I got but Mountain Motorsports carries them for almost twice the cost online.

If you can't find a 130/90-16 look for a MT90-16. They are the same size.

www.americanmototire.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=33_61_75

Ah, I didn't know that. Thank you, now I see the option for the Roadrider. If that's what they were using at a vintage race then that may be what to go with. Also helps that they're little bit cheaper than my other options. Do you know how they are with cornering? I don't see much mention of that in the reviews.

Mac55 wrote: Ah, I didn't know that. Thank you, now I see the option for the Roadrider. If that's what they were using at a vintage race then that may be what to go with. Also helps that they're little bit cheaper than my other options. Do you know how they are with cornering? I don't see much mention of that in the reviews.

Avon Roadriders are the forum favorite over at The GS Resources by a wide margin. There is a guy over there (bwringer) that rides his bikes hard and he swears by them. This dudes big and he puts in a lot of miles. He did a review on the Shinki 230 and he said they handled excellently but lasted about 1/2 as long as the Roadrider. bwinger also likes the Sport Demon but says they don't last long. I trust this guys opinion over 100 anonymous guys you read about on those sites like Dennis Kirk and similar.

I have about 6300 miles on my Shinko 712s now. Thinking about trying the 230s.
The front 712 tire is showing typical leading edge, squirm wear patterns in the tread blocks.
That is found on most front tires from counter steer pushing.
Especially here in Colorado from so many hard twisting mountain roads we ride on.
And not at race speeds either... just hundreds and hundreds of them over the life of the tires.
Some riders think that is bad wear or defective wear.... NO, IT IS NOT.
However, I'll be replacing the rear tire for sure early next season.
But I still have a strong 1/16" of tread above the wear bars at the center.
Normal?
Don't know but I think they were a good investment for the mileage vs lower cost, compared to my old Avons,
Also... I check air pressure every couple times I ride or every three or four days.
I ride fairly lightly loaded and I keep my rear tire at 32psi-33psi and the front at 28psi-30psi.
Never did find out what the correct pressure is for these 712s but I see some guys using 36psi R and 32psi F.

Correct tire pressure will add hundreds, maybe thousands of miles to any tire.
I ride with a few guys that forget this and the other day I asked what my buddy had on his Bonneville and he didn't know. WTF!!??
He said it felt good.
I checked and it was 24psi front and 22psi rear!! Damn.
Fixed that and he said the bike felt 150lbs lighter! Ha ha

I have alloy wheels from a KZ1000, instead of my original spoke wheels. I am running tubeless tires without tubes. The front wheel is 2.15" wide, instead of the original 1.85". In my opinion, the original 100/90-19 tire was too wide for the 1.85" wheel. For the front, I chose a narrower AVON Roadrider in size 90/90-19. The 90/90-19 fits the 2.15" wheel very well.

The rear wheel is 3" wide, just like original. For the rear I selected a Dunlop Elite 3, in size MU-90-16, which is equivalent to a 140 size. That tire is heavily belted across the tread section. It is very stiff - even off the wheel, you cannot compress the tread with your thumbs.

The bike handles so much better because the front tire does not squirm around on the wheel the way it did before. I also run pressures from 36 to 40 psi.

With this combination, I have just over 20,000 miles on the set of tires. The front is getting a little thin, but is wearing very evenly, with no scalloping at all. The rear should go another - well it is hard to believe, but maybe 10,000 miles. The traction for both has been excellent. I just can't wear these tires out, and I ride to work daily basis.

WABBMW wrote: I have alloy wheels from a KZ1000, instead of my original spoke wheels. I am running tubeless tires without tubes. The front wheel is 2.15" wide, instead of the original 1.85". In my opinion, the original 100/90-19 tire was too wide for the 1.85" wheel. For the front, I chose a narrower AVON Roadrider in size 90/90-19. The 90/90-19 fits the 2.15" wheel very well.

The rear wheel is 3" wide, just like original. For the rear I selected a Dunlop Elite 3, in size MU-90-16, which is equivalent to a 140 size. That tire is heavily belted across the tread section. It is very stiff - even off the wheel, you cannot compress the tread with your thumbs.

The bike handles so much better because the front tire does not squirm around on the wheel the way it did before. I also run pressures from 36 to 40 psi.

With this combination, I have just over 20,000 miles on the set of tires. The front is getting a little thin, but is wearing very evenly, with no scalloping at all. The rear should go another - well it is hard to believe, but maybe 10,000 miles. The traction for both has been excellent. I just can't wear these tires out, and I ride to work daily basis.

That actually hits on two things I was wondering about. Mismatched tires and varying the width of the front and rear. I'm probably not going to stray from a matched pair and the recommended sizes but how do you all feel about that?

I'm pretty set on the Avons now thanks to what I've heard here. I was going to buy a cheap pair on Amazon (Kenda 657 Challengers) which would have been $130 for the pair, prime shipping in hopes to get them before putting on a few hundred miles in the Appalachians this weekend but they wouldn't get here in time due to some weird amazon thing anyways. May try them out in the future when I have more money to throw around on tires. Also still interested in trying the Michelin Challenger II as well.

Stock size tires that are both matched to work together are your best best. Ed

The safest bet is to keep a matched set, and to keep stock sizes. Also, I believe that the specific model of the tire is more important than the brand name.
I have studied sport bike tire and wheel sizes to reach my engineered plan.
My other bike has a 120/70-17 front tire on a 3 1/2" wheel; and 190/50-17 rear on a 6" wheel. A whole different world of handling.

Kenda Challangers are crap in the wet. Shinko 230's are a better option if money is a big factor. Shinko got their start by purchasing tooling from Yokahama Rubber when they got out of the motorcycle tire business.