D616 and another tire?

PapaGeno21

PapaGeno21

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OK guys im about to pick up an FZ1 tomorrow. Currently there is a D616 rear tire on there with a TON of life left, and theres a Michelin Pilot Road on the front, but its just hitting the wear bars so it needs to be replaced.

Is it bad if I was to go with something other than a 616 in the front and still keep the 616 in the back?

Im not sure what to get though. I just do street driving with some twisties thrown in there. Looking to get about 6K out of the tires, dont want to be buying them twice a year, but also dont want to compromise too much of its stickyness. So if I get roughly 6K I will be happy.

Anyone have any good reccomendations for that? I was thinking the Bridgestone 021, Pilot Power 2, or the Pilot Road 2CT..

Would it be ok if I ran one of those 2 in front and the D616 out rear for a while? Also, out of those 3 which would you choose?

Thanks a lot guys!

Edit: How would Pilot Power 2's be front and rear? A lot better than a front and then a D616 out back?
 
Ok... long story short... anything would be better than th D616 in the rear. Anything. They're just horribly designed, and not made for a sport / sport-touring bike... They're made for dualsport type bikes.... that said, they cup, wear horribly, and a squirrelly at BEST in cornering.

So... my recommendation would be to buy a set of whatever tire you want to be running... put the front on... and after a little while on the 616, you'l be ready to put the new rear on....

as to what kind of tire you want to run... if you're not too aggressive of a rider, go for the Pilot Road 2's, Pirelli Rosso, BT021's, Dunlop Roadsmarts, etc.

If you're more aggressive... step it up to Pilot Power or 2CT, Pirelli Corsa III, Dunlop Q2's, BT016, etc.
 
Ok so if it was up to you, what would you rather have.

021's front and rear or Pilot Power 2CT's?

Will the 2ct's last as long as the 021's, do you have any numbers for each one as far as miles I can expect on them?

If the Power 2 CT's go for 5.5-6K I will be happy to run those if they are better than the 021's...

Im honestly confused on tires, there are so many different ones... There are Roads, then Road 2's, then Power and Power 2CT's then Bridgestone has the 021's and 016's I just dont know.

I dont use the track, just some nice twisties on the streets and then normal street driving. So I guess that wouldnt be agressive? Not entirely sure.
 
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Power 2CT's won't give you that mileage... Road 2's should get you close...

Power 2CT's can't really be compared to the 21's... it's a different breed of tire all together.

What would I personally run? I run the BT016's. But... I live 12 miles away from one of the bests roads on the eastern half of the country....


Considering that this will be a new bike to you... middle of the summer... all things considered... I'd go for a set of Pirelli Rosso's... This might seem like it's out of left field... but... they'll provide better grip than the 21's... last longer than the Power 2CT's... they're better shaped compared to the Road 2's.... They'll show you how well your bike can handle... without needing to push the limits of traction at all times.....

That said... if it rains a lot where you are, and you expect to be riding in said rain.... buy the Pilot Road 2's... They're hard to beat in the wet.
 
Ok I dont really ride in the rain, and if I do I ride HOME like a total chicken shit. So Im not really worried about the rain that much.

The Rossos are a bit more pricy than the 021's and the Road 2's are also pretty pricy.

The Power 2CT's and the 021's are cheaper by like 60 bucks ish..

The only reason im trying to be a cheap ass right now is due to the fact that I need to register this thing and whatnot, and didnt plan on buying both tires but I dont really want the dual sport rear tire on there, I would rather have a matching brand new set.

Will the 21's grip good? Like enough for me to take mild twistys? I never get it like knee scraping low as I honestly dont have the roads to do that around here. They are just country turns at around maybe 60mph...

And just for the hell of it, how long would the 21's and then the Pilot Power 2CT's actually last me?

Sorry to throw so many questions at you, I just have a hard time making up my mind on things like this. Never had a sport bike, so totally unsure of what to do tires wise. The cruiser was easy, I just didnt care becuase the bike was never pushed to any limit.
 
The 21's are a sport-touring tire... you can expect 4-6k out of a rear depending on how you ride... tire life depends greatly on how smooth you are in the corners... how smooth you are with the gas... proper adjustment.. maintaining pressures... downshifting... there are just too many factors to say "This is how many miles you'll get out of XXX tire"

But... given the same rider and same conditions, the 21's should last about 50% longer than the Pilot Power 2ct's....

The 21's will grip decent ... but again... "grip" is a touchy term... are you smooth on the gas? Do you keep consistent throttle through corners? Do you have your suspension set up properly?

I could toss a set of Pilot Road (Original, no Dual Compound) on my bike and keep up with people on track day tires that don't ride smoothly.... I used to do it all of the time on my Pilot Road 2's... and piss a lot of people off...

But... long story short... The 021's ain't bad... they're decently grippy.. have a decently long life... they're kind of a jack of all trades, and a master of none... the reason I recommend the Rosso over the 21 is because of tire shape and tread design... The Rossos are slightly steeper in the center than comparable other tires... the result is that the turn-in happens a lot faster and you're able to change direction nice and quick... (On another note, as soon as you get the bike, raise the forks in the triple trees by 7mm as measured from the triple tree to the top of the fork cap) .... Anyhow.. the Rosso's also have NO tread on the edges... which keeps them rigid, but provides excellent grip when leaned over and giving it hell... the downside is that no tread on the edges means very little traction over there when the roads are wet...


I'd say check around a bit for pricing... if you can swing the Rosso's... I'd get them... if not... the 21's are worlds better than the 616 that's on there.... and not too shabby of a tire overall... I've seen people raise some serious hell on 21's... so.. it can be done.
 
+1 on the 021's. I had those tires first and they were excellent for the type of riding I did back then. I never had them step out and they were great when the roads were wet. I have since moved over to the 016's and probably won't change. I simply love the hell out of them. If you want a decent tire along with decent mileage, get the 021's as a set and ditch both tires and keep your rear that is on the bike now as a spare.

As Aaron has stated, suspension setup is a big part of the equation as well. My bike rode okay when I first got it only because it was years since my Gixxer 750 and I hadn't been on a large sportbike in a long while. After 4 months of riding however, when I got used to the bike and was back in the swing of things, the bike's handling went in the crapper! After setting up the suspension and installing the 016's, I thought I was Rossi up on the mountain! Well, maybe not Rossi.:confused0024:

Don't forget to post up some pics once you get your new ride home!:D
 
Im currently on the phone getting quotes for the tires from the shop and he strongly suggests the Pilot Road 2ct's for what im doing, and he says a lot of guys on the R1's are running them as they last a lot longer than the Powers. We shall see, hes getting me quotes right now as im on hold.

Ok hes also reccommending the Pilot Power normal ones if I dont mind faster wear, and they seem to last from 4-6K which is good for me, and he said they corner better than the Road 2Ct's... Do you think thats accurate?

It would be about 300 installed for the Pilot Powers. Is that good? I know I can get them cheap from Jake Wilson, but then I still need to get them mounted and thats 120 if I bring in the tires myself and dont buy them from them, which is mount balance and labor.
 
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Ok I can get the Pilot Powers mounted and balanced for 247 out the door including labor.

IF they last 4-5K whats the problem? I dont really care if they dont go past that mileage point, I only put maybe 3K a year on it...
 
Yeah screw this. Doing the 021's.

Ordering them tomrorow morning from the place as they match jake wilson and then they will install monday if they come in on time!
 
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BT021's currently on mine

I hope these work out for your needs. My BT021s are at about 8500 miles and I'm looking at swapping out both this weekend. They were great for the first few thousand miles and pretty good up until about 7k. I'm trying to squeeze every last mile out of them since I'm a commuter and it saves me some money. I definately agree with the jack of all trades comment. They are definately a great all around tire, but I haven't tried as many of the others as a lot of the guys here.
 
I ended up going with the Pilot Powers. Been told and read on the forums, I can get them to last about 4-5K depending on my driving style.

Also, the 021's were out of stock everywhere and if I ordered them online the 2 shops that would even let me bring my own tires were going to rape me to put them on because I didnt get them through there. However, the shop I went to matched Jake Wilsons prices for the Pilot Powers and they had them in stock, so monday at 9AM im getting them installed.
 
Oh and I got the Pilot Powers mounted yesterday and so far have about 210 miles on them now.

HOLY CRAP are these tires amazing. Talk about "confidence inspiring", I feel like I can basically drag the engine on the ground taking turns and they would still hook. They are a very soft compound, totally love them. Maybe next year ill try out the 2CT's.
 
I have Pilot Power 2CT in front and Pilot Road 2 on the back.
I love this combination, more then enough grip to drag your knee at 90 mph, and because of the Road 2 on the back I still get about 7.500 miles out of this set of tyres.
 
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va_rider said:
4-5k? No... try 2.5-3.5k ....

What happened with the 21's? You seemed to have changed your priorities on a whim rather quickly...
Click to expand...

Just a follow up...

Have put 2900 miles on my Pilot Powers now, and they are at I would say 85% tread life lol...

Dunno what im doing differently, but apparently they are working for me!
 
Going to bring this up from the dead..

I will be getting some tires for the Gen2 in a month or so, as I HATE the stock D221's..

Seems like some people are running the Power 2CT front and Road 2CT rear..

Is that a better combo then just running the Road 2ct's front and rear?

I am not sure about running the Pilot Power 1's this time around only because I know I am going to do around 15K this year on the bike, and with long trips like going to the Dragon and whatnot I really dont want to get 4 sets of tires... However I dont want to compromise grip. I can ride fairly aggressively in the twisties, and I do a LOT of those.. Would the PR 2CT in the rear be a good or bad choice for that?
 
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