Hi "K land" if I ever get my bike started again, at some point ill need new tyres. It's got some lovely Bridgstones on it at the moment. Gives me 5 1/2 inch at the rear from where the drive shaft is I think this is as wide as its going to get. I will mainly be using the bike for playing around at the weekends. What are people's likes dislikes in the tyre department.

Many of the mob here like the perelli Sport demon on the K100s

the bridgestones have a great reputation as well
but for me ...the sport demons are great

The black ones. Go for the black ones. The white walled ones are rubbish.

I'm using Michelin Pilot Activ's at the moment. The front wheel tends to follow road imperfections a bit too much for my liking.

Once again, Saxon has shared a little gem with us...but dammit, he's right you know!

Always liked the pirellis, started off with the phantoms back in the "old days" . now I have the Angels,  did Karua river and a few laps over Mt Glorious, clocked up about 2500 ks, no complaints, feels well planted on the road, and gives me lots of confidence.

Radial.

110/80front 140/80rear perelli sport demon.
100/90front 130/90rear Bridgestone batlax 45.
Ok so I know nothing about tyres. By these measurements are the perelli wider but not as deep as the bribgestone

They are black. No white walls

I get mine (Bridstone) but he has other makes from

MTS (Motor Cycle Tyre Services)
Unit 4 Tennis Court Industrial Estate, NG2 4EW
Tel: 0115 941 3333 

Pilot Road 3s - there are no other tyres!

Hi k100 lt Notts. I didn't pass you coming in the oposit direction on the a52 last Monday did I ??? It was the first time I had ridden my bike at speed and whilst dueling with an Audi tt I saw a rs or lt or rt coming in the other direction. I would have nodded but I was hanging on for grim death. With a big smile on my face.
Thanks for the tip about the tires.

bikerboy wrote:Pilot Road 3s - there are no other tyres!

PR3s on an 83 K100?

Tradgear wrote:110/80front 140/80rear perelli sport demon.
100/90front 130/90rear Bridgestone batlax 45.
Ok so I know nothing about tyres. By these measurements are the perelli wider but not as deep as the bribgestone

110 is the width, 80 is the aspect ratio.  80% of 110=88,  90% of 100=90  (close to the same)

80% of 140= 112,  90% of 130=117  Again not a lot of difference.  You have to remember these measurements are nominal and not necessarily 100% accurate

Al

Oh, and round. They ought to be round.

G'day Tradgear , I used this site to work out if I had speedo errors when I changed my rear wheel size ( running a 4.5x18 inch rear with 160/60/18 tyre ) , very handy with a bit of explanation as well

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/tirecalc.php

JR

I use battlax 45. 130/90/17 in the back and just today had a battlax45. 110/80/18 
Mounted in the front .
im very pleased with the rear , and have not had a chance to try out the front yet.


k-rider

For just ordinary riding on a K100 the Metzlers are great tires that last a long time. I've had good experience with them.

If you do mostly country riding on twisting roads then consider Bridgestones as they are a better bang for the buck over the Perellis. I've ridden Bridgestones for over a year now and really like them.

This year I'm doing more sport touring and so am switching to Avon radials per Duck's recommendation. If you really want improved handling and longevity, give the radials a try. Check my post: https://www.k100-forum.com/t7472-skinny-radials

The only caveat for radials is to double-check the rear tire specifications to make doubly sure it will fit a 3.5" wide Y-spoke rim. Otherwise, the early K's can manage up to a 140R17 tire in the rear with the old-style center stand. 

I hope this helps.  

I've just finished a set of Bridgestone Battlax which took 6 months to clock 6000ks on sunday rides legally and 7500 not so legally. The Law here in NZ is 2mm  min tread. I have replaced with same and worked out the cost @ $324.00 / pair fitted (if I take in the rims) which is about 0.05 cents a Kilometer which I assume is pretty good value

They stick ok, I do a lot of highway riding, most of it at the top of the speed range, and a lot of mountainous winding roads as well, all 2 up, and fill the tyres with nitrogen which does away with the need for weekly / monthly inflations

I know lot of people are probably about to / going to poo hoo nitrogen as a replacement for air but I have run it on 4 wheelers for a few years without even checking pressure for 6 months sometimes to find the pressures the same as the original fill

The Aeroplanes have run it for many years. Thats where the automotive industry got it from, the cars are now and the trucks so I did not see any good reason why the bike couldn't as well

Comments / thoughts welcome and appreciated as usual

Regards

Keith

Be made wrote:I've just finished a set of Bridgestone Battlax which took 6 months to clock 6000ks on sunday rides legally and 7500 not so legally. The Law here in NZ is 2mm  min tread. I have replaced with same and worked out the cost @ $324.00 / pair fitted (if I take in the rims) which is about 0.05 cents a Kilometer which I assume is pretty good value

They stick ok, I do a lot of highway riding, most of it at the top of the speed range, and a lot of mountainous winding roads as well, all 2 up, and fill the tyres with nitrogen which does away with the need for weekly / monthly inflations

I know lot of people are probably about to / going to poo hoo nitrogen as a replacement for air but I have run it on 4 wheelers for a few years without even checking pressure for 6 months sometimes to find the pressures the same as the original fill

The Aeroplanes have run it for many years. Thats where the automotive industry got it from, the cars are now and the trucks so I did not see any good reason why the bike couldn't as well

Comments / thoughts welcome and appreciated as usual

Regards

Keith

Nitrogen is also used for pressure testing i.e ammonia chillers , so technically it should be ok , but practicly its a bit difficult here , since there is no nitrogen availleble at the gas stations :cyclops: 


k-rider

I put hydrogen in my tires.  In honor of the German airship Hindenburg.

On a more serious note, although I've read a zillion times on The Interwebz how tires leak air I've never experienced it to any great degree. (And I do monitor tire pressure on my K's somewhat frequently.)  I see it only over a period of several months.

Who is lying to me? The Interwebz or my own personal experience?

It does depend on the tyre quality/brand.

I'm running a Heidenau on the front of my Super Tenere, it doesn't hold air too well, it needs air every two weeks to keep it rideable.  Talking to others that run the same tyre, it seems thats just what they do.  the mitas at the other end of the bike holds a bit better but still needs regular attention.

It's the choce I have to make though, none of the 'mainstream' brands make a 50/50 dirt tyre(which is what I prefer) for the big dual-purpose/adventure bikes.  They either make slightly chunky 90/10 road tyres like the Tourance or full knobbies like the TKC80 that wear out in a very short time.  The Mitas is my favourite for this bike.

I've never exeperienced this sort of pressure loss with mainstream road tyres.

Al

k-rider wrote:

Nitrogen is also used for pressure testing i.e ammonia chillers , so technically it should be ok , but practicly its a bit difficult here , since there is no nitrogen availleble at the gas stations :cyclops: 

k-rider

100% correct. Servo's do not have the outlet. Not sure about other countries. Tyre shops here everywhere do it, and encourage it, @ $5.00 per tyre per fill to retail customers. I have a friendly tyre shop who I buy off continuously so they fill mine for free.

duck wrote:I put hydrogen in my tires.  In honor of the German airship Hindenburg.

On a more serious note, although I've read a zillion times on The Interwebz how tires leak air I've never experienced it to any great degree. (And I do monitor tire pressure on my K's somewhat frequently.)  I see it only over a period of several months.

Who is lying to me? The Interwebz or my own personal experience?

When using air, on cars and vans and trucks I have noticed at least 1 - 2 pounds a week, usually up to 5 pounds pressure drop per month, a lot more if the vehicles are left sitting and not used daily.

Before the nitro fill service came to NZ I was adjusting pressures as a weekly chore. I do between 80 - 100 K a year in 4 wheelers on the job so incorrect tyre pressure can make a huge difference to wear and tear if left unchecked for too many k's. I tried the nitro on the 4 wheelers and found zero ( and I mean ZERO) pressure drop over 6 month. That's when I became a huge fan of it.

The Tyre industry hailed it as quieter and capable of extending tyre life as Nitrogen runs very cold. I never noticed any difference in life span of the tyre but I sure am glad to get away from the bain of adjusting pressures once a week, and having to be pendantic about watching the pressures on my bike, given that tyre pressure plays such a critical part in the handling characteristics on 2 wheels ( and even 4 wheels but not SO critical, unless you drive a Lambo or a Ferrari . . ::_)

It does run cold. The biggest complaint amongst the racers is that the tyres do not heat up to sticky. That would affect racing compound tyres which rely on compound and not tread for their grip anyway.

I have been using an 80% nitrogen mix for years

lol   we all have

RicK G wrote:I have been using an 80% nitrogen mix for years

I disagree, I think you have been using 78%

With about 20 % O2, and 2 % Argon 

(Well played by the way         )

Awesome. I hoped this forum wasn't going to be all stuffy and dull. Very funny. But putting aside the air that we breath. If I do a road side repair and use co2 cartridges to re inflate my tyre what efects will it have on performance. If any.

I have never given that any real thought but considering that CO2 is inert then no harm should come of the tyres but as to the question of does it deflate or not I don't know and of course would now like to know.

One thing about using Nitrogen is that stated earlier in the thread that it prevents the deflation of the tyre, OK so I accept that but I have a tyre that loses air till almost flat without a known cause and nitrogen should prevent that happening. If air is 78% nitrogen why doesn't it only go to 78% of the original pressure and stop losing pressure because what escaped could only have been the other 22%. It's not because the gasses make different compounds because the air is a mix of gasses not a compound which would have different properties.
Food for thought.
When I was drag racing I used nitrogen in my tyres because it didn't have the coefficient of expansion of air and would expand less for any given temperature change thus not causing a significant pressure change as the temp dropped during the nights proceedings.

Corkboy wrote:

RicK G wrote:I have been using an 80% nitrogen mix for years

I disagree, I think you have been using 78%

With about 20 % O2, and 2 % Argon 

(Well played by the way         )

What about the CO2 and methane that's causing Climate change. Do we have 102% atmosphere and if so I want to breathe it. 

CO2 is now being used as refrigerant so to be affective as refrigerant it's pressure must rise with temprature increases and pressure must fall with temp decreases.

Starting to get off topic here now but what the hell.
I came across this some time ago but about refrigerants, one of the best is LPG and Brazil (not sure if they still do) used this in air conditioning systems in cars and it was causing big problems with big bangs in crashes. Apparently it is very effective as a refrigerant.

Cool!!!!

the smaller the particles ( read more orbits of the electrons and free radicals )  the more chance that it has to pass through the rubber that supports it ....

a reasonable assumption given that the higher rating fuel rubbers 30 r 7 thought to 30 r 10  let less "smell  and breathing" of high compound vapours of ethanol etc pass through the walls of the rubber

what is good for fuel lines might not be good for road tyres  that do absorb and pass lighter chemicals through the structure

im no professor but it makes perfect sense to me   in a relational concept

Aside from all the laughter I can hear resounding in my ears as people read this thread ( and love as an aspect of this forum by the way :-) ) the lack of pressure loss when using nitro fill is apparently because the molecules of nitro are a lot smaller than air and pack a lot more closely together . . . . making it more difficult for nitro to pass through rubber therefore holding pressure for a lot longer ( at least thats the theory I got told by the tyre shop guys) . .  and , hell, we all need a bit of laughing gas now and then anyway . ,.

  now . . . where the hell is the OXIDE !         

Waz wrote:CO2 is now being used as refrigerant so to be affective as refrigerant it's pressure must rise with temperature increases and pressure must fall with temp decreases.

When I read this I thought WHAT CO2 it has no liquid form so how the hell does that work but under pressure it has a liquid state. That's my new thing I learned today Thanks Waz.

RicK G wrote:Starting to get off topic here now but what the hell.
I came across this some time ago but about refrigerants, one of the best is LPG. Apparently it is very effective as a refrigerant.

Yep. I see campervan fridges sold here . .  3 way . .  240v, 12v + LPG. Rather uneconomical to run on LPG apparently.

Saxon7 wrote:Oh, and round. They ought to be round.

Damn. never knew that. I have square ones. Thought it was bad shocks causing all those vibrations (or th K trait . . . :-) 0