Time for new tires

Alex · September 13th, 2008, 03:25 PM

Aired up both tires today in prep for tomorrow's ride, and realized that I was getting close to the wear bars on the rear. And the front is starting to look quite cupped/scalloped on each side, though I'm not close to the wear bars in the center. So I'll likely just replace both at the same time anyway.

I always order tires online and typically have an extra set or two for each bike sitting in the garage, but in this case I have nothing stocked up for the ninjette. I went looking at www.swmototires.com, and my first choice was a set of Pirelli Sport Demons. But they don't have the front in stock, only the rear. But Pirelli does sell their Diablo tire in the correct size for the front, and it's in stock, but they don't make a corresponding rear tire. The Diablo would be somewhat stickier than the SportDemon, so it probably wouldn't be too bad of a combination, but I need to think about it.

The 2008 ninjette comes stock with the Dunlop GT501's or the Bridgestone BT45's. I have the 501's and am happy with them, but you can't order the correct sizes yet on the open market, only through a Kawasaki dealer and they are way, way overpriced. Southwest mototires does have the BT45's in stock, but the online reviews of folks who have them on the Ninjette weren't particularly good. Avon sells its RoadRider tires in the correct sizes, and they are in stock as well at a good price, but I haven't heard any reviews of that tire. Metzeler sells their Lasertec tires in the correct sizes as well.

Anyone have any thoughts? Had good luck with these tires above or even different ones?

Alex · September 13th, 2008, 03:45 PM

Well I'm the impatient type, I guess.

Ordered the Sport Demons from www.swmototires.com and www.tiresunlimited.com , just had to order some other tires at the same time to keep the shipping costs down.

Alex · September 15th, 2008, 09:53 AM

Well, it turns out that the front Sport Demons that I ordered from tiresunlimited are on backorder for at least a month; everywhere in the country, evidently. So I may have to figure out something else for the front. The rears should be here shortly. I may be able to just change the rear and then change the front when they come in, if they are only a month out. But if that backorder changes to 6 months out, it's not tenable and I'll have to

somebody else. (I really wanted to use that smiley!

)

Saturn_V · September 15th, 2008, 07:00 PM

I'm currently running the Metzlers. I've been pretty happy with Metzlers in general (I've had them on every bike I've owned, for whatever reason), and these are fairly decent. They're far better in wet/cold weather than the stock tires. They've been wearing fairly well (4k miles, without any noticeable wear) too...

Just don't overfill your oil and let the airbox drain dribble oil all over your new back tire, like I did...

-S5

Alex · September 24th, 2008, 03:38 PM

Mounted a new set of Sport Demons today. First time I've had the wheels off of this bike; it's pretty intuitive and not as challenging as some other bikes I've worked on. (But it's not as easy as some others either, especially those with single-sided swingarms whose rear wheels pop off with a couple of bolts and 30 seconds).

I always think it's neat to see a bike hanging there with no wheels/tires:

More pics here.

First ride with the Pirellis will be tomorrow, heading up Mt. Hamilton with some friends, I am curious to see how their profile differs from the GT-501's...

JCCJMM_ · September 24th, 2008, 04:21 PM

Sorry if I overlooked it, but what was the mileage on the stock tires?
The reason that I ask is because my stock Dunlops had significant wear (50%) after about 2000 miles of soft riding (commuting).

I did learn how to mount and balance my own set of tires, so I suppose spending $110 a year is not too bad.....just seems weird to go through tires so fast. At least compared to cars and trucks.

Alex · September 24th, 2008, 05:02 PM

The rear tire hit the wear bars around 4K miles. I purchased the bike with 1K on it, and there was pretty much zero wear on them (new rider), so I think going forward I can expect between 3K and 3.5K out of a rear. The front wasn't quite to the wear bars yet, but it was scalloped enough that it didn't make sense to keep it on any longer.

Motorcycle tires have a very short lifespan compared to car tires for a number of reasons. Primary one is that a car tire contact patch is comparatively wide and flat. A motorcycle tire contact patch is miniscule in comparison, so even though the vehicle weight is lower, the weight on that small quarter-sized patch of tire is significant. It needs to be that way so the bike can lean in corners. In addition, the rubber compounds themselves are typically on the stickier (quicker wear) side. It's a much bigger deal when a 2-wheeled vehicle loses traction compared to a 4-wheeled vehicle, so it makes sense that our tires would tend to be a little stickier.

Alex · September 24th, 2008, 09:43 PM

Forgot to mention one thing that stood out. You know how you never want to see a car without its dashboard, because if you do it's amazing at how thin and spindly the connections from the steering wheel down to the wheels looks? (and then you're forever nervous if it will break today, or the next day, or the day after, just when you turn the wheel). Anyway, when I was changing the front tire, I couldn't believe how thin the front axle is on our ninjettes. It is *tiny* compared to the axles on my other bikes. I'm sure that Kawi has spec'd it to be more than enough for what the ninjette needs, but it just looks so thin and spindly! Now I'll be thinking about it when I carve into a downhill decreasing radius turn with a steep dropoff. Will the axle hold this time?

Alex · September 25th, 2008, 08:31 PM

OMG! The new tires are simply incredible! Feels like a new bike. The Sport Demons are *so* much more planted and "sporty-feeling" than the OEM GT-501's. I know that the 501's are a popular replacement tire on first-gen ninjettes, but the OEM 501's may be a different story on the 2nd-gen. Because it is night and day from the Sport Demons to the OEM's.

Turn-in is much smoother, the bike doesn't fall into turns, it rolls very evenly given constant pressure on the bars. Once leaned over, it just sticks! The GT-501's weren't bad, but once near the edge of the tire they didn't feel particularly planted or sticky, and they moved around a bit more than I'd like. Nothing at all like that on the Sport Demons, it's a truly noticable difference. I was going much faster today on the same roads I've taken the ninjette on in prior weeks, and doing so with much less effort and more comfort. I should have replaced those tires months ago!

I'll post up again once I get some more miles on these, I hope their increased performance doesn't translate into a huge dip in tire life, but only time will tell...

Sailariel · September 28th, 2008, 01:05 PM

I guess the Dunlop 501 tyres are OK--nothing to write home about. I have 4000 miles on my set and they look fine. I am not crazy about the way they handle wet conditions and uneven pavement (which we have a great deal of in Maine). My personal preference has always been Metzler Tyres--seem to be good for touring and performance riding as well. They are not as sticky as Pirelli but they last a damn sight longer. On my competition bicycles, I run Maxxis Tyres and love them. They wear like iron and give excellent gripping in curves. I am tempted to give them a try. I have a Maxxis rep. I can contact for my bike shop--maybe he can swing me a deal on some MC tyres.

Tigerpaw · January 28th, 2009, 09:25 AM

Any long term updates from anyone with non OEM on '08+ bikes?

Guinss · January 28th, 2009, 09:51 AM

Alex, have some questions about tires for you

how do you feel the difference in grip? The only way i can imagine, must be to take a corner with stock tires, fail and crash, and then do the corner again with pirelli tires. Or is that better grip connected to the better turn in?

When you say 4k miles lifetime on stock-tires, do you referr to track or road/commuting etc? Mine have done 2500mi, cant really see that its any wear on them.

Alex · January 28th, 2009, 10:43 AM

Tire feel is one of those things that has some objectivity to it as well as some subjectivity. You're right, the level of ultimate grip is right before you lose grip and crash. So that's not particularly useful. But tires differ in other ways. Grip isn't an all or nothing thing. The loss of grip as cornering forces increase can be very gradual (a forgiving tire) or it can be very abrupt (a non-forgiving tire). Many very sticky race tires are more of the latter than the former. Tremendous grip, right up until you don't have any, rather than a smooth drop-off.

Also, tire profile/shape makes a difference. That changes how a bike feels as you press the bars and the bike leans. Some cause the bike to lean into the turn faster with less pressure, some require more pressure to heel the bike over. There is a difference in sidewall stiffness as well, which makes the tire more or less compliant over small ripples when the bike is leaned over.

Anyway, I greatly prefer the Sport Demons to the GT501 OEM tires. They feel better to me on turn-in, their grip seems more consistent up to higher cornering forces, and they seem to have a significantly softer sidewall. In terms of wear, I think that they will wear a little quicker than the OEM's. I'm about halfway done with my rear tire in about 2000 miles on it.

Guinss · January 28th, 2009, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

Anyway, I greatly prefer the Sport Demons to the GT501 OEM tires. They feel better to me on turn-in, their grip seems more consistent up to higher cornering forces, and they seem to have a significantly softer sidewall. In terms of wear, I think that they will wear a little quicker than the OEM's. I'm about halfway done with my rear tire in about 2000 miles on it.

ok, great post, lots of useful info.
i have roadwinner stock tires, dont know anything about them, but i guess its pretty equal to gt501. ill look at sport demon when its time for a change

do you keep the original dimensions? have you tried 140(width) on the back-wheel?

i did have metzeler on my last bike(50cc

), so its either metzeler or pirelli im going for, when im changing tires on my 250.

Alex · January 28th, 2009, 11:38 AM

I have no experience on the IRC road winner tires. The only thing I've ever read about them was in the UK review of the Ninja 250, and they said that they were awful and felt wooden. But that reviewer could have been having a bad day, or those particular tires might have had issues, or wrong pressure setting.

kkim · January 28th, 2009, 11:42 AM

Yep, read the same thing, but have also heard from other 09 owners that have said those tires sucked.

I had no complaints about my bt45s. I'm planning to go back to them or the sport demons when my 090's wear out.

Guinss · January 28th, 2009, 02:20 PM

ye your prolly right.
ive not done any trackdays, and have never tried any other tires so far, so cant compare them (roadwinner) to anything, but theyre ok on the road i guess

havent slipped or anything. but yes, they feel a little wooden actually.

KJohnson21 · January 30th, 2009, 05:24 PM

Just an FYI:

I found this site a few years ago when I was looking for a tire source. A lot of sites have good tire prices, but these guys are one of the few that have decent shipping prices too.

http://www.americanmototire.com

I've never had a problem with them. They can even ship to a motorcycle shop with your repair order or name on the attention line. That way you don't have to figure out how to get the tire from your home to the shop, etc.

Alex · February 2nd, 2009, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

Anyway, I greatly prefer the Sport Demons to the GT501 OEM tires.

What I'm really curious about is what the Dunlop GT501 non-OEM tires will be like on this bike. As far as I know they are still not available in the correct size, but hopefully that will change at some point. I think the OEM compound and/or construction has to be inferior to the standard compound, or people wouldn't be nearly as excited about this tire as they seem to be on track.

jonb08 · March 20th, 2009, 05:34 PM

For the sake of keeping the useful information on one thread... Sorry for not searching prior to making the thread titled "Pirelli Sport Demon"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

The Sport Demons were my favorite tires on our first-gen, and I like them quite a bit on our 2nd-gen as well...

Not sure what deals motorcyclesuperstore.com is running, but I usually find good pricing at www.swmototires.com. Their pricing includes free shipping and no tax.

Motorcyclesuperstore.com had the sport demon front tire for 84.99 and the rear for 116.99 and shipping was free. It's just a couple bucks cheaper than swmoto. Still, the pricing at swmoto is still reasonable. I'm looking to get these things on in about 300 miles when I bring my bike in for its service. Really looking forward to it. They are next to my bed and my room smells like a tire shop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sometimesido

whoa did my post get deleted?
Anyways, be careful the first few miles scuffing.

Thanks Chris, I'll follow that advice.

mike_sema · March 21st, 2009, 07:05 PM

i have the 501 ith 3800 miles on them and they look like i just got them i will be getting another pair when its time i really like them and have had no problems with them at all

NJD022588 · March 22nd, 2009, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

Forgot to mention one thing that stood out. You know how you never want to see a car without its dashboard, because if you do it's amazing at how thin and spindly the connections from the steering wheel down to the wheels looks? (and then you're forever nervous if it will break today, or the next day, or the day after, just when you turn the wheel). Anyway, when I was changing the front tire, I couldn't believe how thin the front axle is on our ninjettes. It is *tiny* compared to the axles on my other bikes. I'm sure that Kawi has spec'd it to be more than enough for what the ninjette needs, but it just looks so thin and spindly! Now I'll be thinking about it when I carve into a downhill decreasing radius turn with a steep dropoff. Will the axle hold this time?

Yep, i know what you mean.

Everything underneath the dashboard seemed so cheap.

Alex · May 26th, 2009, 07:51 PM

Just changed out the rear Sport Demon today, and replaced it with another. This last one was good for just a smidge under 3,000 miles.

wyckedflesh · May 26th, 2009, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

I have no experience on the IRC road winner tires. The only thing I've ever read about them was in the UK review of the Ninja 250, and they said that they were awful and felt wooden. But that reviewer could have been having a bad day, or those particular tires might have had issues, or wrong pressure setting.

They are awful and feel wooden, and that is any day of the week, good bad or indifferent. They are also squaring up rapidly, but I think that has to do more with the high aggregate content of the roads here in the Valley of the Sun. Our roads are very very very much like riding against a grinding stone.

addy126 · May 27th, 2009, 08:38 AM

The IRC tires on the 2009 N-250 are fine out of the box but as I put more miles on them the have more "slippage" in the turns and snag the tar snakes more often regardless of tire pressure adjustments. I compare them to the 2007 stock Dunlops now. Had Pirelli Sp.Demons on my 2007 now is the time to order for the 2009 this week. They make the world of difference!

addy126 · May 27th, 2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

Just changed out the rear Sport Demon today, and replaced it with another. This last one was good for just a smidge under 3,000 miles.

Alex did you stick with the "stock" size for the Sport Demons?

Alex · May 27th, 2009, 09:07 AM

Yup.

camaroz1985 · May 27th, 2009, 09:15 AM

Wow I must be really easy on the tires, or you have very abrasive roads in CA. I have almost 6700 on the stock 501s, and am not really even close to the wear bars.

Alex · May 27th, 2009, 09:17 AM

I tend to use tires up sooner than the average bear.

a10forwar · September 9th, 2009, 08:30 PM

I have the IRC road winner's and dont know much about them. Good or Bad? I am looking to go bigger anyway. Conti or Avon hopefully.

randomwalk101 · September 10th, 2009, 07:10 AM

Your tire only lasted about 3k? Do you do burn out or something?
Posted via Mobile Device

camaroz1985 · September 10th, 2009, 07:51 AM

I'm finally getting close to the wear bars on my 501s. I have 8400 miles on them now. Just bought another set from Richard at Race Bike Rentals.

Alex · September 10th, 2009, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randomwalk101

Your tire only lasted about 3k? Do you do burn out or something?
Posted via Mobile Device

No burnouts.

But no commuting, either. Every mile put on the bike is a fun mile. Fun miles tend to use up the tires at a healthy rate...

backinthesaddleagain · September 10th, 2009, 09:53 AM

At 7100 miles front IRC looking good, but rear looking worn in the middle, gotta find more twisties to wear the edges and leave the center alone.

Anteraan · September 14th, 2009, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by backinthesaddleagain

At 7100 miles front IRC looking good, but rear looking worn in the middle, gotta find more twisties to wear the edges and leave the center alone.

Rats. I only have 1,500 miles on mine, and I'm just looking for a good reason to replace them. Then again, I hate to replace tires that are perfectly fine for commuting, which is what I do 95% of the time. The only "twisties" around here is a road with lots of chicanes, errr, roundabouts.

kkim · September 14th, 2009, 10:47 PM

Replace them. You can always justify a set of backup tires in the garage. Besides, good/great tires make a world of difference in how the bike handles.

gizmogamez · September 15th, 2009, 10:06 AM

I've been to track with the IRCs on, they handled well on a stock bike, but can't say how they would be if I was able to hit bigger lean angles with rear sets and an exhaust...
However, I have been having problems lately with bad feeling in even easy corners (like left turns at lights), it could be that the roads here are cooling down quickly now that fall is almost here....It was 30C+ when I was at the track and only around 18C when I'm out now....
With 6k km on my tires (about 4k is hwy commuting, the rest is fun rides and track) i'd guess that I still have 50% tred left on the back so I should be able to hit 10k km.
I'm really interested in much stickier tires for next year, either bt03s or something else. I think I will just pick up a second set of rims so I can quickly change between 2 sets of tires for commuting and track.

g21-30 · September 18th, 2009, 08:08 AM

Everyone changing tires got me to wondering, so this morning I checked my IRCs. After 2500+ miles, the front has worn .4 mm (4.2-3.8) and the rear 1.0 mm (6.5-5.5)! At this rate, the tires have roughly another 6000 miles left on them.

I had the front tire slide twice, once while doing parking lot u-turns and hit a wet spot and again the next day, as I was cornering and didn't see the freshly cut grass. Fortunately, each slide was very brief and didn't upset the bike's travel.

Cedilla · September 18th, 2009, 05:52 PM

Im at 5,300mi now and my IRC rear is in bad need of replacing, as in about 1k ago. The front still looks almost new. The back tire has been slipping alot, and is just about useless in wet conditions. I almost had a highside a couple of days ago riding in the rain, I then decided I needed new underwear, and a new rear tire. Sucks that money is tight till the end of the year though.

g21-30 · September 19th, 2009, 03:21 PM

Here's a slightly used rear:

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27377

September 13th, 2008, 03:25 PM	#1
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Time for new tires Aired up both tires today in prep for tomorrow's ride, and realized that I was getting close to the wear bars on the rear. And the front is starting to look quite cupped/scalloped on each side, though I'm not close to the wear bars in the center. So I'll likely just replace both at the same time anyway. I always order tires online and typically have an extra set or two for each bike sitting in the garage, but in this case I have nothing stocked up for the ninjette. I went looking at www.swmototires.com, and my first choice was a set of Pirelli Sport Demons. But they don't have the front in stock, only the rear. But Pirelli does sell their Diablo tire in the correct size for the front, and it's in stock, but they don't make a corresponding rear tire. The Diablo would be somewhat stickier than the SportDemon, so it probably wouldn't be too bad of a combination, but I need to think about it. The 2008 ninjette comes stock with the Dunlop GT501's or the Bridgestone BT45's. I have the 501's and am happy with them, but you can't order the correct sizes yet on the open market, only through a Kawasaki dealer and they are way, way overpriced. Southwest mototires does have the BT45's in stock, but the online reviews of folks who have them on the Ninjette weren't particularly good. Avon sells its RoadRider tires in the correct sizes, and they are in stock as well at a good price, but I haven't heard any reviews of that tire. Metzeler sells their Lasertec tires in the correct sizes as well. Anyone have any thoughts? Had good luck with these tires above or even different ones? __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 13th, 2008, 03:45 PM	#2
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Well I'm the impatient type, I guess. Ordered the Sport Demons from www.swmototires.com and www.tiresunlimited.com , just had to order some other tires at the same time to keep the shipping costs down. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 15th, 2008, 09:53 AM	#3
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Well, it turns out that the front Sport Demons that I ordered from tiresunlimited are on backorder for at least a month; everywhere in the country, evidently. So I may have to figure out something else for the front. The rears should be here shortly. I may be able to just change the rear and then change the front when they come in, if they are only a month out. But if that backorder changes to 6 months out, it's not tenable and I'll have to somebody else. (I really wanted to use that smiley! ) __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 24th, 2008, 03:38 PM	#5
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Mounted a new set of Sport Demons today. First time I've had the wheels off of this bike; it's pretty intuitive and not as challenging as some other bikes I've worked on. (But it's not as easy as some others either, especially those with single-sided swingarms whose rear wheels pop off with a couple of bolts and 30 seconds). I always think it's neat to see a bike hanging there with no wheels/tires: More pics here. First ride with the Pirellis will be tomorrow, heading up Mt. Hamilton with some friends, I am curious to see how their profile differs from the GT-501's... __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 24th, 2008, 05:02 PM	#7
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	The rear tire hit the wear bars around 4K miles. I purchased the bike with 1K on it, and there was pretty much zero wear on them (new rider), so I think going forward I can expect between 3K and 3.5K out of a rear. The front wasn't quite to the wear bars yet, but it was scalloped enough that it didn't make sense to keep it on any longer. Motorcycle tires have a very short lifespan compared to car tires for a number of reasons. Primary one is that a car tire contact patch is comparatively wide and flat. A motorcycle tire contact patch is miniscule in comparison, so even though the vehicle weight is lower, the weight on that small quarter-sized patch of tire is significant. It needs to be that way so the bike can lean in corners. In addition, the rubber compounds themselves are typically on the stickier (quicker wear) side. It's a much bigger deal when a 2-wheeled vehicle loses traction compared to a 4-wheeled vehicle, so it makes sense that our tires would tend to be a little stickier. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 15th, 2008, 07:00 PM	#4
Saturn_V ninjette.org newbie Name: Matt Location: Colorado Join Date: Aug 2008 Motorcycle(s): '05 EX250F, '01 Sprint ST Posts: 2	I'm currently running the Metzlers. I've been pretty happy with Metzlers in general (I've had them on every bike I've owned, for whatever reason), and these are fairly decent. They're far better in wet/cold weather than the stock tires. They've been wearing fairly well (4k miles, without any noticeable wear) too... Just don't overfill your oil and let the airbox drain dribble oil all over your new back tire, like I did... -S5

September 24th, 2008, 04:21 PM	#6
JCCJMM_ ninjette.org member Name: John-Michael Location: Texas Join Date: Aug 2008 Motorcycle(s): 2007 EX250 Posts: 133	Sorry if I overlooked it, but what was the mileage on the stock tires? The reason that I ask is because my stock Dunlops had significant wear (50%) after about 2000 miles of soft riding (commuting). I did learn how to mount and balance my own set of tires, so I suppose spending $110 a year is not too bad.....just seems weird to go through tires so fast. At least compared to cars and trucks.

September 24th, 2008, 09:43 PM	#8
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Forgot to mention one thing that stood out. You know how you never want to see a car without its dashboard, because if you do it's amazing at how thin and spindly the connections from the steering wheel down to the wheels looks? (and then you're forever nervous if it will break today, or the next day, or the day after, just when you turn the wheel). Anyway, when I was changing the front tire, I couldn't believe how thin the front axle is on our ninjettes. It is *tiny* compared to the axles on my other bikes. I'm sure that Kawi has spec'd it to be more than enough for what the ninjette needs, but it just looks so thin and spindly! Now I'll be thinking about it when I carve into a downhill decreasing radius turn with a steep dropoff. Will the axle hold this time? __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 25th, 2008, 08:31 PM	#9
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	OMG! The new tires are simply incredible! Feels like a new bike. The Sport Demons are so much more planted and "sporty-feeling" than the OEM GT-501's. I know that the 501's are a popular replacement tire on first-gen ninjettes, but the OEM 501's may be a different story on the 2nd-gen. Because it is night and day from the Sport Demons to the OEM's. Turn-in is much smoother, the bike doesn't fall into turns, it rolls very evenly given constant pressure on the bars. Once leaned over, it just sticks! The GT-501's weren't bad, but once near the edge of the tire they didn't feel particularly planted or sticky, and they moved around a bit more than I'd like. Nothing at all like that on the Sport Demons, it's a truly noticable difference. I was going much faster today on the same roads I've taken the ninjette on in prior weeks, and doing so with much less effort and more comfort. I should have replaced those tires months ago! I'll post up again once I get some more miles on these, I hope their increased performance doesn't translate into a huge dip in tire life, but only time will tell... __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 28th, 2008, 01:05 PM	#10
Sailariel ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Alex Location: Belfast, ME Join Date: Jul 2008 Motorcycle(s): 2010 Honda NT-700-V, formerly, Green 2008 Ninja 250R Posts: A lot.	Tyres for the EX250J I guess the Dunlop 501 tyres are OK--nothing to write home about. I have 4000 miles on my set and they look fine. I am not crazy about the way they handle wet conditions and uneven pavement (which we have a great deal of in Maine). My personal preference has always been Metzler Tyres--seem to be good for touring and performance riding as well. They are not as sticky as Pirelli but they last a damn sight longer. On my competition bicycles, I run Maxxis Tyres and love them. They wear like iron and give excellent gripping in curves. I am tempted to give them a try. I have a Maxxis rep. I can contact for my bike shop--maybe he can swing me a deal on some MC tyres.

January 28th, 2009, 09:25 AM	#11
Tigerpaw ninjette.org guru Name: Tom Location: Dayton, OH Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 '09 Boulevard C50. '08 250r(TOTALED BY DEER) Posts: 467	Any long term updates from anyone with non OEM on '08+ bikes? __________________________________________________ CHEERS!!!

January 28th, 2009, 09:51 AM	#12
Guinss ninjette.org guru Name: Simen Location: Norway Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 250R (Black) Posts: 298	Alex, have some questions about tires for you how do you feel the difference in grip? The only way i can imagine, must be to take a corner with stock tires, fail and crash, and then do the corner again with pirelli tires. Or is that better grip connected to the better turn in? When you say 4k miles lifetime on stock-tires, do you referr to track or road/commuting etc? Mine have done 2500mi, cant really see that its any wear on them.

January 28th, 2009, 10:43 AM	#13
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Tire feel is one of those things that has some objectivity to it as well as some subjectivity. You're right, the level of ultimate grip is right before you lose grip and crash. So that's not particularly useful. But tires differ in other ways. Grip isn't an all or nothing thing. The loss of grip as cornering forces increase can be very gradual (a forgiving tire) or it can be very abrupt (a non-forgiving tire). Many very sticky race tires are more of the latter than the former. Tremendous grip, right up until you don't have any, rather than a smooth drop-off. Also, tire profile/shape makes a difference. That changes how a bike feels as you press the bars and the bike leans. Some cause the bike to lean into the turn faster with less pressure, some require more pressure to heel the bike over. There is a difference in sidewall stiffness as well, which makes the tire more or less compliant over small ripples when the bike is leaned over. Anyway, I greatly prefer the Sport Demons to the GT501 OEM tires. They feel better to me on turn-in, their grip seems more consistent up to higher cornering forces, and they seem to have a significantly softer sidewall. In terms of wear, I think that they will wear a little quicker than the OEM's. I'm about halfway done with my rear tire in about 2000 miles on it. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

January 28th, 2009, 11:38 AM	#15
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	I have no experience on the IRC road winner tires. The only thing I've ever read about them was in the UK review of the Ninja 250, and they said that they were awful and felt wooden. But that reviewer could have been having a bad day, or those particular tires might have had issues, or wrong pressure setting. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

January 28th, 2009, 11:42 AM	#16
kkim Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: Too much.	Yep, read the same thing, but have also heard from other 09 owners that have said those tires sucked. I had no complaints about my bt45s. I'm planning to go back to them or the sport demons when my 090's wear out.

January 28th, 2009, 02:20 PM	#17
Guinss ninjette.org guru Name: Simen Location: Norway Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 250R (Black) Posts: 298	ye your prolly right. ive not done any trackdays, and have never tried any other tires so far, so cant compare them (roadwinner) to anything, but theyre ok on the road i guess havent slipped or anything. but yes, they feel a little wooden actually.

January 30th, 2009, 05:24 PM	#18
KJohnson21 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Ken Location: Indio, CA Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): '08 Kawasaki EX250 "Yoshi", '99 Kawasaki Concours "Grace", '06 Concours "Belle", '06 Yamaha YZF600R "Slick" Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 3	Just an FYI: I found this site a few years ago when I was looking for a tire source. A lot of sites have good tire prices, but these guys are one of the few that have decent shipping prices too. http://www.americanmototire.com I've never had a problem with them. They can even ship to a motorcycle shop with your repair order or name on the attention line. That way you don't have to figure out how to get the tire from your home to the shop, etc. __________________________________________________ < ATGATT > Sweat you can wipe off, Road rash you can't. HEY!! Unregistered!! Does your bike have a name?

March 21st, 2009, 07:05 PM	#21
mike_sema ninjette.org guru Name: mike Location: tucson az Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): ninja 250r Posts: 371	i have the 501 ith 3800 miles on them and they look like i just got them i will be getting another pair when its time i really like them and have had no problems with them at all __________________________________________________ 08 250R: sportisi VR full exhaust, Dynojet, custom seat, kleen air rmvd, rim tape, grips, fender chop,zg db windscreen,k&n air filter,15t front sprocket,sportisi-usa clipons,solo seat cowl

May 26th, 2009, 07:51 PM	#23
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Just changed out the rear Sport Demon today, and replaced it with another. This last one was good for just a smidge under 3,000 miles. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

May 27th, 2009, 08:38 AM	#25
addy126 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: addy126 Location: Tx Join Date: May 2009 Motorcycle(s): '09 Kawasaki N-250 + '09 Vulcan 900 Classic Lt Posts: A lot.	The IRC tires on the 2009 N-250 are fine out of the box but as I put more miles on them the have more "slippage" in the turns and snag the tar snakes more often regardless of tire pressure adjustments. I compare them to the 2007 stock Dunlops now. Had Pirelli Sp.Demons on my 2007 now is the time to order for the 2009 this week. They make the world of difference!

May 27th, 2009, 09:07 AM	#27
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Yup. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

May 27th, 2009, 09:15 AM	#28
camaroz1985 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Ryan Location: Carlisle, PA Join Date: Nov 2008 Motorcycle(s): 2008 WR250R, 2006 Ural Raven (Sold), 2009 Versys Green (Sold), 2008 Ninja 250R Green (Sold) Posts: A lot.	Wow I must be really easy on the tires, or you have very abrasive roads in CA. I have almost 6700 on the stock 501s, and am not really even close to the wear bars.

May 27th, 2009, 09:17 AM	#29
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	I tend to use tires up sooner than the average bear. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 9th, 2009, 08:30 PM	#30
a10forwar ninjette.org member Name: James Location: GE Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 09 Ninja 250R SE Posts: 31	I have the IRC road winner's and dont know much about them. Good or Bad? I am looking to go bigger anyway. Conti or Avon hopefully.

September 10th, 2009, 07:10 AM	#31
randomwalk101 self wrencher Name: john Location: houston Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): 08 250r and 07 600r Posts: A lot.	Your tire only lasted about 3k? Do you do burn out or something? Posted via Mobile Device

September 10th, 2009, 07:51 AM	#32
camaroz1985 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Ryan Location: Carlisle, PA Join Date: Nov 2008 Motorcycle(s): 2008 WR250R, 2006 Ural Raven (Sold), 2009 Versys Green (Sold), 2008 Ninja 250R Green (Sold) Posts: A lot.	I'm finally getting close to the wear bars on my 501s. I have 8400 miles on them now. Just bought another set from Richard at Race Bike Rentals.

September 10th, 2009, 09:53 AM	#34
backinthesaddleagain ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Greg Location: Rhode Island Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2013 ZX6R 636 Posts: A lot.	At 7100 miles front IRC looking good, but rear looking worn in the middle, gotta find more twisties to wear the edges and leave the center alone.

September 14th, 2009, 10:47 PM	#36
kkim Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: Too much.	Replace them. You can always justify a set of backup tires in the garage. Besides, good/great tires make a world of difference in how the bike handles.

September 15th, 2009, 10:06 AM	#37
gizmogamez ninjette.org member Name: Mike Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Join Date: Mar 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Ninja 250R SE Green Posts: 217	I've been to track with the IRCs on, they handled well on a stock bike, but can't say how they would be if I was able to hit bigger lean angles with rear sets and an exhaust... However, I have been having problems lately with bad feeling in even easy corners (like left turns at lights), it could be that the roads here are cooling down quickly now that fall is almost here....It was 30C+ when I was at the track and only around 18C when I'm out now.... With 6k km on my tires (about 4k is hwy commuting, the rest is fun rides and track) i'd guess that I still have 50% tred left on the back so I should be able to hit 10k km. I'm really interested in much stickier tires for next year, either bt03s or something else. I think I will just pick up a second set of rims so I can quickly change between 2 sets of tires for commuting and track.

September 18th, 2009, 08:08 AM	#38
g21-30 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Sam Location: Northern Virginia Join Date: Nov 2008 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R 2009 Posts: A lot.	Everyone changing tires got me to wondering, so this morning I checked my IRCs. After 2500+ miles, the front has worn .4 mm (4.2-3.8) and the rear 1.0 mm (6.5-5.5)! At this rate, the tires have roughly another 6000 miles left on them. I had the front tire slide twice, once while doing parking lot u-turns and hit a wet spot and again the next day, as I was cornering and didn't see the freshly cut grass. Fortunately, each slide was very brief and didn't upset the bike's travel. Last futzed with by g21-30; September 19th, 2009 at 03:19 PM.

September 18th, 2009, 05:52 PM	#39
Cedilla ninjette.org sage Name: Chris Location: Huntsville, AL Join Date: May 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Ninja 250 (sold) Posts: 755	Im at 5,300mi now and my IRC rear is in bad need of replacing, as in about 1k ago. The front still looks almost new. The back tire has been slipping alot, and is just about useless in wet conditions. I almost had a highside a couple of days ago riding in the rain, I then decided I needed new underwear, and a new rear tire. Sucks that money is tight till the end of the year though.

September 19th, 2009, 03:21 PM	#40
g21-30 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Sam Location: Northern Virginia Join Date: Nov 2008 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R 2009 Posts: A lot.	Here's a slightly used rear: http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27377

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Tires tires tires '90 250	mr2peak	General Motorcycling Discussion	4	April 4th, 2014 08:53 AM
time for new tires...	toua70	2008 - 2012 Ninja 250R Tech Talk	12	August 28th, 2013 09:53 PM
Tires Tires Tires (ZZR)	mohns6062	1986 - 2007 Ninja 250R Tech Talk	20	June 15th, 2011 11:57 AM
[roadracingworld.com] - Dunlop: Winter Is A Good Time To Think About The Tires On You	Ninjette Newsbot	Motorcycling News	0	December 24th, 2010 12:10 AM