I know the 09 bikes come with IRC tires. How do you like them in the twisties? Are they good or bad?

I was at Willow Springs last weekend doing burnouts with my new 09 with IRCs and a guy came up and said I should stop wasting those tires. He said they were MUCH better than the 090s. All I know is that they smoke real good :)

did you get to try them out on the track?

Naw, just the pits. I'd be skeered to try them on the track.

I'm trying to find out how they compare to the stock Bridgestone or Dunlop tires that came on the 08s.

You're a big help... squid. :squid:

You wanna buy them? :D :D

After the burn out? :rolleyes:

what, your now "racing slicks" IRCs??? :lol:

So, OG... how are those tires?

There still on the bike. :D Weather has been too crappy to get out since the day I got it and it's hard to tell sitting in the garage going vroom vroom (the neighbors are starting to talk, guess I should close the door).

Weather man is talking about rideable weather Sunday and forward sooooo

my local dealership says that the '08s actually got the better deal with the dunlops (and that I lucked out not getting those IRCs) plus, they do not look as sporty. they do look softer tho. anything could feel softer than these dunlops =/

So I figured my tires would be coming in today and would call around to see mounting/balancing prices. I was going to buy the rim protectors, tire spoons and weight tool, the "stuf", but then thought, "Well that's going to quickly add up to a good $50-$60, I'll just pay to have them done this time.".

I'm used to car tires/wheels where they charge like $15 or so a wheel to change tires. I literally said, "I have the wheels off and already possess the tires. I just need them swapped and balanced"... Simple yes?

I called 5 places and the prices ranged from $25/wheel to $35/wheel. :( What the deuce? For something that'll take less than 5 minutes it could cost me damn near the cost of one of the tires to do! I haven't been to any type of shops since I've lived in San Diego because I AM a mechanic, and know how shops super-inflate prices around here, but damn :(

lol... now you see why I roll my own? :D

the prices in shops here are even higher than what you've quoted.... plus you're never sure how much they're going to band up your rim in the process. Did your pricing include balancing, too?

The last shop I contacted was the best. THEY quoted me at $51 and change for everything (including tax) so I liked them. For shits and giggles I called two of the dealers around here and one guy said, "It's uhhh $30 a wheel plus uhhh tire disposal fee". Which in my mind inflates to around $40 a wheel with all that bullshit. It sounds funny, but when the person on the phone sounds like a teen-aged kid who is only there to make a 'paycheck' that's an immediate disqualification for ANY business to me ;)

The last shop was a dedicated motorcycle shop and the guy literally asked me if they were tubed tires or not (a HANDY thing to know IMO for price figuring) and since he did the TOTAL price with tax and everything I'm going to drop the money this time and with him for being so courteous (Even if his prices were a couple bucks more which they weren't).

$50 for changing and balancing 2 tires is a deal. You'ld spend more on aspirin for your aching back if you did them yourself.

Kelly, Now that Kawa has changed to IRC, do you think that the Dunlop 501`s will be available at a reasonable price in the catalog stores? Now they are only available at Kawa dealers at an inflated price.

Alex, I have no idea what Dunlop will do, but if you are looking for the 501s in our size, check out Richard's thread. He has some for sale... maybe he'll have a ninjette discount, if you ask nice enough. :thumbup:

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13607

Im on my second 09 now and im not impressed. they seem to get very upset in the corners. havent had a chance to compare them to the BT's but come springtime there gonna be the first thing to get changed.

Im on my second 09 now and im not impressed. they seem to get very upset in the corners. havent had a chance to compare them to the BT's but come springtime there gonna be the first thing to get changed.

Sean - Would like to expand a "little" on how you are on your SECOND '09?

happened oct 16th 08 heres the story with pics


recycled from an old post

wreck happened about 6:15 pm last thursday on my way to see my lil sis play volleyball. i was about 1/4 mi from my house.
deer was over the top of a little rise in the road in about a 4' ditch it jumped out as i crested the hill. hit it in the shoulder at about 50.
bike flipped end over end at least once before doing a 180 and landing in the ditch. i got hit in the foot with the gas tank tearing a chunk
out of my steel toe shoes i was wearing. (luckly not my foot) i did a cartwheel or two before landing and sliding to a stop in the ditch 25'
or so farther down the road than the bike. put a pretty nice dent in my helmet and busted the visor and mounting brackets out of it.
my right glove is pretty rashed up from me trying to catch myself but it kept my hand from getting tore up. i had just got a new armored
jacket in the mail on wed. and that was my first time taking it out and all i can say is wow. it did its job well. i dont have a scratch on me
and barely even got bruised. the bike is pretty much totaled fairings destroyed, fork bent, swingarm bent, tank dented, handlebars and
controls are destroyed. its a 09 ninja ex250J brand new i bought it 7 days before the wreck. insurance has not decided on its fate but
im sure its totaled. oh well guess i will have a new one for spring.


http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/4195/1009081507sm9.th.jpg (http://img61.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1009081507sm9.jpg)http://img61.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7785/1018080918kz5.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1018080918kz5.jpg)http://img185.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4049/1018080928ki0.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1018080928ki0.jpg)http://img222.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

I picked up my 09 Special edition at the begining of january.

welcome to the forum sean! hate to see that you're on your second bike, but glad to hear you were unharmed :)

I picked up my 09 Special edition at the begining of january.

Glad to hear you are OK, car vs. deer usually not so bad, man vs. deer most likely serious outcome.

Thanks for sharing.

I'm on my second '08 250R. Maybe we should start a new sub-forum. :D

Lots of deer around here. I try to avoid riding at night since there are no streetlights out this far, but I have to admit the 250R's high beam is pretty awesome and illuminates a lot more than you'd think. The headlights on my '08 Ninja are better than the ones on my '08 Altima Coupe.:confused:

TF- Put a set of HIDs in there and you'll be amazed at what you can see at night on a dark, unlit road. :eek:

Hm.. yeah, I thought the general consensus was that the '09 IRC's were a cost-cutting measure and inferior to the '08 Dunlops?

that was the general take on them based on some pretty bad reviews of tire on Euro bikes in 08, but I was asking about actual feedback from people who have these tires on their 09 bikes. are they good or bad? :)

I used to use IRC tires on my road bicycle that I'd get at Bike Nashbar. They were always known as a cheaper tire, but they were perfectly adequate. I would think they'd be fine for normal use, but I'd go with something better for the track for sure.

Found some customer reviews at bikebandit: http://www.bikebandit.com/product/3610

Actually seems like a decent tire. I still think the ninjas should've come with the dunlops or bridgestones, though, esp considering the 09s had a nice price hike...

Vex - do you want to move this or copy this into one of the other tire threads? This one was mainly for Kkim to find out more about the IRC's coming stock on the 2009's.

Aite, well I can finally post up some initial impressions of the IRC Roadwinners on the 09. Mind you, the streets are cold and the tires are brand new (aka waxy) so I won't comment on the stickiness yet.

But like other people have commented on for this tire, it follows the grooves in the pavement. I rode into a small (cms small) crack in the road parallel with my direction and it threw my front end off like crazy - and I mean side to side. Never had problems like this with the dunlops on my 06. 10 minutes later I rode over a railroad track and it did the same thing. If I hadn't had both hands on the bars the wobble probably would've thrown me off. So I'm officially scared to ride on grooved/grated sections with these tires...

I just had my bike in the shop for 7500 mile service and her first rear tire replacement. I asked them to replace it but this time with the Bridgestone stock tire for the 08s. The guys there seemed to agree that it was the better tire over the IRC. Well I already notice a difference in turns...I think the IRC must have had a stiffer sidewall but I get a much smoother feeling from the Bridgestone in turns at both high and low speeds.

Aite, well I can finally post up some initial impressions of the IRC Roadwinners on the 09. Mind you, the streets are cold and the tires are brand new (aka waxy) so I won't comment on the stickiness yet.

But like other people have commented on for this tire, it follows the grooves in the pavement. I rode into a small (cms small) crack in the road parallel with my direction and it threw my front end off like crazy - and I mean side to side. Never had problems like this with the dunlops on my 06. 10 minutes later I rode over a railroad track and it did the same thing. If I hadn't had both hands on the bars the wobble probably would've thrown me off. So I'm officially scared to ride on grooved/grated sections with these tires...
Well I'll be! That's exactly what the Avons do! The more I've been riding on them I notice the instability problems on certain areas of the highway and such (like I never noticed before on the Dunlops) which is a definite correlation to the road. I think I'm just getting used to it now, but it's still frustrating as I never had that before. I hate to say it, but I can't wait till these tires wear out so I can switch either back to the Dunlops or to the Bridgestones :mad:

track day?

...so I can switch either back to the Dunlops or to the Bridgestones :mad:

... or the sport demons ... :thumbup:

Tempting :p But at around $250 for the pair? Yikes :( I guess if you figure that'll last 6-9 months that is like only spending $8 extra a month heh heh heh (gotta be an optimist)

$230 shipped to your door from this link (http://arizonamoto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SWMT&Category_Code=SprtDmn)...

$230 shipped to your door from this link (http://arizonamoto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SWMT&Category_Code=SprtDmn)...

I've heard that they're nice and sticky but they take a hit in wear. How many clicks are you guys getting out of them (nontrack)?

I'm only on the first set of the sport demons on the 2nd gen ninjette. Changed out the stock tires at 4500 miles, and am now at 6400 miles. Rear looks to be about half done, front's probably not down quite that much. I'd expect 3500 - 4000 on the rear before they need to be replaced, and maybe the front could be kept til 6K, though I'll likely do them at the same time around 8500 miles on the odo.

This is pretty much the same wear I experienced with the sport demons on the 1st gen ninjette, 4K was a good estimate for the rear.

Alright, so I passed the 600km mark and I DO NOT RECOMMEND them!

First off, my fears were confirmed today. Rode over a grated bridge and it was the first time I truly thought I was going down. The front was irratic - up and down AND side to side - all while I was holding on. It was almost comparable to the carnival bulls that pitch and yaw to knock you off. So for this reason, and the previous experience I had with cracks/railroad tracks, I am warning people away from the IRCs.

The only redeeming factor is that grip-wise they're pretty decent. They do seem to lock up a lot more than the Dunlops on the pre-gens, but that may also be because I'm not used to the improved braking system on the new-gens. The only thing stopping me from tearing them off is because I'll be starting 3 years of student debt again soon - and Canada doesn't have many grated roads... but for anyone with an 09 - please BE CAREFUL!

my local dealership says that the '08s actually got the better deal with the dunSlops (and that I lucked out not getting those IRCs) plus, they do not look as sporty. they do look softer tho. anything could feel softer than these dunSlops =/

There, fixed it for you...

For the canyon, they were skittish, not inspiring much confidence leaned over hard, sliding fairly soon. Course, that could have also been influenced by the poorly sprung front end for my weight and the tendency to start skipping over small bumps or ripples in the pavement. I was not too pleased... but then, I am used to Pirelli Diablo Corsas...

yeah thats been my major problem with them, they just get very irratic very fast they seem fine then all of a sudden there all over the place im getting ready to slap a diff set on im trying to decide what i want now.

Yeah by no means am i an expert on this subject but as noob i haven't had any problems with this tire to date.

Only 200km on them and i'm almost already at the edge.

At 100km i went to a round about and got up to here:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Custom_Samurai/IMG_2075.jpg

and now with 100 more km of just regular road i'm here:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Custom_Samurai/IMG_2080.jpg

Have nothing to compare it with seeing how this is my first bike i don't have any stability issues. I'll be going back to the round about this Sunday to try and wear in the whole tire. Let you know how it goes.

Done 13k kms (~8k miles) on my '09 with IRCs, fair bit of straight riding and I'm at the wear markers on the centre with heaps of tread left on the sides on my rear and a majorly square profile, front looks almost virgin. Can't compare these to anything else as it's my first road bike but IMHO I wasn't expecting so much wear in the centre on the rear; never smoked them.

After much deliberation and searching online (especially here) I'm getting a set of BT45s.

A.

There, fixed it for you...

For the canyon, they were skittish, not inspiring much confidence leaned over hard, sliding fairly soon. Course, that could have also been influenced by the poorly sprung front end for my weight and the tendency to start skipping over small bumps or ripples in the pavement. I was not too pleased... but then, I am used to Pirelli Diablo Corsas...

Actually, yes, a couple of days ago my back tire did slip out a bit on a right corner. It freaked me out. My foot and peg scrapped the ground and by a miracle, I was back up. Stupid crappy long beach roads, they are beginning to loosen up where parts of the road are becoming really bad. I think that is why they are doing non-stop construction around my school. :(:mad::) (bitter sweet)

Edit: I just noticed that comment was from March! lol.

Done 13k kms (~8k miles) on my '09 with IRCs, fair bit of straight riding and I'm at the wear markers on the centre with heaps of tread left on the sides on my rear and a majorly square profile, front looks almost virgin. Can't compare these to anything else as it's my first road bike but IMHO I wasn't expecting so much wear in the centre on the rear; never smoked them.

After much deliberation and searching online (especially here) I'm getting a set of BT45s.

A.

Same exact findings on my bike front and rear with 9K miles on the IRC. Also going to BT45, though a friend really likes the Sport Demons. Anyone have experience with both the BT and the Demon?

Actually, yes, a couple of days ago my back tire did slip out a bit on a right corner. It freaked me out. My foot and peg scrapped the ground and by a miracle, I was back up. Stupid crappy long beach roads, they are beginning to loosen up where parts of the road are becoming really bad. I think that is why they are doing non-stop construction around my school. :(:mad::) (bitter sweet)

Edit: I just noticed that comment was from March! lol.

I scrape my boot all the time and I'm sure I've felt the pegs' feelers drag multiple times too. It's not so bad if you haven't installed fixed pegs or rearsets. :cool:

It happens especially often during slow left turns with my foot hanging under the shifter so that I can up-shift.

Well after a summer of riding i'd say they're just ok. Never really slipped with them except one time that i hit a crushed water bottle in a turn with my front tire. It was dark so i didn't see it and my front slid about 2 inches outwards. I almost had to change my underwear.

They get the job done but my next set are Sports Demons, or BT-090s, but i'll see when i get there.

P.S.
They suck on mud.:rolleyes: I know from experience.

They suck on mud. I know from experience.


Guess we need to get Mickey Thompson to start making some swampers for bike apps.

On that note I wonder how they would corner:D

Guess we need to get Mickey Thompson to start making some swampers for bike apps.

On that note I wonder how they would corner:D

Lol, yeah I was riding thru the mountains and it had been raining all night the day before. The roads seemed clear and I started to enjoy the roads. Came around one corner and just before the exit there was a mud slide.

Tried my best but i went down.:( Learned my lesson tho.

lousy on ice/snow and wet marshy fields (that looked dry when i went to park the bike)

The IRC's in my opinion are ok for dry roads....they are absolutly CRAP in the wet though, and for that reason ought not even be allowed into the US.

Riding in the rain, or on any wet road...they feel like you are riding on 10 speed bicycle tires.

I have nothing to compare against but thus far I am on the fence about the IRC tires on my '09 250R. I have found the front to feel a bit soft and slippery especially when turning in the wet even at slow speeds but then had a nail in the back and it didn't lose air or blow up after about 20km riding before I noticed it. Thus, I don't want to demonize the front when the back was possibly compliant enough to save my skin.

When putting my bike in storage the past week and describing my riding the mechanic helping me said they have held up well and if nothing better was available then another set of the same would be a good choice but I still wonder about the wet weather traction.

So having to replace the rear and wanting to do the front at the same time I'm looking for something better but don't really know what to look for other than the Bridgestones I hear such good things about.

rode the irc tires in a noreaster - high winds and rain. we really pushed it that day (all in the name of a good cause) and the only time they let me down were when the rear went through a bed of pine needles. truthfully think that day no tire would make a difference as too much water for any tire to channel away.

I don't have any complaints about them. I've got about 6k on them and they show very little wear. They are definitely not a super grippy sport tire and it is easy to find their limits. In the rain the back tire would spin during acceleration if I got anywhere near a tar line. I don't have anything to compare it to so I will probably try out the BT45s next.

Just got bt45 mounted on rear wheel today. Haven't ridden yet.
Posted via Mobile Device

Just got bt45 mounted on rear wheel today. Haven't ridden yet.
Posted via Mobile Device

so far so good (50 miles). rear tire just didn't look that bad at 9500 miles. even service dept thought i could get a bit more out of it. but realized one thing quickly that the wearing of the middle seemed to make the bike lean abit more abruptly where new tire is nice and smooth in a lean. Easy leans until the tire gets a few more miles.

So my last post was back in April. After a whole summer of riding I think they're just blah. They're not garbage but at the same time all my confidence in them is not big.

Riding in cold weather on the highway in sweeping turns the bike felt like it was slipping ever so lightly. Kinda scared me the first time, but sure enough time and time again I passed the same spot and it felt the same but it became normal.

so far so good (50 miles). rear tire just didn't look that bad at 9500 miles. even service dept thought i could get a bit more out of it. but realized one thing quickly that the wearing of the middle seemed to make the bike lean abit more abruptly where new tire is nice and smooth in a lean. Easy leans until the tire gets a few more miles.

Was that 9500 on the stock tires? I have 5000 miles on mine and they seem to be in good shape.

yeah stockers. still on original front. kind of not sure if i switched too soon everytime i go in the garage and see that 9500 mile rear tire against the wall looking not to bad.

Got about 9500 km (5900 miles) on my IRC tires (stock on my 2009 250R), and they've still got quite a bit of tread left. The rear is getting a bit flat in the middle, but front is still very round.

I'm not all too happy with the front tire. It does seem to slip quite easily in corners, slow or fast, even in the dry. I'm a new rider without anything to compare motorcycle tires to, though. I only had the rear slip once a little bit in rainy weather, in a corner, on road markings, but I guess any tire will slip easily in that situation. When my Ninja's next service is due at 12000 km, I'll probably order a pair of BT-45s.

This might be silly but, what is IRC? My tires say "Road Winner" Idk what the difference is. Everyday coming home from work, I love to take the long way home because of the fact that it has many twisties and i usually do not decelerate around those turns. I stay around ~40-45mph and it stays stable. I'm thinking of switching to 140's in the back, If anyone made the change to 140's tell me how it is so I know hehe. Thanks.

Happy 250Rider

irc is the company that makes the tire. road winner is the model. read your sidewall.

do a search on "tires"... there have been many different sizes used on the 250 by forum members.

Stock tires on the 09 work great for twisties/track. I put scrape marks on the exhaust pipe from leaning over so far, thats how well they held up.

Stock tires on the 09 work great for twisties/track. I put scrape marks on the exhaust pipe from leaning over so far, thats how well they held up.

same here, I left stock IRC's on the bike at the track last summer. I still managed to wear a hole in the heat shield on the exhauxst and wore of a good chunk of the side stand (the lower bolt on it is gone now, so i think that's about 1/4inch gone).