Let's go tire shopping!!!

[JLinde1339]

Ok, so everyone says the stock tires on the Ninjette are junk. Cool, first time rider, and that's what I have. They work great for me for now, but I'm sure I'll need to replace them at some point. Now I've been reading about tires all over the place trying to soak up what I can. I checked out a link that took me to that "other" site based on our favorite rides and checked out what I actually have on my bike. Yes, I checked the tires' tread and pressure, but never really looked at the measurements before. And what to my surprise did I find? 130/80-16 on the rear, and 100/90-16 on the front.

The "other" site said this combo is bad news. Okay, I can see why, but I am a n00b. I'm learning on this setup. Nothing seems out of the "ordinary" to me, because I know no better! Now I thought the tire looked pretty close to the fender upon inspection; I even stuck a finger between it and the tire. No rub. 150 miles on her so far and no smell of rubber, and no schmutz collecting on the rear of the front fender. None the less, this had led me to tire shopping. Now the "other" site was a fountain of wisdom on the subject, however not a lot of the info I wanted was presented, nor in a way that I would like to see it. So, could anyone chime in on what would be a good tire for a learning rider? I have a set of criteria that's been hard to compare on the site's that I've looked at. Namely, I'd like the sportiest tires I can get for the Ninjette, but also with a really good tread life. Yeah, I know, you guys are all like pshaw, don't we all. But I'm looking for recommendations for something that I'm not gonna be scared to take into twisties, but I'm also not taking her to the track. I want to ride it like she was designed, but I don't want the things to melt away in 3k miles, either. Any suggestions? Cuz all I've seen are both extremes, and all the reviews are from track guys, or touring cruisers. I need guidance here, please. And if you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with it!

[Alex]

Some more info here:

http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/Tire_options_-_pregens

I am partial to the Sport Demons.

[Snake]

+1 for the Pirelli Sport Demons

[Jinx250]

Originally Posted by JLinde1339

And what to my surprise did I find? 130/80-16 on the rear, and 100/90-16 on the front. The "other" site said this combo is bad news.

You clearly didn't read thoroughly. The 100/90 on the front is normal. Of course, I would have expected a 90 series on the rear, but oh well.

Originally Posted by JLinde1339

Now the "other" site was a fountain of wisdom on the subject, however not a lot of the info I wanted was presented, nor in a way that I would like to see it. Namely, I'd like the sportiest tires I can get for the Ninjette, but also with a really good tread life.

Again, You clearly didn't read thoroughly. You get sporty (less mileage) or you get good tread life (less sporty). You can get tires that meet in the middle, but there are trade offs. All of the info is there, whether you like the presentation or not.

[JLinde1339]

Oh? And what was it that I didn't read clearly? It said that mixing the aspect ratio was not recommended. If you have X/90 on the front, you should have X/90 on the back. Tell me what I missed. And no, not all of the info was there. Not every breakdown had an expected mileage. And the one's that did, really didn't say how much cornering ability was traded off. I understand the difference between touring and sport tires. I've had all kinds on various cars over the years. So I wasn't asking for an explanation of that. That's why I made this post. Hopefully to catch the attention of someone who has looked for what I'm looking for in a tire and has found that perfect balance and tried the tires, and could tell me what they were. Now maybe I didn't read your post thoroughly, Jinx, but I didn't see any info in it that was of that nature. Let me re-read it a few more times, and maybe I'll catch it somewhere...
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[choneofakind]

it probably is a good idea to keep the same height tire on the front and back, just to keep the geometry the same, but it wont hurt anything to mix them. as long as they're both bias-ply or both radial (which I don't know of any that fit our stock rims) just dont mix bias-ply and radial on the same bike. anywho, with a 100/90-16 it's not surprising there's not rubbing on the fender. they only rub when you go to a 110/90-16.

I would suggest Bridgestone BT45 (100/90-16 front, 130/90-16 rear) tires. That's what I use. plenty of grip all the way to the edge, good rain response, and good mileage. I put mine on at 9k something and am about to turn 14k and I still have plenty of tread on both tires

PS what make/model tire does the bike have on front?

[blueflash]

130/80-16 on the rear, and 100/90-16 on the front is what you should have to begin with. The stock tires have different aspect ratios.

My FZ1 has a 120/70-17 on the front and a 180/55-17 on the rear. If there is a concept that they must be the same, then that isn't based on good information.

however, good luck finding a 130/80-16. You'll probably only be able to find 130/90-16 for most tires, but that's not a problem. That's where I went with mine, and it's just fine. As far as tire wear goes, these bikes just don't wear tires out like the bigger bikes, so a better, stickier tire will still give you good mileage.

I run a softer Sport Touring tire on my FZ1, and I get about 6500 out of a rear, and up to 10K on the fronts. A lot of the guys I ride with get about 3500 our of their "stickier" sport tires. Just about any tire made for these bikes should get comparable or better mileage than mine...

make sure you balance them well... I got a new static balancing rig, and I didn't get the rear done right (figured that out later... problem resolved...) so I got around 4500 on this one, with a thin side on the tire... If you're fired up about doing your own tires, it's not bad, and balancing is easy as well... minimal investment that will cost less than 2 shop tire changes... I can provide pics if anyone is interested...

[Tony B]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

it probably is a good idea to keep the same height tire on the front and back, just to keep the geometry the same

The second figure is the percentage of the width, in height.

So 90 percent of 100mm aint gonna be the same height as 90 percent of 130mm.

[95XL]

Originally Posted by blueflash

130/80-16 on the rear, and 100/90-16 on the front is what you should have to begin with. The stock tires have different aspect ratios.

My FZ1 has a 120/70-17 on the front and a 180/55-17 on the rear. If there is a concept that they must be the same, then that isn't based on good information.

however, good luck finding a 130/80-16. You'll probably only be able to find 130/90-16 for most tires, but that's not a problem. That's where I went with mine, and it's just fine. As far as tire wear goes, these bikes just don't wear tires out like the bigger bikes, so a better, stickier tire will still give you good mileage.

I run a softer Sport Touring tire on my FZ1, and I get about 6500 out of a rear, and up to 10K on the fronts. A lot of the guys I ride with get about 3500 our of their "stickier" sport tires. Just about any tire made for these bikes should get comparable or better mileage than mine...

make sure you balance them well... I got a new static balancing rig, and I didn't get the rear done right (figured that out later... problem resolved...) so I got around 4500 on this one, with a thin side on the tire... If you're fired up about doing your own tires, it's not bad, and balancing is easy as well... minimal investment that will cost less than 2 shop tire changes... I can provide pics if anyone is interested...

Hey We've got the same bikes! But the 250 is my gf's.

Back on topic, Unless both tires are 130's it'd be near impossible to match the same size diameter front and rear. 130 is your tread width, 90 is the percentage of your tread width that says how tall your sidewall is, and of course 16 is your rim diameter. So a 130/90-16 is 27.375" tall, a 100/90-16 is 24.75" tall. Sorry TonyB, I already had all that typed before I read your post, but now he knows the exact diameter's of the front's and rears.

I've got a Kenda K671 Cruiser on the rear of my Gf's 250, stock still on the front, she says it holds the road much better than stock. Tire choices are all about opinions, so you're probably going to have to experiment with a few different ones to find ones you like. One other thing I've heard, and I'm surprised no-one has mentioned it, is you can buy tires meant for the front of a sport bike, and mount them in reverse rotation on the rear of the 250's. I know I wouldn't do it personally, but people have had good luck with it from what I've read, might be another path to think about.

[blueflash]

Originally Posted by 95XL

Hey We've got the same bikes! But the 250 is my gf's.

So a 130/90-16 is 27.375" tall, a 100/90-16 is 24.75" tall.

Yep... the 250 is the wife's bike... my FZ1 is the faster blue color...

But back to the tire sizes...those sound like pretty tall tires! The first number is the tread width, so a 130 is 130mm wide, a 100 is 100mm wide. The aspect ratio tells you how tall the sidewall is. The combined sidewall height is the width times the aspect ratio (percentage), so

For a 100/90-16, the tread width is 100, the sidewall height is 45mm, or 1.77" for a combined height (between the edges of the tread) of 19.54"
For a 130/80-16, the tread width is 130, the sidewall height is 52mm, or 2.05" for a combined height (between the edges of the tread) of 20.09"
For a 130/90-16, the tread width is 130, the sidewall height is 58mm, or 2.30" for a combined height (between the edges of the tread) of 20.60"

The 1/2" difference in the 130/90-16 over stock should make the bike slightly quicker to turn in, but should be no big deal. The wife's bike handles just fine with the sport demons.

Note that the actual height of the tires is greater than these values, as it doesn't consider the curved cap of the tread section. However, for comparison purposes, they should be decent...

[95XL]

Originally Posted by blueflash

Yep... the 250 is the wife's bike... my FZ1 is the faster blue color...

But back to the tire sizes...those sound like pretty tall tires!

Ah, my FZ is the skunk.

I just did the basic math, i thought the numbers looked a little large.

[blueflash]

Cool! The Skunks are nice bikes. They had one of each on the show room when I got mine, but the blue caught my eye just a tad more...

I spooned on a Conti Road Attack 2 this morning, and have been fussing with my EXUP valve, trying to get it to work smoothly... Don't want to pay for a new one, and I'm thinking of just yanking it...

So are you also on the FZ1OA board?

[Shawn]

I have 100/80 and 130/80 pirelli diablos on my pregen..no complaints here. I have roughly 1200 miles on them and they still look great, and handle great. a huge improvement over stock, and they're nice in the rain.

Oh and they only cost $130 shipped from bike bandit

[95XL]

Originally Posted by blueflash

Cool! The Skunks are nice bikes. They had one of each on the show room when I got mine, but the blue caught my eye just a tad more...

I spooned on a Conti Road Attack 2 this morning, and have been fussing with my EXUP valve, trying to get it to work smoothly... Don't want to pay for a new one, and I'm thinking of just yanking it...

So are you also on the FZ1OA board?

Yeah, I'm on the FZ1OA boards under the same name, I'm currently running Conti-Motions and have no complaints for the last 7000 miles, I finally just started getting a flat spot in the center, so probably another 2 or 3000 miles until I need a new one.

[JLinde1339]

Well, glad I asked about tires, cuz I was on a ride last night and made a stop for gas and a smoke, and as I was looking at my bike, I noticed there was part of what looked like a nail sticking out of my rear tire. I rode it straight home and when I got there, pulled the thing out. Going to check it before I leave for work to see if its lost any air, since it was only stuck in the knobby part of th tread, and at a very steep angle. But this has accelerated my need for tires. Motorcycle-superstore has the Perelli Sport Demons on sale, and looking at those. Also, a local shop is a "preferred installer" so I'm thinking of using them. I'm guessing since they're listed, they won't get all uppity that I bought the tire elsewhere. Sounds like a good deal at $114 for the rear. Has anyone gone this route and bought a tire online and had it delivered to their shop?
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[the big mike]

This thread is interesting. I'm getting back to this when I need new tires

Edit: i just saw it's for the pregen. Does this also count for newgens? Sorry, I'm a tirenoob

[Alex]

There are a few wiki articles on tires for the newgen, here's the whole category:

http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/Category:Tires

[95XL]

Originally Posted by JLinde1339

Well, glad I as Mked about tires, cuz I was on a ride last night and made a stop for gas and a smoke, and as I was looking at my bike, I noticed there was part of what looked like a nail sticking out of my rear tire. I rode it straight home and when I got there, pulled the thing out. Going to check it before I leave for work to see if its lost any air, since it was only stuck in the knobby part of th tread, and at a very steep angle. But this has accelerated my need for tires. Motorcycle-superstore has the Perelli Sport Demons on sale, and looking at those. Also, a local shop is a "preferred installer" so I'm thinking of using them. I'm guessing since they're listed, they won't get all uppity that I bought the tire elsewhere. Sounds like a good deal at $114 for the rear. Has anyone gone this route and bought a tire online and had it delivered to their shop?
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I've never had them delivered to my local shop, but I usually buy my tires online, have them delivered to my house, and pull the tires off the bike myself, them just bring in the old tire/rim and the new tire to my shop and have them mount and balance them. My local shop has never had a problem with it, or given me an attitude about it.

[JLinde1339]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

PS what make/model tire does the bike have on front?

Sorry, but i Just finally made out the name of it last night.

Sakura

The name sounds familiar....

[EsrTek]

During our tail meet, 2 of the guys had Conti-Go's.
I was told they are the perfect mix between grip in corners and longevity. 1 of the guys said his last set went over 10k rear, same front still, the other just got them but loved their grip.

[JLinde1339]

So I went over to my local shop with my son, so I could get some supplies and he could look at bikes. So I pick up some chain lube and cable lube, and the kid in the parts dept offers me this tool that helps you lube cables. I didn't fall for it, as it seems just as easy to spray it into the throttle cable tubes (and it was). So then I ask him about their participation as a preferred installer for motorcycle-superstore.com. And he wasn't sure. So he went into the back to ask someone, and nope. They've never heard of this. So I ask him how much for the Pirelli Sport Demons are installed, since he said they could get those tires, even tho they don't regularly stock them. All told with a half hour of labor, he quoted me around $185.

So after all this, I'm seriously doubting this place or having anything done on my bike there. That's crazy, if I can get the tire delivered to them for $114. I may just change the rubber myself...

[exploring/carolina]

I started changing & balancing the tires on my bikes. Purchased a Cycle Hill Changer made by NoMar. Works well.

When I bought a 99 Ninja 250 earlier this year, installed Pirelli MT75 tires, 120/80/16 & 100/80/16. Really like these tires on twistys, sticky. Only have about 1000 miles on them so far, but understand they don't last long. They are low priced and since I have a tire changer, don't mind changing them more often. If I remember correctly, a set of MT75 tires were around $130 delivered.