Best/Cheapest Place to buy tires

[Driddle]

So i just bought my first ninjette today! And I am so excited!
But the side walls have cracks in them (the front is bad), so I am going to replace them to be safe.
The tires on it are Battlax BT45s from 2008.
What tires would you guys recommend for simple riding around town, maybe a little commuting, and canyon carving (eventually)? And in what size?

I figured I could just get BT45s again.

And where would be the cheapest place to order them?

[tfkrocks]

I ordered mine from Motorcycle Superstore when they had a tire sale. They often have addition 5% sale coupons on top of their already low prices.

OEM size is 110-70/17 front and 130/70-17 rear. Nothing wrong with keeping those sizes. BT-45s are good enough for what you want to do and they're supposed to last longer than a stickier tire.

[rojoracing53]

Originally Posted by tfkrocks

I ordered mine from Motorcycle Superstore when they had a tire sale. They often have addition 5% sale coupons on top of their already low prices.

OEM size is 110-70/17 front and 130/70-17 rear. Nothing wrong with keeping those sizes. BT-45s are good enough for what you want to do and they're supposed to last longer than a stickier tire.

[Driddle]

Originally Posted by tfkrocks

I ordered mine from Motorcycle Superstore when they had a tire sale. They often have addition 5% sale coupons on top of their already low prices.

OEM size is 110-70/17 front and 130/70-17 rear. Nothing wrong with keeping those sizes. BT-45s are good enough for what you want to do and they're supposed to last longer than a stickier tire.

If I were going for something other than BT-45s, what should I look at? Sport Touring or Sport? For example, would Roadsmart II's, or Sportmax Q2s be better?

Thanks again for all the help.

[tfkrocks]

Originally Posted by Driddle

If I were going for something other than BT-45s, what should I look at? Sport Touring or Sport? For example, would Roadsmart II's, or Sportmax Q2s be better?

Thanks again for all the help.

Sport touring tires will last longer; sport tires will be stickier and be better for riding in the twisties. That being said, I've had no problems in the twisties with the hard OEM IRC Roadwinners that people like to complain about so sport touring tires will be more than adequate for some spirited road riding. I'm actually putting BT-45s on my 250 next as they seemed like the best balance of long lasting and stickiness to me.

There's plenty of tire threads on the forum with people's reviews that might be helpful in helping you choose. There's also compiled tire info in the Ninjette Wiki.

[Driddle]

Originally Posted by tfkrocks

Sport touring tires will last longer; sport tires will be stickier and be better for riding in the twisties. That being said, I've had no problems in the twisties with the hard OEM IRC Roadwinners that people like to complain about so sport touring tires will be more than adequate for some spirited road riding. I'm actually putting BT-45s on my 250 next as they seemed like the best balance of long lasting and stickiness to me.

There's plenty of tire threads on the forum with people's reviews that might be helpful in helping you choose. There's also compiled tire info in the Ninjette Wiki.

Thanks Rebecca!

[rojoracing53]

Bias-ply tries get quite a bad rap for stability and performance but I've recently discovered the stock rear tire off the 300(road winner 140) is an awesom tire that holds up to even my most aggressive riding with zero traction loss and doesn't even seem to show any wear yet and I'm already 4,000 miles into it. If you don't think I push the tires hard enough just check out a few of my videos and you'll see I'm hard on tires.

As for the front I still can't recommend a bias-ply up there because I think that's where the instability problem is really from on the stock setup. I run a Michelin racing front but it only goes about 6-7,000 miles before needing a change so it needs to be changed before the rear but its totally worth it because your bike will handle like a dream. Don't worry about mixing tire brands or sizes front front to rear because it really doesn't matter, and anyone who says other wise is full of crap. I even ran the front tire off of @Jiggles ninja 1000 on the rear of my bike for awhile as an experiment and it work fine as while.

Here's a setup I guarantee you'll love and your front tire may only last 6-7,000 miles but it will totally be worth it and you can always try something different next time which could be a whole year later. Find a good used stock ninja 300 rear tire and pick that up cheap or order one brand new in the 140 size, I hear they're about the same price as most other tires but its going to last you forever. Then on the front get the diablo Rosso II front in the 110 size. The reason I say go with the 140 in the rear which it 10mm wider is because I believe there may be a construction difference between the 130 and 140 and I can't confirm the quality of the 130's ride since I haven't tried it. But fear not there is zero problems with running a 140(10mm wider) tire on the rear.

[Alex]

http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/New_gen_tire_options

[DaBlue1]

Originally Posted by Driddle

...... where would be the cheapest place to order them?

Have a look at American Motorcycle Tire for good choice selection and price.

[chris21er]

I love my 150 in the rear.....some say its no good and some say they love it u will never know till u try it i did and love it also have 120 in the front

[dino74]

Driddle, Did you buy your tires yet?

I got a used set of 2 year old (2-3K miles) BT-45 in my garage. They're yours if you want. Free!

[Driddle]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

Bias-ply tries get quite a bad rap for stability and performance but I've recently discovered the stock rear tire off the 300(road winner 140) is an awesom tire that holds up to even my most aggressive riding with zero traction loss and doesn't even seem to show any wear yet and I'm already 4,000 miles into it. If you don't think I push the tires hard enough just check out a few of my videos and you'll see I'm hard on tires.

As for the front I still can't recommend a bias-ply up there because I think that's where the instability problem is really from on the stock setup. I run a Michelin racing front but it only goes about 6-7,000 miles before needing a change so it needs to be changed before the rear but its totally worth it because your bike will handle like a dream. Don't worry about mixing tire brands or sizes front front to rear because it really doesn't matter, and anyone who says other wise is full of crap. I even ran the front tire off of @Jiggles ninja 1000 on the rear of my bike for awhile as an experiment and it work fine as while.

Here's a setup I guarantee you'll love and your front tire may only last 6-7,000 miles but it will totally be worth it and you can always try something different next time which could be a whole year later. Find a good used stock ninja 300 rear tire and pick that up cheap or order one brand new in the 140 size, I hear they're about the same price as most other tires but its going to last you forever. Then on the front get the diablo Rosso II front in the 110 size. The reason I say go with the 140 in the rear which it 10mm wider is because I believe there may be a construction difference between the 130 and 140 and I can't confirm the quality of the 130's ride since I haven't tried it. But fear not there is zero problems with running a 140(10mm wider) tire on the rear.

Thanks a lot rojo. I appreciate the input and when it comes time to buy tires I will probably give that a try.
Are the diablo Rosso II's a radial ?

Originally Posted by dino74

Driddle, Did you buy your tires yet?

I got a used set of 2 year old (2-3K miles) BT-45 in my garage. They're yours if you want. Free!

PM Sent!

[tfkrocks]

Originally Posted by Driddle

Thanks a lot rojo. I appreciate the input and when it comes time to buy tires I will probably give that a try.
Are the diablo Rosso II's a radial ?



PM Sent!

They are radials and many Ninjette riders love them for both the track and the street because they're sticky tires. Of course that means they wear out faster. I plan to get around to trying them too haha.

[felo]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

Here's a setup I guarantee you'll love and your front tire may only last 6-7,000 miles but it will totally be worth it and you can always try something different next time which could be a whole year later. Find a good used stock ninja 300 rear tire and pick that up cheap or order one brand new in the 140 size, I hear they're about the same price as most other tires but its going to last you forever. Then on the front get the diablo Rosso II front in the 110 size. The reason I say go with the 140 in the rear which it 10mm wider is because I believe there may be a construction difference between the 130 and 140 and I can't confirm the quality of the 130's ride since I haven't tried it. But fear not there is zero problems with running a 140(10mm wider) tire on the rear.

isn't Rosso II radials and the IRC bias-ply?, isnt that a big no-no for mixing ?

[rojoracing53]

Originally Posted by felo

isn't Rosso II radials and the IRC bias-ply?, isnt that a big no-no for mixing ?

Did you not read my post

[JELY1990]

Originally Posted by felo

isn't Rosso II radials and the IRC bias-ply?, isnt that a big no-no for mixing ?

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

Did you not read my post

Haha

[felo]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

Did you not read my post

also , i am an idiot

[rojoracing53]

So before this gets anymore out of hand running a road winner 140mm wide bias-ply tire on the rear with any radial tire of you choosing in the front is totally ok.

And it's not just OK, so far its been great and no matter how hard I push the tires I still haven't gotten them to slide, squirm or wear.

[JosueDG]

Great info Jason! I was looking into a new front tire only as it started cracking but I might as well get the rear too.

[felo]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

So before this gets anymore out of hand running a road winner 140mm wide bias-ply tire on the rear with any radial tire of you choosing in the front is totally ok.

And it's not just OK, so far its been great and no matter how hard I push the tires I still haven't gotten them to slide, squirm or wear.

Thanks for the clarification, i am new on this and i always thought mixing was bad thing to do, learning something new everyday. Any specific psi you running with that setup or just stick to the owners manual psi?

[rojoracing53]

Originally Posted by felo

Thanks for the clarification, i am new on this and i always thought mixing was bad thing to do, learning something new everyday. Any specific psi you running with that setup or just stick to the owners manual psi?

Depending on what day of week it is or what I had for breakfast that morning I normally run 30-32 psi. It's kinda random but I find it doesn't make a difference at these speeds.

[Driddle]

Originally Posted by dino74

Driddle, Did you buy your tires yet?

I got a used set of 2 year old (2-3K miles) BT-45 in my garage. They're yours if you want. Free!

I just wanted to throw out another thank you to dino for the tires! They saved me a lot of money, and are going on today.

Driddle