Pirelli Demon

[wardie]

I am looking at new tires for my 2012 250. I didn't mind the IRC Road Winners I could tip the bike all the way over but it appears to be OEM and not readily available so I am looking at Pirelli Demons stock sizes. Has anyone used this tire before and could give me some feedback on them?

Thanks Wardie

[sharky nrk]

Sport Demons? Not a bad tire, but not the tires I would choose on a newgen. Pregen ..... sure. Newgen ....... several better options.

[subxero]

got a set of demons to replace the IRC's Nothing bad to say about them other than my rear wore a fair bit quicker than I expected. If I had to do it over again I would get something else.

JMO

[alex.s]

diablo rosso 2!

[shortyg83]

From reading on this forum I was under the impression the sport demons were basically the best.

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

Not sure why they are saying otherwise.

[cbinker]

Originally Posted by shortyg83

From reading on this forum I was under the impression the sport demons were basically the best.

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

Not sure why they are saying otherwise.

The best tire is actually the tire that gives you confidence and works with your riding style. My preference is actually the Metzler M series tires.

[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by shortyg83

From reading on this forum I was under the impression the sport demons were basically the best.

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

Not sure why they are saying otherwise.

That looks like it basically hasn't been updated since the availability of the Pilot Street Radial (I just added some PSR updates to it). The PSR seems to be getting rave reviews from everyone. It may not be the very best in any single category, but it seems to be very close to the best in all categories. https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=181591 If I were buying stock-size tires right now, the PSR would be first on my list to check out (I'm currently using Pilot Powers on my aftermarket wheels). It's a modern radial designed for these smaller bikes.

One guy in that thread specifically said that the PSR was much better than the Sport Demons he had on his PreGen (slightly apples and oranges there).

[sharky nrk]

Originally Posted by cbinker

The best tire is actually the tire that gives you confidence and works with your riding style. My preference is actually the Metzler M series tires.

This more than anything is the most important thing to take away. No tire is perfect at everything. Each tire gives up something for something else: Price, Traction, Mileage, Comfort, Adverse weather, fitment selection, etc, etc.

A qualifying slick will likely the best dry weather tire for going fast, but would kill you in the wet and not last to the grocery store and cost a fortune. See what I am getting at

There are some tires that are better than others at the majority of the tasks, the PSR seems to be a great all around tire and lots of people like it. I am on S20 Evo and I really like them. Find the tire that meets YOUR needs in the above categories that are important to YOU.

[wardie]

In the end I decided to shoe on the stock sized IRC Road Winner RX-01

my reasons are two fold..

A) I did not want to change size on the front or rear

B) I did not want to go away from bias belted to radials

C) I did not experience any handling problems that others reported such as turn -in, slippery on wet surfaces etc.

In fact I found them to be a very good tire. I can bend the bike over to the edge of the tire , I ride in Ohio so we ride in the rain ALL THE TIME and haven't had any problems in wet weather riding and the mileage is exceptional.

JMO but for $89 shipped to my door price (low) per value(high) too me is very good.

[wardie]

One other thing I learned from the tire seminar is how to check date codes. There's a four digit number stamped on the side wall . Mine was 0815 which means the eighth week 2015. A fairly new tire. To me it's always a concern when you order from a big motorcycle aftermarket dealer that you get newer tires not something that has sat for two years. Tires have not only a road hazard warranty but also a shelf life before the chemicals in the tire could start to break down. Always good to check date codes. If you are ever sent a tire that is a year or two old send it back and get a newer one.

Kudos to Motorcycle Superstore first time I've purchased tires from them and very please with shipping, follow up and newness of tire.

[wardie]

I took my rear wheel to Gollan's Honda Suzuki in Warren known for a great service department led by Keith Likens. They have a dynamic spin balancer. I asked Keith to remove my original tire and weight and spin the rim noting where the heavy spot was. His finding was that it was 180 degrees opposite of the Valve stem! He installed the tire put the dot on the heaviest spot, spun balanced and found that it needed 1 1/2 ozs to balance. I asked then to have tire moved to put dot on valve stem. The results were THE TIRE BALANCED PERFECTLY WITHOUT ANY WEIGHT ADDED!

I mention this because the Bridgestone guy in his seminar answering questions told us to move the tire around just don't automatically put the dot on the valve stem. In this case the alignment was good and for the first time that I can remember no weight was added to wheel to achieve balance.

FWIW Wardie

[sharky nrk]

Originally Posted by wardie

I took my rear wheel to Gollan's Honda Suzuki in Warren known for a great service department led by Keith Likens. They have a dynamic spin balancer. I asked Keith to remove my original tire and weight and spin the rim noting where the heavy spot was. His finding was that it was 180 degrees opposite of the Valve stem! He installed the tire put the dot on the heaviest spot, spun balanced and found that it needed 1 1/2 ozs to balance. I asked then to have tire moved to put dot on valve stem. The results were THE TIRE BALANCED PERFECTLY WITHOUT ANY WEIGHT ADDED!

I mention this because the Bridgestone guy in his seminar answering questions told us to move the tire around just don't automatically put the dot on the valve stem. In this case the alignment was good and for the first time that I can remember no weight was added to wheel to achieve balance.

FWIW Wardie

One thing I have done on my last set of tire changes was to put the bare clean rims on the balancing stand and mark the heavy spot for this very reason.