It's new tire time. Unfortunately I have an older bike and selection has narrowed somewhat. Ideally, I'm looking for sport touring tires with reasonable longevity but solid handling and good wet grip. I've used Metzeler Marathons/880s for years, but they're not making the new 888's or Tourances in my size.
Specs are:
Front: 100/90-18 56H
Rear: 120/90-18 56H
I guess 18" rims became unpopular at some point? Oddly there's still plenty of options for 16", 17", and 19" rims, but 18" sure seems to be a problem. Anyway, here's what I've found that are exact matches:
Metzeler
Lasertec
Bridgestone
BT45 (Rear is - BT45V)
Dunlop
D404
Shinko
230 Tour Master
None with other manufacturers like Pirelli, though I think in a few cases you can shoehorn on different sizes, giving a few other options. I'm even less familiar with that.
I've tried googling reviews, but you get the usual mixed bag of people saying they're great and others saying they're terrible, without really knowing who had their tires underinflated, who had a bad batch, who rode like an idiot, etc.
I did see a spate of bad reviews for the Lasertec, saying they had really low wear, even for pure sport tires - as low as 3000kms, but those seem to be clumped up about four or five years ago.
Not sure if anyone has any suggestions on how best to decide. All these tires are pretty close in price, so that's more or less immaterial. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
Specs are:
Front: 100/90-18 56H
Rear: 120/90-18 56H
I guess 18" rims became unpopular at some point? Oddly there's still plenty of options for 16", 17", and 19" rims, but 18" sure seems to be a problem. Anyway, here's what I've found that are exact matches:
Metzeler
Lasertec
Bridgestone
BT45 (Rear is - BT45V)
Dunlop
D404
Shinko
230 Tour Master
None with other manufacturers like Pirelli, though I think in a few cases you can shoehorn on different sizes, giving a few other options. I'm even less familiar with that.
I've tried googling reviews, but you get the usual mixed bag of people saying they're great and others saying they're terrible, without really knowing who had their tires underinflated, who had a bad batch, who rode like an idiot, etc.
I did see a spate of bad reviews for the Lasertec, saying they had really low wear, even for pure sport tires - as low as 3000kms, but those seem to be clumped up about four or five years ago.
Not sure if anyone has any suggestions on how best to decide. All these tires are pretty close in price, so that's more or less immaterial. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
