Gladius tires

[V-Tom]

My girlfriend has worn out her rear tire. She'd love a tire like my Tourance as we seem to find gravel roads in our travels but as far as I can see there aren't any tires like my Tourance that would fit the rear of her bike. (and I suspect that geometry is a bigger factor anyway.) So, we need a rear tire and would love for it to last a decent length of time and be good in rain, etc. Do you guys have any suggestions what would be good for it? We aren't looking for track tires but more for touring or perhaps sport touring. We'd like to order the rear tire tonight. Size is 160/60ZR17MC (69w) Thanks, Tom

 

[matthew]

shinko 009

 

[omnivore]

Avon Distanzia
Continental Trail Attack
Pirelli Scorpion Sync or Scorpion Trail
Dunlop D616 (maybe not available in a 160?)

 

[TekNinja81]

Hey Tom! Assuming you got something by now; if so what tire did you wind up going with? Rather interesting coincidence: you and I both ride V-Stroms, and apparently our girlfriends both ride Gladius'!

My girlfriend has a 2012 Suzuki Gladius, and her rear tire got punctured a few weeks ago on the way to an (aborted) 507 run; it and her bike are still practically brand new, with just over 1,000KM on them at the time, so we patched it to get her home but she was worried about riding on a compromised tire.

The factory Dunlop Qualifier tires were for some reason "unobtainable except directly via Suzuki" or back-ordered according to every shop we contacted, so we wound up ordering a Michelin Pilot Road 2. So far she's quite happy with it, and personally I believe it may handle better in rain etc as it seems to have a better tread pattern. They're supposed to get some pretty decent mileage as well.

 

[V-Tom]

She ended up getting the same tire that was on her (09) Gladius. The reason was that she is still a fairly new rider (Got her M2 in May although she has, [I think] over 12,000 km since on her bike since she got it in May) and didn't want anything that might change the feel of the bike from what she was used to. We got the tire from Pete's Superbike, they are the least expensive for tires that I have found in Canda. Next time round I imiganine she will get a Pilot Road 2 or 3.

..Tom