Help with "Reading" my tire please

bender

bender

Well-known member
First of all, thanks in advance for your reply's.

A few weeks back the wife and I embarked on our 1st 1000+km run on the bike together taking mostly hwy's. After about 45 mins to an hour down the highway, I stopped to make sure all was well with the wife and the bike. After checking the tires I found this (picture below) Tire pressure cold when we left was @R39/F38 and R41/F40 when i pulled off. The tire is a 160/60zr17 (+10mm for my bike) BT016 with a 69w for load rating. I am guessing the load capacity is my problem as the bike is 500lbs wet plus 300lbs of rider/passenger. I plan on adding a 3 piece Givi setup to the bike over the winter also, so i will be way over limit for this tire. If anyone has any recommendation on a decent replacement, where i can still feel confident riding solo, but will take the load and fit my bike, I would be grateful. With the combination of the +10mm tire size and me not fully trusting the bike (or should i say myself?) yet, i have never even seen the outside compound.
Here is a couple pictures of the tire and a couple bike shots from that weekend also.


Footnotes for people who don't like to read:
500lb bike with 300lbs rider/passenger and thought of 3 piece Givi setup over the winter (01 Katana 750)
16060ZR17 (69w) BT016
speeds of 120-130km for approx 45min on highway
cold pressure F38/R39 and F40/R41 when picture was taken (5mins sitting)
After bumping the pressure up to the max recommended 42psi it cleared things up, but i just dont trust them any more.

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69 is rated for 720 lbs (surely much of your 800 lb load is on the front tire) - so you're good there.
w - is good for over 270 kph- probably good there too.

I've seen tires look like that, and also look much worse/better, no issues to report.
A sport touring tire may suit your needs better than a hypersport tire, and be much cheaper in the long run as well ($'s per km).
 
Wrong tire for the job....016 is a Hypersport tire.
But more pressure will help.
Bridgestone 023 is fantastic, knee-dragging sticky, quick to warm up, and lasts like iron.
 
I ran Dunlop RoadSmart sport touring tires on a full supersport bike and found that when I added a tankbag and rear seat bag I had to up the pressure approx.: Front 2-3 lbs. & Rear: 3 - 4 lbs. This would eliminate the developing of a flat spot on either tire. I found that today's dual compound sport touring tires stick like near glue enough for aggressive street riding, give twice the life of hyper-sport tires & work better in the rain.

So I image you need full 42 PSI in your rear tire and 40 - 42 in the front when 2 up riding with some luggage. You will know if you have too much pressure in the front tire because with too much pressure the tire will follow ever little crack in the road. I tried 42 once and this happened so I dropped it 2/3 psi and it worked great for the 1,500 km trip. This resulted in a compliant and non-jarring ride and the front did not have a mind of its own.
 
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Thanks for the insight. I will give the 023 a shot next season, for now i will make due with the 016 for the remainder of the season as its to chilly for the wife to ride.
 
bender said:
Thanks for the insight. I will give the 023 a shot next season, for now i will make due with the 016 for the remainder of the season as its to chilly for the wife to ride.
Click to expand...


Of the sport touring tires, Dunlop just introduced a new RoadSmart 2 sport touring tire. In testing so far it basically matched the Michelin PR3 (presently the best tire for the wet) for wet riding and beat the BT-023 (best for the dry) for dry conditions grip and has better life than both. It was tested at Dunlop's test track on Suzuki GSXR750's. The riders rode the bikes with the 3 different tires and the Dunlop was the winner hands down per some motorcycle sites.

I imagine over the coming winter months that many new tires will be released by the manufacturers. So the available choices will be different in the spring. I suspect the BT-023 will be old school by then.
 
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