[Maturin]

I don't skimp on tyres, not with four wheels and particularly not with two! There's not a lot where rubber meets road so it wants to be as good as it can be. Experience & technique amount to bugger all once the grip lets go half way round a fast curve .....

+1

[Blue Ridge Wheeltor]

So I bought a pair of K70's for the '72 Bonneville (3.50x19 and 4.0x18) and got the front mounted. I am putting the Bonnieback on the road, but it is slow going and will sell it.
Now I am starting to think, maybe swap the avon and K70 between the Triumph and Enfield front and buy a 3.50x19 for the rear. This will leave me with a useless 3.50x19 avon speedmaster, unless the sidewall is ated strong enough to use on the sidecar of the Ural. What do you think?
And while we are at it, why do some sites list front tire and back for the K70, and some sites indicate they are interchangeable?
Does the K70 make enough of a difference to go through the hassle? Money is tight, but our roads are twisty.

[olhogrider]

The Dunlop website shows the 3.25 is front only, the 3.50 is front/rear and the 4.00 is rear only. I have no idea why.

[barenekd]

The 3.25/3.50 tires are set up for WM2 rims. The 4.00 is set up for the wider WM3.
Bare

[Andy]

I figured some of you must be riding on death-trap tyres..... 10,000 miles on a motorbike tyre that's still roadworthy....??  Nooo I don't think so....
Riding on bald/old/cracked tyres for the sake of a few quid is dumb on four wheels - on two it's suicidal. Chuck em - your life depends on it. Literally.

No picture yet, but you made me paranoid, so I gave them a good look-see.  The rear is just getting down to the wear indicators.  By 20,000 km they should be junk.  Which is unfortunate, because I can't afford new rubber this year, so I guess I don't get to finish the season.   

[2bikebill]

Andy - is that the centre groove wear indicator, or the sides - with the centre groove gone completely? I'm genuinely baffled how you can get over 10000 miles on the rear tyre (AM26, yes?). What pressure do you have? How do you ride?

[Andy]

Oferchrissakes, lemme get the camera.... 

[t120rbullet]

Tires in the US have small arrows on the sidewall pointing to where the wear bars are.

[Andy]

There's 16,800 km on the odo and at least another thousand that I rode with a broken speedo cable.  You can see the wear bar on the top pic.

[Maturin]

Hey Andi!
You can even get a Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 for your C5!

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/28/396/6013/ITEM/Bridgestone-Battlax-BT-45-Sport-Touring-Rear-Tire.aspx
77 bucks! I wish there were some in 19´...

But there are low-price options, too:
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/29/393/15130/ITEM/Kenda-K761-Dual-Sport-Rear-Tire.aspx
53 pieces of paper.
Unfortunately Mitas is hard to get over there in north America, otherwise this would be my no.1 price tip. They cast some decent tyres there in Czechia...

[2bikebill]

Thanks for posting the pic Andy. That's an illegal tyre where I come from.  I wouldn't ride on em - skiddy in the wet and thin for punctures......
My rear AM26 was down to the limit - the indicator level with the rubber either side, that's 1mm depth left on the centre groove - after 3,500 miles!  You must be riding like a steady old gent on roads made of the finest silk  

Maturin - those BT45s are good tyres. I wanted them for my W650 but there was a long wait so I got the RoadRiders. But I'll be getting them next time - which wont be long judging by the way I seem to wear em down...

[Arizoni]

Andy
The real "wear bar" is the horizontal thing in your picture and it isn't worn at all.

Hell, you might even have 0.005 worth of tire tread sticking up above it.
That ought to be good for another 1000 miles don't you think? 

Seriously you ought to start looking for some new tires.

They are damn cheap insurance against getting some severe road rash on your bod and as good as the Royal Enfields warranty is it doesn't cover torn up motorcycle parts that got that way from sliding on the tarmac. 

[Andy]

Oh, there are inexpensive tires out there, I know.  I can't afford those either.  I was out of work for several months last year, and I refuse to live off the dole, so I"m skint.  I'm living paycheque to paycheque until I can get caught up.

Would you know, there's a not a single Avon Roadrider to be had in this country.  RE hasn't brought any in yet.  Not that I'd put them on again anyway.  They're great on asphalt, but horrible on gravel, dirt and mud - and I tend to seek out gravel, dirt and mud with some frequency.

When I do get new rubber on, it'll be the Dunlop K70s or equivalent.  I like the look of them and I like the thought of this being "on rails".

To answer, "How do I ride?"  I ride from one place to another.  If it's twisty, it's twisty, if it's straight, it's straight.  I don't go thrill-seeking.  If I had ready access to a track, I'd do dangerous, hair-raising things, but I won't do it on a road.   Most of my journeys are in the 80-100 km/h zone, with brief forays into the 110-120 range.   I never run it more than fifteen minutes at those higher speeds.  

As for pressure, I ran several thousand K on the pressure the dealer put in - the one printed on the frame, then dropped it to the lower pressures in the owners manual, plus a pound or two.  Currently I'm running 19 psi front, 25 rear.