Motorcycle Tire Combos

Looking for a new set of motorcycle tires for your bike?

• What kind of riding will you be doing? Having a cruise with some buddies? A ride that's on and off road? A spirited ride on the back roads or a full-bore track day with the throttle pinned and the engine screaming?
• What size wheels do you have? Does your bike have modern 17" wheels or the older 18" style? Maybe you have cruiser sized wheels with a smaller, fatter rear tire and a taller, skinnier front?
• How long do you want your tires to last? Do you want a no-compromises sticky tire that'll last a summer, or do you want something that'll get some mileage and hold up to multiple seasons?

Sport-Focused motorcycle tires

Let's start off with what most of you are here for: A nice, sticky tire that'll last through a good season of hard riding and maybe a couple track days. Fortunately for you, there's myriad tires that fit the description.

The heavyweights in the tire category are Pirelli motorcycle tires, Dunlop motorcycle tires, Bridgestone motorcycle tires and Michelin motorcycle tires. They all develop their tires through race series like MotoGP and WorldSBK, ranging from something that'll last a couple years to a set that'll last a couple months but will take just about any corner you can throw it's way. Most of their supersport tires are geared for the fat 17" wheels that adorn most modern sport bikes and generally hover between $200-$300 for a set. If you're looking at Pirelli, check out the Pirelli Diablo tires. Dunlop has a huge following devoted to their Dunlop Sportmax Q2, Bridgestone is THE tire in MotoGP with their unstoppable Bridestone BattlAx series and Michelin has their astonishing Michelin Pilot Power line. Also worth a look is the Metzeler Sportec line, of which the M5 Interact actually has a lean-angle indicator to impress your friends with how far you can lean your bike over in the corners. Read the reviews, ask around and make your choice.

Bridging the gap between sport & touring

So, what if you want a motorcycle tire that'll actually last through the summer and possibly even see some rain?

Choices Like the Avon Storm 2 Ultra, the Bridgestone BattlAx BT023 or the Michelin Pilot Activ will fit the bill perfectly. These are long distance tires that bridge the gap between sport and touring. You can get some serious miles out of them and still hit the twisties with confidence. These tires will do both jobs exceedingly well. Additionally, Shinko tires may be your ticket. Priced low and manufactured with high quality standards, they are a great deal.

All these tires come in a wide range of sizes, including the 18 inch wheel size of older bikes.

Adventuring & off-road motorcycle tires

Are you a dual sport rider? The Avon Distanzia or Michelin Anakee 2 tire is just what you are looking for. Built for gripping the road, but with a chunky tread block design to glide over fire roads, charge trails and disperse standing water, they are built to take anything you can throw at them with ease.

Depending on your ratio of road to dirt, look at the tread pattern. Larger tread blocks with more space in between them is better for off-road, easily shedding mud and gripping harder in dirt and gravel but will not last as long on the road. A more street-looking design will still do well off-road, but is mainly geared for well-graded fire roads or the occasional technical dirt track, but will last much longer if it is mostly touring duties you are looking for.