| Author | Message | ||
     Gschuette |
So here is the deal. In the month+ that I have owned my bike I have put a tick over 3,000 miles on it. The rear 208 is very flat now and I'm going to need new donuts soon. I want them now. I am hesitant to buy any now because of the impending cold weather. If I put them on now and they sit on the motorcycle in the shed through the winter will they have the same grip and be in as good as condition as if I had left them off and kept them indoors and warm all winter? Does that make any sense? Sorry for the run on. I am going to get some Scorpion Syncs by the way. | ||
| Blake |
I wouldn't be at all concerned with leaving new tires on a bike in the cold. When you do first take the bike out for a ride just remember to check tire pressure and then ease into scrubbing the new tires in. That's all.  | ||
| Gschuette |
I was just a little tentative about the softer compounds of the motorcycle tire losing grip permanently when they are exposed to the cold for so long. Thanks for the help Blake. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I also wouldn't be worried about the new tires. A random word of warning: If you leave the 208's on for the winter... BE CAREFUL if/when you take it for a spin. In anything below 45 degrees, those things are hard as rock and VERY slippery! | ||
| Gschuette |
Funny you should say that. Had an oh shit moment a few nights ago when it was a little chilly. Cruising through a nice right hander and very easy pace (just left a light) and both tires started to slide out from under me. I thought it was going to go all the way but somehow it caught itself. It was probably 40 degrees so I know you speak the truth! | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Yup. I had fun with them a few times, holding out first gear to moderately high RPM, and then snapping the throttle closed would cause the tire to lock up and slide to the side just for a fraction of a second. Same thing with shifting hard into second would cause a little fish tail. THAT part was fun... then when I came extremely close to dropping the bike twice because of major sliding, I realized that the slipperyness was not a good feature to have. | ||
| Gschuette |
Hey Mike I ordered the Scorpion Syncs today. I have been monitoring your sport touring tire thread and maybe I can throw a review of the Sync in there soon. I got them because the roads here is Utah are bumpy, filled with gravel and very very coarse. Syncs seemed like the best sporty tire to handle the rough stuff. I feel your pain on the straight line stuff. I often have to do a lot of interstate miles to get to the twisty stuff. Thanks for the help so far. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Those dunlops D220 were positively dangerous in cold weather... the first mile of every ride was an exercise in terror. Once up to temperature, they were OK, except that they tend to fail early (long strips peeling off all at once). All in all, a lousy tire. The Syncs do great for what you describe. I am on my 6th one now for the 9sx. Trojan described them as being squirmy at the track, when they get too hot and those big tread blocks start to move around. I did not experience that on my track day, but I was just a fast novice. I'm sure I was not pushing the tires to their limit. I notice them a *little* squirmy on a 31 degree F day when I start out, but not "sliding" like the D220's did, more like the feeling you get when you roll over a little pebble or something and the rear steps out 1/4 inch or something... (I ride like a chicken in the rain or cold though...) CeeJay put a set of Metzler Z6's on his XB and liked them better then the Scorps. He knows how to ride, and was one of the "even faster" novices on our track day... so they might be worth considering as well. I do believe the syncs do much better on gravel / mud / grass. Its amazing how little traction a sportbike tire has on those conditions... I can remember on the M2 trying to climb a really small hill in the yard at my old house when the grass had some dew, and the rear just sitting there spinning... might as well have been on a sheet of ice. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I look forward to your results with the syncs! Seems like MANY people love them! From what I've gathered though, I get worse mileage than almost all reviews I see, and I've seen multiple reviews of the Syncs lasting only 3-4k miles. I'm still on my quest of finding a good tire that'll last closer to 10k miles. I've pretty much given up, and decided 5k is all I'm going to get out of most tires... which is a bummer considering I'd like to ride 15k a year, but $800 in tires is a bit exsessive. |
