I had a metzler race tyre blow out on me at a track day. It’s funny, personal preference now makes me always favour pirelli because they are a grippy tyre that’s never let me down. Despite people on Metz coming past me on slower bikes having tons more grip mid corner. But I’ll never trust them again lol, it was probably just a bad tyre not a bad brand, but I’ll never forget that feeling being airborne not attached to the bike haha
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Here are the Pilot Street Radials:
https://motorcycle.michelinman.com/motorbike/tyres/michelin-pilot-street-radial
Looked up the commander II’s - they are listed as a cruiser tire so likely bias ply for load capacity and harder rubber for longevity under that load.
My Shinko’s are classed as a Sport-Touring tire:
The first Shinko rear lasted me 8,598km and this one now has about 8,700km. Front tire has been on for 17,287km but is started to crack just slightly inside the tread grooves. Date stamp has it at 4 years old - the rear is 3.
Not a ton of options for me on the 250 and the Michelin’s are the only ones that are in stock online at the stores I shop. A review I read on them from a Ninja 250 forum had them lasting equally to the Shinko’s so that’ll work for me.
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I had Bridgestone, Metzeler, Pirelli and Michelin on my bikes in the past 20 years. What I could observe is that technology improved immensely over the years. Modern road or touring tires from the big brands don’t really have weaknesses anymore.
Its more a question what you believe in 
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When I was in the Ducati club a few years ago, we did a tour of the Pirelli factory in Rome, Georgia. Get it, an Atlanta based club for an Italian motorcycle visiting an Italian tire factory located in a town in Georgia named after a famous Italian city? Confused? Well, there is an Athens, GA as well, but I digress.
The tour was hosted by the North American director of racing. He was a great guy, who rode an Eddie Lawson signature Kawasaki superbike. It was a interesting day, but one of the points that he made is that he runs sport touring tires on his street bike, rather than pure sport tires, because they had advanced to the point that they are not only very grippy, but also warm to operating temperature quickly.
He said that a sport tire can’t be warmed to operating temperature on the street, because it needs to be accelerated and braked very aggressively, as what happens on the track. Weaving back and forth like race cars do to warm tires does not work with a motorcycle tire. Ever notice in a Moto GP race how fast the presentation laps are compared to F1? That’s because the riders are accelerating and braking hard in an effort to keep the tires warm, where as the F1 driver often weaves during the same lap.
A sport touring tire warms to operating temperature quickly, is more comfortable, has longer mileage, and is less expensive than a pure sport tire, while still providing a greater amount of grip than the average street or touring tire. That was his point anyway. And he spent most of the year going to races and hanging out with the teams Pirelli sponsors.
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I had these interesting things on my 848 Ducati a few years back. The theory seemed sound. Sticky centre tread, bumpy shoulder to grip the uneven road in the corners and “enhance” grip…
It didnt work. They just vibrated and it felt like I was sliding around on icey oil. They did look pretty cool though.
Edit: it was my TL1000R not the 848.
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Sounds odd to me. The traditional blend is hard rubber in the middle so it doesn’t wear flat and soft on the edges for cornering. A tried and true recipe. Why would they think the opposite would turn out well?
We have pretty uneven and bumpy roads over here. Cranked over with your knee down is a test of faith…
I could sort of see the logic which I why I tried them but as soon as you leaned over far enough to use the diamond pattern it really stopped being fun.
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Well I pulled the trigger on the Pilot Street Radials - they were developed from Michelin’s Sport Touring lineup specifically for the small CC bikes so this will be an interesting test.
I mis-spoke earlier, the Shinko’s (SR740/741) are actually classed by Shinko as a Cruiser tire oddly enough - although I can’t be sure if each manufacturers ideas of bike tire classes are equal. Not many cruisers are going to sit on a 130 width rear tire either.
The Michelin’s came out to $276 CAD before taxes roughly. Not a bad price either considering the Shinko’s were put on at a dealership to the tune of $265 (labor of course is not counted here) roughly before taxes. Radials are supposed to cost more so it’s nice to see the lack of dealer markup evening things out.
Front Tires:
Shinko - $115
Michelin - $133
Rear Tires:
Shinko - $150
Michelin - $142
I would have been worried that the Michelin’s at this store were actually the bias ply version - but they did specify radial (although not in the name and they didn’t appear to carry the bias ply variant) and the store I usually buy motorcycle gear from online has both the radial and bias ply version listed and the prices matched up for the radial within a few dollars. Fortunately this store is actually closer - Royal Distributing is based in Ontario vs. Fortnine in Quebec. Free shipping over $39.00 keeps me happy.
Now I will work out tools as needed for the swap and wheel weights. Right now my rims have a sort of clip-on weight that goes over the rim’s center rib. I like this clamp-idea versus simple double-sided tape like of normal weights. Thoughts? I am not as concerned with the appearance (sticky weights can come in black like the rims) as I am with the weights staying put.
The valves stems on my wheels right now look almost brand new, save for some road dust - which when cleaned off reveals fresh looking rubber - they also don’t leak - so I am thinking for those the idea of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” will apply.
I don’t have a lot of contacts here that ride in any frequency - so I am very thankful for all your input and experiences - related to this or otherwise! The one friend that got me in to riding has been bikeless for the last while and will be until he can pickup a bike from New York (and cross-border travel will be far away to open during COVID). Another friend of mine is taking the free time of COVID to rebuild a 1980’s Honda CB450SC - which will be his first bike. He cannot get his license yet even as all our drive testing centers are closed. My boss also rides are large Victory cruiser, but that’s partly a different game all together.
Alrighty, I got the new tires - just keeping them stored in-box for now as I wait for the tools and other parts to come in.
Was out for a ride the other night with a friend of mine following in his truck, he said he could hear some noise off the bike which we identified as the chain. Took a look and found it was generally too loose - excluding one tight section that was only slightly outside of spec.
Took my first crack at adjusting the rear axle - spent a whole evening on it. I found the alignment marks are very much a “suggestion” as the side plates with notches to be aligned with the swingarm marks have quite alot of play. I always thought the chain run wasn’t as straight as it should be - but I trusted the shop. Well, my own work I coaxed the plates to stay offset to one side while I re-tightened the axle - both marks are almost the same and the chain is much straighter. I started by fully loosening the adjusters and moving the axle full forward and verifying both side plates read equal. Then worked back to tension with equal adjustment to both sides, in steps. Final check looks good three-fold:
-chain straighter
-adjuster marks near equal
-exposed thread on adjusters near equal
I put new sprockets and a chain on order, as the maximum life I have found on owner forums is a few thousand kilometers further down the road. With the tires and brakes being changed, might as well do that at the same time.
P.S.: My friend is a bit of a photographer. 
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Tools - Check.
Parts - Check.
The one box there looks empty because it also held my new motorcycle boots - Alpinestars SMX-6v2 Drystars.
In the garage the large box is the tires and the small box is the balancer stand.
Canada Day project for me!
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@Victork2 question for ya bud!
I got the new front tire mounted. Balance seems okay but I have 20g (four 5g weights) on there.
The previous tire (which I can’t say was or wasn’t very balanced) had one 7g weight on the rim.
Michelin doesn’t put marker dots on the tires to indicate the heavy spot (apparently all their tires are near perfect so they claim).
Would you class that as too much weight, and I should adjust the mounting or OK?
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No, that would be within acceptable limits for a hand balance.
If you really wanted to you could let the air out and push the beads of and hand rotate the tyre within the rim and see if you could lower the amount needed but it would only be for fun and games.
Good job though dude. Well done for getting it done!
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Thanks! Those words of affirmation will let me fall asleep tonight!
I’ll admit I made a couple surface scuffs inside the rim - bit too assertive with the irons (and trying to be gentle). Now I know better.
Front rotor and pads done as well. Took a little zip a bit ago around my block to do some moderate braking to bed them in a little - there is so much more feedback on the lever now.
Hoping that will give me just enough so that when I do the rear I am not heading out on 100% fresh tires and brakes on both ends. Rear end will be sprockets and chain too, so I started up front as that seemed to be enough for an evening.
Tomorrow is up early - we’re heading to Hamilton to catch the Lancaster’s maiden takeoff on a voyage from the Warplane Heritage Museum.
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You lucky devil!! Take pictures!!!
Hi Chipwich, nice ride. I have a 2013 Ducati SF848.
I’ll post some pics. I live outside of Harrisburg, PA
Again nice bike.
Dusty
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Well done @wes nothing better than sorting these things out yourself and saving money to boot! Awesome
Found some old pictures of my gorgeous Hayabusa before I sold her 
If I remember correctly, this was on the way home from picking it up. Hence the nasty red jacket
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You sir are a bit of a madman to have owned such a beast! I am surprised reading about them how they still managed to have excellent fuel economy, comfort and handling.
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She was a beast. Great for just MUNCHING miles. Bit of a weird riding position in that it wasn’t a tourer and wasn’t a sportsbike but kind of in between so I wasn’t exactly comfortable all the time. But by god was it fast.
Really could move when you felt the urge. It was restricted to 186 mph and when you hit that it was like hitting the brakes as it was still accelerating like a missile.
My mate had a generation 1 hayabusa that was de restricted and stage 3 tuned and that genuinely frightened me when it went off the clock and hit the stop peg with the needle.
I still think that my K7 Gsxr 1000 accelerated quicker though. That thing was like holding on to a sidewinder
Agreed. I rode a friend’s Busa once - on the low power setting . That thing was a monster.