Better tires

[Stridersr7]

I got to thinking. I keep adding performance parts and etc to my 900. What tires are people using that has better traction and grip then the stock?

[Arion]

Can't speak for the Ryker, but for Spyders the Vrederstein Quatrac 5 is a popular replacement. A good number of us have replaced the OEMs with those and are very pleased with them. You might check the Tire Rack website and see what they offer tires in your size.

[Stridersr7]

Idk how true it is what this guy is saying here

[Peter Aawen]

How true? That ^^ stuff is basically a crock!!

All Spyder/Ryker's Safety Systems are designed to work REGARDLESS of what black round things might be fitted to the rims & regardless of how sticky or otherwise they might be!! You do need to stay within about 20mm of the OE Spec ACTUAL Rolling diameter to avoid 'limp home' codes & failures due to the sensors reporting results outside the expected parameters, but these systems have to be able to handle the 'out of the ordinary' wide range of potential variations & traction changes etc that can occur thru running on different road surfaces, different conditions, changes in ambient temps, tires losing pressure thru slow leaks, tires overheating, tires failing, and a whole shed load more!! If all those features mentioned in that little exchange above COULDN'T handle any & all of those changes safely and without without issues, then they wouldn't be fitted to any modern vehicles at all simply because to do so would be WORSE than pointless having them there in the first place!

In my experience and that of many others too, pretty much ANY reasonable quality auto tire within that 20mm rolling dia size & run at an appropriate (lower) pressure for the lighter load the lightweight Spyder/Ryker is going to be imposing on it is likely to work significantly better than the OE spec &/or any other Kenda tire!!

[Stridersr7]

Someone said they run this tire. Guess they run the 55 instead of the 45

[michaelfrmtx]

if its the same size as stock the computer doesn't know any different.its round and black like he said.those are odd sizes though.and mine has a ton of weight on the left front.makes me think the stock tire is nothing special.just my .02.

[RICZ]

Peter....that 20 mm you mention, is that diameter or perimeter? If diameter, that's a big fudge factor.

[Peter Aawen]

That's ROLLING DIAMETER RICZ, and it came from the people who designed & make the VSS our Spyders/Rykers run; so it's an increase of less than 1" in overall tire diameter.... which is really not that big a 'fudge factor' in the over-all scheme of things for safety systems like ABS, Traction control etc when you think about it. ESPECIALLY when you consider that the nominal size shown on any tire's sidewall is just that - NOMINAL (ie - in name only!) and that even if you fit an alternative tire that has exactly the same Nominal Size printed on its sidewall, that tire's true size may only be vaguely related to the size on the tire's sidewall!

I have seen some tires that had a NOMINAL size printed on their sidewall that was ACTUALLY almost 50mm or 2" different in their true Rolling Diameter!!

Later Edit: Off the top of my head (so don't take my recollection numbers as necessarily being correct, but they should be good for explanatory purposes! ) IIRC the OE Spec Kendas are a 'fairly small' 29" dia tire, at least on the rear; so a tire that's anywhere between 28.3" dia to about 29.7" dia shouldn't be outside the capabilities of the VSS to handle, just so long as you try to match any size change on one end with a fairly similar change on the other end. And I can tell you from first hand experience that variance of anything much more than 20mm between your front & rear rolling dia's IS very likely to produce some adverse effects! However, do bear in mind that your speedo will most likely be showing you as travelling at a fairly optimistic speed with the OE spec tires fitted; so when your speedo says you're doing 80mph on the OE Spec Kendas, you are more likely/possibly going as slow as 72-73 ish mph, and the odo will be showing you as travelling more miles than you really have (which could be good for your fuel economy figures tho! They'll be optimistically wrong, but looking good! ) So, if you do fit tires with any difference in rolling dia to that of the OE Spec Kendas, in the interest of keeping that 'speedo error', 'odo error', & your actual road speed somewhere within reasonable bounds of everyone else on the road, but not ever letting the speedo show that you are going any slower than your 'true speed', you might not want to go much different in rolling diameter with your alternative tires without making some effort to correct the speedo/odo readings and bring them back to within cooee of the Internationally Agreed & Locally Legislated/Mandated allowance of 'showing a max of 10% faster than true but never showing a speed that's ANY slower than true!' Without taking any other speedo correction action, increasing your tires rolling dia just a little will probably help make your speedo a little more accurate; but going much smaller in rolling dia will most likely make you a rolling road block and a hazard to yourself and other road users despite your speedo telling you that you're going faster & further than you really are!!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

if its the same size as stock the computer doesn't know any different.its round and black like he said.those are odd sizes though.and mine has a ton of weight on the left front.makes me think the stock tire is nothing special.just my .02.

If you have OEM Kenda's ..... it is well known that they have possibly the WORST record for DEFECTIVE tires, and for various reasons ..... Mike

[Greven]

For the rear tire there are a lot of car tires, with standard dimension to choose from. I will just get a tire from any well known quality manufacturer, and Im quite sure it will be far better than the Kenda.
For the front tires on the other hand, I have not found any good options. All Ive found are similar, but not the same dimension, of "spare tire" type, with lower speed rating etc. And in that case Id prefer a Kenda. But hopefully there will be some other options once the fronts wear out.

[chris56]

I have now more than 10.000 miles on the Toyo .. the 16" for the Ryker should be still available - I also have papers from Toyo that I can use it ..more grip and much better in the rain ..
but still no solution for the front, slided with them in a wet curve - horrible !

[poli]

Let me ask a question. What are the OEM Kenda's doing that everyone hates? There have been questions about different tire options since the Ryker was introduced, long before one could have worn out and needed replacing. As far as that goes, I haven't read of anyone wearing one out yet. So is this just a general dislike for the Kenda brand or are they actually doing something that warrants this distrust? I'm probably riding mine differently from other people so maybe that's why I'm missing what everyone is talking about. I ride mostly dirt roads and when on the street I don't ride aggressively or fast and personally don't have any problems with the OEM Kenda's on my Rally. So if someone could just explain to me what the tire is doing but all I hear is "I want a better tire". Not trying to sound like a jerk but sincere in what it is I'm missing.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Let me ask a question. What are the OEM Kenda's doing that everyone hates? There have been questions about different tire options since the Ryker was introduced, long before one could have worn out and needed replacing. As far as that goes, I haven't read of anyone wearing one out yet. So is this just a general dislike for the Kenda brand or are they actually doing something that warrants this distrust? I'm probably riding mine differently from other people so maybe that's why I'm missing what everyone is talking about. I ride mostly dirt roads and when on the street I don't ride aggressively or fast and personally don't have any problems with the OEM Kenda's on my Rally. So if someone could just explain to me what the tire is doing but all I hear is "I want a better tire". Not trying to sound like a jerk but sincere in what it is I'm missing.

Read post #9 ...... Mike

[Greven]

Let me ask a question. What are the OEM Kenda's doing that everyone hates? There have been questions about different tire options since the Ryker was introduced, long before one could have worn out and needed replacing. As far as that goes, I haven't read of anyone wearing one out yet. So is this just a general dislike for the Kenda brand or are they actually doing something that warrants this distrust? I'm probably riding mine differently from other people so maybe that's why I'm missing what everyone is talking about. I ride mostly dirt roads and when on the street I don't ride aggressively or fast and personally don't have any problems with the OEM Kenda's on my Rally. So if someone could just explain to me what the tire is doing but all I hear is "I want a better tire". Not trying to sound like a jerk but sincere in what it is I'm missing.

Personally, just based on my riding, I cant judge if my Kenda tires are worse than any option. All I know is that Kendas are not well liked on this forum.
However, they are also quite expensive if I buy one from my BRP dealer. While car tires in the dimension of the rear tire are rather cheap. So even if the quality is the same, I'd take a quality brand car tire any day of the week.

[poli]

Read post #9 ...... Mike

Sorry *** but "various reasons" is not an answer. What I'm looking for is 'not good in the wet', 'too noisy', not a smooth ride' … just what it is you don't like about them.

[dklehman]

I know Kenda has a rep for brand new tires being out of round and causing issues , other than that i do not know of other defects. But overall Kendas are known to be a cheap poorly made tire.

[dklehman]

Also Poli i think you will find more info on Kenda tire issues in the spyder side of these forums.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Sorry boy but "various reasons" is not an answer. What I'm looking for is 'not good in the wet', 'too noisy', not a smooth ride' … just what it is you don't like about them.

[SIZE=3] " High Defect rate " .... which has little to do with " ride " quality. ..... and what's with this " boy " cr*p ..... that's a term Racists are fond of using ..... Mike ( @ 73 yrs. )

[Stridersr7]

So if you change the rear to a hankook or toyo or whatever. But what about the front tires?

[oregoncoast]

I might be the only one here who likes my Kenda tires, but I still wish there were options. Mine have taking many real beatings with pot holes and bad roads. Lots of rain, they don't have much ware after 15,000 miles and are wearing even. I don't see any facts here other than hear-say. No first hand data.

[canamryder]

I might be the only one here who likes my Kenda tires, but I still wish there were options. Mine have taking many real beatings with pot holes and bad roads. Lots of rain, they don't have much ware after 15,000 miles and are wearing even. I don't see any facts here other than hear-say. No first hand data.

But I have no where close to 15,000 miles, but I sure have been hitting those pot holes with my rear tire on my Rally. Still running good, so far I'm not interested in burning rubber/$ either.

[old Timer]

Kenda's are bad tires because some one posted that they were bad and as is typical, posted with no objective evidence. The posting gets repeated as is common with any negative news, again with out any objective evidence, but becomes common knowledge that Kenda's are bad tires..........Kind of like changing the CVT Belt on Rykers at 12,000 miles.

[mjl99]

My tires have been fine on my 900. only thing ive noticed is theyll break loose when accelerating to fast from a stop.

[ARtraveler]

I might be the only one here who likes my Kenda tires, but I still wish there were options. Mine have taking many real beatings with pot holes and bad roads. Lots of rain, they don't have much ware after 15,000 miles and are wearing even. I don't see any facts here other than hear-say. No first hand data.

I am also one who has not had really bad experiences with the Kendas. I lived in AK for the whole Spyder saga from beginning to 2019. My dealer would only install Kendas...so in about 125,000 worth of Spyder miles...I used a lot of them.

My experience was 20K average on all the fronts, and 15K average on all the rear tires...except for the OEM rear on the 2014. Softer rubber compound and I got 8.9K on that one.

Upon moving to AR in 2019, I changed over to darkside tires on both of the Spyders. One has since been traded off on my new 19 F3L. The 2014 looks good after about 6K on the current ones.

I am at a dilemma on the 19. When its time...should I go darkside or try the new Kannines?

I am eagerly looking for reports as people give the Kannines a try.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Kenda's are bad tires because some one posted that they were bad and as is typical, posted with no objective evidence. The posting gets repeated as is common with any negative news, again with out any objective evidence, but becomes common knowledge that Kenda's are bad tires..........Kind of like changing the CVT Belt on Rykers at 12,000 miles.

I've only been on this Forum for 8 yrs. ..... and I have read about 80% of all the posts ..... over the years I'll bet there have been 3 ( probably more ) DOZEN posts and threads about the poor quality of the Kenda Spyder tire, with full explanations of the EXACT reasons why they are what they are ..... So just because you never read any of them, doesn't make your complaint true........ Mike