Are you happy with your aftermarket CAR tires?

[jjc54]

The results of the poll should alone speak for itself! Maybe we should do an 'are you satisfied with the OEM tires' as most of us have experience with them?

 

[BajaRon]

There are a lot of aspects to a tire. Any one of which can result in a dissatisfied customer. I don't know if this covers everything. But these are important.

Cost
Wet & Dry Traction
Overall Handling
Longevity
Ride (Smoothness)
Availability

Opinions about maintenance items vary greatly. These include tires, oil, fuel, and brakes. I hope this discussion has helped.

Ride Happy! The world takes on a different look from the seat of a motorcycle!

 

[pegasus1300]

When I bought my 2012 Spyder in June of 2015, it had 8,000 miles on it, and I pointed out to seller that the rear tire was almost worn out. He had not noticed and was quite surprised. As I was already planning a trip in August, I came on this sight and learned about tires. I was good friends with the manager of the local tire store, so I asked him for a great tire and he sold me one with an 80,000 mile warranty on it. It lasted 40,000 miles. I next went to a Pirelli recommended by Blueknight911(RIP). That tire is is still on the Spyder, tho it's now due to be changed. It has about 35,000 miles on it. To say I am happy with my aftermarket tires would be an understatement. As an added note, it does annoy me that even people who know better keep referring to "going darkside" when putting anything other than a Kenda on our machines. There is no such thing in the Spyder World. It`s like saying you are "going darkside" on your car.

 

[BajaRon]

.... I am happy with my aftermarket tires would be an understatement. As an added note, it does annoy me that even people who know better keep referring to "going darkside" when putting anything other than a Kenda on our machines. There is no such thing in the Spyder World. It`s like saying you are "going darkside" on your car.

And who puts OEM tires on their car when the original tires wear out? I never have. I always put better tires on my car. Sometimes I don't even wait for them to wear out. The tires that came on my VW E-Golf were horrible!

 

[ollicat]

My "car tires" were one of the most enjoyable upgrades I did on the Spyder.

 

[greer]

There are already complaints about the rear tire on the Canyon having too little grip. It'll be interesting to see what develops.

Sarah

 

[BajaRon]

There are already complaints about the rear tire on the Canyon having too little grip. It'll be interesting to see what develops.

Sarah

I haven't followed the Canyon comments. But I would suspect these complains have to do with off pavement riding? Which is to be expected. A reverse trike configuration is not a good platform for low traction, rough terrain conditions. Add to this that the aggressive tread pattern needed to give some additional off pavement traction is going to degrade on pavement traction.

The reverse trike design, while superior for on road riding, carries with it some serious downsides once it leaves pavement. That's why snowmobiles have tracks and not tires. While snow is a different animal, it's basically similar in providing traction challenges for a 1 drive wheel vehicle. The Canyon's weight and need to push 2 front wheels with a relatively small contact patch drive wheel is always going to be problematic.

BRP needs to provide switchable front wheel propulsion to the Canyon. This, and shaft drive, would be valuable, though probably expensive and certainly weight adding, upgrades to the machine.

 

[troop]

There are already complaints about the rear tire on the Canyon having too little grip. It'll be interesting to see what develops.

Sarah

I can see some Vredestein Quatrac 205/60R15 tires in the Canyon future. Severe snow rated tire might be a good off road option...

 

[ollicat]

A few years back I proposed a front wheel drive for Spyders. Advantages of better traction, lighter, better fuel economy, and no more belt. Disadvantages, initial cost. But with the Canyon coming on, maybe one day they will.

 

[TerryTheSpyderRyder]

I have only replaced my rear tire with a car tire because of excessive thread wear in center section of the Kenda. But I know it does not make any sense but it to me handled and rode better after putting the Kuhmo tire on the rear. I have plans to replace the front Kendas because of some hopping in the sharp turns and that could be more suspension than tire but I will find out.
Leon

It seems to me the stock Kenda is a cheap car tire anyway. Its shape is exactly the same as any car tire of the same size. Mine did wear out at 22k miles so I can't complain. It wore out in the center possibly because of too high pressure, according to the dealer. Anyway I replaced it with a Toy Proxes. We'll see how it wears. A last word on Kenda in general. They make cheap motorcycle tires too which I'll never buy again. Bought a rear one for a Gold Wing I had a few years ago, and it was horrible in the wet.

 

[Snoking1127]

When I bought my 2012 Spyder in June of 2015, it had 8,000 miles on it, and I pointed out to seller that the rear tire was almost worn out. He had not noticed and was quite surprised. As I was already planning a trip in August, I came on this sight and learned about tires. I was good friends with the manager of the local tire store, so I asked him for a great tire and he sold me one with an 80,000 mile warranty on it. It lasted 40,000 miles. I next went to a Pirelli recommended by Blueknight911(RIP). That tire is is still on the Spyder, tho it's now due to be changed. It has about 35,000 miles on it. To say I am happy with my aftermarket tires would be an understatement. As an added note, it does annoy me that even people who know better keep referring to "going darkside" when putting anything other than a Kenda on our machines. There is no such thing in the Spyder World. It`s like saying you are "going darkside" on your car.

My friend keeps putting Kenda tires on his two 2018s, rears every 10K. Go figure!!!

 

[Jackhartjr]

It seems to me the stock Kenda is a cheap car tire anyway. Its shape is exactly the same as any car tire of the same size. Mine did wear out at 22k miles so I can't complain. It wore out in the center possibly because of too high pressure, according to the dealer. Anyway I replaced it with a Toy Proxes. We'll see how it wears. A last word on Kenda in general. They make cheap motorcycle tires too which I'll never buy again. Bought a rear one for a Gold Wing I had a few years ago, and it was horrible in the wet.

The dealer is full of you know what! They wore out because they are a pos tire!

 

[pegasus1300]

My friend keeps putting Kenda tires on his two 2018s, rears every 10K. Go figure!!!

Some people like the original type tires. Whatever keeps them on the road and happy. Maybe they don't have anyone to do the change over labor, whatever, it is their choice.

 

[Tslepebull]

I haven't followed the Canyon comments. But I would suspect these complains have to do with off pavement riding? Which is to be expected. A reverse trike configuration is not a good platform for low traction, rough terrain conditions. Add to this that the aggressive tread pattern needed to give some additional off pavement traction is going to degrade on pavement traction.

The reverse trike design, while superior for on road riding, carries with it some serious downsides once it leaves pavement. That's why snowmobiles have tracks and not tires. While snow is a different animal, it's basically similar in providing traction challenges for a 1 drive wheel vehicle. The Canyon's weight and need to push 2 front wheels with a relatively small contact patch drive wheel is always going to be problematic.

BRP needs to provide switchable front wheel propulsion to the Canyon. This, and shaft drive, would be valuable, though probably expensive and certainly weight adding, upgrades to the machine.

I have experienced a low traction rear tire event on my Canyon (on pavement) with the stock Kendas. However, this was while riding in a 3-4 inch per hour rain last Friday. Water was ponding quite badly on the road and despite reducing my speed to about 45 mph from the posted limit of 70 my rear tire broke traction and fishtailed. This occured when the rear tire hopped going over a bad spot in the road. The rear tire slid probably 20 degrees right and left then self corrected (thanks nanny). I had just passed several cars that were off road in the ditch likely due to the same road problem. Although this was with the stock Kendas I had experienced the same issue with my Ryker while using a car tire on the rear in similar weather conditions last year.

 

[JKMSPYDER]

Yes!