I have a nice tire shop literally within walking distance from my house. They were advertising a sale on Continental tires so I took a wheel off the RT and took it in and asked "What have you got?" I have a set of Contiprocontacts in 165-60-15 that I will make you a deal on. Now, my Federals have 40K+ on them and even though they still have tread I know five year old tires have lost some performance due to age and mileage. I was leaving on a week long ride in the mountains of Virginia so I had the Contis installed. My two cents? I like them. I tend to ride aggressively at times with Nanny scolding me often. The tires handled everything that Nanny allowed me to throw at them. The steering was lighter as well, but that may be a result of fresh rubber versus five year old rubber. I came through areas in WV where it had recently rained and the roads were wet. Tires did great. Not the same as riding in a heavy rain, but I was happy with the wet road performance. I have an Altimax on the rear and run 18psi all the way around. I'm not getting in a spitting contest over which tire is best. What you prefer is your business and what I buy is my business. Just letting folks know that the Continentals seem to work well. Well enough to make Nanny squawk.
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My two cents - new tires - ContiProContacts in 165/60R15
- Thread starter Navydad
- Start date
BLUEKNIGHT911
Sadly Passed Oct 2024 - RIP
Glad you like them ....... So my post and comments are directed to everyone else that reads your thread ..... the ProContacts don't have a very high rating ..... Wet - good ....Dry - good,... Comfort - good ,.;.;.. treadwear - FAIR .... In comparison the new Vredestein, QUATRAC is rated EXCELLENT for all four catagories and is $ 6.00 LESS ..... above info from Tire Rack .... I'm not dissing anyone here .... It's your money - spend it as you see fit ..... JMHO .... Mike :thumbup:
Little Blue
SpyderLovers Ambassador
Yes, when it comes to Tires everyone needs to make their own decisions. Tires are a very important factor for our Spyders. A lot of good choices out there.
Good Luck on Your Mission. ....:thumbup:
Good Luck on Your Mission. ....:thumbup:
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I like your tire posts and I'm glad someone takes the time to do this type of research. :2thumbs: I do believe that the safety parameters that "nanny" is tuned for are based on the Kenda tires that we are supposed to use exclusively on our Spyders and that any car tire would be an improvement until nanny slaps our throttle hand.
BLUEKNIGHT911
Sadly Passed Oct 2024 - RIP
Thanks for your feedback & taking my post for what it was .... Waayyy back I put TOYO Proxes T 1 r's in 185/50-15 tires on my RT .... Yes, they caused fitment issues with the front fenders and brackets, but I fixed that ..... They were the STICKIEST tires I have ever had on any Spyder ...... annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd the NANNY did not like them at all .... the VSS would trip way more often than it ever did ..... the reason for that was that I could easily Exceed the lateral "G" forces that Nanny would tolerate ..... so I have cautioned others who are seeking tires with better traction .... frankly it's a waste of time .... The Nanny decides and there's no easy (or known way) to get around it ..... Mike :thumbup:
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:agree: - altho maybe with a little caveat...
With the Kendas, they are the limiting factor on how hard you can ride/push your Spyder into the corners etc, and they DO somewhat restrict anyone who tries to explore the limits of the Spyder's chassis/suspension (which is arguably not all that much greater tho!
) Anyone can happily ride around under the limits of those OEM tires all year round without any issues and never see/feel the Nanny do anything... :yawn: Orrrr, if you want to push things juuust a bit harder, you can learn (fairly quickly for most) how far you can push those tires beyond that, like 'just' spinning the rear tire at the lights for a bit when you take off; 'just' hanging the tail a bit thru the corners; 'just' getting a bit of front wheel slide as you push hard/fast thru the twisties; &/or 'just' pushing into all the other handling characteristics that are largely caused when the limitations of the tires start other handling issues that trigger the Nanny where she will eventually gently correct things & straighten you out/slow you down with the odd flash of the VSS or some other symbol on the dash; and by riding 'just' up to that level, you can even ride your Spyder pretty hard that way until the OEM tires wear out (which won't take you very long :banghead: ). Once ANYTHING ELSE exceeds the Nanny's 'Critical Safety' limits (which are generally significantly higher than the limits of the OEM tires and still somewhat higher than the next level of 'gentle reminder' outlined above... 
) by doing things like taking dangerously aggressive evasive action; carrying significantly excess speed into a tight curve; suddenly hydroplaning in the toad-strangling down-pour that just dumped onto you out of the blue; or even doing something like hitting a curb, a deer, or some other obstacle &/or maybe getting partially airborne over an unseen hump... it's ONLY THEN that the FULL FORCE of the Nanny steps in & drags you down PDQ! :shocked:However, if you go ahead and fit substantially stickier tires than the OEM excuses, then the TIRES will no longer be anything of a limiting factor on how hard you can ride, so you don't ever get that earlier level of Nanny Warning, cos the tires simply work better and just don't cause any of those earlier/lesser slips & slides etc... You can go straight from the 'ride gently all year with nary an issue' type stuff right up to the 'Oh S**t' :yikes: level of Full-On Nanny intervention &/or slap down to protect you from your own stupidity! BUT, that level is fairly substantially higher than the earlier level where she gently keeps you safe - so the reality is that you truly ARE riding a lot harder than you ever did on the Kendas, possibly even harder than you could on any of the Wallmart Specials types you might buy instead of full-on premium handling/stickies; but once you do get them, because the Premium/fully sticky tires aren't going to be the limiting factor in any way anymore, you won't ever get any of that earlier warning stuff from the Nanny, you'll jump straight past the lower level of Nanny intervention and straight into the full-on intervention/Slap Down whenever you are riding the razor's edge!! :shocked:
So YES, if you really are pushing the limits of what the Spyder can do, that Nanny intervention will happen waaayy more often than you ever saw it happen while you were running lesser tires, cos the tires forced you to behave within their limitations to a large extent and then the Nanny stepped in at the next level if you ever got beyond the limits of handling that the lesser tires effectively imposed. But once you are beyond all that and on the Premium/fully sticky tires AND you're pushing the limits, the Nanny steps in whenever necessary, and if she does, then once again usually of necessity, she steps in HARD! :lecturef_smilie:
I'm one of those nuts that won't run a set of tires longer than five years. Tread may look good like my Federals with 40k miles did, but at five years old age and exposure to the elements have taken a toll on traction and performance especially on a wet road. Tread wear isn't high on my list for Spyder use since my tires will probably age out before I use all the available tread. I average around 10,000 miles a year on the RT and about that on my other bikes.
mecsw500
Member
I seem to be the odd one out.
I think traction and handling wise, the OEM Kendas aren't that bad. Sure, they wear fairly quickly and damage more easily than a car tire, but I think for either wet or dry riding they are OK.
I can flick my 21 RT LTD around in the canyons fast enough and can keep up with most other things. I can get the nanny to kick in if I want, but I don't think I would want to be pushing a 1,000 lb touring bike any further than the nanny allows anyway. I do like the way the Kendas give fairly predictable breakaway performance, they feel fairly progressive in that regard to me.
Perhaps it's my Dave Moss "Two Clicks Out" riding style, but the Kendas to me seem reasonable for an OEM tire built to a budget. I've had bikes with expensive track orientated road rubber that give astounding grip, but heaven help you when they start to let go. They feel like a high-side waiting for somewhere to happen. The Kendas may not have the ultimate grip but they give me a lot of confidence in how they feel at the limit.
So, I'm going to buck the trend and say I'll probably replace this set wit another set of Kendas.
Your mileage may vary of course and there will be many who say I must ride like an old man (which I am, old man that is) to think they're OK, but that's my 2 cents worth.
Incoming....
I think traction and handling wise, the OEM Kendas aren't that bad. Sure, they wear fairly quickly and damage more easily than a car tire, but I think for either wet or dry riding they are OK.
I can flick my 21 RT LTD around in the canyons fast enough and can keep up with most other things. I can get the nanny to kick in if I want, but I don't think I would want to be pushing a 1,000 lb touring bike any further than the nanny allows anyway. I do like the way the Kendas give fairly predictable breakaway performance, they feel fairly progressive in that regard to me.
Perhaps it's my Dave Moss "Two Clicks Out" riding style, but the Kendas to me seem reasonable for an OEM tire built to a budget. I've had bikes with expensive track orientated road rubber that give astounding grip, but heaven help you when they start to let go. They feel like a high-side waiting for somewhere to happen. The Kendas may not have the ultimate grip but they give me a lot of confidence in how they feel at the limit.
So, I'm going to buck the trend and say I'll probably replace this set wit another set of Kendas.
Your mileage may vary of course and there will be many who say I must ride like an old man (which I am, old man that is) to think they're OK, but that's my 2 cents worth.
Incoming....
Hypurone
Active member
I beg to differ... Once the nanny gets involved and takes over braking etc, even with ABS, I have had my 2015 completely LOSE traction when on less sticky tires... Makes for a butt clenching experience when you really need control!! Running on the Federal EVO's I am on now, I have full traction to steer etc when intervention happens....
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