Those that have replace your rear tire on your RT?

[canamjhb]

I am getting ready to replace the rear and have read this thread. Lots of good suggestions here. However, I am dismayed about dealers refusing to install a better tire on the spyder. I have owned many dozens of vehicles including a CanAm Outlander, a CanAm Commander and several Goldwing motorcycles. The dealers have always presented many different tire options from different tire manufacturers. My local BRP dealer is also my local Goldwing dealer (among other brands). They have never told me that I must install any particular brand of tire on my Goldwing. Why would they do so on the spyder? Make no sense. As long as a replacement tire meets or exceeds the OEM specs, there should be no issue. Does anyone know exactly what is going on here......?

 

[jcthorne]

What is going on here is a contract requirement between CanAm and Kenda requiring the exclusive sale at the dealerships.

 

[canamjhb]

What is going on here is a contract requirement between CanAm and Kenda requiring the exclusive sale at the dealerships.

If that is the case, I believe it would be in violation of the Moss-Magnuson Act not to mention several free trade and anti-trust laws. But then, maybe Canadians can do things a little differently. If CanAm and Kenda want to be in bed together, I hope they make each other happy. I won't make it a three-some.

 

[Indiana Ken]

Fronts and rear

With all this talk about what rear tire people have, shouldn't you just toss the OEMs and get General Altramax (or Yoko, or Bridgestone etc) all around?

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I am getting ready to replace the rear and have read this thread. Lots of good suggestions here. However, I am dismayed about dealers refusing to install a better tire on the spyder. I have owned many dozens of vehicles including a CanAm Outlander, a CanAm Commander and several Goldwing motorcycles. The dealers have always presented many different tire options from different tire manufacturers. My local BRP dealer is also my local Goldwing dealer (among other brands). They have never told me that I must install any particular brand of tire on my Goldwing. Why would they do so on the spyder? Make no sense. As long as a replacement tire meets or exceeds the OEM specs, there should be no issue. Does anyone know exactly what is going on here......?

NHTSA requires that tires be labeled for the vehicle type the manufacturer has designed and tested the tire for. There are many brands of m/c tires designed and tested for two wheel m/c use. That's why your GW dealer doesn't force you buy a specific brand. Recognize that normal m/c tires have a bead design significantly different than car tires. Your GW dealer very likely will not mount a Michelin car tire on your GW, but he'll gladly mount a Michelin m/c tire on it. The Can Am tire is a hybrid, or in one sense, a bastard tire in that it has a bead design pretty much identical to a car tire. But no car tire manufacturer to date has tested and certified their tires to be used on any motorcycle. The Kenda is the only tire with a car tire bead that has been designed and specified to be used on a m/c, i.e., the Spyder and Slingshot. Tire dealers are required by NHTSA to install tires on vehicles that have been labeled for use on that type of vehicle. The only reason we are able to get car tires installed on our Spyder wheels is because tire dealers are willing to overlook the law.

As far as contractual restrictions between Kenda and BRP, that may be. But a greater controlling factor is market volume. Kenda so far is the only tire manufacturer willing to build a low volume tire for the Spyder, and there is no economic incentive for them to sell them to anyone else but BRP.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

With all this talk about what rear tire people have, shouldn't you just toss the OEMs and get General Altramax (or Yoko, or Bridgestone etc) all around?

Most, but not all, front tires by Kenda have been decent performers, not stellar, not great, but decent. Decent enough that there isn't near the push to use car tires on the front. The front Kendas on my 2013 RT did all right for 25,000 miles plus. The ones on my 2014 RT had a continual pull to the right and I changed them out at 13k miles for Continentals.

 

[No 2817]

The only real hard part (actually very easy after giving it a little thought) was getting the belt back on the rear sprocket. It didn't work for me quite like the video by Finless Bob. I had to loosen the bolts that are used to align and tension the rear wheel. Since I had good alignment and belt tension before starting this I needed to loosen it in a way that allowed me to get it back the same as before. So, before loosening the alignment bolts I used a white paint marker to put a match mark on each bolt and the frame. Then I backed off each bolt four full turns, slipped my drive belt on, then tightened the bolts four full turns. I got the tire seated fully to the rear and torqued the axle bolts to 96 ft lbs. My belt tracks just as before and appears to be properly tensioned. And I love my new tire!

Ah, ah, ah, don't touch the Belt Alignment Bolts. Just Jack up the rear tire just enough to get the pressure off the Rear Shock. Remove one end of the Shock bolts. Now you can raise the rear of bike enough to take all of tension off of the belt and remove the Axle and Tire. Simple and no Belt Alignment problems.


Chris

 

[irvin48]

Ah, ah, ah, don't touch the Belt Alignment Bolts. Just Jack up the rear tire just enough to get the pressure off the Rear Shock. Remove one end of the Shock bolts. Now you can raise the rear of bike enough to take all of tension off of the belt and remove the Axle and Tire. Simple and no Belt Alignment problems.


Chris

ok, if this is true, i can do this at the shop , by myself, and spare all
sorts of agony? it cant be that simple. there was a video somewhere of this.
anyone have it ?

 

[BoilerAnimal]

Ah, ah, ah, don't touch the Belt Alignment Bolts. Just Jack up the rear tire just enough to get the pressure off the Rear Shock. Remove one end of the Shock bolts. Now you can raise the rear of bike enough to take all of tension off of the belt and remove the Axle and Tire. Simple and no Belt Alignment problems.


Chris

You can touch the rear wheel alignment bolts with no problems IF you match mark them FIRST and you TURN EACH BOLT THE SAME NUMBER OF TURNS. If you get confused and turn one bolt more than the other, you will have to readjust your rear wheel to get your belt tracking correctly.

 

[BoilerAnimal]

ok, if this is true, i can do this at the shop , by myself, and spare all
sorts of agony? it cant be that simple. there was a video somewhere of this.
anyone have it ?

Here you go. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MWtbQPdKd8w

 

[RinconRyder]

Our dmv, VicRoads, calls it a Tri-Car - but we need full motorcycle license to ride it.


There is no logic...

:dontknow::riding:

Here in the States we used to have car-like pickup trucks called El Camino's and Ranchero's. Some people called them cartrucks. Or how about a sliding glass door in your house? Normally they are called either sliding doors (duh) or patio doors (because that is where they usually lead). But some people call them.....wait for it......doorwalls.

I think most of those people work at the DMV. hyea:

 

[Peter Aawen]

In Australia, we generally call those 'car-like pickup trucks' Utes, or a Utility, or some (few?) back country types even call them 'tilleys (altho not as many these days as there used to be!)

The original concept converted a 2 or 4 door passenger car into a 2 door tub back utility vehicle with the tub panels merging seamlessly into the panels of the front passenger section.... apparently an Aussie innovation from the early 1930's, as opposed to the separate panel construction of the Pick-up trucks more common in the US.

Over time, the term 'Ute' in this country has expanded to include any 2 or 4 door basically passenger derived vehicle with an integrated tub or tray cargo section on the back; so these days, most of our smallish tub-back or tray-top vehicles are called utes too! That means we've got Work utes, Sports utes, Off-road or 4WD utes, as well as Single Cab, Extra Cab, & Dual Cab utes, & we've even got a hotly contended national V8 Ute Racing Category too!! Basically, if it looks like it might be based on or derived from a car, wagon, or a light truck & it's got a tub or tray back, then here in Aus, it's a Ute! :thumbup:

But when it comes to Spyders, Victoria is our only State to categorise them as Tri-cars & yet still require a motorcycle licence to operate one?!? :dontknow: Not that some of the other States don't have odd names, definitions, or requirements, but they all agree that a Spyder is a motorcycle of some sort! Still, I'm pretty sure that we have many of the same 'special' type of people working in our DMV's as you do, but thankfully, we've also got a fair few dedicated & helpful people too!! :2thumbs:

 

[krafael5]

Yoko

2014 Rts yellow with Yoko s drive. I've put almost 15,000
on the Yoko. Rode with two up on rainy days, great control. Two up on long distance, easy. Me on rainy days, no problem, even at high speed. Right now I have more than half tread wear. Great tire recommended by a fellow Rider.

 

[marty1096]

no

Picked up my Spyder from its first service yesterday and the service manager at the dealership said that he was at Homecoming; he said that he was told by BRP that several dealers had lost their franchise (?) because they were installing non-Kenda tires. He said that it was a liability issue. So, my question for those that have had their tires replaced with non-Kendas, did you remove the rear wheel and take it to a tire dealer to have it mounted and balanced?

no took to surprise AZ RN
$99 changed tire on rear

 

[johnwinslow]

OK, we all know there are more than a few New Rear Tire Questions that can be found on here, but some of them kind of go off subject and get in a pissing contest. I am getting ready to replace mine after 14k miles on the stock tire and finally found a dealer who is willing to replace the old tire with what tire I pick.

My question is this for those of you who have replaced your tire with a non Kendra tire. What tire did you choose and how many miles have you put on your new tire? Oh, and what PSI are you running?? I've narrowed my selection down to the following and leaning towards the Yokohama or Michelin. Not interested in going back to a Kendra tire.

Yokohama S-Drive 205/55 R15

Michelin Premier A/S 205/60 R-15

Dunlop Direzza DZ102 205/50 R15

General Altimax RT 43 215/60-15

General Altimax RT 43 215/60-15 I got 23,000 at 26 lbs I do not ride two up and have a 2011 RTS I just installed a cooper star fire,

 

[Eviltwin]

After wading in quite deep and trying to read as many posts as possible, I decided to go with the Yoko S.drive. Ordered from discount tire and will be here tomorrow. Paid around 91 with free shipping. Called the local dealer and he will do all the work to mount it for 90 bucks but I would have to drop the bike off for several days till he gets around to doing it. He wanted 295 to sell and mount a Kenda. Another MC shop will do it all for about 120. Debating whether to just do it myself.

I did drop both wheels on my Honda Silverwing this summer and had the tires changed, and I think the Swing rear tire had more stuff to move out of the way than this bike does. But I know it will come at the cost of some aches and pains since I'm no spring chicken and this type of work tends to do that to me. I've seen the videos, so I know what I would be getting into. Decisions, decisions...:banghead:

 

[tehrlich]

Had Thornolis install my Yokohama S drives on my 2015 RT. Running 26psi up front and 32psi in the back.

Absolutely positively love these tires. You can feel the superior side walls.

Most importantly! They look awesome! They don't look like a simple car tire. They look fast!

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Had Thornolis install my Yokohama S drives on my 2015 RT. Running 26psi up front and 32psi in the back.

Keep a close watch on those tires! Your pressures are high compared to what most all of us have found to work best, especially the rear. Most of us are in the range of 18 - 21 front and 20 - 25 rear.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

32 psi

Had Thornolis install my Yokohama S drives on my 2015 RT. Running 26psi up front and 32psi in the back.

Absolutely positively love these tires. You can feel the superior side walls.

Most importantly! They look awesome! They don't look like a simple car tire. They look fast!

32 psi is even higher than what is recommended for the Kenda which is one of the poorest tires made ( for Spyders ).... Here's some Science as opposed to Bar Stool BS..... the construction of the Yoko you have is sooooo much stronger than the Kenda ....it doesn't need 32 psi to support the weight of the Spyder ..... please lower it to 18 psi and go test drive that and see how much better your ride is ..... Me & Peter Aawen have explained the science about 2 or 3 dozen times each so it's in the achieves if you care to read it ....... Mike :thumbup:

 

[tehrlich]

Well, I've read all the posts about psi and every type of tire we can use. I started out with 18 in the fronts and it was a great improvement to the crappy Kenda's. Noticed it immediately.

However, there was still a lot of roll in the tires that I could feel. I kept bumping them up a couple psi's and rode them hard, like I like.

Finally reached a psi that gave me the performance that I desired. Plus, the rolling resistance is so much better. Feels like glass.

I realize the Yoko's can handle lower psi's, but there is no way you'll convince me that my ride is better at 17 or 18. That feels like mush to me now. Even feels less stable.

I was a professional ski instructor for many years, and raced. We were constantly tweaking things to make turns harder and more dynamic. This isn't any different. I just cranked down my boot buckles and stiffened my bindings.