Featured Type Of Bike, Favourite Tyres.

Loved them on my speed triples,,in the rain,not a chance.

 

I had them on the Ducati from new a while back. I sold the bike with 2300 (dry) miles on the clock and it was ready for a new rear.

 

They only feel cack though - they actually still work reasonably well. Better than you'd expect, in fact...

 

Beautiful bike. I’m nowhere near a good enough or quick enough rider to use that anywhere near its limits but it is beautiful.

 

Once my confidence goes awol in the tyres, there's no way it’s coming back,im not taking any risks in the wet & the fun/ enjoyment element of the ride is lost. The tyres get binned.

 

I agree, it’s certainly the best looking bike I’ve owned but I fell out with it quite quickly. Maybe I’m just used to the power delivery, tractability and useability of big Jap fours or the fact it was much more “race” and less of a road compromise than alternative machines, plus it had a few traits that didn’t lend themselves well to road use IMO. Whatever, I took a loss and sold it but low mileage, well kept examples are appreciating now.

 

I get that. Not sure why but it's something I seem to be able to get past. It's hardly ever bitten my arse.

 

In the grand scheme of things, tyres are cheap. The initial outlay for the bike, the cost of proper riding gear and most of all the cost of losing traction from a crap set of tyres are all so much more than a good set of tyres every couple of years. In 40+ years of riding, I have learned to put a new set of tyres on any used bike that I buy the same week I buy it. And if the bike is a sport bike I usually take it in to get the suspension dialled in as tyres and suspension are so closely interwoven. My purchase of the Tiger 900 next week will be my first non sport bike ever, I am not sure if I will take the bike in to a suspension guy or do it myself but I am definatly putting on a set of tyres that I am comfortable with right out of the gate. No time to waste riding a poorly equipped bike. And pegscraper, that is a beautiful 1198!

 

Choose your tyres wisely when they need replacing on the newly released Suzuki GSXR 1000R 40th Anniversary machine. It will be on show at this year's Motorcycle Live with a price tag of £17,599. This is one heck of a lot of machine for that money. I thought my permanent sports bike riding days were gone, however my enthusiasm is rekindled, I will try it out static on the Suzuki stand and see how it feels and take it from there. I have a soft spot for the GSXRs having owned a few in the past, and with 3 colours to choose what's not to like, especially the white and red ones, it reminds me of my son's GSXR he bought new as his first bike. I guess I would be buying a fair few pairs of Racetech RRs as replacements. At least you get a 3-year warranty on Suzuki machines, and it can be extended to 10 years.
Suzuki GSX-R1000R 40th Anniversary Edition | Suzuki Bikes UK

 

That is one good looking bike!
I could easily wear through that first set of tyres in a few hours!! ( think Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Ferrari scene)

 

Has @Mrs Visor been hacked? Choosing another colour rather than red!

 

Definitely the red for me Mrs V., I will post some pictures of soon.

 

Blimey, the price of top flight sports bikes has rocketed in recent years. That’s about what I paid for the 1198 in mid 2011 and was £5k+ more than equivalent Jap stuff at the time. It was the last in the line just before the Panigale launch. I remember paying £7300 in 1993 for a new Fireblade, which were selling out quickly with back orders and thought that was expensive!

 

You are right they have, in 2015 my son's Panigale 1299s with all the extras was well over 30K, the full Titanium Akrapovic Exhaust system was £4500 alone, it took a day and a half for the dealer to fit and re map, plus other carbon and performance parts, but that was the bike he wanted so he was happy to buy it. I don't like to think about how much I have spent on my 765rs to get it as I wanted. I do think the Suzuki GSXR is a lot of bike for the money though, you only have to see the prices of say Triumph's top range Speed Triple or Yamaha's MT10sp, what I really find strange is how some people are willing to pay 30K for a Kawasaki Z1 or 25K for the 750 H1 it seems bonkers to me, I have just seen a pair of side panels for a 750 H1 sell for £950. A lot of years ago I worked out that you could buy most new sports bikes, break them down and sell the parts and make a great profit, such is the crazy prices for OEM parts. It makes me smile when I think back to my first bike that cost £4. happy days with plenty of freedom and good memories.

 

£4500 just to make it louder and more annoying? I honestly don’t understand this kind of thinking.
Surely Ducati know which exhaust is best for their bikes.

 

I paid £2400 for my new 1987 GPX600R and £10,100 for my new 2024 ZX6R, considering inflation, not bad for 37 years and a much much better bike!!

 

The simple answer to the crazy prices the likes of Z1’s/H1’s etc.. fetch is purely nostalgia, there’s big money in it.
Even compared to stuff now 20yrs old they’re, slow, don’t handle with crap brakes but they pluck at the heart strings of those old enough to have experienced them first time around when they were apex machinery, excluding specials of the era like Bimota etc.
The price of the Triumph Classic range seems to be creeping up and personally I think they’re losing the plot with styling IMO. Things like multifunction TFT instruments and upside down forks are not very retro when traditional, quality twin clocks and forks would be more than adequate.