Best Tyres

[__Ray__]

Are you referring to the Anakee 3, Adventure or Wild? The 3 is superseded by the Adventure but is the closest to the MPR 4 (as off the 5 it's only road).
However. When you mix i don't think it's very smart to mix road tyres with dual sport.
I can think of reasons to mix different brands or models but than it's like a sport tyre in the front and a sport/tour in the back but to be honest, i don't see any reason anymore to use sport tyres on public roads.
Modern sport/tour tyres and even some dual sports give more grip you ever need when you drive sensible.
And i think you still can drive sensible when risking your licence.

[Hartley]

Was the Anakee 3s I had. I was purely trying to explain how different they felt.
Personally I’d not mix tyres anyway.

For the record, I’m using Pirelli Scorpion trail 2 on the CT at the mo as they came up at a good price with a forum member just as I was looking for tyres and I thought I’d give them a go.

They’re ok but I’ll probably go back to Michelin next time.

[bazza950]

The complete rubbish tyres on the NC were Dunlop Trailmax -front worn out in 1700 miles and replaced by Honda free -Pilot 4s made all the difference!

[__Ray__]

For however anybody want to use the information below as it's just my experience in 30 years, some different bikes and a lot of mls/km's.
My first bike was a completely rebuild Intruder 700 California spec i had a set of Metzeler. It was like concrete but a real chopper (one like where the name came from) you don't need grip anyway.
From there on i had different Bridgestone's like the BT016, 020, 021 but never will i buy Bridgestone again.
When you buy a new bike you don't have a choice so i ended up with a Dunlop Qualifier at one point witch was rubbish.
After the BT's i tried the Maxxis Supermax, a budget tyre at the moment but 10 times better than the BT's and after that i tried the Michelin MPR2 witch was great.
After 2 sets i tried the Dunlop Roadsmart (the first). This was a nice tyre but miserable on markings and repair spots (the bitumen lines) so back to the MPR2 skipping the 3 and on to the 4.
The MPR4 went off far before done due to cupping on both tyres. This was on a VFR VTEC.
After that came the Dunlop Roadsmart 3 witch was great and when i bought the CT i had them mounted right away but on the CT they missed out on traction.
Meanwhile the Road 5 Trail was out and it was great! Good stability, grip and longevity but i started getting interested in offroading.
So the Anakee Adventure came out and it was just as great onroad as the Road 5 Trail but 100 times better offroad.
But i wanted more and the next was the Anakee Wild. Had great fun with them but the first 2 - 300km is terrible with that one... beware of that when you choose that but after that i was positively surprised.
Then there was a long trip mostly onroad planned (en due to Covid changed several times) so back to the Adventures and those will stay on the CT until there is a very good option to try but that tyre does not exist at this moment.
For the places i need tyres like de Anakee Wild the CT is too heavy to have real fun and for that i recently bought a XT660 Ténéré for witch i just received the confirmation that the Hyperpro streetbox, steering stem bearings, innertubes and a set of Anakee Wild is ready for shipment 
Oh yeah. When i bought the XT and still are the Metzeler Tourance Next in front and the Batlax Adventure A41r in the back and the A41 confirms my statement of never Bridgestone again. Still no grip at all when the situation is not perfect as in dry and hot.
The Metzeler i cannot say anything about. The bearing has a dead point witch makes steering feel bad with every tire and i will not bash a tyre under known bad influences.

[DEMBONES]

Well, sheep do what sheep do...blindly follow the flock.   

It doesn't take a science degree or even 30 or 40 years of experience to confidently mix tires.  It just takes some common sense, a computer for research purposes and ultimately some seat time on the tires to figure out good combinations that can then be used with confidence for as long as those models are offered.  It doesn't bother me much to take a tire off and replace if I ever get one that I don't like the feel of.  I haven't crashed or slid off a mountain pass cliff becasue of a mis-matched tire yet and like I first wrote...I've been doing it a LONG time.

Your PC world-view blows IMO but I'm sure the manufacturers love to take your money as you throw out still useable tires to keep your precious matches.   

[Hartley]

 

Tyres on new bikes also aren't the tyres you think and that's a part i don't understand why they do it the way they do.
Bike manufacturers go to the tyre manufacturers with a price they want to pay and minimum demands what the tyre need to achieve.
Tyre manufacturers then take a regular mold but fill it with a lesser mix of parts and material to require the minimum demands for the lowest price resulting in a tyre that wears down in no time.
And that's the part i don't understand because in my opinion you loose a lot of customers.

Ive read about this practice of tyres supplied on new bikes not being the same as what youd buy off the sheft and find the whole thing very odd.

Firstly ill state, i dont know the truth in this whole idea, these are just my thoughts.

As Ray says, the notion that a manufacturer would put their name on a tyre they knew to be substandard is baffling. Surely what you want is for the owner of the bike to replace the tyres with the same again, and again.
Just doesn not make any sense to me. Then youve the bike manufacturer themselves, of course theyre going to want to obtain the tyres for the production line at the best possible price but again, to the detrement of the product theyve spent millions of dollars developing?

I watched a Youtube video recently where someone who claims to have contacts in the industry asked the question this of Pirelli and Royal Enfield. Both parties denied this and said it just would not make sense to do it.

Ive owned 3 new bikes and never had the first set of factory fitted tyres give particularly different mileages to any subsequent sets. With the exeption on theose Anakees 3s that lasted for ages. That said, others have experienced different.

With this and many things, i think about what would be the gains? does it make any sense? and would i do that if it were me making the call. For the few pennies saved, the reputational damage to my mind would be to great.
But then, i change my tyres in matched sets so what do i know.

 

[bazza950]

yes Hartley I agree it doesnt make sense to fit a cheapy tyre if you are the manufacturer ,wanting to sell your bike product to a sophisticated buyer - as we have to be to spend thousands on a "luxury" toy. commuters may be treated differently if buying for say a step through -but we are far more critical than just price comparisons.
I found the opposite on a new car-the original tyres ooutlasted any replacements - maybe the tyre folk were looking for a bigger contract?
Toying with fitting a pair of Anakees to my ct -or just one front bridgestone A41 to match the as-new rear?

[matt28]

Definitely there was an issue with Dunlop Trailmax at Honda NC, as Honda replaced them without questioning after less than 2k miles.
Also, when bought my VFR800X, it came with Bridgestone A40, which were no longer in production at that point. Only lasted 6k miles.