Question for old timers - have tyres improved that much?

[Fullers1845]

My brother in law passed his test in 1994 at 17 and got his ZZR600 at 19, did lots of riding for years but was off the road for 20 years. Recently he got it back on the road and part of that was fitting some Michelin Road 6's.

He is sure that compared to 20 years ago the bike is more responsive, tips in better and feels much more stable & planted in the turns and as a result feels much more confident cornering.

We think this likely due to better modern tyres, would be interesting to hear others experiences, I'm fairly new to big bikes having had a long break between teenage moped shenanigans and midlife crisis DAS.
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Honda CB125F, Kawasaki ZX6R J1, 1922 Sheffield-Henderson Blackburne grasstrack/sprint

[MarJay]

F*ck. Yes.

Tyres have got better. You can now ride a GSXR1100L without dying for example.

My KR1S has a sports touring front, and a weird mid sporty rear of 18" size, both recently fitted. The damn thing handles. Back in the early 2000s you'd have had to have fitted crossplies or something to get the right sizes, and now you can have sporty ones. On top of that, tyres have better feel, better warm up and grip better in the wet.

There is a psychological effect of 'new' tyres too because the profiles will be right without a square rear and a cupped front, but I'm convinced it's WAAAY more than that. Sports Touring tyres are grippier than track tyres from 20 years ago, but also better in the wet than tyres have ever been. Track tyres work across more heat cycles, give better grip and wear better.

If you disagree with me? Try riding a FireBlade on a BT014 (2000s sports tyre) from cold, and then ride the same bike on a Bridgestone S21 (sports touring) tyre from cold and THEN come and talk to me.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[stinkwheel]

Absolutely. Especially in the wet. There is no way I could have gone full-send on my VRF750 on a wet road when I first got it, it would have all gone sideways very quickly and spat me off. Wasn't running cheap tyres either, bridgestones as I recall. The michelin road 4+ series changed the game.

I don't think you get any truly bad tyres these days. Some are better or more appropriate than others but they don't do ones that will actively try to kill you without warning. That used to be a thing.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[that_impulse_guy]

Ive also recently got back to biking and am riding an ancient 1986 model. But with new bridgestones, and I keep riding and thinking how much of a chicken I was as a youngster, but the truth is...the tyres are just so so much better. I dont even think I have "good" tyres either...like, if the other makes in sticky-land had the sizes I need I'd spend more and fit them, these were just what was available in the size I need but I'm extremely impressed with cornering and wet braking etc.
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Gone: Yamaha DT50lc, Suzuki DR500, Suzuki A100, Kawasaki z250ltd, RD350YPVS, Suzuki DR Big, Kawasaki AR125, Kawasaki KMX200, Suzuki GS1000S, Katana 1100, GS550M, Suzuki RGV250
Now: Suzuki GSX400X, Suzuki RF900R, NS400R

[A100man]

I'm a pussy in teh wet, and probably always will be. I don't think any amount of tyre techno-babble will cure my apprensions ..
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[jeremyr62]

They wear better too. I remember putting Avon Super Venoms on my GS1000 and after a couple of rides they would be squared off. Admittedly I am not much of a rider, but I don't see it anywhere as badly on modern tyres.

[Kentol750]

+1 for 'fuck yeah'.

For me it's also longevity....
20 years ago rennsports on a zx7r were cooked after almost 2k. Gsxs1000s (similar weight 20hp more) oem dunlops 4.5k..... pilot road 4s onwards are better than some of the 90s 'sports tyres' and will return up to 8k. We're in such a good place where tyre tech is now.
(Also prices haven't increased at a scary rate like other things.)
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Some bikes.

[panrider_uk]

Also, back in the day, crossply (bias belt) tyres were much more common and were the specified tyre for the Pan Euro.

Why I tried radials a few years after getting the bike the transformation of the handling was massive. It handled like it was on rails

With modern tyres add longer life and better grip...
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Current bikes: Hondas - Forza 750, ST1100 Pan European

[DaddyStu]

Silica addition has been a big factor these past few decades.

https://www.cambriantyres.co.uk/why-do-tyre-manufacturers-use-silica/
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Daddystu
Zontes 125-G1 (part-ex'd). Yamaha Tracer 700.

[sickpup]

[ZebraDriver]

Back in the early '80s my mate had a "Ying Shing" tyre on his ped. Standing joke was "Ying Shing - never bored in the wet"

ZD

[stinkwheel]

[DJP]

Absolutely. I've been riding since the 80s and until the early 2000s most tyres were dogshite.

For me decent tyres started with the Bridgestone 020s and then, in 2007 (ish) the Michelin Pilot Road 2 was an absolute game changer - the first tyre I'd experienced where I could almost ride the same in the wet as I could in the dry.

The current Michelins are still excellent, however I feel that quite a few others have now caught up to that standard.

So yeah, tyres are way better these days.
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[Polarbear]

God yes, remember Avon roadrunners or Dunlop TT100 from the seventies. And they were the good tyres you changed to from the plastic crap your Japanese m/c came with.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[ThunderGuts]

I suppose related, but while I can't comment on "old old" tyres as the oldest tyres I've ran were late 2000s, but coming from cars to bikes it surprised me just how much more tangible the difference is with different bike tyres than it is with different car tyres. Sure, in marginal conditions and pushing on, that would be where I'd have spotted a difference in average vs premium car tyres, but on a bike I found switching to better rubber the effect is felt pretty much all the time.

Edit: oh and OP, great beer I don't generally rate Fullers, but I make an exception for 1845.
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TG.

[MarJay]

Just to add to the other comments... I agree with all of them... but I will add that I think tyres have improved drastically even since the mid 2000s. I remember having the latest BT010s on my Daytona 955i, and them being OK. I had them on a few bikes since, then I had a few Dunlop Qualifiers, Maxis Supermaxx diamond etc but then someone introduced me to the new range of Pirellis. I had a set of Pirelli Diablos (pre Rosso) and they were a revelation. Then, I had a bike which had Pilot Road 4s on, and they were just as much of a revelation. Now I have Continental RaceAttack Comp tyres on my track bike and they are also a revelation. So much better than the Supercorsas or Rosso Corsas I ran before. I have Pilot Road 5s on my commuter and Rosso Corsa IIIs on my Street Triple. They are ALL way better than the last generation of tyre, which are better than the one before and before that etc etc.

Tyre tech is probably the most transformative change in motorcycling over my motorcycling career, especially as I've never owned a bike with a 6 axis IMU or anything.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[ThunderGuts]

I am soon to replace the Road 5 on my Crossrunner and planning on going with Road 6 . . . I was blown away by how much better the Road 5 was than the Scorpion Trail 2 that the bike came with and I am hearing nothing but glowing reviews for the Road 6.

You'd think there's only so much tech that goes into a lump of rubber, but clearly, there's more to it than meets the eye . . .
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TG.

[virus]

tyres have come on leaps and bounds from when i started riding and i've only been on the road a modest 18 years or so. some of the shite that used to pass as 'sports tyre' was ridiculous in comparison to even the most generic commuter rubber nowadays.
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own: 81 xs1100g...
owned: 85 rat CG (sold), 91 GS500e (stolen), 84 gsx400f (scrapped), 81 z250 (siezed, siezed, scrapped), 83 cb250rs (sold), 84 gpz750r ratfighter (killed) 84gpz400 (sold), '80 cb650 ratfighter (wrote off) 95gsx6/12f ratfighter (killed) 91 xj900 (sold)
stinkwheel Well I just had my hands up a pigs fanny. Which makes your concerns pale into insignificance.

[Fullers1845]

Interesting to hear all these replies, the only comparison I had was car tyes.
I remember 25 years ago when I started driving, with budget tyres that wore out in half the time and were absolutely lethal in the wet and also torque steering and understeering when pushed hard in the dry. Nowadays it seems most of the budget tyres are just a little bit noisier, shorter lived still and obviously not quite up there with wet grip as the top brands, but hugely better than they used to be.
The mid-range car tyres are really good now.
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Honda CB125F, Kawasaki ZX6R J1, 1922 Sheffield-Henderson Blackburne grasstrack/sprint

[Enduro Numpty]

I've been riding since the late 1970's and there is no doubt that tyres have massively improved in nearly all areas. They grip better in most conditions and generally maintain there profile better. That said, every new tyre that comes out invariably claims to offer higher mileage than what went before and is more expensive. In the 46 years I've been riding on the road from 250cc smokers, middle weight IL4's to superbikes and big sports tourers and just about everything in between. My average from all the tyres I've used in this time is around 3000 miles from a rear and maybe 4000 from fronts.

The last 30 years or so most of my riding has been on abrasive and grippy Scottish Highland roads which may partly explain this low mileage. Me and my wife have done a lot of European trips (4-5K) in this time and always have to factor in a tyre change which is an expensive PITA.

Yes, tyre performance is massively improved but it is and always has been my biggest running cost

[DaddyStu]

[blurredman]

20k miles on my avon roadrider 2 on the front of my CX. Has tread for possibly another 5k, but it's a few years old now. I'd rather not have a tyre that lasts a long time unless I can ideally use up the tread life within 10 years or whatever.
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 39k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 50k.

[Capt Sisko]

The first big change I could remember where when Metzeler brought out their ME33 Front & ME99 Rear. Nowadays they'd probably feel dreadful, but they were a huge step up from the Avon Roadrunners I had on before and I remember a run back from Scotland in the pouring rain on my GS550 and thinking, boy am I glad I've got these then new & modern tyres on.

[Hetzer]

When I had my first bike, 1977, tyres were made of plastic.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[mentalboy]

My stepfather used to run his Norton Commando on Avon's back in the 80's, I don't recall him ever needing to replace them over a period of about 7 years, despite it being his main transport for his daily 30 mile round trip commute. Those tyres were fucking awful.

I spent the latter part of the 80's throwing bikes into various hedges at an array of speeds. That all changed shortly after chucking my Z400 under the front of an oncoming Shell artic fuel tanker and me bodysurfing down the white line and ending up alongside his rear wheels. Once I had retrieved the bike from the hedge that I'd thrown it in, straightened it up a bit, I decided it was time to put those fancy new Battlax tyres on it that everyone was raving about.

Over the course of the following 20 years I had breakouts from gravel, cow shit, mud, water, diesel and stupid antics but not once did I end up in the ditch, before those Battlax's it only took some twat to spit on the tread and the bloody bike would go down.
The Pilot Road series made those first Battlax's look like they were wax coated. By the time I sold my last bike in 2013 there were so many high performing tyre brands available and even the cheaper Flung-dungs were a world away from the everlasting tyres of the 70's and 80's.
The only drawback to the modern tyres was replacing the PR's every 3500 miles...

No doubt things are even better a decade later on.
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