10-03-2013, 06:06 AM
i guess there is Michelin Commander 2 in Radials for 150 /70 -18 ..don't know whether its compatible for the CB.. Should work but no Michelin front in that same type. I just looked it up and voila, the Pilot Road is available for the front in the correct size. That's a perfect tire for the CB1100, W-rated (168 mph sustained speeds), sticky, long-lasting, and would likely be a very good match with the Commander II. You always want the stickier tire up front, and they are both radials. Someone was wanting to switch to Michelins; this might be the ticket, but of course check with Michelin first. The Commander II is H-rated (130 mph maximum sustained speed) so I can't see any issue there unless someone unplugs the speed sensor (the bike is ECU limited to 112 mph as most of us know).
Speed rating is a misnomer. Those ratings should be called handling ratings more than speed ratings because they effect the handling characteristics more than anything. Yes they do tell you how fast you can "safely" take the tire up to, but there is a lot more to it than that.
I'm not going to get into the specifics of tire construction, but suffice it to say it's a BAD idea to mix and match speed ratings because it WILL intorduce unpredictable handling characteristics into the vehicle.
This is true in vehicles with 4 wheels, but even more true with vehicles on 2 wheels.