Tires

[the Ferret]

I'm almost at 8500 miles on my original Bridgestones. I'm starting to get weary of the front tire, but the rear looks to still be in really good shape. I find that confusing because every bike I've had has worn out the front tire first, but not this one.

I think you mean every bike has worn out the rear first..at least that has been my experience.

[Houtman_imp]

On my CBX I have a 120/90 18 Avon Roadrider ,on a big and heavy bike but for whatever reason I have more confidence in that tire than the Bridgestone radial on the CB1100.It could be me as I never had a Bridgestone tire before.(mostly Metzeler and Dunlops in the past)
Avon does have a radial in a 150/70 18 size ,it is called the Storm ,also a 110/80 18 for the front.If I need new tires in the future I will put a Metzeler lazertec in the front and a Avon roadrider in the back.I think that bias ply tires will do just fine for my riding and this bike.It is a GOOD thing that tires do not last forever,you can always change after a certain milage !!!
On my CB1000 I went with 180/55 18 radial Avon Cobra,not cheap but a great tire and it looks good to.
I have a little booklet from Avon and that gives all the measurements of all the tires and the recommended rim and the min. and max. rims allowed for a certain tire;this is very handy to decide what tire to pick.It is also probably available on their website.
I always maintain that quality pays but cheap does not,when it comes to tires I do not look for a cheap tire like some offbrand but buy the best tires for me.

[gcarper_imp]

I'm almost at 8500 miles on my original Bridgestones. I'm starting to get weary of the front tire, but the rear looks to still be in really good shape. I find that confusing because every bike I've had has worn out the front tire first, but not this one.

You must be on the brakes a lot if the front tire goes first. Only time I had that happen was a couple of years ago when I camped out at Telico Plains TN and had to ride the Cherohayla Skyway to get anywhere. That road is sweet, long sweepers along the tops of the moutains. We were pushing hard during our 3 days there and the sides of my front tire was completely bald. Took it easy going home!!

[Randy B]

I'm almost at 8500 miles on my original Bridgestones. I'm starting to get weary of the front tire, but the rear looks to still be in really good shape. I find that confusing because every bike I've had has worn out the front tire first, but not this one.

I think you mean every bike has worn out the rear first..at least that has been my experience.

I think you mean every bike has worn out the rear first..at least that has been my experience.
Yeah...duh. Tired typing.

I'm almost at 8500 miles on my original Bridgestones. I'm starting to get weary of the front tire, but the rear looks to still be in really good shape. I find that confusing because every bike I've had has worn out the front tire first, but not this one.

You must be on the brakes a lot if the front tire goes first. Only time I had that happen was a couple of years ago when I camped out at Telico Plains TN and had to ride the Cherohayla Skyway to get anywhere. That road is sweet, long sweepers along the tops of the moutains. We were pushing hard during our 3 days there and the sides of my front tire was completely bald. Took it easy going home!!

No...not really. I'm just commuting a lot. I don't ride this any differently than I do anything else. I meant I've always had the rear go first, and this one the front is going much quicker than the rear.

[gcarper_imp]

Changed out the Dunlop for the Avon Road Rider and have put about 300 miles on it. I can not tell any difference between the 2 as far as comfort and "stick to the roadness". I rode up into NC and Tenn yesterday on some nice curvy roads. Didn't touch the feelers but worked on the chicken strips some, felt very stable. By the way the original Dunlop is on the front yet. Got several more thousand before it comes off.

[veech_imp]

Apparently Honda did a lot of design work around tire selection for the CB11. Here is an interesting excerpt from the Ash on Bikes inteview with Hirofumi Fukunaga, the project leader at Honda who brought the CB1100 to life:

"AoB: What about the handling, were there problems getting this how you wanted with the 18 wheels and narrow tyres?
HF: This was a tough challenge. The single radius tyre profiles are partly reponsible for the light handling feel, and we spent a lot of time carefully tuning the chassis to match the tyres. The head angle and trail were adjusted but also the stiffness of the rear subframe was important with the rider on board as its stiffness is important for giving the right feel. It makes quite a big difference."

You can find the rest of the interview here:
http://www.ashonbikes.com/content/fukuna...-interview

Food for thought.

[CB4ME_imp]

Apparently Honda did a lot of design work around tire selection for the CB11. Here is an interesting excerpt from the Ash on Bikes inteview with Hirofumi Fukunaga, the project leader at Honda who brought the CB1100 to life:

"AoB: What about the handling, were there problems getting this how you wanted with the 18 wheels and narrow tyres?
HF: This was a tough challenge. The single radius tyre profiles are partly reponsible for the light handling feel, and we spent a lot of time carefully tuning the chassis to match the tyres. The head angle and trail were adjusted but also the stiffness of the rear subframe was important with the rider on board as its stiffness is important for giving the right feel. It makes quite a big difference."

You can find the rest of the interview here:
http://www.ashonbikes.com/content/fukuna...-interview

Food for thought.

Nice find, facinating actually, although I wanted to hear more from Mr. Fukunaga. Nice review too with bits of insight to what went into developing the CB1100. Thanks!!

[veech_imp]

Apparently Honda did a lot of design work around tire selection for the CB11. Here is an interesting excerpt from the Ash on Bikes inteview with Hirofumi Fukunaga, the project leader at Honda who brought the CB1100 to life:

"AoB: What about the handling, were there problems getting this how you wanted with the 18 wheels and narrow tyres?
HF: This was a tough challenge. The single radius tyre profiles are partly reponsible for the light handling feel, and we spent a lot of time carefully tuning the chassis to match the tyres. The head angle and trail were adjusted but also the stiffness of the rear subframe was important with the rider on board as its stiffness is important for giving the right feel. It makes quite a big difference."

You can find the rest of the interview here:
http://www.ashonbikes.com/content/fukuna...-interview

Food for thought.

Nice find, facinating actually, although I wanted to hear more from Mr. Fukunaga. Nice review too with bits of insight to what went into developing the CB1100. Thanks!!

You're very welcome-I'm glad to able to contribute something back to this excellent forum that I've learned so much from already. It was actually my doing research on the bike that lead me to find this forum in the first place!

I too was a bit surprised at how much went into the tire designs at Honda. I often like to experiment with different tires mysef but after reading this I am sort of thinking about leaving well enough alone. I know I would never come close to the resources and research that the factory did and would probably end up spending a lot of money just to make it handle the same or worse...

[mikedude_imp]

Should add, I normally run Michelins on all my vehicles, my Civic, my wifes Accord, our Ridgeline truck, my Honda ST 1300. Love Hondas and Michelins, great combo!

Anyhow I just emailed Michelin begging them to make tires to fit the CB. Said it may take 5 days to get a response so I will let you know what they say.

Get the group in on it.

[Motogeezer1949_imp]

I love tire threads almost as much as oil threads