General Grabber UTP 205/70R15 review

OK, I don't have enough miles on this tire yet to have a really good review of it. I will post more results after I put some more miles and after I put it through the paces on the range (I run the same range on my VTX we do with the tiny bikes in class) My initial findings are not bad but again I have less than 20 miles on it and it's a terribly windy day so my results may be scewed.

I like the look, it fits the bike and is tall enough it really doesn't creat error in the speedo. This is good for me as I spend a lot of time at 85-90mph sometiemes I even run 95+ for an hour at a time without dropping below 95mph so a smaller tire would not suit me well at all.

Snow: The tire gripped wonderfully in the snow and had a much more secure feeling than the bike tires I've been running. The part I always dreaded with the snow was the rear of the bike kicking out everytime I got on the throttle, that is now not nearly as bad.

Wet roads with a tad of slush: It seemed to handle fine on wet roads and was hard to break loose from a stop. I didn't get to corner hard in the wet stuff so I'll have to wait until I get a chance to try it out to really say for sure.

Dry roads: The tire was quiet as best I could tell with a 40mph crosswind. It felt firm and planted and maybe just a tad softer ride due to a softer sidewall. I did notice it took more effort pressing the bars to initiate a turn and that while in a turn it did want to stand up and go wide which just required a little mroe presson the inside grip. It's not terrible but it is noticable more resistant to lean than a MT.

I did some weaving, imagine cones 20' apart and weaving them at 30mph. The tire felt planted good and while the bike leaned side to side easily again it took more effort countersteering than usual. HOWEVER- In a way it was easier since the tire made the bike want to stand up it was easier to transition from leaned left to leaned right (or vice versa) as the tires helped "spring" me back to center and I just used the momentum to let it fall to the otehr side. Once I started the occilations it was just as easy or easier to continue the weave.

Now, I will report more as I said before. I do want to do a lot more with it before I give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down but so far I am liking it. It is different and I'm not sure I owuld actually recommend it to someone who is not well versed in effeciently handling a motorcycle (countersteering!!!! you must know it good)

Well, time to go eat some lunch, I'll post more up later as I get more miles on the tire.

George

Very unbiased report. Thanks George!

Keep us up to date!


...................bobby

.

I like that better than the other one...but still partial to my HydraEdge.

But it's nice to see more options for the 1300 stock wheel. And yes, very good review sir.

Good write up George. Glad you will keep us posted as the miles pile up.
Jerry

Man you guys, Im not buying another friggin tire till you guys get this stuff sorted out , Nice write up and glad to see more choices out there. thanks

Tennex, Here is another one for you. Continental Contripro contact 205/65HR15.
Its the only 65 series I found that fits a 5" rim. Price wise tirerack.com is the best.
Happy hunting,
Jerry

Any more miles on the tire yet, George?

DocRawk wrote:Any more miles on the tire yet, George?

Yes....George....where you at???????



................bobby

.

twin1300 wrote:

DocRawk wrote:Any more miles on the tire yet, George?

Yes....George....where you at???????



................bobby

.

Hes out riding.....he aint got time to talk to yall. bwahahahaha.

Well, after Muntz's mishap, I'm a bit worried about George...

DocRawk wrote:Well, after Muntz's mishap, I'm a bit worried about George...

Brandon,

Just wait till George find's out what you just said....... :cyclops: OOOHHHHHH! This is going to be fun!.................


................bobby


.

twin1300 wrote:

DocRawk wrote:Well, after Muntz's mishap, I'm a bit worried about George...

Brandon,

Just wait till George find's out what you just said....... :cyclops: OOOHHHHHH! This is going to be fun!.................


................bobby


.

Yeah George once called me "Dipstick"

Muntz wrote:

twin1300 wrote:

DocRawk wrote:Well, after Muntz's mishap, I'm a bit worried about George...

Brandon,

Just wait till George find's out what you just said....... :cyclops: OOOHHHHHH! This is going to be fun!.................


................bobby


.

Yeah George once called me "Dipstick"

Bwwhahahahahaha!


...................bobby

.

I'm here, no more miles on the bike though. Internet really sucks out in the boonies here so've been gone for a while.

George

Ah good, I was afraid I was gonna have to send the Grabber back if George had already gone all flaming death and everything

No flaming death for me, just cold windy nasty weather. That's OK summer will be here in 5 short months, then a week later winter will be back.

George

OUCH! 1 week summers would suck...

We had hail here today. Does that count as winter???

DocRawk wrote:Ah good, I was afraid I was gonna have to send the Grabber back if George had already gone all flaming death and everything

Bwwahahahahahah Can't you just feel the love!


.............bobby


.

twin1300 wrote:

DocRawk wrote:Ah good, I was afraid I was gonna have to send the Grabber back if George had already gone all flaming death and everything

Bwwahahahahahah Can't you just feel the love!


.............bobby


.

I'm glad I'm wearing my boots, the way all this love is piling up.
Jerry

George, I feel for you. I've been in Wyoming a time or two and that there is the asshole of the country (with the exception of the Yellowstone area). Fireworks and beer as far as the eye can see, which is quite a ways since there is only sage brush growing with the howling wind the way it is. You do have mighty nice roads though, so all that mining money does some good!!

Here's another little update. The roads were clear enough that I took it for a ride out through the hills. It's exactly 10 miles from my house to where the pavement ends out by the old abandoned coal mine. It is one of the curviest roads in WY outside of the mountains and the surface is good in places and kinda rough and patched in others. in other words it's the perfect testing grounds for tires and suspension set up on a street bike. It's not the dragon by far, but in the 10 miles it runs I think there's probably 50 or 60 curves so I get to ride 100-120 curves in a 20 mile run from my front door.

Now, the tire does ride softer and has a nice feel to it. When going striaght it behaves nicely. The only dowside I'm seeing so far is with our perpetual winds here you ride leaned over slightly which the flatter tread tries to avoid. This means more pressure on the bars constantly so I can see where this tire may tire me a little more on a long trip fighting crosswinds.

More to come...

George

OK, I had to leave for a while and now I can continue my extended review.

Curves - These tires hold a line pretty good if you don't mind a little extra pressure on the grip to keep it leaned. If you hit a bump midturn it has a slight tendency to stand up, but the MT would hit violently and jerk so I'll gladly trade a little stand up for a violent shaking anyday

Mud - What can I say, this is a cruiser and not a dirtbike, but I did have a chance to ride it through some really sloppy mud about 4-6 inches deep. It had better traction than a MT, but not as good as a dirtbike tire (or Twin's Duglas probably) I dropped her in second gear and spun the rear up to about 75mph as I barely eased through the mud abotu 2 mph actual speed. I was slinging roost about 50feet behind me and got me, and the bike pretty muddy although I did get through the mud so all was well. It was actually kinda fun drifting sideways through the mud with a huge roost behind me on a heavy cruiser like this.

I now have a little less than 100 miles on this tire and still have not decided 100% on it yet. I think the decided factor will be when I get to take it out on the interstate in some winds and see how well it tracks and how much work is required to hold it leaned slightly for 100 miles at a time.

Until then ride hard, have fun, and trust God.

George