Stone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position RFT

Pulled the trigger this morning. I pick up the tire this afternoon. I will arrange to install it tomorrow.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE960AS+Pole+Position+RFT&partnum=955WR6RE960PPRFT&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

When the front stock Stone wears out in a month or so, I will be going double dark  
...gene

Well, I put 400 miles on the tire since posting this and I must say I did not blow up in a burning ball of fire  
I used the Dyna Beads for balance and it's glass smooth at speed.

The only incident I had was pulling a hard right turn from a stop sign and banging second I did get the tire to spin a bit.  Nothing outlandish, but a bit of pucker as I was not expecting it.  The lean angle was just above scraping and I did pop the clutch under full power  

With winter in full force here in Colorado, it will be a few days before I can get back out.  But so far - I am impressed.  Ride quality is great and I think I can make it even better between air pressure and preload adjustments.  It seems to like 38 lbs hot (50-60 degrees with 1 hr+ in the saddle).  With so few miles I am not sure what that translates to cold.

Now for the choice for the front... decisions...decisions...

...gene

With the high at 39 - I took another 100 mile ride.
My TPMS blinked for about 30 minutes on this ride.  But hey, I don't have access to the fancy tool to reset it.  The tire eventually came up to a temp/pressure that was OK for the TPMS setting, but for the ride it was all OK.  I never noticed anything bad.

As I ride the bike more, I get more used to the differences between a bike tire and a car tire.  There is no good bad here, just different.

I have noticed a tendency for me to lean left.  I am not sure what that means yet, just that I "feel" that I am rolling the tire left most of the time.  And when I go for no-hands the bike wants to stray right.  I am figuring this out.  More research needed.  I really like riding upright (6'4" remember) and like the ability to ride no-hands to stretch out my arms.  More to come.

Grip.  I got into moderate twisties and had no issues.  No peg scraping, but my confidence is growing.  On the other end, low speed, parking lot maneuvers are OK.  It's different with a CT but very comfortable after a dozen times or so.

I see no difference in bike performance, I passed people as I had before.  I braked (not panic) as I had before.  I am still of the ilk that will down shift and pass as quickly as possible.  Not that is not needed, but fun   

It may be a bit before I can tackle a hard twisty run with winter here.  But I am convinced that this is a great way to go for a GL1800.  Scraping the pegs at 70+ is the next real test.  And ATM I am confident I will have no issues.
...gene

Genedjr, I am still doing research on the CT's and looking at all sizes to get the best traction and not compromise performance, along with keeping my speedo true.  Currently I have been looking at a 175/70/16. This tire is almost the same measurements as a Dunlop E3 in a 180/70/16 like I currently use.  About all I have found is a Austone 175/70/16 which is a 8ply taxi tire.  Most of the posts I have found are all older posts, wish I could find some newer posts on this or any other tire of this size.  The older posts say that this particular tire has more rounded sides and seems to handle more like a E3 and it is a 100,000 mile tire but that hard compound scares me because I love the twisties.  Got to have that traction..... (Had a great time riding all over Colorado the past couple of years)  Anyway, if you see anything on this, let me know.  Hope you continue to enjoy your new choice in tires.

Oh, to answer your questioning about the bike wanting to go right and making you lean left all the time.....don't forget that highways have a angle that slants tot he right. This is to help water drain off. I wear out the left of center on my front and rear tires here because of the slant of the roads.

The  Austone  tire is taller than the E3. Way taller. Is it the 175R16 that your looking at ? If it is, it's 27" tall. I run a 175/75-16(it's taller than the E3 too) and my tire is a little shorter than the Austone tire.  The Austone tire has had a wobble on some bikes, not all but I know some riders that have given their  Austone away because of a bad wobble. If that size tire is what your going to get I would get the Dunlop taxi tire, cost a little more but no reports of wobble so far with that tire.
https://www.universaltire.com/dunlop-tires/dunlop-radial-tires/175r16-dunlop-taxi-black.html

ROD

The rubber on all of these c/t's are softer than the rubber on the E3, you will get better traction in the turns with any c/t than you will with the E3. I wore out 3 sets of E3's on my bike before I went to the darkside, have over 25k miles on my c/t and I think I'll get 10k more out of it. No way to get 100k miles out of it(Austone) the most I've heard of is around 40k miles out of the Austone tire.  We tested the hardnes of the rubber on both c/t's and motorcycle tires and the car tires were all softer than the m/t's. We used this to test the tires
http://www.amazon.com/Vktech-Calibrated-Rubber-Durometer-Hardness/dp/B00C8Q1EUY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387823597&sr=8-1&keywords=durometer

ROD

Rod, why did you choose that tire?  How badly does it skew your speedo?  My choice was for the tire's look.  It looks like a sport car tire and I like that.  I also like the W speed rating, but hey, I don't think I will find a W (or better) front...  My requirements were H or better speed and run flat.  I want cheaper miles per dollar on tires.

Flyn, I understand the road angles and there may be a bit of what you describe.  But even with rutted roads it seems I need to lean left.  With just resting my hand on the bars and all is well.  I think it's more operator issues than road   

A little to much snow today, so no ride.  Thanks for jumping in both of you.  The dark water is just fine.
...gene

On my bike(Honda VT1100-T) the speed-o is run off the front tire, so what ever I have on the back doesn't change it. I run the Vredestein Comtrac tire(175/75-16), they don't make that tire in that size any more. I got one of the last ones here in the states and it's the best tire I've had on my bike in the 13 years and 86k miles that I've had it. When this one wears out I'll get the 185/75-16 Comtrac tire.
http://www.tiresbyweb.com/tbw_tiresearchadv2.aspx?treadwidth=185&profile=75&rimsize=16&Winter=0&Pageindex=1&choice2=All

My 175/75-16 is almost two in. taller(1.9") than your 195/55-16 tire. So on a Wing it would make your speed-o run slower by almost 5 mph.  The 185/75-16 is the same height as the 175R16 Austone tire, so the speed-o would be slower by 5.5 mph compared to a 195/55-16 tire.

ROD

I have had the chance to push into corners a bit. Dive down the inside a bit. Hit the gas to make that stop light a bit. Grab TONS of brake because of some idiot a bit. And hit the gas trying to burn it a bit.

WOW - I am impressed.
- I feel very confident doing 50mph in 25mph (or less) corners.
- I feel very confident pushing into that stop light to clear before red.
- I panicked stopped from 60 to 0 at high lean and wow no worries (and no skidding).
- And I burned a bit if rubber - wow - never saw that happening for me.

I just wonder why I am so late to the game.
...gene

When I switched to going double dark, I had to reassess things a bit. I had a high speed wobble that took a bit of tire pressure fiddling to get rid of, now all is well with 40lbs front and 36lbs back (cold).

I like this tire but have noticed a couple of times that if I am at a high lean angle (read scraping   ) and pop the clutch under full throttle shifting to 2nd, I can get a little wheel spin out of the back. Nothing scary (well, maybe a bit the first time it did it   ) but certainly noticeable.

While this tire does require more input than a bike tire. I am happy with the choice.
With almost 4K miles - 8/32+ tread depth still (about 80%). So I should get ~20K out of it - we'll see.
...gene

So, my year old wing lost the front TPMS sensor - actually it disintegrated.  But that is another story.  After getting it replaced by the dealer (only had to buy additional dyna-beads) they left the tires at 40 psi F/R (cold).

While high-speed handling is still good, low speed (below 30 mph) is noticeably bad.  The bike hunts around groves, cracks, tar snakes, etc.  

I have been reading about people using very low pressure (ex 27 psi).  I have not tried that low yet and was pretty happy at 36 psi in the back.   32 psi and it felt mushy, at 40 its very hard.  I really need to spend a day figure out what works for me.  

But I am very happy with the wear - 5K and 8/32 left (11/32 new) with even wear - doing the math I should get 18K+.  I am also very happy with the performance.  

The only slight issue is the input required when turning at medium speed (30-50 mph).  The tire seems to get to a point where it wants to fall into the turn.  While I am not watching the tire roll up   I assume this is a transition point.  But it still sticks like glue (unless I pop the clutch in 2nd under a full lean   ).

...gene

Hi All,

I may have missed it but will this tire fit a GL1500 ? I know it calls for a 175/70/16 but will a 195/55/16 fit?

Thank you

Hichey

Hitchie
The 195 is too wide. You need the 175.

So I am trying various pressures to see more methodically the results. This weekend I tried 28 lbs cold and went on a 400 mile ride through the rockies.

Well - 28 lbs cold moved to 35 lbs hot (after about 60 minutes of hard riding). It took a great deal of concentrating and handlebar input to keep my line, but it worked OK all morning. In the afternoon as fatigue set in it became harder and harder to hold a line at high speed. Medium and low speeds were still no problem and super slab was smooth and quite.

So while 28 is workable, it took more effort than it should. Definitely not a pressure for hard/fast/tight riding one up (210 lb rider).

The front was at 38 lbs and seemed to be OK there.

Going to try 32 lbs next. As noted 36 lbs seems to work well, but I have not run a test as long or hard as I did yesterday. I plan on running in 2 lb increments to 42 lbs.

So much testing, so little time   
...gene

Well,
32, 34, and 36 lbs have virtually the same results - fine at just over slab speeds. But start pushing the $1 mark and the tail wagging starts. While I don't go very fast all the time, I do it enough to be annoying. I still have 38, 40 and 42 lbs to try out - this given what I have heard about others pressures, I am slightly concerned.

Also right now I am 40 lbs up front. I have varied the pressure here also from 36 to 40 lbs.

Any other suggestions?
...gene

Well today I got out for a good test. I believe a combination of issues led to my wag.

• Front tire pressure was too low - moved to 41 where I had such good luck with the OEM Stone.
  
• Rear tire pressure was too low - moved back to 36 (tried 38 and 40 also).
  
• Preload moved from 6 to 8 to 10 to 12 to 14 and back to 12.
  

Now, I had lost confidence at speed because of the wag. Even approaching 80 on a tight section of freeway was cause for concern. It took most of the ride before I really felt comfortable again at speed.

Results (I did these changes one at a time)

• Moving the front tire pressure up solved the parking lot speed sluggishness. At speed the front was more solid.
  
• Moving the rear tire pressure first to 36, then after 2 hour cool down (pressure at 36 again) tried 38 and then 40. 36 made the straights seem more planted and was the point where it stopped trying to follow tar snakes. 38 and 40 made no improvement.
  
• I moved the preload to 8 road a 2 mile section at speed and back - helped, so I kept incrementing until it did not help. Ended up with a preload of 12. The area I was in allowed for $1.10 or so sweepers and I was planted
  

While I only put about 200 miles on today, I started to gain more confidence that the bike would go where I point it without trying to "wag" me off the back. I am still not as comfortable as I was on the stones at speed - but it's much much better.

Now I need more time to practice!

...gene

I still have fairly evenly 7/32 with 10K on the tire.  It is slightly more wear in the middle (<1/32) so I am backing off the 36lbs to 32lbs for a while and see if that helps.

While I will not see 20K out of this tire, I will see 15K or so.  And it was $80 cheaper at the time than the Stone.

While I am very happy, I think I will succumb to the Alpine for the next CT.
...gene

This is my last post on this tire, and bottom line is I am very happy with it.

I ended up with 14,250 miles. I believe I would have gotten more had I set the pressure at 30 psi and just left it there.

The tire performed very well in all weather conditions. I road 20 miles in 4" of slush, 6 hours in the driving rain of the northwest, many miles on gravel roads, and countless hours in the rocky mountains.

I did pick up a tack that showed up as a slow leak. Sticky rope tire plug and moved on.

Again the bottom line is I like the tire. But as a cheap $0B I put on the BridgeStone DriveGuard saving about $45

...gene