Sport Demon tires?

[bad Chad]

A bias set of these, but made in Brazil, came a shod the Roamer.  They only have 1.5k of road at this point, but I am not super impressed.  Despite the name they don’t feel very sporty.  They feel a little greasy at times, which is not exactly confidence inspiring.  Have others experienced similar?  If so , what do you like better?

[jwinwi]

Michelin Pilot Activ

[malik]

For the V7's (and the Enfields) I prefer the Avon AM26 Roadrider, but the Conti Road Attack 3 is getting some good press here. The V9 is a different bike & may very well prefer something else. Try to get opinions from other V9 people. The only sure way is to rack up the miles & keep experimenting.

[pebra]

I have Sport Demons on the roadster, and am satisfied.

But then I'm not a very discerning rider.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I used to really like SDs out in the Kalifornia Kanyons. Haven't had them for years, though. I'm a serious fan of Contis, now.

[Stevex]

Soon as my Demons wear out I'm going radial with Contis...LM2.

[guzzi771]

I did a track day at COTA 3.5 miles 22 turns on my V7 III with sport demons and they worked great .I have a expert road racer license and was pushing it to the max passing some sport bikes in the tight sections I have no problems with SD .

[TexMexStrada]

A bias set of these, but made in Brazil, came a shod the Roamer.  They only have 1.5k of road at this point, but I am not super impressed.  Despite the name they don’t feel very sporty.  They feel a little greasy at times, which is not exactly confidence inspiring.  Have others experienced similar?  If so , what do you like better?

Yup, the Demons are awful. I'm running Pirelli Scorpion Trail IIs for the past 6,000 miles and I'm very happy with them, lightyears better than the Demons. I will try the Conti RA3 when these are done (those have fantastic reviews), which will be somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 miles based upon current wear.

[Kev m]

I did a track day at COTA 3.5 miles 22 turns on my V7 III with sport demons and they worked great .I have a expert road racer license and was pushing it to the max passing some sport bikes in the tight sections I have no problems with SD .

This ^^^ though I'm so far from an expert it's not funny!

[TexMexStrada]

I did a track day at COTA 3.5 miles 22 turns on my V7 III with sport demons and they worked great .I have a expert road racer license and was pushing it to the max passing some sport bikes in the tight sections I have no problems with SD .

On perfectly smooth and dry pavement, when up to temps, I can see the Demons performing well, even very well as you describe. But on bumpy roads with poor pavement/a little dirt they are mediocre at best as their stiffness becomes the enemy of grip. In wet conditions they are downright scary, especially 2up and loaded down.

[guzzi771]

I did remove the kick stand after 8 laps

[egschade]

>snip<  They feel a little greasy at times, which is not exactly confidence inspiring.  Have others experienced similar?  If so , what do you like better?

After 1K miles they still felt kinda greasy on my V7 III so I switched to Pirelli MT-60s (like the Rough) and haven't looked back.

[guzzi771]

This is the only time I  ever heard knobby tires make a street bike handle better on pavement .I guess the motogp and superbike teams should which to knobbys hahhahahahahahah !

[groundhog105]

I have run several sets of the sport demons and never experienced a problem with them not sticking. Only issue I had was wearing out in 3000 miles.

[Lumpy Idle]

i have a set on the sporti and although i only have 500 or so miles on them i like them.  i even put them on the k-bike. they are costy as hell but they feel grippy and i have never had a problem with them

[MMRanch]

Re: Sport Demon tires?
« Reply #13 on: Today at 10:05:47 PM »
Quote
I have run several sets of the sport demons and never experienced a problem with them not sticking. Only issue I had was wearing out in 3000 miles.
 

I'm with GroundHog on this one , My Roamer was done with the Sports Demon in 3k miles and the V-7II was done with its SD by 4k miles.

The Roamer has a Commander II in 140/90-16  now and on dry pavement it holds as good as the
 150/80-16 Sports Demon ever did.    I'm sure the Commander will run at least 18,000 miles on the rear too !  Maybe even more miles ... I got 22,000 miles on one of them running on a smaller bike.

[Testarossa]

I'm under the impression that tires installed at the factory are not quite the same as aftermarket tires of the same brand and model. The factory tires are supposed to be cheaper, possibly made in a third-world country with a thinner tread, and won't last as long as dealer-bought tires installed later. This implies that Mandello-installed Sport Demons are inferior to store-bought Sport Demons.  I put a Sport Demon on the front of the Mille and it works well -- am considering it for the rear as the Shinko is wearing thin.

Has anyone else heard this?

[MMRanch]

Has anyone else heard this?

................... .............
Testarossa ,  So how many miles has your Shinko severed ya  and which one did ya get ?

Aren't all motorcycle tire made in places that don't have strict environmental  standards ?

The Shinko 712 on my V7II works really well !   If Commander II's came in my size I'd run them .   

So , the question is
"How many miles do you run in a year" ? 
and 
"Are you willing to use a 5-6 year old tire" ?

A Commander would be waisted on a bike that only get 2k miles a year ... you'd be on a 10 year old tire before ya got it wore out !
But
Running 15k miles a year , a 6k mile tire would just piss me off. 

[80CX100]

I'm under the impression that tires installed at the factory are not quite the same as aftermarket tires of the same brand and model. The factory tires are supposed to be cheaper, possibly made in a third-world country with a thinner tread, and won't last as long as dealer-bought tires installed later. This implies that Mandello-installed Sport Demons are inferior to store-bought Sport Demons.  I put a Sport Demon on the front of the Mille and it works well -- am considering it for the rear as the Shinko is wearing thin.

Has anyone else heard this?

     Yes I have.

      I'm having an old timer moment right now and can't remember his name, but the young lad that does the excellent videos for Fortnine did a video recently on this topic, I think the link for it might have been posted on wg over the winter,idk.

      Apparently when bike manufacturers put out a call for tenders to the top name tire manufacturers, the winning tire supplier bids are built to a price point; as you say, usually the tread will be much thinner and sometimes the tire compound or manufacturing standards will be of a lower quality as well, trade secrets?.

      It's unfortunate but the Sport Demons supplied stock as OEM "might" not only be thinner but of a different inferior compound or construction as well.

      The differing opinions/experiences expressed above, vary widely, part of the reason may be that with Sport Demons supplied as OEM on a new bike vs replacements with the "same" tire may be comparing apples to oranges.

      fwiw ymmv.

      Kelly

[egschade]

This is the only time I  ever heard knobby tires make a street bike handle better on pavement .I guess the motogp and superbike teams should which to knobbys hahhahahahahahah !

I presume you're replying to my comment. The MT-60 is 1) hardly a knobby tire 2) if the MotoGP teams rode on gravel and dirt roads they'd probably use something like the MT-60, 3) yes, IMHO the MT-60 radial IS better than the bias, cheapo OEM tires and 4) if you had any sort of experience you'd understand that not everyone rides the same or has the same needs.

[egschade]

I'm under the impression that tires installed at the factory are not quite the same as aftermarket tires of the same brand and model. The factory tires are supposed to be cheaper, possibly made in a third-world country with a thinner tread, and won't last as long as dealer-bought tires installed later. This implies that Mandello-installed Sport Demons are inferior to store-bought Sport Demons.  I put a Sport Demon on the front of the Mille and it works well -- am considering it for the rear as the Shinko is wearing thin.

Has anyone else heard this?

Yes - there are several stories about OEM rubber being more about looks and cost than actual performance. FortNine recently did a credible job explaining this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv97i_-V7hA

[Testarossa]

So how many miles has your Shinko severed ya  and which one did ya get ?

I've been using Shinko 712s on the 850T for years -- the last three rears have gone about 7500 miles each, the fronts do twice that.

When I got the Mille it had age-hardened Contis and I wanted to try Sport Demons but couldn't find one in stock (this was October '16) so I used the Shinko. It's going thin at 6000 miles, while the Sport Demon front has lost only a millimeter of rubber -- about 20% of tread depth. I see the Sport Demon rears are in stock now.

Has anyone actually measured the tread depth of Pirelli OEM vs aftermarket tires?

[Lumpy Idle]

Has anyone actually measured the tread depth of Pirelli OEM vs aftermarket tires?

oh, interesting question. i'd like to know that too.

[guzzi771]

I presume you're replying to my comment. The MT-60 is 1) hardly a knobby tire 2) if the MotoGP teams rode on gravel and dirt roads they'd probably use something like the MT-60, 3) yes, IMHO the MT-60 radial IS better than the bias, cheapo OEM tires and 4) if you had any sort of experience you'd understand that not everyone rides the same or has the same needs.

                                            I wonder why Moto Guzzi on their website calls the MT-60 tires on the V7 III Rough Knobbys ?

[egschade]

                                            I wonder why Moto Guzzi on their website calls the MT-60 tires on the V7 III Rough Knobbys ?

Marketing fluff. Compare the MT-60 to any dirt bike tire and they're nothing close to that definition of knobbies. The "knob" height is street depth at best and the bock size isn't really a knob either.

To me - the MT-60 is NOT a knobby like the DOT MT-21

MT-60




MT-21

[blu guzz]

in regard to 3rd world countries, the Michelin Anakee's on my v85 are made in Thailand.  7,000 miles with pretty serious twisty roads and they still look good but the rear is squaring off some.  I think they should go 10,000.  I am satisfied with that.

[fossil]

On perfectly smooth and dry pavement, when up to temps, I can see the Demons performing well, even very well as you describe. But on bumpy roads with poor pavement/a little dirt they are mediocre at best as their stiffness becomes the enemy of grip. In wet conditions they are downright scary, especially 2up and loaded down.

Exactly my experience. I had two sets on my 2013 V7 Stone. The stock set lasted as long as the new one. As I like to ride in the winter also I chose the Dunlop Arrowmax Streetsmart. They last definitely longer and the work in the cold, in the wet and even on wet grass. I have just ordered a new rear tyre after about 11000 km. However when I have to change both tyres I will try the Conti radials.

[JJ]

This time round, I am trying a set of these, SHINKO Ravens, on my Centauro GT. 

So far, so good, 500-600 mile trip next Tues, so I will let you know more.  They were $150 cheaper than Pirelli Angel GT's.

[PeteS]

I tried Sport Demons when they first came out maybe a dozen years ago on my LeMans. They were just OK. The best tires I ever ran on the LeMans were Avon Super Venoms, NLA. The Sport Demons were geasey by comparison. No idea what are good sport tires today but just put a set of Anakee IIIs on my KLR which I am also running on my Triumph Tiger and am fairly pleased with them though lean angles are not close what the LeMans can do.

Pete

[jwinwi]

One of the most important factors affecting tire grip is age. Guessing that, even if they were the same compound and tread depth, the SDs on a 'new' bike would be a few years old by the time the owner gets it on the road. BC, what's the date code on yours?
EDIT: Just noticed that your Roamer is a 2017 model. I bet those tires were made in late 2015 or 2016.