After seeing the cord on the rear tire of my Tenne Griso, I did some searching regarding what folks recommend for tires. OEM tires were the Metzler Roadtec Z8s. I was happy enough with the Metzlers but was curious enough, after many suggestions pointing to Michelin Pilot Road 4s, to give those a try.
I got 12,350 miles out of the Metzlers. I didn't think much of this because motorcycle tires certainly don't last like car tires so 12k wasn't a decent number to me but was about the time I would expect for a tire change. 10k has always been my expectation of tires. After bringing this up to my designated tire changer, I was hit with questions of, "How many sets of tires have you had?" "One." "Did you buy the bike used or new?" "New. Those are the tires I road off the dealer showroom with." "Do you keep your tires inflated?"
"Religiously."
I do a couple of things that seem out of the ordinary. One is my bike is my transportation to work. I generally don't ride on weekends but ride Monday through Friday so I don't get tires that have gone a week since being used or inflated to prosper pressure. Further, if it's been more than a couple of days since I have ridden the bike, I check and fill air, mainly because I know how quickly the air is lost in my bike tires. Apparently this makes a world of a difference. I keep air in the tires first for safety and second for gas mileage. The gentlemen I discussed with, a knowledgeable Guzzist to understate it, stated he has folks come in consistently with very low tire pressure. The MSF talks about tire pressure checks being a daily event. I don't have time for that rigor, but it appears that my rule of thumb of no more than two days of non-riding before a pressure check, may be worth considering if you want to increase the time between tire changes. YMMV...
