#tire

Continental Tire is recalling 68,770 motorcycle tires because they may develop cracks that can result in tread separation. The recall includes the popular TKC 80 dual sport tires, ContiGo! tires for lightweight motorcycles, plus K62 and LB scooter tires. The recall may also include tires that were installed as stock equipment on certain BMW, KTM and Husqvarna models. The recall affects tires manufactured between Jan. 6, 2019 and April 30, 2022. The full list of tires and specific sizes affected is posted at the bottom of this article.

Once upon a time, many generations ago, motorcycle tires were in limited supply. You wanted them black, round, and capable of holding air. Well, the technology has changed to the point that there is no universal best motorcycle tire. Rather, the motorcycle tire industry developed the capability to create carcasses and tread compounds to handle very specific conditions. Hence, we have the fragmentation of the motorcycle tire market. Let’s take a look at the differing categories, but if you want to jump straight ahead to your type of motorcycle, click on the link at the top of each section.

For some, half the fun of motorcycles is wrenching on them, and for those who like to turn some spanners, having the assistance of pressurized air sweetens the deal even more. Let’s face it, who doesn’t like the sound of pneumatic tools?! Here we’ve gathered a list of the best motorcycle air compressors, as rated by the hundreds, if not thousands of, reviews on Amazon. And because an air compressor can be something as simple as a device to inflate some tires (or a beach ball), we’ve included a few of those in here as well. Clearly the list of compressors one can buy is far more expansive than what we have here, but we had to draw the line somewhere. Below you’ll find our choices, with the least expensive first. And remember, should you buy any of the compressors below, MO gets a kickback which allows us to keep making the motorcycle content you really came here for.

Since its introduction in 2015, the Sportec M7 RR tire has been a popular seller for Metzeler and continues to sell well to this day. So, why fix it? Well, while we may think that the advent of motorcycle electronics has been growing quickly, the arena of tire performance has also been undergoing seemingly exponential change, and a five-year-old tire runs the risk of being left behind in the marketplace. Enter the Metzeler Sportec M9 RR, a tire designed to capitalize on all the M7 RR’s strengths and then exceed them. Does Metzeler, the only tire manufacturer to exclusively produce motorcycle tires, have another hit on its hands? Let’s take a look.

When Dunlop began its presentation of the all-new Trailmax Mission 50/50 adventure tire *insert record scratch*. Wait, what? 50/50? There are no knobs. There are hardly even lugs on this new adventure offering and it has the rounded profile of your typical street tire. What gives? Well, Dunlop says it’s reinventing what it means for a tire to pull double duty both on-road and off.

It was rough duty but somebody had to do it: Hang out at Laguna Seca’s World Superbike/MotoAmerica race all weekend so as to be there early Monday to ride around on Pirelli’s new supersporty street tire, the Diablo Rosso Corsa II. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, since Pirelli has been the official tire of the WSBK since 2004 and will continue to be through at least 2020.

By definition, designing a motorcycle tire is an exercise in compromise. The perfect tire would have ultimate grip in every scenario and would never wear. Whoever can invent this unicorn tire capable of setting lap records and transcontinental travel simultaneously will cash in handsomely. Until then, however, we all have to live with compromise. Here in the real world, tire companies constantly battle with the challenge of balancing grip for longevity, and when it comes to track-worthy – and street legal – tires, the challenge becomes even greater; the tire should definitely provide enough grip to confidently hustle a motorcycle around a track but should also be robust enough to survive the everyday grind.

You don’t see this camera angle very often, and it’s really informative about the stresses a front tire undergoes on a MotoGP bike. What we have here is a testing session with  Danilo Petrucci riding his  Pramac Racing Team Ducati at Jerez with a forward-facing camera mounted to the bike’s belly pan. While viewing a video that consists of just a single shot may sound boring, seeing the tire squirm under braking and cornering is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Watching the suspension work is pretty cool, too. Go ahead, you’ve got 10 minutes to spend wishing you were as talented a rider as Petrucci.

Dear MOby,

Frankly, we at MO would not know that the biggest complaint among sport-touring riders, especially performance-minded ones, is tire life. That’s because we rarely put more than a couple thousand miles on any bike before it goes back to its maker. But we can see how tire life would be a real problem for big powerful beasts like FJR1300s and the sweet new KTM Super Duke GT – upon which I had the excellent fortune to sample Dunlop’s newest rubber upon.

There are only three things you really need to know about the all-new Dunlop Elite 4, sayeth Dunlop: mileage, mileage, and more mileage. According to a test performed by an independent lab in March of 2016, with 130/70R18 and 180/60R16 Dunlop Elite 4 tires on a 2007 Honda Gold Wing, you could cross the U.S.A. six times before needing to replace your tires. Correct, up to 18,000 miles.

OK, I know, checking a motorcycle’s tire pressure is super easy. All you do is take out your handy tire gauge and apply it correctly to the wheel’s valve stem. Well, yes…and no. Tire manufacturers recommend that you check your bike’s air pressure when the rubber is cold – meaning at ambient temperature. If you’ve ridden your bike in the last few hours or have parked it in the sun, where the tires can absorb heat, the pressure will read artificially high.

Question: What’s a motorcycle’s natural position?

As I slide on my back, the wet Spanish dirt at the outside of Almeria’s Turn 6 rushing up to greet me, I take a moment to ponder the error of my ways. It’s funny how time appears to slow down once one fully accepts that control has been ceded to powers greater than ourselves. Rewinding my current situation to just a fraction of a second earlier, my sin is revealed, standing before me like an old friend, arms open. With my no longer pristine, custom Pilot leathers providing tactile proof through my back protector of why I shouldn’t be allowed to have nice things, I try to ignore the 2015 BMW S1000RR skidding to my left and slightly in front of me. (So much more can happen before it grinds to a halt.) I can’t help but think how this has all happened before. How, once again, a single thought has spelled disaster. In the past, the thoughts were as simple as “I love this track!” or “I’ve finally figured out this corner!” This time, I merely thought, “The Metzeler Sportec M7 RRs have so much grip in the rain. Soon, I’ll be dragging knee!” Instantaneously, I was – only not in the manner I was expecting.