New Front Tire

Badbob · 10-23-2008, 06:41 AM

I finally got a replacement for my front tire. Actually, I was looking for a tire for a long time and could not find one in stock. On a recent trip I wore it dow to the wear bars and beyond. I had one hell of a time finding a tire. I went to all tire manufacturers web sites I could find with selection guides and then Googled for them. Yes, I could have paid extortion prices fore a tire and got one pretty quick. How ever I'm a cheap bastard and the GZ250 ain't a racing motorcycle.

After all this searching I finally had to settle for these motorcycleproshop.com:

Item 1
Product ID: N-1606
Product Name: 1056 TUBE 325/350-16 TR6
Product Price: $7.95
Quantity: 1

Item 2
Product ID: K41-5503-10
Product Name: * RIM STRIP 16/17" sold each
Product Price: $1.50
Quantity: 1

Item 3
Product ID: 0305-0061
Product Name: 5711 TIRE ROADRIDER 110/90-16 Front
Product Price: $79.00
Quantity: 1

SubTotal: $88.45
Shipping: $10.50(Regular Shipping)
Handling: $2.00
State Tax: $0.00
Country Tax: $0.00
Grand Total: $100.95

A day or so after placing my order I got a call form them saying their supplier didn't have any of these and could they get one from another supplier that cost a bit more and split the difference with me. I agreed to this only because it wasn't worth my time to go through the search again for $5.

What I found out in my search is that we/I have been lucky. Apparently GZ250s need odd size tires that are not readily available. They are listed on many on the manufacturers sites but are difficult to find in stock. The only ones I could find that were relatively easy to locate were made for 150 mph sport bikes with prices starting at $120 and going up. If getting these mounted at a dealer a complete set of new tires might cost you $500 with labor and all included. Thats getting pretty near half of what I figure I could sell my GZ250 for. This is crazy expensive. Since I change my own tires and buy them at as low a cost as I can find its only going to cost me about $110 to change the front tire. This is two times what it cost the last time I did this.

The tire I choose is the Avon AM26 Roadrider. It was not the lowest cost but their web site claimed it was designed for commuters from the description they seem to indicate longer tread life.

The tire is here still in the box. I'm hoping to get it mounted this week end. This is to late to attend the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival that I have been planning to go to for the last year.

I checked these manufacturers. There might have been others but either they had no selection guide I could find or were rejected for some other reason.

Maxxis
None

Promaxx
M6103 Rear 130/90-15 66H/TL

Dunlop
D404

Avon
Roadrider AM26 Front Tire $90

Pirelli
Sport Demon

Dunlop
GT501

Conti
Ultra TKV11

Metzeler
Lasertec

Kenda
K671
K673

10-23-2008, 06:41 AM	#1
Badbob Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Tallahassee FL Posts: 945	New Front Tire I finally got a replacement for my front tire. Actually, I was looking for a tire for a long time and could not find one in stock. On a recent trip I wore it dow to the wear bars and beyond. I had one hell of a time finding a tire. I went to all tire manufacturers web sites I could find with selection guides and then Googled for them. Yes, I could have paid extortion prices fore a tire and got one pretty quick. How ever I'm a cheap bastard and the GZ250 ain't a racing motorcycle. After all this searching I finally had to settle for these motorcycleproshop.com: Item 1 Product ID: N-1606 Product Name: 1056 TUBE 325/350-16 TR6 Product Price: $7.95 Quantity: 1 Item 2 Product ID: K41-5503-10 Product Name: * RIM STRIP 16/17" sold each Product Price: $1.50 Quantity: 1 Item 3 Product ID: 0305-0061 Product Name: 5711 TIRE ROADRIDER 110/90-16 Front Product Price: $79.00 Quantity: 1 SubTotal: $88.45 Shipping: $10.50(Regular Shipping) Handling: $2.00 State Tax: $0.00 Country Tax: $0.00 Grand Total: $100.95 A day or so after placing my order I got a call form them saying their supplier didn't have any of these and could they get one from another supplier that cost a bit more and split the difference with me. I agreed to this only because it wasn't worth my time to go through the search again for $5. What I found out in my search is that we/I have been lucky. Apparently GZ250s need odd size tires that are not readily available. They are listed on many on the manufacturers sites but are difficult to find in stock. The only ones I could find that were relatively easy to locate were made for 150 mph sport bikes with prices starting at $120 and going up. If getting these mounted at a dealer a complete set of new tires might cost you $500 with labor and all included. Thats getting pretty near half of what I figure I could sell my GZ250 for. This is crazy expensive. Since I change my own tires and buy them at as low a cost as I can find its only going to cost me about $110 to change the front tire. This is two times what it cost the last time I did this. The tire I choose is the Avon AM26 Roadrider. It was not the lowest cost but their web site claimed it was designed for commuters from the description they seem to indicate longer tread life. The tire is here still in the box. I'm hoping to get it mounted this week end. This is to late to attend the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival that I have been planning to go to for the last year. I checked these manufacturers. There might have been others but either they had no selection guide I could find or were rejected for some other reason. Maxxis None Promaxx M6103 Rear 130/90-15 66H/TL Dunlop D404 Avon Roadrider AM26 Front Tire $90 Pirelli Sport Demon Dunlop GT501 Conti Ultra TKV11 Metzeler Lasertec Kenda K671 K673 __________________ My GZ250 Blog Facebook Pinterest Google+ Tumblr YouTube Lumber Jocks Login or Register to Remove Ads
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