Wilbur's last words, I am bereaved to report. Said words were eventually (in Sep.2008) deciphered from frozen, blood-written inscriptions on a car tire carcass drifting a few nautic miles away from the South Pole:eek:

The rumors that I was eaten by penguins after being thrown off course by my rear tire were greatly exaggerated. :p

 
Dewrag, that really does look good. 225 you say?

Wilbur, how many miles did you put on it before upping it to 36? You were running 30 PSI weren't you? I really do like the looks of the AVS ES100. Give me 6 months and I'm going over to the darkside myself. I get my handle honestly.

Got about 1100 miles on the Yoko now.
 
5500 miles and I just love my goodyear, 9100 miles on the bike and I would otherwise be lookin at my nearly my fourth tire. I don't mide wrenchin my own bike but I don't plan on changing tires all summer. the Metz didn't last as long as a good Cigar.
 
I am going to start out with an inexpensive tire Riken raptor ZR 225/50ZR16. Link Removed
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My darkside rear tire choice was the Michelin Pilot Sport AS. I went with the 225/55ZR16 size. I'm running 32 psi.

I ran a ventus 245/50/16 at 40psi back in 05
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5500 miles and I just love my goodyear, 9100 miles on the bike and I would otherwise be lookin at my nearly my fourth tire
So many choices:roll:I've not looked into the treadwear numbers on anymore that that FINE Rinken Raptor. It's only 300, which to me means softer and softer is good in my book. So I get only 30k on one. I can get near 5 for the price of a metz.
It has been said though, gravel roads are a white knuckle experience. I imagine a washboard gravel mile will make you turn around:) Over the course of 45k the bill on the metz replacement would be near 5250...10 times more that a single Raptor. Lets triple that for the approximate miles on a set of 5 Raptors at the low low dollar of one time 350 metz. Plus you've gone over to the darkside soon to be bright side. Do you think a group buy is worth it :D
 
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The gravel roads aren't too bad once you get used to them. My driveway is 1/8 mile of highly crowned gravel road. At first I had a hard time negotiating it. I learned the main thing is to carry a little speed. If you poke along, it's much harder to control. I went to my sister's place in the mountains this past weekend. Have to ride a twisty gravel road to the top of the mountain. Did not have any trouble.
 
gravel & car tire = bad handling

Hey wilber-t,

I had just put on my Mich 235/60r16 and had about 100 miles on it when a biker friend past away because of cancer. The funeral procession was at his church on a freshly graveled parking lot. It was about 4 inches deep with pea sized gravel. Other bikers who know me gave me quizzical looks as I had to "duck paddle" like a newbie out the drive at about 1mph. :mad:

Of course, like you said once the procession got to moving at a 10 to 15 mph rate, everything settled down. But you are right, the slower you go with car tires, the worse the handling.
 
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