Interceptor Tyres

[Grandland]

I've not had a chance to ride yet but I like what I'm reading about Bridgestone BT46's , I'd bought a 16oz bottle of 'Slime' so decided to go the whole hog last night & I injected 10oz in the rear & the remaining 6oz in the front (as advised in another thread), spun the tyres by hand for about 20 minutes, I just hope it doe's what it says on the tin & I don't get a ruined ride due to a puncture

 

[Grandland]

Had a short ride out today on the new Bridgestone's, round trip of 85 miles, took it steady for the first 50 miles to 'scrub' the tyres in, on the way home I drove it a little harder & wow what a difference, handles the corners so much better, it just feels like its glued to the road, when I've bedded the tyres in for another 60 or so miles I have absolute confidence that it will drop right down into the corners & bends without me having any concerns whatsoever, best money I've spent since owning the bike

 

[Cpt.Sparkles]

...That makes a tubeless tire, with a tube, have a really nice anchor at a puncture moment. A standard old-school tubed rim, w/o that shoulder, can unseat itself instantly at speed.

Recently I've done a Vulcan, Shadow, HD & vintage Bullet spoked rims.
The hardest by far was the RE for a tire change.
Technique has to be pretty good with hand levers.
The upside is that when that bead seats, it feels like it is on there.
Try not to misalign the valve stem because it's hard to shift the tire to correct it.

The other rims were steel & the tire manufactures were different so this is merely an observation and not gospel.
Still...It makes me feel pretty confident the way the BT46 tires fit.

Also...Much less tramlining but I didn't dislike the Ceats.

 

[Grandland]

Also...Much less tramlining but I didn't dislike the Ceats.

Gotta agree with that

 

[Grandland]

..Much less tramlining

Agree with this but did not like Ceat tyres

 

[SSK Dave]

Had a short ride out today on the new Bridgestone's, round trip of 85 miles, took it steady for the first 50 miles to 'scrub' the tyres in, on the way home I drove it a little harder & wow what a difference, handles the corners so much better, it just feels like its glued to the road, when I've bedded the tyres in for another 60 or so miles I have absolute confidence that it will drop right down into the corners & bends without me having any concerns whatsoever, best money I've spent since owning the bike

Agree. I feel the same way after doing a 1600km ride to Sin City (Pattaya,Thailand) on my BT46's. Because of the pot-holes and roadworks, the next day I invested in a YSS fork upgrade kit too. NOW, I have confidence in my Interceptor.

 

[Gotbikes]

Involved in the legal field for 20 years . . and "You are safe with staying within the industry norm. . but not being lesser than . . "
A low-rider sedan using 13" skinny rims meant for a tiny car, and crashes, has rock hard hydraulics for his show frenzy, ----> is in jeopardy in any lawsuit. I've seen this.
A gent putting on a (bike) tire that is well within an industry norm in size , is safe. For instance : a 150/70/18 tire is : 3.50" --> 4:25" in most industry standard charts. JUST an example, and a guy can put on what he likes, but he's in safe territory 100% of the time. What will get you in trouble is installing underrated tires, then something bad happens. It's especially bad if forensic investigation indicates the owner used the tire under inflated or over-loaded. A variation of that gets trickier when a gent installs a considered "non industry standard" tire, ie: dirt bike knobby tread on a street bike, then injures somebody. Now it's a good court battle, especially if the only roads available are soft dirt roads. Note: the guy may have put a 130/xx/18 knobby on.. . . well within a fitment range.

Take note: RE uses a tubeless tire type rim at the inner shoulder, that's impressive. Not the spoke/nipple ports, just the shoulder. That makes a tubeless tire, with a tube, have a really nice anchor at a puncture moment. A standard old-school tubed rim, w/o that shoulder, can unseat itself instantly at speed. That sucks. I've had that too many times since 1970. When I replaced my
OEM tire, that bugger came off the rim STAT scary easy, by pushing my palm on it. Daaaaamn. !!

Just putting on a tubeless tire, with a proper tube, VERY snug fitting on that shoulder, later requiring a serious levering to remove, is very very very nice. Take NOTE: That will be a non-OEM tire replacement that is an upgrade , in any circumstance. Just stay within industry fitment norms.

Well Locknut, your explanation of tubeless rims with shoulder vs tube-type needs to be explained more often and to more riders. I've known this forever and especially since the advent of tubeless bicycle tires. My conversion to tubeless Bridgestone b46 is a feel-good experience. And sealing the rims so as not to require a tube has another advantage - my tires need topping up FAR less often. However, I had not considered the liability aspect of that which may be an issue in the event of an insurance claim or a law suit.
This seems to be almost a Royal Enfield secret as I asked and searched to no avail to determine if the rims were indeed tubeless or if they just put tubeless tires on tube-type rims. It wasn't until I could find a photo of the rim to see the shoulder first-hand.
(Please note the bicycle industry has not come up with a standard configuration for tubeless so therefore one must use the correct rim/tyre combination, which I believe is not an issue with motorcycles).
Many thanks.

 

[Dabrakeman]

Just for my own clarification are folks putting B46 tires on with a tube or without a tube?

 

[Grandland]

Just for my own clarification are folks putting B46 tires on with a tube or without a tube?

If spoked wheel's then you have to have tubes

 

[Andy131]

Definitely with tubes

 

[Gotbikes]

Just for my own clarification are folks putting B46 tires on with a tube or without a tube?

with tubes, unless you seal your spoke nipple holes first

 

[Gotbikes]

Well Locknut, your explanation of tubeless rims with shoulder vs tube-type needs to be explained more often and to more riders. I've known this forever and especially since the advent of tubeless bicycle tires. My conversion to tubeless Bridgestone b46 is a feel-good experience. And sealing the rims so as not to require a tube has another advantage - my tires need topping up FAR less often. However, I had not considered the liability aspect of that which may be an issue in the event of an insurance claim or a law suit.
This seems to be almost a Royal Enfield secret as I asked and searched to no avail to determine if the rims were indeed tubeless or if they just put tubeless tires on tube-type rims. It wasn't until I could find a photo of the rim to see the shoulder first-hand.
(Please note the bicycle industry has not come up with a standard configuration for tubeless so therefore one must use the correct rim/tyre combination, which I believe is not an issue with motorcycles).
Many thanks.

Just for interest sake I weighed the Bridgestone B46 tyre and it weighed a little more than the Ceat with tube and rim strip.

 

[cozz33]

coming from a Himalayan with standard Pirelli tyres and a well sorted frame I was disappointed with the handling of the Interceptor, the engine seduced me away from the Himmy, but at 80-85mph she was difficult to control and certainly took up the whole lane on the motorway, Fitted a shortish Puig screen and she felt stable at 85 but much faster and it was unpleasant / scary. I bought the bike with 800 miles on the clock, but at 1,500 I wandered into our local tyre place (SMD) and asked could they get any tyres to suit. Turns out that they are THE place to go for motorcycle tyres, yes they actually had the Battleaxe BT46 in stock and would fit them as soon as they had finished the Fireblade and BMW S1000R that they were playing with - I was only toying with the idea not actually going to take the plunge.
£265, two coffees and a chat with the other owners (2,000 miles for a rear tyre !!) and she was done.
Totally and utterly transformed, rock steady at my usual 80-85mph, have been up to three figures and she is stable. More importantly she doesn't twitch on white lines and riding in the rain doesn't scare the living daylights out of me - rains a lot in Manchester.

Now I did chat with a few Inter owners on the RE ride out last weekend, yes they do twitch on white lines but nobody had thought it worrying enough to change from the CEAT tyres

Hey Andy, got a slight wobble on my interceptor at high speeds too. When you say you had new tires out on, does that include new rims or just the rubbers?

 

[2LZ]

Hey Andy, got a slight wobble on my interceptor at high speeds too.

Same here. It just the rubber. Post 55-60 bounce. Up to about 70 and it goes away. Going to balance both tires when I have the rims off the bike next. It's not the rims.

 

[Andy131]

Just new tyres, original tubes, original wheels, newly balanced.

 

[SSK Dave]

Just for my own clarification are folks putting B46 tires on with a tube or without a tube?

Whilst mine are with tubes, because of the original spoked wheels, they do also fit on the new tubeless alloys too.

 

[cozz33]

Just new tyres, original tubes, original wheels, newly balanced.

How hard would you say it is to balance them? Plan on ordering some bridgestones soon. I’ve changed the tires on my 250 Yamaha virago but it was so long ago I can’t really remember the process. I’m sure there’s YouTube videos on it out there

 

[Scrapyard Sorcerer]

My local dealer has offered me a pair of Maxxis tyres at cost to get some feedback as I use mine daily, all year. CEAT tyres seem OK if you find a tyre pressure that suits for lower temperatures ( I found below 5 degrees Celsius was were I had to tweek, usually the front to 34/36 psi) For Continental tyres, the quote is £360 fitted a pair.

 

[2LZ]

My local dealer has offered me a pair of Maxxis tyres at cost to get some feedback as I use mine daily, all year.

Can't wait to see what you think about the Maxxis tires. Do you know what model tire they're offering? I'm no "tire snob", by any stretch. I usually run Shinko's and stay away from the high priced spread. That said, I ran Maxxis M6011 tires on my Victory Touring Cruiser years back...and immediately took them back off. Scariest tire I've ever run, regardless of air pressure. I even took them back off and balanced them myself, just to check. Unstable at speed, and lack of grip the further I leaned into a corner. Any sand or gravel on a corner was almost a death sentence. Really looking forward to your input. I've been afraid to run a Maxxis tire since.

 

[Suncoast]

I've done a tubeless conversion and am running a Shinko 712 100/90/18 on the front and a Shinko 741 in 140/70/18 on the rear. So far so good the bike feels more planted and turns in to corners much easier in my opinion. Way better than the stock Pirelli's less than $200 as well!!