Trail wing Heretic

[patropsley]

Just given a wee back to the dealer after a week ( assessing the amount of paint removed by my boots after 7.5k!!!) – got my bike back - mine has trail wings and the new wee I tried had Anakee’s. My trail wings have done 7.5k and will need replacing shortly but having ridden a week on Anakee’s I am not sure I will be spending the extra particularly as the trail wings are cheap in comparison and are giving great life. I rode the Anakee’s  as if I was indestructible and they still twitched in the wet on my rural corners (muddy and white lines) but I honestly felt as confident on the trail wings around the same corners – anyhoo each to their own I will put an advert up for Wanted trail wings as mine are starting to square off and the garage says the back has around 3-4 k left before I should change. So if you have got some new / nearly new that you hate with a passion I will buy for a fair price.

Regards

Pat

[patropsley]

I've posted another wanted ad on the forum for deathwings - the ones I bought from mal last time have served me well with the exception of me losing concentration and missing a micro climate slippy patch by a hedge twitchy bum time but got round the corner OK. I will be ready for a change over this winter. so if you are looking on this tyre thread for an alternative to the dreaded and dangerous deathwings take all the expert advice and replace, but remember to get the trailwings back as I will buy them from you. someone pm'd me who had binned the trailwings for mrp 2 but didn't get the brand new trailwings off the dealer don't make that mistake!
regards
pat

[hookie]

Good for you! There's as much bollocks talked about tyres as there is oil for bikes. It's not in Bridgestone's interest to make or Suzuki's interest to sell their bikes fitted with bad tyres. Most of it is in the head! When tyres are squared off and worn out they can make the bike feel anything form a bit "off colour" to downright unpleasant and when you ride off with a nice new set the bike can feel transformed and maybe even like a different bike altogether. This is not due to the different brand but  due to the nice new tyres. I'd challenge average Joe to distinguish between different tyre makes on a Vstrom, unless perhaps they are a MotoGP or WSB rider.....

[Fatbelly]

I think they are OK, too.

[Mr Nick]

Most of it is in the head!

Unfortunately, that's the part I use when riding a bike: if that's not right then it doesn't matter what tyres I have on.

[hookie]

Yes I know. I was a rep in a past life and got to hate Michelin tyres on the cars I was given and still won't put them on my bikes. This is totally daft as I know they'll be fine. It's all in the head...

[patropsley]

hi gents
 at a bikeshow this summer I asked one of the journos the question why are trailwings so crap and why don't I find them crap he asked what bike I rode he then said it's a great bike (and said get the glee as soon as I could) it is a bike that new bikers ride and consequently they make more mistakes which can often be blamed by them as tyres rather than poor decisions and once people get behind a theory it becomes fact if you have an unexpected twitch it's the tyres ETC.  he was adamant it's in the head and there is only a small amount of differential grip between tyres - the main difference was between road and trail tyres ( on a communte such as mine). He continued to talk tyres with me and called another journalist over and he backed up his thinking.
after the conversation he summarised that the more APPrOPriate the right hand the more appropriate the tyre! enough of that........ trailwings are crap so sell me your Deathwings!
regards
pat

[Juvecu]

There is a definite difference between Anakees and Trailwings and it's not in my head either. On ST1 I had Anakees on my bike, they were about half worn. At the time longman had an issue with his bike and I took it out for a run on a road I had literally just ridden on my own bike. We both have old Wees so there wasn't much difference between them. I found his bike difficult to steer to the point where I stopped and checked if he had any cable routing issues. When I got back to camp I realised he had different tyres on and only then did I find they were Trailwings. The weren't badly worn or anything like that either. The difference was noticeable, at least compared to the Anakees. Seeing as I didn't know he had different tyres and only thought about it after I got back, it definitely wasn't in my head. You don't need to be a MotoGP rider to feel the difference between tyres, anyone who rides fairly regularly will be able to tell differences.

[Fatbelly]

I have always thought that Trailwings were OK, but if journalists agree then I must be wrong, surely?

[greywolf]

I wouldn't take them off my new bike before they wear out but I wouldn't buy another pair to replace them either.

[patropsley]

my like of deathwings is simply cost. Buying an unwanted / loved pair new from the forum costs me less than half the price of any new set and allows me to change as they start to square off/ reach a low tread depth. If I can't get a set this Time - I won't replace with trailwings which are not that much cheaper than the tyres mentioned on the tyre section - I will go for road pilots I just hope they are as long lasting as the trailwings.

fb I did glaze over as they said wet roads were also mostly in the head :-) They did put me onto the police riders handbook which I bought and is a great read and breaks: grip, breaking and traction down in to a very manageable and interesting read.

regards
pat

[Fatbelly]

Ah yes, Motorcycle Roadcraft. Still the best book on riding there is, probably. Available at all good bookshops.

[2112]

Ah yes, Motorcycle Roadcraft. Still the best book on riding there is, probably. Available at all good bookshops.

And a few crap ones too ! Tells you all you need to know and a lot easier to decipher than the IAM manual which is a dumbed down copy with nice pictures.

[hookie]

Thought this might open a small can of worms!.....

[temporaryescapee]

It's a good debate; I like it when a prevailing view is challenged.  

Bike have been threatening to do a test of adventure bike tyre options for some time now - I would love them to do this.  I do not have the skill to differentiate but went with Anakees as the accepted wisdom on this site and am happy with them.

[frez]

They are not as bad as some people would have you believe, I ran mine until they were down to the wear limit, but I wouldn't put them on a bike out of choice.

They are easily upset riding over banding, white lines or cats eyes. They do not have as much grip under heavy braking as I had the ABS come in several times with them under heavy braking that the PR3s absorbed with comfort. But it never stopped me touching the pegs down with them on.

I didn't find them noticeably worse in the wet and felt reasonably comfortable riding home one day in torrential rain with standing water.

[Strommer]

On my previous bike I found them fine in summer - no issues at all.  In winter they were hard and very slow to warm...  Bike never wanted to lean in winter and felt like it was resisting it.

[patropsley]

hi all
it's really not about the tyres - juv can tell the difference straight away and couldn't turn properly with deathwings on so that is good enough for me because of him I have warm dry hands in my £20 muffs ! is it more about the person ???? I can't tell the difference (I rode a bike earlier in the year as my original post with anakees on and couldn't tell the difference I acknowledge that's my crap riding not the comparability between the anakees and the trailwings)
for me deathwings do me fine please don't take my post as a challenge to all the experienced and better riders than me who rate other tyres and hate trailwings - I am a commuter who fell in love with a vstrom the package is great for me I commute 70 miles a day 12 month a year (I have A car on the drive but even on frosty, wet icy days I  have no issues with taking the wee out it hasn't let me down down, lights. engine, chain, electrics or tyres)  and the deathwings work for me. I am in no doubt they are crap and dangerous but............ they haven't let me down
keep safe and shiny side up

ps they are really crap so change on your new bike and sell  them to me ;-)
pat

[Juvecu]

I guess it's only fair to add that I test rode a Glee with Trailwings on it and they were fine while the sun was shining (...while I was nailing it.) I even played around with the ABS with them on and I was quite impressed with the ABS, that ride helped change my mind about motorcycle ABS (previously I was quite anti ABS.) Sunny weather turned to a light rain near the end of test ride and I could tell the Trailwings weren't happy on the damp road. They weren't near as bad as the ones on longman's bike (even though his tyres looked fine and he was happy with them at the time ) The ones on the Glee definitely didn't turn as easily as my Anakees, but that's a profile thing mostly. I've heard that they get bad once they've worn a bit, the ones on the Glee were new, the ones on longman's bike were older. Or maybe the compound changed sometime or another during their life?

In the end, if you're happy with them then everything's peachy

I might be going for Michelin PR3 tyres next myself. I will soon be doing a 120 mile a day commute again and changing tyres around twice a year, or more (meh )

[patropsley]

juv what tyres would give the best mileage not worrying about performance?