Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Thread approved.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Have a look at the Bridgestone Battlax s22, I have heard good reviews about them.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Thanks but I might have a hard time finding it. Called few of the dealers nearby none has it

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Where are you from, cause I know a dealer in mumbai who has some very good sourcing leads, and can help in sourcing tyres At very competitive prices.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

I am from Mumbai. Bhandup west to be precise. Any contact number of the dealer will be helpful. Thanks in advance bud

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Contact super tyre
Super Tyre
Shop No. 3 & 3A, Garden Plaza, Opposite, Mira Bhayandar Rd, Shivar Garden, Mira Road, Mira Bhayandar, Maharashtra 401107
Hardik - +91 72086 19672

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

ER6N tyre spec, I hope is similar to Ninja 650r. I have a Ninja 650r 2014 model. Recently changed my tyres. Michelin Pilot street Radials 150/60 R17 rear and 110/70 R17 front. It is around 1000 km since I changed and wanted to share my experience.

Background
Previous tires were Diablo Corsa 2 160/60 R17 Rear and 120/70 R17 front (Stock Specification). .

My experience with Diablo Corsa 2 tires.

1. After around 8000 km there was significant wear around the contact patch area. Almost the center part was flat (Not circular)
2. Many punctures happened.
3. Bouncy nature with the bike and even high way riding was not giving settled feeling. Tried different rear pre-load settings too. Didn't help.
4. During mild cornering also was giving a kind of wobbly feeling.
5. Long rides were never enjoyable.

At last it was time I decided to change the tires.

Wanted to try Michelin Street Radials. But it was not available for Ninja Spec (160/60 R17 Rear and 120/70 R17 front)
So wanted to try smaller size which is easily available in India (150/60 R17 rear and 110/70 R17). This is the same spec as of Duke 390.
Verified the load rating of these tires and felt OK. (I love long distance touring and am not a rash rider and drive at sane speeds).
After switching to Michelin street radials, the experience is very good. The Ride became more enjoyable. The bouncy nature of the bike is gone. Cornering is good.
Didn't find any issues so far with Braking. No punctures so far (touch wood). Sharp handling. Easy to maneuver in city.
Cost of both front and back tires was around 11000 Rs.
Seems to be appropriate for Indian roads and more resistant to Puncture.
Ground clearance got reduced a bit.

Just wanted to share my experience so that people thinking in similar lines can be benefited.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Please replace the 150/60 rear ASAP. The speed rating of that tyre is way lower than what the bike needs. Its a accident waiting to happen. Please do not endanger your life and life of others.
Upsizing or downsizing should be done posting taking things like speed rating and stuff into concern. On a performance bike, never ever downgrade the tyres speed rating.
You feeling OK on load and speed rating is not enough. The manufacturer came to those rating post lot of R&D.

As of new set of tyres for OP and you, get the Pirelli Angel GT2 from here: https://www.pathpavers.in/collection...li-angel-gt-ii
I got them for my N1000.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

These are the technical details of the tyre I had mentioned earlier and reasons why I went for the same.

Michelin Pilot Street Radial

Rear Tyre - 150/60 R17 66H
H - 210 KMPH SPEED RATING
66 - Load Rating 300 KGS

Front Tyre - 110/70 R17 54H
H - 210 KMPH SPEED RATING
54 - Load Rating 212 KGS

Ninja 650R can cruise at a maximum speed of 200kmph (May be more on a race track with a really long straight stretch of road) at least in India I don't think it would be sane to ride at these speeds. Secondly with the weak front floating calipers it is not smart to ride ninja 650 (er6f or er6n) at high speeds. Not to mention the rear brake character. Load rating of these tyres are also good enough for this bike. Also these tyres are better resistant to punctures compared to the Pirelli Diabolo Corsa and the expensive likes. Not to mention the life of the expensive tyres with respect to Indian road conditions. Previous Diablo Corsas lasted for 8000 kms before it started wearing out in the middle and not to mention poor puncture resistance.

Note: For my kind of person who does not ride in the 200kmph speed range or track this tyre suits in my opinion

Also Ninja 650 or ER6N, in my opinion does not deserve a ZR rating or W rating tyre (Speed rating 270kmph - 300kmph). Ninja 650 is never capable of such speeds.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Speed rating is simply not for what speeds the bike can do. It about the tyre being able to dissipate that much amount of heat when run at that speed. India is anyways hotter than most of the European countries and US. So the tyres need to deal with higher temps and harsher conditions.
Manufacturers perform multiple testing to arrive at the speed rating for a particular model.

Someone feeling that a bike doesn't deserve a certain speed rating does not mean anything as they have not tested it under any condition to arrive at that result.
Its your life and your bike. Run it the way you feel best.

With great power comes great responsibility. Its one thing to buy as superbike/big bike. Its another thing to maintain her the way it's supposed to be.

Good luck and happy riding!!

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

I understand your point hellgate and safety concern you have raised. Thank you. It is always better to play safe.

I looked at vehicle capabilities, performance envelope with respect to Indian riding conditions and tried to figure out the best possible match from multiple factors which includes things like puncture resistance, economy etc.

For instance we see that bikes like YAMAHA FZ, SUZUKI GIXXER 150 etc. come equipped with 140 section tyre. The duke 125 comes with 150 section tyre. As you know these bikes just make power less than 15 bhp and these tyres are definitely a over kill. At times marketing team plays a hand in all these decision making to attract buyers by posing them as big bikes.

Apart from these the rear suspension of ninja 650 and er6n is very poorly damped. This is one of the reasons why it gives a bouncy ride on highways which is worsened by 160/60 tyre (adds up to the bouncy nature) and due to the weight adds up to this (the more the moving mass the more the bouncy nature).

This can be resolved by 2 ways.

1. Increase the damping of the rear suspension (Rebound only can be adjusted, Damping cannot be with the case of stock suspension). Hence we need to find a better suspension.
2. Reduce the reciprocating / moving mass (Switching for a lighter tyre with less side wall height / lower profile).

I am not an expert but trying to explore options.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

I am at a loss of words.
If someone compares the cross section of FZ with a big bike, I dont think that is fair at all.
With all the technicalities that you have introduced, you forgot the fact that N650 does not fall into commuter/premium commuter segment. Its something way beyond that.
Why do you think some bikes have wider tyres than others? R15 has 130 but FZ 140. Do you have the answer for that?
Manufacturers simply dont decide to plonk in a certain tyre size on a bike. Its based on multiple factors.
Also putting in a wide tyre does not mean it matches the ratings of superbike tyres.
Even for Kawasaki, would they have not save money by simply putting on 180/55 in the rear as they use the same in Z800/900?
I don't think we are going anywhere with this discussion.

As I said, it's your life and ride. Do what you best feel with it without endangering life of others.

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

Has anyone used a bigger tire apart from the stock 160/60 rear section.
Experience and feedback please

Re: Tyre suggestion for Kawa ER6N

See, its necessary to do the correct diagnosis before we arrive at binding conclusions.

You said, moving mass is causing the bouncing. Can you please highlight the source of your information? While physically it might be correct, but we have to consider the possibility of something else altogether being the bigger cause of problem.
Remember the entire mass, even the moving one is moving forward... and there's not likely to be a significant weight difference between a 150 and a 160 section, but a whole different level of safety standard.


Firstly, if you're riding single, its better to keep the tyre pressure at the level recommended for a non pillion ride, usually 27-28 psi for the rear. Try having your own gauge, as how accurate the pump guage is, is anyone's guess. Even a single psi makes world of difference. This will ensure a comfortable ride and sufficient grip.
You're better off touring with luggage.

One more thing: Isn't the 150 tyre supposed to have a smaller tyre wall, so how will this attribute help in controlling bounciness? I'd like to know myself, if I'm missing a point.
I rode the 2019 N650 once, and don't remember any bouncy feel, in fact, it felt firm and this meant only feeling the road better. A small ride only though.


Downsizing the tyre is not a good choice, specially so because most of these 150 section tyres are aimed at bikes between 25-44 bhp of power, weighing under 200 kgs. Or for big adventure bikes (but your mentioned tyres aren't). And power is not just top speed, power is acceleration too, not to mention the heat and pressure our Indian roads put on tyres.
No need to get paranoid about it though, just keep the right size next time you change tyre, what else? And better do it before it wears to near its limits.

For once, even 120-180 tyre combo is acceptable, but not downsizing.

You know the MRF Revz C, 150/60, the stock tyre on the Duke 200 have caused as many as 2 crashes/ lowsides on Duke/RC 390 within my city?
And not surprisingly, its the same size as stock, just harder, low spec rubber compound... this is how situation is.


Stick to Stock, and then on you can make adjustments to air pressure, etc.

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I agree with you mostly.

Although, I think there's no cost saving in using 180 instead of 160, instead on the contrary the bigger, higher spec tyre is more expensive, and economies of scale are unlikely to make this big impact.
The bigger reason could be performance and fuel efficiency (tank range does matter on a tourer). Both these take a noticeable hit when you're moving on to bigger spec tyres.

FZ's story is a bit different. Yamaha actually had more marketing reasons for it, way back then in 2008 or so, when 100 section was the norm for 150cc bikes, they wanted it to create a visual impact with a 140 section!
They got made a custom tyre from MRF for the same, which was lightweight, but soon the owners found how this compromise would affect them:- yes, the tyre was, and still remains one of the most puncture prone tyres in the segment.
R15 on the contrary started with 100 section tyre, again custom developed by MRF that received loads of praise for its awesome grip. Aha... the older days. <3 Only later it got a 130 rear.

Conclusively, I think upsizing is not likely to have a safety risk, unless its caused due to lower compound rubber or tyre scraping a component on the bike (sometimes while in motion, or on suspension dampening).

Someone used 180 rear and 120 front on a Ninja 650 few years ago, and posted the pic on my Facebook news feed. Now, I don't remember who it was.
But he did say it was a good change.