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Joseph,

Over half the threads in this section are about which Off-Spec tires we are using and how they perform. In general, the five Valk-size (180/70R-16) rear tires that have been used are:

* Dunlop D206 Elite - high mileage, good traction wet or dry, no longer made,

* Dunlop Elite III - highest mileage of the five (may be tied with Venom R), good traction wet or dry,

* Avon Venom R - highest mileage of the five (may be tied Elite III), good traction dry, a couple have reported slippage when riding in wet conditions (there's more in the previous threads about that),

* Metzeler ME880 - high mileage, good traction wet or dry, it is the only steel-belted tire of the bunch which may be better for puncture resistance, but worse for creating a hard edge when the flat-middle section develops near the end of a tires life because it leads to somewhat unsettling transitions when leaned over in a curve for the last 3/4's of its tire life,

* Bridgestone Excedra G702 - high mileage, good traction wet or dry.

I have run all these tires on my T except the Venom R. They all get at least 50% more mileage life than the OEM rear tire and handle slightly better possibly due to the extra 10mm width.

The off-spec tires people run in the front are either the Gold Wing size 130/70R-18 like an ME880 or a bias-ply whitewall (120/80-18) which I think Maxxis makes. Riders who have tried these tires say they work well. The ME880, because it ia smaller circumference-wise, adds an additional highside speedometer error of 4%. That goes on top of the 3% to 10% optimistic error already present using the OEM front tire. Consequently with the T's front tire when the speedometer reads 65 mph, the bike is actually going somewhere between 58.5 & 63 mph. Putting a Gold Wing sized tire on the front changes those values to 56 - 60.5 mph.