Motorcycle Tire Tips - Honda & Suzuki

From tips on good rain tires for a Honda CBR600 to his opinion on balancing beads for Suzuki GSXR tires, powersports pro John Talley is always ready to answer your motorcycle and ATV repair questions.

John does live Q&As on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern, and in this session, John provides a couple of motorcycle tire tips and recommendations. 

Honda Motorcycle Tire Recommendation

Can you recommend a set of tires for a 2007 Honda CBR 600RR that performs well in the rain?

John Talley: Off the top of my head I’m not going to be able to hit it, but my favorite tire manufacturers are Michelin and/or Continental. Either one of those. If you go to their all-season tires, I think you’ll find something that will do well in the rain. Are they just going to be for track use in the rain? A wet set for the rain? Now, you may want to go with a soft high performance compound with a rain groove cut in it. If not, just go for a higher wear all-season set.

Watch the video above to learn how to inspect the tires on a Honda CBR600 motorcycle.

Suzuki Motorcycle Tire Balancing Tip

What’s your opinion on balancing beads for Suzuki GSXR tires instead of getting a wheel balanced traditionally?

John Talley: Alright, for a bike like the GSXR, I mean if you’re really going to be running it at high speeds, only on a track of course, then I would recommend actually getting them balanced at a local shop. With that being said, that little dot they put on the tire, if you line that up with your valve stem, that’s kind of their balance point. That balances the tire to the best of their knowledge, but your rim may not be perfectly balanced as well. If you’re running at really high speed, where you need to have all the wobbles out of it, then it is worth doing. For just regular daily street use, I don’t think it’s really worth it. But that’s just my opinion.

Want to see more live repair questions answered? See all of Partzilla’s past Live Q&A sessions here.