[sheel]

So I burned through my stock Pirelli STRs rears and am going on a trip up to Bend OR where I’ll be doing some light duty offroad riding with some buddies (fire roads, gravel, dirt roads, maybe green in OHV parks).

Got some Missions installed on the DS yesterday, and they feel sketchy AF on the street. With the STRs I could rail like a sport bike, and the bike felt super stable with incredible confidence on road, even in the shittiest of conditions. While I didn't expect the Missions to be as compliant on the street as the STRs, I certainly did expect them to be so whaky.

Few observations

• In general, the front end feels very "light" as if it’s frictionless
• At a stand still or very slow speeds it moves so freely that it feels like a bicycle and a sensation as if the bike is going to fall over
• As the bike picks up speed, you can feel the massive weight gain from the tires, esp. up front - the gyroscope effect is very odd
• It's a bit sluggish to initiate a turn, once it's in a turn, it's sluggish to get out
• Once leaned over, the tire feels like it's got good grip
• What worries me the most is that the front end being "light", it's very prone to the shakes - e.g. I came out of a turn around 80 mph, a turn which I can typically take over 110 mph, and the front end got wobbly on me. Super twitchy.

That being said, I haven't tuned my suspension and the tires are still in the break-in period (e.g. under 100 mi). My rear suspension has definitely gotten a lot softer, as I've just hit 6k miles. Also, these are biased-ply ADV or 50/50 tires, not radials.

I'll keep ya'll posted as I get more miles on them. The tires themselves are BEEFY AF, and are supposedly incredible in the dirt.

 

[Thunderpig]

Keep posting. These were likely my next set, maybe not any more.

 

[sheel]

Keep posting. These were likely my next set, maybe not any more.

Will do. The instability could totally be my suspension setup. Going to run through it today and get some miles on the tires. Will report back

 

[sheel]

Keep posting. These were likely my next set, maybe not any more.

Checked my rear sag, only about 1.5 cm off from target of 30%; haven't checked the fronts. My rebound in the front and rear might be a bit too much, so I'll try to adjust that.

Put about 120 miles on them today, scrubbed edge-to-edge, and the front end is still very twitchy... I am sometimes getting shakes under hard acceleration coming out of corners, and even in dirty/turbulent air. The front end is very nervous. Oddly, once I get the bike leaned over, the tires definitely grip really well, even through rutty shit.

That being said, when I got home I checked the tire pressure - the rears were at 40 and fronts at 35!! I've reduced them to 32 F/R. Will provide updates as the tires continue to break-in. I'll be going on a long haul trip next week, so I hope they ease up :|

 

[K1W1]

That being said, when I got home I checked the tire pressure - the rears were at 40 and fronts at 35!! I've reduced them to 32 F/R. Will provide updates as the tires continue to break-in. I'll be going on a long haul trip next week, so I hope they ease up :|

Did you let the tyres cool down properly before you checked the pressures? They should cool for 3-4 hours before you set the cold pressure (depending on ambient and where the bike is parked of course but three hours at least is safe).
The rule of thumb is that pressures will be 3-5 psi up when the tyre is at operating temp. If you checked the pressures when the tyres were hot then their cold temps would have been about right for your preferred setting.

 

[sheel]

Did you let the tyres cool down properly before you checked the pressures? They should cool for 3-4 hours before you set the cold pressure (depending on ambient and where the bike is parked of course but three hours at least is safe).
The rule of thumb is that pressures will be 3-5 psi up when the tyre is at operating temp. If you checked the pressures when the tyres were hot then their cold temps would have been about right for your preferred setting.

Right, I generally try to get a hot and cold reading. I don’t recall how long it was sitting, possibly 30 minutes, so it was possibly a “luke warm“ reading. Which would mean it was way too high. I was riding in temps ranging from 60-100f today - it was 60f where I live when I took the reading.

Will check again in the morning, but was definitely very stiff onroad (harsh ride) and I’m also trying to dial out the nervous front end.

 

[sheel]

Front end continues to be nervous... went on a 10 mile ride, was coming out of a mild corner at 90mph hard acceleration and the front end got shaky on me again. Even felt a bit shaky under heavy winds on the highway today.

Last night I dropped the tire pressures to 32/32 and increased the rear preload a bit. Cold pressure was spot on at 30/30. I still need to tune out my rebound as it's a tad much, but I doubt this is the cause of the front end instability.

Not looking good... I've never really ridden any 50/50 tires before, but I find it hard to believe that a tire would be this unstable. Maybe it's not a good fit for the geometry of this bike and meant for heavier bikes like the GS??? Or perhaps the rear is misaligned... will check that too.

 

[Thunderpig]

Yeah, I'm thinking that "mild-corner-at-90mph-hard-acceleration" thing might not apply to me

Still interested in hearing your feedback because you do seem to be putting them through their paces.

"Maybe it's not a good fit for the geometry of this bike and meant for heavier bikes like the GS??? Or perhaps the rear is misaligned... will check that too."

This is an interesting thought too. Most of the reviews I've read were larger bikes.

 

[sheel]

Yeah, I'm thinking that "mild-corner-at-90mph-hard-acceleration" thing might not apply to me

Still interested in hearing your feedback because you do seem to be putting them through their paces.

"Maybe it's not a good fit for the geometry of this bike and meant for heavier bikes like the GS??? Or perhaps the rear is misaligned... will check that too."

This is an interesting thought too. Most of the reviews I've read were larger bikes.

Haha yeah, I mean the tires are definitely not road performance oriented like the STRs, and I don't expect most ppl on these tires to be hitting hard on the street like this, but it helps expose the characteristics and they definitely should not be so twitchy like this. The twitchiness is not just induced during hard acceleration unfortunately, its generally nervous and exposed under hard acceleation. Even dirty air off a uhaul got the front end a little sloppy!!

I'm hoping it's not the tires and maybe the shop misaligned them. Will throw the rear onto a pit stand and check the rotation. Otherwise, I might have to return these - is that even possible? 😂

 

[sheel]

I put the DS onto a rear stand spun the wheel looking for any wobble - don't see any issues, looks true and aligned.

I also softened the rebound, starting w/ the rear suspension first, rode it a bit, and then softened the front. Softening the front helped a tad but the nervousness and shakes can easily be induced.

Really not happy w/ these tires being so sketchy on the street (~300 mi) - going to talk to the shop who mounted these and see what they think... pretty dangerous situation.

 

[sheel]

Just had the shop check them out... they noticed strange handling too... and inspected the steering bearing... no issues there, plus this bike is just a year old and only 6k miles on it.

They reverted all the tunings I made to dial out the front end wobbles. Unfortunately, that made it worse, as expected.

Next step, they're going to get in touch w/ their tire supplier to see if we can send these back.

 

[chilira]

So I burned through my stock Pirelli STRs rears and am going on a trip up to Bend OR where I’ll be doing some light duty offroad riding with some buddies (fire roads, gravel, dirt roads, maybe green in OHV parks).

Got some Missions installed on the DS yesterday, and they feel sketchy AF on the street. With the STRs I could rail like a sport bike, and the bike felt super stable with incredible confidence on road, even in the shittiest of conditions. While I didn't expect the Missions to be as compliant on the street as the STRs, I certainly did expect them to be so whaky.

Few observations

• In general, the front end feels very "light" as if it’s frictionless
• At a stand still or very slow speeds it moves so freely that it feels like a bicycle and a sensation as if the bike is going to fall over
• As the bike picks up speed, you can feel the massive weight gain from the tires, esp. up front - the gyroscope effect is very odd
• It's a bit sluggish to initiate a turn, once it's in a turn, it's sluggish to get out
• Once leaned over, the tire feels like it's got good grip
• What worries me the most is that the front end being "light", it's very prone to the shakes - e.g. I came out of a turn around 80 mph, a turn which I can typically take over 110 mph, and the front end got wobbly on me. Super twitchy.

That being said, I haven't tuned my suspension and the tires are still in the break-in period (e.g. under 100 mi). My rear suspension has definitely gotten a lot softer, as I've just hit 6k miles. Also, these are biased-ply ADV or 50/50 tires, not radials.

I'll keep ya'll posted as I get more miles on them. The tires themselves are BEEFY AF, and are supposedly incredible in the dirt.

Hey there,

I just replaced stock Perrelli tires on my Icon with Continental Motorcycle Tires TKC 70s. Meatier and deeper grip for a little off-road action.

-chilira

Chicago, IL USA

 

[sheel]

Hey there,

I just replaced stock Perrelli tires on my Icon with Continental Motorcycle Tires TKC 70s. Meatier and deeper grip for a little off-road action.

-chilira

Chicago, IL USA

That's awesome!

Did you go w/ the Rocks on the rears? I was looking at those as an alternative to the STRs - a tire that I thoroughly enjoyed - but went w/ the Missions based on great reviews from Chapparel.

 

[chilira]

That's awesome!

Did you go w/ the Rocks on the rears? I was looking at those as an alternative to the STRs - a tire that I thoroughly enjoyed - but went w/ the Missions based on great reviews from Chapparel.

I didn't. Went w/ TKC70 180/55ZR17 73W for the rear. Man, I prolly should have though. I can post a pic if you want to see how they look on black stock icon rims.

-chilira

 

[chilira]

Pics of those TKC70 180/55ZR17 73W on my Icon. Would like to see yours when replaced!

 

[sheel]

Pics of those TKC70 180/55ZR17 73W on my Icon. Would like to see yours when replaced!

Those are dope! How do they ride?

Give me a few, I'll post up photos of the Missions - they do look sick! It's unfortunate they are so unstable for the Desert Sled. The shop I'm working with is now in touch w/ Dunlop's product rep - will see what happens from here.

 

[kevinferriter]

Very interested in how the story ends. Starting to look at my first replacement tires on the DS. Also burned through the Pirelli STRs. Was hoping for a review that gave that perfect tire with the balance between on road handling, on road tire wear rate, but able to take on basic off road scenarios. Waiting to hear what the Dunlop rep has to offer.

 

[sheel]

Pics of those TKC70 180/55ZR17 73W on my Icon. Would like to see yours when replaced!

Here are photos mounted.

 

[chilira]

Those are dope! How do they ride?

Give me a few, I'll post up photos of the Missions - they do look sick! It's unfortunate they are so unstable for the Desert Sled. The shop I'm working with is now in touch w/ Dunlop's product rep - will see what happens from here.

Thanks sheel! They ride notably faster and grippier than the stock skins. More confident in dirt and gravel but without issues on the road. They also ride true on the road -- hands off handlebars true.

-chilira

 

[chilira]

Here are photos mounted. View attachment 45136

View attachment 45138

Wow, looks amazing sheel! How're those skins on the road? Btw, really like that rear
luggage rack ... well done.

-chilira