Tire choices

The following poll was done in Feb 2012, asking the membership which tires they used and found to be good values. 27 members responded to the poll.

Tires you have been happy with

Bridgestone S11 Spitfires (6 votes [26.09%])
Bridgestone BT45 Battleaxe (4 votes [17.39%])
Dunlop 404 (6 votes [26.09%])
Avon AM26 (or other Avon models) (2 votes [8.70%])
Metzler Lasertec (1 votes [4.35%])
Kenda (1 votes [4.35%])
Pirelli MT66 (or other models) (0 votes [0.00%])
Cheng Shin (0 votes [0.00%])
Other (note below in a post, if you want to) (3 votes [13.04%])

There were no clear winners here, most name brand tires have devotees, depending on the type of riding that you do. And many sources of where to purchase these. Motorcycle Superstore seemed to be one of the top choices tho.

Here is a link to the thread: Which tires have you used and are happy with?

Another link to the forum with many brands of tires mentioned. Need new tires, don't know what to get never bought MC tires before

Here is another article on tires that may be helpful:

Well, not exactly, but almost. The UK magazine BIKE just reviewed cross-ply (non-radial) tires for a GS500, and they happen to be the exact same size as the stock tires for the 2008+ Ninja 250R (110/70/17 front, 130/70/17 rear). They liked the Pirelli Sport Demons for their sport feeling, and in fact got the best time on the track with them. But they also felt they wore very quickly and the rear started to feel much worse as it wore. Their favorite tires were the BT-45's, the GT-501's, and the Avon Road Riders. As far as I know, we still can't get the GT-501's in the US in the stock sizes for the Ninjette unless we pay insane prices to get the OEM-specific versions. Here's the review itself:

In case the pics below aren't readable, here are links to larger versions as needed: [to larger page 1] [to larger page 2] [to larger page 3] [to larger page 4]