What are your favourite street legal tyres for the 990SD and why?

I just bought a SD and will be needing to get new tyres immediately. I have read the threads here about tyres and currently thinking of choosing between these two: Metzeler M5 or Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa

What are your favourites?

May not apply to you, but I liked the Dunlop Q2's (now superseded by Q3) for the SD. Good handling characteristics and plenty of grip for the road or track days and were quite a bargain price wise.

I ride on Diablo Rosso Corsa and recommend them highly for the SD. Bit soft if you are doing serious mileage but great for weekend warriors.

Mate, it depends on what kind of riding you are planning to do. Long distance milage, 'A' road blasting or trackdays.

I can only speak for myself but over the last four years I have only used Metzlers. I get Racetecs for the summer and trackday season. K1 or K2 front and K2 or K3 rear. They are great but not when it's cold and wet and they are really not good if you run them through the winter. I have twice used the M5s for the winter and they were really much better for the cold and wet, on tracks they were fine too, I just kept on using them in the Spring 'till they wore out.

Hello,

I live and ride in FL. Mostly straight roads with some corners sprinkled here and there. I need tyres that will give me good grip when I finally find corners and will not square in the center after a couple of thousand miles of straight roads.

I recently installed Michelin Pilot Power 3, just like I had on my SV before the SuperDuke.

This past weekend, during my first ride to 'break'em in' I reached all the way to the edge of the back tyre and I have a 3/8" chicken strip in the front.

Good luck,

Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SC2's if you are riding in nice warm environs and the track/road is hot.

I live in California Bay Area. Cold climate most of the time, lots of hills and twisty roads. My ride is sporty w/ high-ish corner speeds.
tyres preference - Dunlop Q3 - Confidence inspiring grip, decent mileage (~2.5k to 3k rear), great bargain thesedays
Used to ride Bridgestone BT016 - Great multi-compound tyres. Similar in feel to Dunlop Q3s
Pilot Power 2CTs - Slightly lower performance than BT016s but not much more mileage either

My $0.02... I would try the Bridgestone Touring tyres next for higher mileage (and I hate squared off tyres)

Thanks for all the replies.

That Dunlop Q3 seems good indeed! I have good experiences with Dunlops before, I had the Mutants on my 690SM before and they were brilliant for the bike.

Basicly I'll be mostly using the bike weekend fun riding and for commuting a short distance to work and back (3 miles) as I don't have a car at the moment. I'll be using the bike for a few weeks during the summer but as I'll be going away for most of the summer (other side of the world), the tyres have to be ones that will be OK for the winter too as I'll only be back in September.

Replaced BT016 with the new S20 and really liked the tyres, just not very good mileage out of the rear…1250 miles and into the wear bars.

Currently using the Q3 and it seems to be holding up better and sticks very well.

Welcome to the madness

Ill throw another vote in for the Q3! Had a brand new set for a 2 day track course and they rocked, I was right there keeping up and passing guys on prepped supersports with real DOT race tyres coming off warmers. As a bonus they are one of the least expensive option for a sport tyre! Ill definatly be running them for a good while

Thinking about Q3s for my next set.
Michelin 2CT have been good, but I'm hearing good things about the Dunlops.

Was off reading reviews of the 2CT and some are saying they get 8-9K miles out of the rear

I'm at less than 3K on this one and it's done.