56 replies to this topic

[Stormtrooper]

Hey guys,

Noob here from Victoria, Australia.

Haven't got a TDM yet, but will be having a look at one this weekend as I'm very, very interested. As a few people from Oz have noted, its near impossible to find one of these in the showroom so I'm looking at a second hand model.

What I'm curious about is tyre life. Reason for this is the minister for War and Finance (otherwise known as my better half) wants me to be reasonably practical with my next bike and this includes things like not chewing through tyres in 5,000kms, not chewing through the fuel, and not chewing through my licence.

So I'd been looking at a *gulp* V-Strom 650.....

But then I found a nice example of a TDM second hand and started researching in earnest as it seems to be along the same lines, but hasn't been smacked hard with the ugly stick....

Anyhoo, I digress. I figured the TDM could cover me on a couple of the ministers demands, but I've got no idea what tyre life is like and from the bit of searching I've done, it seems to be a pretty subjective thing. The owner of the bike I'm checking out told me he's been replacing tyres about every 5,000kms but he's just fitted some Roadsmarts and thinks the tri-compound might wear a bit better.

Can i get some ideas on what tyre life is like, especially riding two up? (So not particularly hard riding, but extra weight over the back wheel..)

Thanks heaps guys. Hoping to join the ranks of happy TDM owners before too long!

[sas69]

alright ma man,
I've had a TDM for the last five years and ridden various other bikes from the full spectrum of disciplines.
I have'nt had much exp of twos up as my wife has been pregnant for the entirety of the last five years, but what I can tell you is, if you buy touring tyres (no point in buying anything else)
you should see a pair last about 5-6k miles , I run metzlers, before that Macadams, I commute 6k to 7k a year and run it till its square wall yokohama, I replace a set per year roughly.

fuel economy is good 45mpg .

Out of all the bikes I ve had the TDM is up there for least hassle and least amount of money spent on.

cheers

[Bjørge]

Hi !
I've ridden my Pirelli Diablo Strada's for like 13,000 kms before renewing them (rear squared off but not worn out). Solo commuting, quite peaceful driving.
Fuel economy: 62 mpg when max. cruising speed is kept at 100km/h, ~55 mpg when raising to 120 km/h.

Edited by Bjørge, 31 August 2009 - 12:10 pm.

[dicky1]

My mk11 850 tyres used to do about 5500-6000 miles.
My new 900 has now done 5600 miles and looks to have about about 2000 miles left. The new compounds on the latest tyres seems to give much better life and grip. Mine came with Dunlop Sportmax as std.

[TonyDevil]

unless you are stupidly hard on tyres you should expect 6000-7000 miles(8500-10000kms) out of a set of dualcompound touring tyres like the Pilot Road 2s

the TDM is notoriously fruggle unless you run straight thru race pipes and always much better than a thristy strom

[Stormtrooper]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Its good to get some real world stories which helps me appease my other half.I think i'll be taking a good look at the TDM this weekend :)Oh, forgot to add - the bike I'm looking at has had the EFI mod done, as well as a pair of Staintune exhausts fitted. I figured that wouldn't change the characteristics of the bike all that much.

[Toraneko]

Welcome StormTrooper. My 9'er had the OEM Metzeler MEZ4's fitted when I bought it. I only got 6000km out of those & they were completely stuffed. Rear was worn out & front developed a
strange uneven wear pattern which made cornering interesting to say the least. About the worst set of tyres I've ever had on any bike. Crap in the wet & nerve racking on a gravel road even going slow.
Bit disappointing considering other Metzelers I've had have been A1.

I now have Dunlop RoadSmarts which are proving to be a fantastic tyre. So far I've done 5000km & they don't look even half worn out. They stick like shit to a blanket even in the wet & even
cope fairly well on a gravel road. I get around 60mpg riding two-up, that's about 200kg including topbox with gear & the missus's backpack.
For me the TDM is a keeper, so far it's done everything I want no prob's. You'll need to do a little farkling ( see the list below ) to get it just right for you, but hey what bike is perfect straight off
the showroom floor ?

I plan to fit some Avon Distanzia's next so I can test the TDM's off-road capabilities a bit more.

Edited by TDMtoraneko, 31 August 2009 - 11:27 pm.

[AzzA]

Stormtrooper,

if you're in the Melbourne area, there is a bike hire place that has a 900 in their stable.
Click here for Garners
If you're west of Melb' you can get access to the bike through City West Yamaha (click it), the two owners are brothers.

If you're unsure about getting a 9'er, hire it for a day/weekend and try it out... you'll be sure after having spent some time with the bike.

[Stormtrooper]

Hey AzzA,

Thanks for the info. I'm actually in Bendigo, but getting down that way to have a look wouldn't be too much of a struggle.

I've run the roadsmarts on my SV and found them to be a good tyre, although after 6,000kms they're squaring off already. might have to look at upping the tyre pressure when riding two up.

Another thing I meant to ask is does anyone notice the redline ceiling at 8.5k? My SV tops out at 10.5, but I don't tend to push it beyond 7k as there's not a lot of point - the meatier part of the torque range is below this.... is the TDM the same?

[cortez]

Hi Stormy, I'm from Bendigo, if you want to get together to talk TDM's just say. I had a mk2 on which I did nearly 100,000ks, I've done 34,000k's on my 900 now in the best part of three years.

I'm getting a new rear Pilot Road2 fitted today, after very nearly 16000 out of the previous one I wasn't about to try anything else, never a problem with grip wet or dry either, but as you say tyre wear is subjective. I find as I get older I don't ride as hard which makes a difference to wear, when touring I usually sit on 110/120k's, as you would well know in our over policed state even at those speeds you are taking a risk with your licence. When I have the urge for an adrenalin hit I have a few favourite back roads that I frequent, but Victoria's finest are to be seen more and more on even these types of roads now. I find at touring speeds my 900 returns around 21k/l, loaded or unloaded seems to make little difference, I'm 185cm and around 92kg so I'd imagine a smaller and lighter rider could improve on those figures.

Before buying my 900 I test rode both the 650 and 1000 Stroms, the 1000 didn't impress that much, a bit top heavy and slow in the steering, I felt the 650 was a much sweeter bike, but as I'm a pretty big bloke and do a fair bit of touring loaded up I felt a little more power might be handy, hence I bought the TDM. Another consideration was that I wasn't looking for any off road capability, the only gravel my bike ever sees is our driveway, I find the amount of suspension adjustment on the 900 a great thing; you can adjust to suit your circumstance/state of mind, although as someone much wiser than me once said "the more adjustment available, the more likely you are to get it wrong".

Ahh it's great spring is here heralding the start of the rally season, plus the GP is just around the corner, bring it on! The older I get the more I feel I want to get out there while I still can, I know plenty of people who through illness or age are no longer riding, and my time will come, it's just when and how, you can't live a completely hedonistic life but I want to fire some more shots while I still can.

Cheers.

[cortez]

Hi again. I forgot to reply regarding the power characteristics; redline is 8,000, the rev limiter though doesn't kick in 'till 9,500. Max. power is 63.4kw @7.500, max. torque 89nm @6,000, I rarely ride above 6,500 through the gears, I find it's better to grab another gear than rev the tits off the bike. On a windy road select the appropriate gear and roll throttle on, roll off for corner, hit apex roll on, repeat ad infinitum, ahh the beauty of a twin! I'm certainly no hot shot rider but recently a friend was following me on his ST1300 (no sports bike I know) he couldn't get over how I wasn't braking for most corners and yet accelerating earlier out of the turns than him, he was having to work hard on the brakes and throttle to stay with me. The accessible power, engine braking, and lack of mass compared to the ST made the TDM so much easier to ride on a windy road, this applies to most twins of course as you know doubt know Stormy having an SV.

Cheers.

[Stormtrooper]

Thanks for all the info guys.

The responses so far have been excellent and very informative. I've got no hesitation at all in checking one out now and I'm really hoping the minister likes it from the pillions point of view.

Thanks heaps for putting up with my questions that have probably been asked a hundred times over already and making me feel welcome.

And Cortez, I might just take you up on that offer to talk shop - didn't realise there'd be any other Bendigonians on here, given the rareity of the TDM!

[Stratman]

I think they are the dogs whatnots now. My FireStorm is much faster, but the TDM does it all and with the Avons on, outhandles most things in the flick flack roads. Oh, and does 55-65 mpg, and handles full luggage, 230 miles to a tank etc etc. Can cruise all day at 90-100 mph. It's great, though it took me a while to bond with it!

[AzzA]

The PR2 are hard wearing but they'll feel a bit greasy to begin with, you might want to give em a few K's through the Whipstick on one of the gravel tracks that goes out north past the ol' diggings toward Kamarooka... feathers up the rubber nicely. Mine felt a lot better, more sure into corners, after I'd done a few laps of the old foreshore at Eppalock. While I was there I looked down at the GPS and saw I was in the middle of what was once a huge lake, looked up and saw the longest boat ramp ever put in a paddock (that still doesn't reach the water), looked over my shoulder and saw a farmhouse in the middle of a field (yep, that was the water-ski "beach side" clubhouse)... gave up at that point and headed off to the pub to wash the dust off.

[Stormtrooper]

The PR2 are hard wearing but they'll feel a bit greasy to begin with, you might want to give em a few K's through the Whipstick on one of the gravel tracks that goes out north past the ol' diggings toward Kamarooka... feathers up the rubber nicely. Mine felt a lot better, more sure into corners, after I'd done a few laps of the old foreshore at Eppalock. While I was there I looked down at the GPS and saw I was in the middle of what was once a huge lake, looked up and saw the longest boat ramp ever put in a paddock (that still doesn't reach the water), looked over my shoulder and saw a farmhouse in the middle of a field (yep, that was the water-ski "beach side" clubhouse)... gave up at that point and headed off to the pub to wash the dust off.

Yeah, Eppalock isn't looking its best these days.... for a while there the farmers were making their living pulling 4wds out of the mud when adventurous types decided to try driving across what used to be the lake....

So you from this neck of the woods AzzA or just passing through? Unfortunately apart from a 2 minute run up One Tree Hill/Diamond Hill and Mt Alexander there aren't too many fun roads around here... gotta ride at least 60 or 70kms to find something twistie

[AzzA]

One Tree was today's warm-up, before a little jaunt through Mandurang, Axe Creek and Eppalock. Even with the sunshine that wind was f'n cold! There's a few nice twisties if you can get out between the mad hours when everyone is toing and froing, without getting into serious peg scratching. Word of warning though, with all the blossom and recent rain you're best having a pocket full of visor wipes... or getting use to the spots before your eyes. (Them bees is BIG!)


Edit: I'm vagrant, nearly.

Edited by AzzA, 02 September 2009 - 11:30 am.