Hi all -

I was in the local Honda dealership over the weekend and bought a set of Michelin Pilot Power tires for my 05 600RR. I paid $165 for just the tires - no mounting or anything.. Is that a decent deal?

Now on to the mounting of these tires. The parts guy mentioned that the cost to get the tires mounted and balanced would be around $100 if I brought the bike in, and around $60 if I took the wheels of the bike and just brought them in. Sounds kinda high to me so I'm wondering if these costs are reasonable, and if not, what are my options as far as mounting/balancing?

I've also got a set of Pirelli Diablo tires being shipped to me from an online business. I got them for $160.

My last question is - Given these tires, would you use the Pirellis or the Michelins?

 

The pilot powers are the more commonly used/bought tires.... so I'd try those first. Having a set of tires set around for a year is not a good thing so you might want to wait between buying sets of tires, unless you plan to do track days or racing.

$30 a tire is the average for mounting if you bring the tire and wheel in. $100 is common if the wheels are still on the bike. And before you leave, they will stick you with another $5 per tire for disposal... all normal.

Yes, high in my opinion also, but normal. That is why my brother and I plan to buy a good motorcycle tire mouting kit and balancer in the next year or so and tell everyone to stop by for $10 a set if they bring the wheels and tire in. Just until the machine is paid for then they can pay for the weights used in balancing.

The kits I'm looking at are here if anyone has an opinion...

 

Thanks for the info -

I wouldn't have bought the extra set of tires but I've ridden just under 5k miles in 2 months so the original tires on my 05 600RR are about done. The wife's 04 600F4i has a set of Pilot Powers on it with about 1200 miles on them. So yeah, I do have 2 sets of tires in the garage that are unmounted, but the way we ride they'll be on the bikes soon enough.

Matter of fact, I was out in the garage doing some brake work on my bike and noticed the her bike picked up something metallic that is just off-center and stuck in there pretty good. Looks like I might have to make use of those new tires sooner than I want . . . .

 

ouch....

Didn't mean to talk down to you about stocking up on tires.

I have people say they liked to order a couple sets to put up when they find a good deal.

 

I appreciate the info, and don't worry - didn't feel like you were talking down to me about the tires - I totally understand. Especially here in FL, the heat and humidity will trash a tire in short order. My boat trailer gets a new set of tires just about every year even though it gets far fewer miles than the bikes and cars.

Now that tire machine - very nice! A bit beyond my funds at this time, plus the wife is already unhappy about using the garage to house 2 motorcycles. I can't imagine trying to explaing why I need to bolt a tire machine down to the garage floor . . .

Given the foreign object in her rear tire, I think I'll mount the Pirellis on my RR so that if the rear tire on her F4i has a terminal puncture she can keep a matched make/model of tire on the bike.

 

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal on the powers. They're usually about $200+ for a set even at some cheap online retailers. $30 per tire install isn't too bad, seems about average if you only take your wheels in. The dealer I go to for new tires to be installed charges $25 per wheel including valve, balancing and old tire disposal. Not sure what they charge if you bring the whole bike in though. So yes, I think overall it's pretty good.