1. Fantastic tires!
I’ve owned a lot of streetbikes over the years and rarely gave much thought to the tires. They are black, round, and tend to do what they say on the box at my skill level. That changed when I got my R1M in 2015 and it came with RS10’s on it. I had been fairly quick as street riders go over the years, but I was determined to use the R1M’s electronics to bring me along as a rider at a time I met a group of older, very experienced, and FAST guys. I started taking my tires to heart, researched pressures that actually work for this tire (you’ll be really disappointed with life and feedback at recommended pressures), and started to really pay attention to what they were doing...
At first I noticed really aggressive wear in the center of the tire-some of this was air pressure, but also the compound. The RS10’s powder off like a pencil eraser when they are cold in fine hair-like abrasions. When you get them hot they don’t until you get them hot enough to tear and or booger up. Lowering the pressures helped both raise the average temperatures and spread the contact patch out to where the tires are no longer flat in the center when ready to be replaced.
The very best thing for me is that these tires need very little warm up. Even at at a streetbike pace that makes people say “Dayumn!” as you rip around a corner, little if any warm-up is needed. I’m riding faster than I ever have in my 30 year riding career but I haven’t lost the front on these RS10’s once.... the rear only once over gravel in a corner.
The only downside for these tires is Service Life. I’m getting between 1800 and 2200 miles on a rear and the front really needs to be replaced more than every other rear like most tires last. Riding style has some affect on that but I would assume the most anyone would get out of a rear is 2500 miles of “getting on it” every once in a while.
If you are riding with your head switched on, it is really hard to screw up on a bike with these tires. The replacement interval is a pain in the ass and expensive over time, but it’s I get the comfort of knowing these things will stick when I need them too and I don’t have to worry about being out of work with a banged up body. Highly recommended!
