Pirelli Sport Demon-vs-Battleax BT45-vs-???

Need tires!!! Going thru tire dealers site searches I can't seem to find much in my size (3.5-19 and 4.5/17.)
It's like a weird size/combo? Anyway I came across the sport demons and the battleaxes. Somewhere I read the battlaxes
cause a slight wobble at speed, which my bike has naturally even with good tires. I saw another review on the sport demon where
the guy was burning them off...said they only got 4000 miles on them. I wouldn't expect much more than that my self for a sport
tire. I had pirelli diablo corsa 3s on my buell and love them till the last mile. I think I'll sacrifice mileage for performance either way I go.
Does anyone have any recommendations on these or other tires to suit my sizes/needs? THX.

I’ve been using Sport Demons on my KZ650-C1 for 8 years, and I love them. I’ve owned my bike for 40 years and have used several flavors of Dunlops (I liked none of them), Michelin, and the Pirellis. The only tires that stuck to the road better than the Pirellis were the old style Michelins that had the PZ2 racing compound, but I could only go 1,000 miles on the rear tire and 2,000 on the front before they were totally shot. The later Michelin Macadams were the worse tires I ever ran. They provided very poor traction, and before they reached 5,000 miles they caused a severe speed wobble at 85 mph and above – NOT fun!

I got about 8,000 miles out of my first set of Sport Demons and I have about 5,000 miles on the current set and they are still in excellent condition with moderate wear.

You are correct that your bike has odd size wheels. I’ve never heard of any KZ running a 17” unless someone has installed something off a later bike. What bike do you have? Ed

Ive used BT45s on most of my work bikes (every day riding,throughout the year) and Im happy enough with them.A decent all round tyre for the money.Mine do square off eventually,though maybe thats down to my old lady riding style and they dont like road markings.
Thats my tuppence worth.

Tire threads can be as opinionated and heated as oil threads sometimes. Thankfully?, they're aren't a lot of tire choices for our vintage bikes.

From my experiences with the B045s, Sport Demons, and my current (but have gone through a few sets already) tires Avon Roadriders, I have found:

B045s: Great wear/mileage, good grip in dry conditions, scarey in wet conditions. The latter, to the point I took them off the bike way earlier than needed.

Sport Demons: Decent mileage, good to great grip, wet or dry.

Avon Roadriders: Great front tire, poor mileage rear tire, good to great grip, wet or dry.

If I could get the same mileage out of a rear Roadriders, as I do/did with the Sport Demons, they'd be my go-to tire choice.

I had good results with my Battleax B45s, But this time I went with the Avons . I have had 2 sets of Avons on my Harley and they worked great compared to the Dunlaps that came on it . No experience with the Sport Demons
Dave

hey all, thx for the input. I think I'm gonna go ahead and try the sport demons, they gotta be better than the worn out mismatched and not even right sized tires that I do have right now. Oh, and @650ed, it's 1980 KZ1000E2

new2kzs wrote: Need tires!!! Going thru tire dealers site searches I can't seem to find much in my size (3.5-19 and 4.5/17.)
It's like a weird size/combo? Anyway I came across the sport demons and the battleaxes. Somewhere I read the battlaxes
cause a slight wobble at speed, which my bike has naturally even with good tires. I saw another review on the sport demon where
the guy was burning them off...said they only got 4000 miles on them. I wouldn't expect much more than that my self for a sport
tire. I had pirelli diablo corsa 3s on my buell and love them till the last mile. I think I'll sacrifice mileage for performance either way I go.
Does anyone have any recommendations on these or other tires to suit my sizes/needs? THX.

How did you come up those tire sizes?
The pic you posted is of a 1980 KZ1000E. I have owned three '79s. The tires I liked the best were the Conti Gos
in 100/19 and 130/17. They are a harder compound than the Sport Demons and lasted longer with those heavy 600 lb. bikes.


.

hey Nebr_Rex, I read those sizes somewhere on the interwebs. But I also looked at tire size conversions and each brand's recommendations.

new2kzs wrote: .......... Oh, and @650ed, it's 1980 KZ1000E2 .....

Thanks! I forgot about the shaft drive models. Ed

yes they are sneaky!