Tyres

I have mentioned before that I would prefer tubeless both front and back. My current tyres (Pirelli Night dragons) are tubeless however it is a 90/90 21 as opposed to the 80/90 21 I need for the front. A dealer at the time said it would fit, but it is not ideal as it does rub a bit.

I contacted Pirelli to ask why I can't get a 80/90 21 in tubless and they sent the following reply. My next tyres for the VN900 custom will be Pirelli MT66 Route. They come in 80/90 21 but, per the following. only tubeless. Interesting what he says about the quality of tubes:

Thank you for your enquiry regarding Pirelli Route 66 to suit your
Kawasaki VN900 Custom.



The 80/90-21 size that fits the front of your bike is a size that is
fairly uncommon in terms of its application compared to some other
motorcycle tyre sizes. The most prevalent application prior to its use
on the Kawasaki VN900 Custom is with spoked rim application, which in
the vast majority of cases requires a tube type tyre. A couple of
examples include the Kawasaki VN800A and also Hardly David\'sSong models
that utilise a Springer type front end, also on spoked rims that require
a tube type tyre and tube fitted. The development of the 80/90-21 48H
Route 66tyre would have taken this and many other factors into
consideration.

In terms of performance and safety, the combination of 80/90-21 48H
Route 66 and 180/70-15 76H TL Route 66 should work very well on your
VN900 Custom. A good quality natural rubber tube inside the front tyre
(rather than butyl) is good insurance against any front puncture as
natural rubber tubes offer very good performance overall (generally a
slow leak if punctured as opposed to butyl which can have rapid
deflation) . As you would know from your riding experience the rear tyre
is most often the tyre that gets the puncture. The 180/70-15 76H TL
Route 66 is a tubeless construction.


I hope this helps you make an informed tyre choice that is best for your
motorcycle, and thank you for your enquiry regarding Pirelli tyres to
suit. If you should choose Pirelli tyres for your motorcycle please let
me know and I can arrange for some Pirelli promotional items to be
posted to you.

Thank you and enjoy your riding!

Best Regards

Don Nicholas

Product Manager Pirelli Moto

Link International

P +61733825000

www.linkint.com.au

Pirelli MT66 Route price from SCM:

F: $156
R: $235

Fitting, I'm not sure about. I'll get them put on in the week before Nindygully.

I was curious as to the price of the drive belt. Hope you are sitting down...................$658.00.

Expensive, do you need a drive belt?
How is your bike holding up in terms of Km's done etc?

Hi Stew, bikes fine, but given I was changing tyres, thought I'd check the price of the drive belt this time around. Hard to get someone to commit to saying how long a drive will last. I'm guessing between 100k and 150k. I've only done 34k in the last 18mths.

A report on the Pirelli MT66 Route tyres on the VN Custom.

These are great tyres and I felt very confident on them on the Nindy ride. Good grip and they performed very well in the wet and also the dirt road/mud sections. I'm sure if I hadn't changed tyres, I would have lost it on that dirt road. After using OEM Dunlops twice and then Pirelli Night Dragons, I will be buying the MT66 again, if not always. As an aside, SCM said it was a tubeless tyre and the VN front rim was for tubeless tyres. Who am I to argue.

I am using the same tyres Ed.

I have to say; I like it better than my old one which was Dunlop.

How many km so far Harry?

No much at all, I only changed it about 3 months ago when I did my 12k service.

Now I think it's about 13500km on the clock.

I need to ride more..... I know, I know...

Soon.

Picked up my bike today after its service. As part of this I had the tyres replaced with Pirelli MT66 Route.
Got the usual warning about riding on brand new tyres and was told to be careful if it started sprinkling on the way home.
Was dry when I left and of course was utterly drenched by the time I got home.
Of course to assist them working on the bike I had removed my saddlebags (with wet weather gear).

In terms of the (VN900) belt I can tell you they are:
a) expensive
b) have a 100k warranty

Verna

Verna wrote:

In terms of the (VN900) belt I can tell you they are:
a) expensive
b) have a 100k warranty

Verna

Yep, $658 and I should start saving for mine now. Hope to see you on the trip to Suttons Forest on the 28th, Verna.

Due to a broken tyre wall on the MT66, I was forced to again get the Night Dragon (90/90/21) as that was all I could get at Albion Park recently. To increase the gap between the tyre and mudguard (see OP), a mate created some stainless steel brackets, raising it appropriately. Works a treat.

A broken tyre wall sounds rather dangerous Ed.
I hope it was a pre inspection led you to change that before you had one of those moments on the bike.

No Verna, would never have picked it up, it was a pinhole but enough to trouble me. The tyre literally deflated as I turned in the driveway of BP Albion Park. The driveway entry must have been the last straw as it was feeling 'strange' up to that point.