News To Me.....

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Sat May 23, 2009 8:50 am

but maybe others were already aware of this.
Michelin are now offering.....(drumroll please)......INCH sizes in their Activa bias ply tire line. Apparently North America is only getting the 3.25 x 19 front and 4.00 x 18 rear sizes to start but other sizes may be offered if demand increases. Their Activa line has been available in metric sizes since its introduction.
These will be in the "new & improved" Activa 2 (or something like that) compounds which are supposedly far superior to the dung they were supplying up to now.
So now all of you A/R resto phreaks (like me) have TWO choices of tires in inch sizes for your pre-metric tired bikes: Michelin and Metzler.
Now if Bridgestone would pull their thumbs out and start selling their inch size BT45V's in North America (like they offer in the UK/EU) I'd be a whole lot happier.
Maybe I'll have to eat my words and try a set of Activas on my 550 that BADLY needs new rubber.......although the tread pattern of the Activas is wayyyyy too "sport-bikeish" to really look correct on a 70's bike, IMO.
More info if/when I decide to go ahead.....

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:10 am

Rick i can understand all the purist out there and those who do restorations who want correct looking rubber on their rims.
I mean for a 70s bike it just looks wrong with modern tyres on it from the shape to the thread, not to mention the size, but i want to ride the bikes and enjoy them, even pushing them a bit to their limits so i can have a smile or two.
For this reason i want the best possible thing i can stick on there close to correct in profile so i can take the bike to a certain limit and not get any sudden surprises.
I'd say tyres win me over for pure function and safety versus the look. You'd have to admit the old squarish profiles used in the 70s were dangerous, not that modern compounds wouldnt help, but still,,,,,,,,,,,, well you know what i mean.

I went to the Michelin site and theres no mention of inch sizes for the Activ model tyres and also no 120 size offered for the rear.

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Sat May 23, 2009 10:38 pm

OK, Allan....I'll check on Monday with the distributor that has them in his catalogue and call his bluff. That distributor's rep was in the office on Wednesday and he told me that the owner of that distributor blew away C$5 million....EXTRA....on tires, batteries and chains ALONE this past winter in order to take command of the Canadian marketplace. I haven't been able to stick them with a "no stock" item yet this year. It's nice to finally see someone pull his thumb out up here. Maybe we Canucks can finally enjoy the level of supply that our US neighbours are used to......

As to the rest of your post: No, I don't want to turn the clock back to using those 70's tires. They were crap when they were new....and that's not just hindsight speaking. No one who lived through bikes in the 70's was in any doubt about how bad those tires really were. The H2 and Z1 showed the tire manufacturers that they REALLY had to bring better stuff to the party. It took the tire people about 8 or 10 more years to finally get their collective act together....and thank Heaven that they finally did!!! Full engine/frame/tire parity really wasn't reached until the advent of Z rated radials....but the descendants of those early-mid 80's bias ply tires are still available today....only a lot better, IMO.
Now if the manufacturers could make a tire that kind of looked like a 70's tire somewhat....but used modern rubber compounds.....well, that would be the real answer, IMO.