I just bought a new rear tire for my bike, and i’m more than pleased with it. I ended up going with a Tomahawk T3. Tomahawk are the makers of those goofy looking colored tires that look rediculously stupid… but u can get just black tires … i wasn’t expecting much b/c the damn thign was so cheap - $80 shipped to my door.
Even with mismatched tires (Bridgestone BT014 on the front) it feels 100% better than it did with BT014’s front and back. I absolutely hate the BT014’s, but i don’t want to waste my front tire that has only like 700 miles on it. They turn in slow, and when you’re leaned hard into a turn, they just don’t feel good. I always loved the D208’s, but i go through them in about 1600-1700 miles.
But back to what i was saying… even with a BT014 front, the tomahawk tire feels great… very sticky… and feels much more confident/stable when leaned into a turn… On the Dunlops, i was able to lean the bike over a long way and they always felt great… the Bridgestones always scared the shit outta me - they felt like they were gonna give way any second.
In the first couple days i’ve had the Tomahawk tire, i’ve been scraping the toe-sliders on my boots… i just didnt feel comfortable enough on the Bridgestones to lean that far… i didnt have sportbike boots back when i had the Dunlops on, so i can’t speculate, but always was able to lean over damn good with them - and the Tomahawks are just as good… Just need a better feeling front tire now.
So, Cliff Notes: if you want a great tire, on a major budget, look for Tomahawks on eBay. Online tire tests say that they have quite a bit more rubber on the tire too, so it should last a little longer.