[Raman-Kathpalia]

First post, apologies in advance if I've posted it at wrong place.

I'm considering replacing stock tires on my 2017 scr950.

Options are:

- MICHELIN ANAKEE 3
- MICHELIN COMMANDER II

Questions:

1. Michelin Commander comes in size - 140/80B17 but for front wheel only. Can I put it in rear? What problems can I have?

2. What are your inputs on MICHELIN ANAKEE 3 ?

3. Spoked wheel with tube...shouldn't I be going with Bias than Radial type? Any Thoughts?

I ride on street or highways. No off-road or riding in rain unless I get caught in one.


Thank you.

 

[eddie]

First post, apologies in advance if I've posted it at wrong place.

I'm considering replacing stock tires on my 2017 scr950.

Options are:

- MICHELIN ANAKEE 3
- MICHELIN COMMANDER II

Questions:

1. Michelin Commander comes in size - 140/80B17 but for front wheel only. Can I put it in rear? What problems can I have?

2. What are your inputs on MICHELIN ANAKEE 3 ?
3. Spoked wheel with tube...shouldn't I be going with Bias than Radial type? Any Thoughts?

I ride on street or highways. No off-road or riding in rain unless I get caught in one.

Thank you.

Following the factory setup, I put a mixed bias front/radial rear set of Anakee 3s on my SCR950 8 months ago and have zero regrets.
They've run perfectly fine in this application, tubes and all.

The all-radial Anakee 3s on my Super Tenere 1200 are fantastic and the reason I went with those on the smaller bike, too.
-eddie

 

[eddie]

re: "Michelin Commander comes in size - 140/80B17 but for front wheel only. Can I put it in rear? What problems can I have?"

While I've more than a few rear tires mounted on front wheels, I would avoid using a front on the back.
Construction and tread patterns are pretty complex and at the least, you might get some weird wear out of it.
Consider this:
The front tire merely has to roll and provide traction and stability under cornering and braking forces.
A rear tire has to do all that and give good traction under acceleration, too while holding up more than 1/2 the weight of the bike.

 

[jevers[email protected]]

Eddie. What do you think about the recommendation of mounting a rear tire on the front backwards? That's with the directional arrow pointing in the opposite direction of travel. I got this advice when I went " double dark side " on my sidecar rig. I guess their theory was that under heavy braking, it would mimic the same force caused by acceleration. Jevers

 

[eddie]

Eddie. What do you think about the recommendation of mounting a rear tire on the front backwards? That's with the directional arrow pointing in the opposite direction of travel. I got this advice when I went " double dark side " on my sidecar rig. I guess their theory was that under heavy braking, it would mimic the same force caused by acceleration. Jevers

Well, there is a thought.
Hmmm. Dunno.
If placed in a position where one needed a tire and no other were available such as on a trip and you ran over a dead squirrel with a pocketful of saw blades or something, yea.
Why not? :grin2:

 

[eddie]

Off topic a little, here's a photo of my then-new FZ8 front with about 400 miles on it.
I noticed the U-cross section front spokes were running with the cup part forward, as it were and it seemed a little odd.
The dealer himself had assembled the bike and accidentally installed the wheel on backwards! LOL
Luckily, I had a set of PitBull stands at the time and easily fixed.
The bike was still new, so I never had really stressed the front tire at all.
No harm. No foul.

I must say that was a perfectly comfortable, nice-running little bike.
I actually missed it after I sold it to by a FZ-09.
The 9 had that crazy engine, sure.
The 8 was just a better riding machine.

 

[Sammy]

Raman,
Ive been running Commander 2's on my SCR for about 6 months now, I run a 100/90 B19 57H on the front and a 160/70 B17 73V on the rear. Both are bias. I have right around 10/K on the front and about 8/K on the rear. Both look and feel brand new. As for performance, I can't say enough good about them. I ride strictly street, a daily driver 100 miles a day 75 of it on highways average speed between 65-80 in the AZ desert. I dive into corners pretty hard, so much that I have taken off the nubbs from under the pegs so as not to drag them :grin2:, and have never felt like the bike was going to wash out. Would I put them on again? not yes, but ****! YES!!!
I hope you find this useful.

Sammy Out!

 

[Raman-Kathpalia]

To start, Thank you Eddie and Sammy.

So, 160/70 B17 73V does fit after all on rear wheel and work. Leaning towards commander. Not that Anakees are not good. I've a high regard for Michelins.

https://youtu.be/N_2y9LSxbvQ?t=20

Anakees 3 may be vulnerable to puncture. Let me explain...

Stock tires, bridge-stone, are knobby and Bike essentially runs on them. They take blows from tarmac pretty well as they got the meat. But there are lot of wide gaps between the knobs. And the gap is where the tire is vulnerable to nails and what not. I had a flat exactly on this very spot due to a nail.

Now coming back to Anakees 3. It's far better than stock tires in those terms but I feel they might run into same problem due to wider gaps than commander 2 https://youtu.be/Z61k1WSrFwE?t=11

As a newbie, this is my rookie observation. I'm ready to be corrected so please do share your thoughts, if any.

Raman.

 

[Raman-Kathpalia]

After being at 2 mechanics and both of them raised doubt on having commander with 2 size up as rear tire, I went with Anakee 3.
I just couldn't override mechanics' uneasiness.

Anakee 3 surprised me with awesome control that I never felt before in stock tire. I didn't feel that tire need break in.
The other day I rode on I-95 on 75mph + in drizzling rain and wet roads (from downpour before). Very Stable ride.
Mind you, I've only changed rear tire while front is still stock.

Anakee 3 is go to tire for SCR if you want to stick to stock measurement with radial/bias combo.

Thank you to this forum. (eddie, Sammy)

 

[eddie]

Match it with a Anakee III front and you'll really like 'em! =)