Tyres and Lights

[andygbsmith]

Although my long term intension is to upgrade the wheels and suspension on my Commander, I will need some tyres in the near future and was wondering what tyres suit the bike.It's got Michelins fitted at the moment but they don't impress in the wet. I was thinking of the new Avon roadrider tyres. Any thoughts?Lights. Coming home last night in the dark and wet was the first ride relying on the headlight. On dip beam I was strugging to see past oncoming vehicles. High beam was a little better but still not great.I was going to fit a HID light conversion, any thoughts?Andy

[Richard Negus]

Andy,I like Bridgestone BT45's !Let me know about the HID lights too ; I'm suffering the same problem but was put off by the kit price.R.

[andygbsmith]

Hi Richard,I have tried a kit on a Guzzi, I am in the process of swaping it over to the Norton now.I bought it off of Ebay from China. Lots of people I know have now bought from this site with no bad experience. It dips the light via an electro magnet that pulls the lamp back in to a shroud and seems to work very well.Here is the Ebay item number of the kit. 350127064537 The kit is £27.00 postage £18.00Very good value for money.I will let you know if it fit's the Commander .Andy

[rotarian]

I like BT45's as well, I have had no problems on my Classic,I have tried Michelins before and found that they tracked the joins in the tarmac and white lines after they were worn a little.Make sure that the wheels are in line as well, although this can be awkward using a plank! There is now a machine available that can do this by lazer.

[andygbsmith]

Thanks for the info, I have found the same issues with white lines as you.There was a good article in one of the mag's Classic bike I think about making a laser wheel jig. Andy

[andygbsmith]

I have just fitted the HID light kit to the Commander. First impressions are very good but I will reserve judgementuntil I have the chance of a proper ride on fully unlit roads.Andy

[Dell Boy]

I use on the front: COUGAR Sprint GP 11. 100/90-18 56H £35.00 eachOn the rear COUGAR Sprint GP 11. 110/90-18 61H £35.00 eachThey are very good wet or dry, do not whiteline until worn out & cover 9,000 miles plus on the rear & 12,000 on the front. All for £70.00 the pair. I fit them myself & don`t usually bother with balancing them. In Spain last year I had to buy the only available tyre for 140 euros to replace the worn & punctered rear. This was a Battlax BT45 120/90-18 MC65V. I have not been impressed with it. It white lines, has worn quite quickly & is no better in the wet than the Cougar at a third of the price. I have fitted Cougars to a friends Commander & Commando & he is very impressed with them. So there you have it, a good pair of tyres for only £70.00. You can`t go wrong. Derek.

[Dell Boy]

When the Commander was new the lights were reasonable to good. Over time the poor quality wiring harness connectors corrode/tarnish & the headlight dims. Try cleaning/sealing all connectors. I do the A.C.U. National all night rally [900 plus miles in 24 hours] & find the headlight adequate for 60/70 m.p.h. in the Peak District in the early hours of the morning. Derek.

[andygbsmith]

I went through the loop of cleaning all the connections etc but think the HID kit for less than £20 is good value for money.I think the real problem is modern cars have very good lights as standard but normaly badly adjusted.Are the tyres easy to get hold of or mail order only?Andy

[Dell Boy]

Hello Andy, I get them from a local shop but I am sure you can order them through any dealer. There probably available on line. I have not had the need to look for them. Regards, Derek.

[Richard Negus]

A word of caution regarding tyre selection.'V'-rated tyres are the only approved grade of speed/load rating for Commanders (and Interpols too ). However, you are of course free to fit whichever brand and speed rating that you choose.If you should be unfortunate enough to make an insurance claim, and the bike is inspected by an eagle-eyed engineer, you may have your claim rejected due to using 'H'-rated tyres. This could be significant if there is a very large personal injury claim against you.By the way, Dell Boy, did you find what caused that deep groove around your rear tyre ?R.

[Dell Boy]

Hello Richard, I bought a Triton a couple of years ago. Went for a proper thrash on it for the 1st. time & found when I returned I had aquired an additional rain groove. I surmise the bike had only been built for posing & not ridden hard. Come M.o.t. time I switched the tyre onto the commander to get full value from it. Of course it was an overlong bolt that did the damage. In dealing with that problem I found a lot of other disconcerting things. You, I am sure would advise, check before you ride a new bike. Funny enough I sold that bike after having to drop it when a car on a roundabout shot across my bows & drove on. Fortunately two people got his number & he was traced & his insurers paid up. His witness statement; I never saw a motorcycle!! Then today plodding along on my Dominator passing a traffic jam, matey got bored with it & swung a "U" turn . Result, a big dent in his drivers door. Good old Britax crash bars. Despite hitting the car & falling off under the bike, Both I, & the bike were undamaged. I have both front & rear crash bars fitted & very glad i have. His comment, Very sorry mate I didn`t see you to which I replied you did`nt look & he agreed. Derek.

[Dell Boy]

Hello Richard, as you know "H" rated tyres are designed & approved for use up to 136m.p.h. On top of that I would expect a substantial safety margin to be manufactured into the product. On my virtually new Commander in 1991 I saw 140m.p.h. on the clock. I reckon that may have been 135m.p.h but no more. How fast is a standard Commander? If any insurer tried to wriggle out of a claim at anything up to 136m.p.h. a half decent lawyer would I think destroy that argument. It is a very rare occasion that I & I expect most other Commander owners exceed 100m.p.h.Question, For the 1st. time ever I have had to replace the front fork seals on one of my Commanders. The handwritten workshop manual states; fit the new seal with lip & garter uppermost. This is how I found the failed seal & it`s pair installed as per the manual with lip & garter uppermost. This seal failed on my 12,000 mile Commander. I have fitted the new ones lip downwards. I have covered 90,000 miles on two other commanders without any seals failing. Which way up is correct?

[graham]

H rated tyres are not really suitable,There are no H rated tyres with a weight rating high enough to cope well with the front end weight of an Interpol or Commander. The Classic is close.. but still not really OK.I've seen the way even gentle riding can quickly destroy an H rated front tyre.V rated BT45s are cheap anyway, I've just done a google search and found that the V rated version is £1 cheaper than the H rated one! The rear tyre dosn't seem to matter so much. Ignoring insurance issues (A daft thing to do :-)) The best miles I've ever had 'safely' was with a V rated BT45 front and an Avon H rated AM21 rear. Avon carefully designed the tread without a centre groove which made it imposible to tell when it was worn out. This enabled a one tyre ride through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and back home.When I finally changed it, I realised I was riding too close to canvas for comfort at around 5500 miles. Graham.

[Dell Boy]

I can only say that i am on my 5th or 6th set of Cougars with no problems of any sort experienced. They were recommended to me by a despatch rider who would knock up 5,500 in a month so tyre wear was an important consideration when buying tyres. Any answers on the fork seal question? Derek.

[Dell Boy]

P.S. One thing I am not noted for is being a gentle rider. Going to Lisbon for the International I knocked up 800 miles in a day with only 200 miles on motorways, the rest on very minor roads. By the end of the day I could only ride for 30 mins. at a time due to an extremely painfull backside. I rode for 14 hours in total. All on Cougar "H" rated tyres. Rear one was worn out when I got there & the organisers got me a secondhand Dunlop Arrowmax, supplied & fitted for £35.00. That was a good tyre & covered 7,000 miles. Replaced it with the Michelin M38 with the extra rain groove. By the way. There is a commander in Royal Blue 42,000 miles on its 2nd. engine which has smeared in Lisbon. I got it going for the owner but it is badly smeared. It`s in a scruffy warehouse with about 30 plus classic bikes & cars covered in dust & filth but Dry! Derek.

[graham]

It's just the front tyre that worrys me. Fronts wear so slowly that I can see no reason not to fit the best in the hope it will give me a chance of coming out unscathed when I get it wrong. I will never be convinced that a Cougar, Cheng Shin or similar will have as much in reserve. I fit anything I happen to lay my hands on on the rear.Graham

[Dell Boy]

I understand your reasoning Graham. Which way up should Commander front fork seals be fitted? Derek.

[andygbsmith]

It's interesting the difference in milege from owner to owner.The original owner of my Commander averaged 24,000 to a front tyre and 12,000 to the rear.It will be interesting to see what I get.Andy

[andygbsmith]

I used the Commander last night for the first time on unlit roads in the dark.My conclusion is the HID kit has transformed the night riding, you can see past oncoming traffic and 80MPH was no trouble and thats on minor roads.For me its excellent value for money and another plus is when the light is on, it only uses 35 watts.I am now going to buy somemore and fit them to my old bikes, where Lucas the prince of darkness will be a thing of the past.Andy

[Interpol2471]

You will have to show me that Andy as I may like to fit it to my IP2

[kanonkopdrinker]

Re: Derek's question concerning Commander fork seals ... given they're Japanese, I would have thought a Yamaha dealer should be able to provide the answer?

[andygbsmith]

Back to tyres and speed ratings.I phoned Avon Tech department and they recommend the Avon Roadrider for the Commander.I notice they are only H rated! I'm sure if Avon recommend them then they must be OK so I have ordered some and will keep you all posted on how the compare. They are 20% cheaper than BT45s so a worthwhile saving.Andy

[gripper]

I had some trouble fitting Roadriders to my IP2. They are a tight fit, I thought that the newly powder coated rims were the problem and scraped most of it off the bead seat but it still required about 100 psi to get the bead up onto the seat. With the powder coating still there, the tyre would go up onto the seat but when reducing the pressure down past 60 the bead would slide back down into the well. I have had this problem with two front Roadriders. The rear one is no problem. I may have a larger diameter rim but because that part of the rim is tapered it is difficult to measure. They seem to grip, wear and handle well. And they are not Jap.

[johnbirchjar]

Hi guys,I too was in Spain with Dell Boy when he had the Battleaxe tyre fitted, and I also had to have one fitted on the rear of the Classic on the same day at the same garage,the tyre has now done almost 8,000 miles and is still good for about 1,500 more so no complaints on that front,but D/B is right about the "white lining" and it seems to have got worse as the miles have clocked up,other than that i'ts fine.J.B.

[Ian]

FWIW, I can only add my own experiences.1. I tried Avons, Continentals and Dunlops on my Commander (always in pairs) and when I fitted BT45 I knew this was the tyre for the bike. Stable, no white lining, good mileage. Never tried Cougars.2. Oil seals. As a general rule, lip seals like fork seals are fitted with the 'open' side, the srping on the seal side, towards the liquid it is trying to seal.Thinkaboutcrankshaft seals. So a fork seal with the 'open' side up is the wrong way round.3. Lights. The standard lighting on my Commander was, shall we say, questionable. I fitted Graham's headlight kit which removes a part of the loom from the circuit and replaces it with a relay, thereby removing many potential voltage drops immediately. Top quality kit, fitted in 10 mins. Recommended. Especially with a 130w bulb...4. No idea about HID lamps, though my car has them and they are very bright. If anybody fits them, let us all know how it goes!Ian

[Dell Boy]

I have just changed the rear battlax on my Commander as it was totally worn out. It was passed the wear indicators. I got 6,761 miles out of it & I think it cost in Spain about £120.00. The last Cougar did 7,568 miles & cost £35.00. The previous one to that was a Shinko costing £37.00 & that covered,believe it or not, exactly the same milage, 7,568. So for £70.00 a pair I am sticking to the road with the cheapies. Derek.

[gripper]

Just bought a HID headlight kit and will be fitting it to my Commando while the IP2 is getting a new heart. The latest ebay number is 190351757851 Cost me about £44 The wiring seems pretty straightforward though there is plenty of it and though the ballast is smaller than the previous ones, it has to hide somwhere , ( ok if you've got a fairing to tuck it in. It suits -ve earth. Just thinking of converting the Commando to _ve earth Dave E

[Ian]

I put the following on the forum back in September:I have to say I've now been using the bike so fitted and I can't ever see me going back to tungsten or halogen bulbs. Brilliant, recommended, pretty shockproof so long lasting and I can see why car manufacturers fit them. It's development, or evolution if you like, like the first time you used QH bulbs after incandescent, or the first time you heard FM radio after AM. Waxing lyrical here..."Well, I can tell you what I did.On eBay I found a site in Slough, Easy-Driving, selling the Chinese HID kits for £46.99 and I bought one.Fitted to my Commander in about half an hour. Instructions useless but the wiring loom and diagram made it pretty clear and easy. The ballast, or inverter, lives inside the fairing.The light comes on brightly, suitable for the pass function, then dims slightly and brightens in about 10 seconds, all as previously described.Instant daylight! I have one of Graham's headlamp relay kits already and a 130w bulb but the HID light is very bright indeed. The switch to main from dip and back is quick and instant as an electromagnet moves it.In my opinion, a very worthwhile investment. You can see why car companies use them. And it only takes 35w!On the subject of MOT testers and HID lights it's not so clear. How any MOT tester can fail a vehicle with such lights fitted as OE is beyond me. They will have been examined by VOSA and found to comply with Construction and Use regulations and been properly homologated. A fail should be appealed and will probably result in the tester receiving words of advice. However, to fit these as aftermarket is the grey area. An overriding consideration is 'tester's opinion', which can be applied with discretion and is why the DoT want all testing in-house like for LGVs. Since conventional lights are actually yellow and not white I think a failure on colour is very dubious but some kits are sold with light units of different colours anyway... After all, better lights are a safety improvement, no? Just make sure they are properly aligned and common sense (or 'tester's opinion') should take over.In summary - great and I'm pleased I fitted mine.Ian"

[johnbirchjar]

Going back to Andies posting way back last summer"previous owner did 24,000 miles on the front tyre & 12,000? on the rear" he must have been a well steady rider!! anybody else manage to get that sort of milage from a set of tyres?J.B.