Quick Question - Is this Price for a Tyre Right?

[steveR]

Time for a new rear tyre (Trail Wing 130/80 17) for my TA700, only managed about 4000 miles on it, but the front is still good so will run another then consider changing both to a different brand.

I have been quoted £110 for fitting including new inner tube (£15). Does this sound about right? I thought I would only be paying around £80.

Not getting it done until Saturday, so your thoughts would be appreciated

Also, how low do you guys run your tyres, I'm below 2mm so thought time for a change, or should I be running it down lower? Went out in the rain last night and it was a bit slippery, thought was on a bumpy B road.

Looks as if you are being charged about 40-45 quid for fitting. Your call if that is a good deal I do my own as it allows me to have a fiddle and balance it properly and takes around an hour all in, maybe a bit longer if I cannot fine my levers!

2mm sounds like a slick to me... I will not compromise on rubber, car, 4wd or bike.

[japes1275]

Changed mine at 4k like yours and it had about 2mm left. Reckon it would have be ok for a few hundred more dry miles. I went for a Conti Escape and fitted it myself for about £65. Same situation as you with the front but I decided to mix tyres as can't see why not. Can see why on a car but not on a bike, no doubt will get told why though! Can't say that it is any better than the Trail Wing but I had no probs with that apart from only getting 4k out of it and the price.

Was quoted about the same as you for one fitted.

[icenian]

Re: different tyres, am interested but don't want to change my half used Trail Wing front. Any views on mixing tyres? I do a lot of motorway work (I also play at weekends on green lanes etc)

That's a fair point, but I'd have a really close look at the front tyre. These so called "dual purpose" type tyres, with big tread blocks, seem to get really asymmetric wear. One side of the block seems to wear down really hard, so in profile it looks stepped. Also the wear in the central band seems to be less than on either side.

The upshot of that is you can have a tyre that looks OK at a glance, but if you look closely it's getting quite badly worn. The handling can go off whilst there is still maybe 3mm in the centre, but some of the more worn edges of the tread blocks are down to more like 1mm.

I've had Trailwings, Tourance, Skorpion S/T and Anakee on my Africa Twin; all have worn out at near enough the same time front and back. Then again, I ride more of twisty roads than motorways, so YMMV...

[dubhe]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm going ahead with it on Saturday. I could do it myself, but I trust someone else better and the sun will be shining. I don't want to spend half the day swearing in the garage!

My wear has been pretty even on the Trail Wing, no squaring off or anything that I can see. I do a lot of motorways, but then again I often avoid some bits and take the A Roads with lots of roundabouts, that and my city riding nipping to the shops and weekend semi-off-road fun, I suppose I can truly say I do a but of everything.

Will try and get some more miles out of this next one though, I know I could if I wanted to, might save me a bit on fuel too...

[rssenna]

I had a BT45 fitted & balanced to my loose rear wheel in April and it cost £94. As others have mentioned if you do it yourself you can check chain, brakes etc and know it has been done.

I ran 3 rear trailwing rears to 1 front and did get about 4K out of a rear, with the BT45 I am hoping for 6K+ so you would have to work out if changing part worn front would cost less and putting both on BT45/Contis etc would be cheaper. I was told not to mix tread types eg trailwing & BT45. In saying that most of my riding is on the road and the BT45 is a better road tyre so given the choice again I would have changed both tyres to BT45 at 1st tyre change at about 4K.

[Farky]

If your in Norwich I can give you a number for a guy who does motorcycles as standard and some car work with great prices.

A Trailwing should be about £65/75 with fitting £15 - I had a more expensive BT45 fitted on a ride in service for about £80 in a locals - HMT Tyres in Norwich - if your still up this was give them a bell, order tyres next day upto about 2pm so possibly missed it now - id quote whoever your going to the fitting price and question the tyre price.

Sounds far too expensive to me!!

Call Paul at 01603 301999...no commission for me, just a great dealer!

[Fruit Loop]

I had a new Trailwing fitted to rear of my 650 Alp a week or so ago by CJ Ball (Honda main dealer, Norwich). Tyre alone price was about £82, with fitting and balancing I was quoted something like £110.

I knew I could probably get it cheaper elsewhere, but i wanted it done quick (hadn't realised quite how worn it had got, and there was a possibility of a last minute long distance trip to France a couple of days later), plus they have always been helpful and good to deal with. I wanted a new inner tube at the same time, which pushed the price up to £119. Done quick, free coffee, friendly service, and the mechanic adjusted up my brake pedal gratis while he was at it.

So not the cheapest, but I was well satisfied in the circumstances (though will probably try the chap Farky mentioned some time in future), and suggests that the price you were quoted is not at all outrageous, but as others have said, not the cheapest you could get.

[dubhe]

^^ Interesting you guys should say what you have, CJ Ball couldn't fit me in this weekend so I am had to go to HMT (which they recommended) and it is HMT that is quoting £110 (including new inner tube)!

I normally get it all done at CJ Ball, I bought this and my previous two bikes there.

[Farky]

'mmm interesting. I have dealt with Chris for many years also, but I give Paul all my tyre business as a dealer isn't in the tyre business, although as you say they will always match competitive prices and offer additional dealer service.

I am suprised at the price though, can only imagine it's because your buying the least popular tyre for the Transalp...although they're standard OEM, they never get fitted 2nd time cuz they is crap! Sorry, but majority will agree. We call them death wings. However I don't recommend mixing tyres so either keep f&r the same or buy new f&r of another brand/type.

Too many options of tyre at this point but the main thing is that your using the best dealer/fitter that Norwich can offer for value and service, and I've always found the prices competitive so it can only be the price of the tyres themselves.

Who here has actually bought TrailWings to compare price?

[dubhe]

I know the Trailwing is crap and will be changing both for something else next time around. Quite like the look of the Michelin Anakee 2