Different types of bike tyres, which one do you need?

The bike market today has grown up a lot in comparison to say, a decade or so ago. Gone are the times of skinny Hondas and meaty Pulsars on the streets. Today, we have a lot more variety of bikes on the streets, from resurgent Royal Enfields to KTM Dukes and Yamaha R15s. All these different bikes need different types of bike tyres. In this post, we are going to explore the bike tyre options available for Indian motorcyclists.

Standard Street Type Bike Tyres

These are the tyres we see on everyday light-weight bikes. Street bikes are built for mobility and mileage. From household use to bike taxis and delivery bikes, they find use in almost every scenario. Street bike tyres need to balance between the ride quality and durability. Where a tougher compound will make riding through pothole ridden roads very uncomfortable, a softer compound will wear out faster and raise the maintenance cost. Commuter bikes, thus, use tyres with higher sidewalls and a rubber compound of medium toughness.

Check out Apollo Actisteer Street Bike Tyres here -

https://www.apollotyres.com/en-in/bike-scooter-tyres/products/1338-ActiSTEER-F1/

Street Sport Bike Tyres

These are usually the bikes we see in the upwards of ₹ 1 lakh bracket. Since, motorcyclist riding these bikes need more cornering performance than a street bike, the tyres are built with softer rubber than street bike tyres and slightly lower sidewalls. The higher riding speed also warrants better grip on both wet and dry surfaces. Here the tread quality plays an important role, in keeping the bike stable and connected to the road.

Check out Apollo Actizip Street Sport Bike Tyres here - 

https://shop.apollotyres.com/actizip-f5-2

Sports Bike Tyres

These are the highest-performance tyres meant for the streets, built for maximum performance. The softer compounds of these tyres provides the highest amount of grip and temperature stability. The powerful motors in sports bikes also warrant better braking efficiency and these tyres improve braking by increasing the traction on the road. While offering great grip on dry surfaces, these tyres are susceptible to slips on a rainy day due to the high torque and relative lack of tread.

Check out Apollo Alpha Sport Bike Tyres here -

https://www.apollotyres.com/en-in/bike-scooter-tyres/products/1892-ALPHA-H1/

All-terrain Bike Tyres

These tyres are kind of blocky in nature for traction on gravel trails and dirt roads. The grip on normal roads is also reasonably good but the hard nature of these tyres can cause riding discomfort over long distances or in daily use cases. You fill usually find these tyres on bikes billed as off-road or adventure.

Check out Apollo Actigrip All-Terrain Bike Tyres here - 

https://www.apollotyres.com/en-in/bike-scooter-tyres/products/1345-ActiGRIP-R1/

Off-road Bike Tyres

Built from the hardest of rubber compounds for bike tyres, off-road tyres are meant for pure off-roading enthusiasts. These tyres will roll on tarmac but do not expect much grip or riding comfort. Moreover, when used on normal roads these tyres wear out quite quickly even with the harder rubber because their tread is not optimised for street use.

So, now you know about the types of bike tyres that are available in the market, you can pick and choose one for your machine. Upgrading bike tyres is quite common and often gives you a performance boost by improving ride quality, grip or fuel economy, according to your use case.

For best bike tyre upgrades, visit an Apollo Tyres shop near you.