Ted Edwards

2024 Motorcycle Sport Touring Tires Shootout: Final Results

Posted by Ted Edwards | Aug 9, 2024 | Bikes & Gear, Nuts & Bolts |

We test tires because you just never know. Bikes are different, riders are different, seasons are different and as we are finding out, tires are different. Much, much different. We test tires by attempting to control for everything- riding the same bikes, at the same time, with the same riders and same fuel loads following each other all season. We even order the same coffee, all in the name of accuracy. Sometimes the results are predictable and other times, as in this test, the results are shocking.

One Hundred

Posted by Ted Edwards | Jul 29, 2024 | Ride Life |

Riding motorcycles in my youth, I idolized moto-journalists and dreamed of being one. Odd really, probably born from me spending too much time absorbed in motorcycle magazines in my formative years, which took way too long to form. What a cool job they must have, I reflected, getting to ride the latest machines, talking to famous people, testing the latest gear, traveling the country. My house was forever littered with bike periodicals. Like sand from the beach they were everywhere, well-read, pages dog eared, covers worn, food spilled on them. One day that will be me, I thought, one day…

To The Man Who Never Rode A Motorcycle

Posted by Ted Edwards | Jul 18, 2024 | Ride Life |

He cared about us, even though he never rode a motorcycle. He took us in, our ragged group of foul traveling misfits, and covered us with kindness, overflowing in sincerity, abounding in grace despite not understanding the machines we rode.

Dunlop Roadsmart IV vs Shinko Verge 2X: Mid-Life Update

Posted by Ted Edwards | Jul 10, 2024 | Bikes & Gear |

While all motorcycle tires are round and black, they are not the same. Even with technological advances one would think that modern sport touring tires are all very similar, but there are differences. A few years ago we here at Road Dirt Motorcycle Media started a quest to find those differences and pass that information on to you.

In Love With The Old

Posted by Ted Edwards | Jun 24, 2024 | Ride Life |

Older things made of simpler elements have charisma.
Chrome, rubber, steel and glass, basics of so many classic motorcycles of decades past, carry stories with them in their porous surfaces, either building shine or dulling patina as the pages of the calendar flip. Those of us in love with old metal find solace in bikes built with steel and chrome instead of plastic and carbon fiber.

Dunlop Q5S Long Term Track & Street Test

Posted by Ted Edwards | May 30, 2024 | Bikes & Gear |

I wondered how the stellar Dunlops would perform long term as both a street tire and trackday weapon. The Q5S tires have a harder center compound for street mileage so I kept them on my Honda Superhawk for the duration of the 2023 riding season for commuting, touring and canyon sprint miles, using them as most riders would for a whole year. Then, last week, after a full year with the tires on the bike, I returned to MotoAmerica’s early summer race venue, The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington for a second thrashing to see how they would fare after a full season of use.

Motorcycle Tire Spotlight: Shinko 016 Verge 2X

Posted by Ted Edwards | Apr 15, 2024 | Bikes & Gear, Nuts & Bolts |

If you haven’t heard of Shinko Motorcycle Tires, I don’t blame you. Shinko does not have the brand name recognition or racing pedigree of major manufacturers like Dunlop, Michelin, Pirelli or Bridgestone. However, their rubber roots run deep having manufactured bicycle tires since the end of World War II, then purchasing motorcycle tire technology from Yokohama in 1998. They claim to manufacture about 200,000 tires a month.

Motorcycle Sport Touring Tire Shootout- Year 3

Posted by Ted Edwards | Apr 8, 2024 | Bikes & Gear, Nuts & Bolts |

Even the journey of ten thousand miles must begin with the single turn of a wheel. This is how year 3 of Road Dirt’s Sport Touring Tire Shootout begins.
When tires are new, they are round and perfect, just as their designers intended, showcasing the technology and engineering their manufacturers have poured into their design profiles. We all love new tires because when they replace flat spotted rubber, our bike’s handling comes to life.

Dunlop Roadsmart IV vs Michelin Road 6: Final Results

Posted by Ted Edwards | Nov 20, 2023 | Bikes & Gear, Nuts & Bolts |

Our goal was to run both tires down to cord to get final mileage measurements. While that happened with the Dunlop, the Michelin came very close but never had the chance to make it down to metal. We simply ran out of weather. So, for both of my readers waiting patiently to see how long these two sport touring giants would last, here is what we found.