Best Tyres For Sportbikes (150-600cc) In India

There are quite a lot of brands that have now come up with good-quality tyres. 

• TVS Eurogrip is one of the few Indian brands to offer tyres for bikes that are on the premium side. 
• The Michelin Road 5 tyres were a pleasant surprise for us as they upped the TVS Apache RR 310’s handling dynamics. 
• Those on a budget though, could look at something like the MRF tyres. 

Choosing the right tyre for your sports bike can be a daunting task. If you own a Honda CBR250R, TVS Apache RR310, KTM Duke RC390, or Bajaj Dominar 400, you want a tyre that offers great grip, excellent handling, and long-lasting performance. Of course, you also want a tyre that provides the best value for its price.

Sports bikes are not just meant for commuting; they are designed for joyrides and adventures. Therefore, in addition to the basic tyre features, sports bike tyres should provide maximum comfort, optimum safety, and the ability to handle various wet and dry conditions.

As a smart tyre buyer, it's important to understand the expertise that goes into manufacturing a tyre. This knowledge will help you choose a tyre that suits your preferences and needs. To simplify this challenging task for you, we have handpicked the five best sports bike tyres that you can confidently purchase without any hesitation.

   1.150cc segment: CEAT Tyres 

The Yamaha R15 V4 has been our favourite supersport in the 150cc segment and what has been complementing its sporty chassis are good tyres. We’ve tested out both the CEAT Zoom and the CEAT Gripp X3 tyres on the R15 V4 and we’ve been quite impressed with both. 

Both tyres provide more than enough grip, both in the wet and in the rain, giving you all the confidence you need to tip the R15 over from one side to the other. And that, also has an effect on braking. Because there’s no sense of uncertainty in the bike’s dynamics, you’re able to brake harder and later into a corner without inhibitions. All of it, while having a very light profile, meaning it’s not hard to change directions on. 

   2.200cc segment: MRF Tyres

MRFs have proven to strike quite a good balance between providing enough grip for performance-oriented supersports, yet giving decently good mileage with themselves. The MRF tyres we last tested were the MRF Revzs on the KTM RC200 and they held their own pretty well. 

Sure, they weren’t supremely grippy, but they did well enough to match the bike’s revvy nature and complemented the rapid power delivery pretty well. While mid-corner bumps did unsettle them a bit, but for most riders, the tyres had more than enough grip on offer. The tyres combined with the RC200’s relatively longer wheelbase means the bike is very stable in the corners. 

  3.300cc segment: Michelin Tyres

Michelin tyres will always have a very special place in the heart of motorcycle enthusiasts. The brand makes some fantastic tyres for the 300cc bikes segment. The Road 5s tyres are probably the best example of the same. TVS equipped their supersport, the Apache RR 310 with them a couple of years ago, replacing the Pilot Sports with them and what a revelation they’ve been! 

These give the Apache RR 310 more grip than any tyre has ever managed in the past. The tyres on the Apache RR 310 truly complement the bike's exceptional handling capabilities, enabling riders to fully unleash its potential both in corners and on straight stretches. What’s even more impressive is that they’re just as good in the wet, as they’re good on dry tarmac. 

   4.400cc segment: TVS Eurogrip Tyres

It’s not often that we see Indian brands making good tyres for premium bikes, but TVS Eurogrip has been different. A tyre from the brand that we’ve absolutely loved in particular, are the Protorq Extremes. We personally tried them out on the KTM 390 Duke and the way they’ve performed has been really impressive, to say the least. 

What they bring firstly, is solid high-speed stability. In fact, they feel just as stable as more premium, H-rated Metzeler tyres! Riding in high triple-digit speeds and even maintaining them is extremely easy. The second impressive part was the handling they brought. Regardless of how aggressively you accelerate out of corners, these tyres provide ample grip at both the front and rear, ensuring a stable and confidence-inspiring ride that never feels unsettling.

   5.500-600cc segment: Vredestein Tyres

Yes, you might not have heard a whole lot about this brand but that is because it doesn’t have a massive portfolio in India. Plus it hasn’t come to the limelight a whole lot. But the truth is, Vredestein makes some fantastic tyres for bikes that are not only in the 500cc segment, but even bigger ones. 

The latest example of the same are the Vredestein Centauro ST tyres that we recently tested out on the 2023 Royal Enfield Continental GT 650. The racer in its cafe racer experience gets better with this new rubber because unlike the Pirelli Sportcomps and Ceat Zoom Cruz, these actually match the performance of the 648cc parallel-twin engine.