Sw moto seems to have the Venom in near stock sizes, 120/80/18 front and 150/80/16 rear for about $275.00 shipped.
Maybe but then my statement was Venoms in the wing sizes are $307 shipped at MS Superstore. Looking at swmototire wing size Venoms are 139 for the front and 171 for the rear, at $310 shipped.
There are people who have always been disappointed in the lack of mileage of the performance oriented tires. Me included. People have looked to the Wing Size tires as a way to get more of a balance between tire life and performance. Some wing tires like the ME880's and the Elite 3's are pretty touring oriented. The gap between the performance tires and the wing tires was noticeable.
But then we got the Pilot GT's which handled way better than the previous wing tires most have tried. And we had a guy selling them to us for $260 range shipped. The gap narrowed. At the time it seemed Avons versus Pilot GT's was all talk. At roughly $260 shipped for either set. -- I ran both the ME880s and the Pilot GTs.
Now days the Pilot GT's are gone and Avon Venoms are the replacement for the Wing Size group. And people have also found some excellent alternatives in the stock sizes. While Avon Storm/Azaro combo may still be the best all out tire combo, there are some alternatives in the stock sizes with a very close gap, and nothing like the switch to Wing Sizes. BT45's being one of them. And at $70 range cheaper. There are even at least 2 on this forum that have done both the Avons and the BT45's and like the BT45's better.
We have also learned the 120/70 front tires don't belong on our bikes as they are designed for a 3.5" wheel and not the Connie's 3.0" wheel. We have learned to get the 110/80 instead.
So now my BT45 rear is getting down there and its time for me to think about what to try next. Do I want to go back to wing sizes and try the Venoms or should I stick with the BT45's. Or how about I finally get off my butt and try some Avons.
When I factor in cost, 2 rears and 1 front for Avons is a bit more than a set of Venoms in the wing sizes. But for the BT45's 2 rears and 1 front versus a set of Venoms in the wing size is only $11. Now I am wondering if I can stick with a performance oriented tire and get the mileage of the wing tires for similar cost, albeit more time in the garage changing that rear.
On edit, I got 20K out of my Pilot GT's and ME880's. However I dont seem to be as hard one tires as some. 15K is/was average for the Pilot GT crowd. I don't know about the Venoms. Anyway using 15K as a benchmark, and the wear on my current BT45's the question is can I get 15K out of 2 BT45 rears and 1 front. I say easily out of 2 rears. Not sure about the front. 15K on the BT front might be pushing it. -- But then I got the V rated BT45 front. They also have a H rated BT45 front that fits the Connie. In our sizes the BT45 rear is V rated only. But for the front an H rated BT45 might do the trick. -- Given the Wing sizes tires are all H rated ( that I know of ) this is not a big loss in my comparison of sticking with performance tires and mileage versus switching back to wing sizes.