So how many times have you been out on a ride and wished you could play your favorite music while ripping down your favorite road? There are numerous ways one can do this these days with Blue-tooth headsets and ear-bud headphones nearly everywhere you look. However, most of the aforementioned options don’t provide what I would consider “sonic nirvana”. For that you need a quality, in-ear, earphone that also can isolate ambient sound like wind noise (and ambulances it turns out).

Typically these types of earphones can be quite costly but a relatively new company on the sonic scene recently contacted us at Nashvilleriders.com to review a set of their in-ear headphones. The item in question promises good sound quality and construction while keeping the costs reasonable. Did they live up to the promise? While not without their quirks they can definitely prevent you from worrying about getting Rick Astley’s “Never gonna give you up” stuck in your head.

Another year of riding and time again to put on some new tires. Earlier this year I replaced my Pirelli  Angel ST tires even though they still had maybe 1000-1500 miles left that on them to go. Truth is though is that while the Angels never did anything "wrong", they also didn't inspire either. I was recently trying to decide what exactly it was that made me feel so apathetic towards these tires. I don't think I ever broke them loose so grip wasn't the issue. I installed them myself (though I'm not doing that again!) and was pleased they required very little weight to achieve a good balance and they rode just fine on the highway so nothing there to note either.

Wear was about as expected with about 7000 miles on them with the rear showing a pretty "squared" center. This seems to be typical for the SV (or my SV anyway) as V-Twins have a lot more engine braking and I tend to use my share of said braking. That combined with more commuting than back-road antics and the wear seemed reasonable. On the whole they were entirely adequate but I'm not really one to champion mediocrity when presented with it so what was the issue? They seemed perfectly OK, nothing more, nothing less.

Now that I've gotten a 1000 or so miles on my new Pirelli Angel St's I felt it was time for a follow up. Over the past 1000 miles I've ridden the Angels on my daily commute, hit the super slab with them, and abused them on some of my favorite twisty roads. These tires have been completely un-exciting and that's a good thing in a tire. They stick when they need too and I find them very agreeable to changing your line mid corner and will stay where you want them. On the other hand, I don't get the kind of feedback from the road surface I have been getting from previously enjoyed tires.

Last weekend, Johnny and I installed (using my new Harbor Freight tire changer) a new set of Pirelli Angel ST tires onto my SV650s, replacing the Continental Sport Attacks I have run for the past 5000 miles or so. Why the Pirelli Angel's? I mean, don't they look kinda silly with their Angel/Demon tread pattern? Well perhaps they do, but at the same time Pirelli knows how to make a good tire and honestly, I don't care what they look like as long as they do their job.

Now, to back up for a second, I have been reading up on these tires since November and the professional reviews were pretty positive, but they mostly discussed wet weather traction, longevity, and braking performance. Now I agree that all of these are important factors and this being a sport touring tire, they are addressing the info that most riders of that style want to know about.