K905 Sport Motard Tires: The Complete 2026 Guide to KingTyre’s Street and Supermoto Tyre

Quick answer: The KingTyre K905 Sport Motard is a street-oriented, fully treaded motorcycle tyre built around a non-thermal rubber compound that keeps its grip from the first lap instead of needing a warm-up window. It is certified to DOT and ECE for road use, carries a W speed rating (270 km/h), comes in eight 17-inch sizes — three front and five rear — and has a published service life of 8,000–10,000 km.

Last updated: November 13, 2026. Written and reviewed by the KingTyre technical team. Compound, certification, size, speed-rating, load-index and mileage figures come from the current KingTyre K905 Sport Motard product page; company figures come from the KingTyre about page. Where KingTyre has not published a figure, this guide says so rather than estimating it.

What is the KingTyre K905 Sport Motard tire?

The KingTyre K905 Sport Motard is a road tyre with supermoto attitude — a fully treaded, street-legal pattern built to be ridden every day and leaned on hard. Unlike a semi slick, which is a race tyre with the grooves taken out, the K905 Sport Motard keeps a full street tread pattern with lateral grooves across the crown and shaped shoulder blocks. That pattern evacuates water, feeds the brakes and steering feel, and survives the kind of kerb, camber and broken asphalt that a supermoto actually rides.

What makes it different from a conventional road tyre is the compound. KingTyre builds the K905 Sport Motard on a non-thermal rubber compound rather than a race-style thermal compound. A thermal compound has to be worked up to a working temperature before it performs; a non-thermal compound is formulated to grip from the moment it touches the road and to keep gripping as it heats up. On a street tyre, that is the difference between a tyre that feels sharp on the first corner of the commute and one that feels dull until you have been riding for ten minutes.

The result is a tyre aimed at three jobs at once:

• Urban commuting, where a rider wants predictable wet-road grip, low rolling resistance and a tyre that is still there after 8,000 km.
• Street stunts and wheelies, where a treaded shoulder block gives the rider something to feel and something to hook up against.
• Supermoto and motard competition, where the tread clears water and debris but still carries enough rubber to the ground to give a usable contact patch.

KingTyre K905 Sport Motard tires at a glance

The snapshot below is the fastest way to see what the K905 Sport Motard is and, just as importantly, what it is not. Every figure is published by KingTyre for this product.

Behind it sits a factory that builds this tyre at volume. KingTyre runs automated mixing and curing equipment for compound consistency, ISO-certified production lines that meet both European and DOT requirements, and an R&D team that specialises in motard tyres and super sport tyre development — the same group that develops the race tyres the company takes to Le Mans.

K905 Sport Motard vs K905 Semi Slick: the difference that matters

KingTyre sells two different tyres under the K905 name, and they share the same eight sizes — so ordering by model name alone is how riders end up with the wrong tyre. Both the K905 Semi Slick and the K905 Sport Motard are 17-inch road-legal tyres with the identical size list. Everything else about them is different: one is a near-slick race tyre, the other is a fully treaded street tyre.

The rule of thumb is simple. If the tyre has to survive a commute, a week of parked bikes in the rain and a kerb, buy the K905 Sport Motard. If the tyre is going to be fitted to a race bike or a track-day-only machine and consumed quickly, buy the K905 Semi Slick. We have written a separate K905 Semi Slick tyre guide covering the race-oriented tyre in full, and the K905 Semi Slick product page lists its own specifications side by side with this one.

What the Sport Motard tread pattern actually does

The tread pattern is not decoration — each element of the K905 Sport Motard pattern exists because of a specific failure mode on the street. KingTyre publishes the following comparison figures for the pattern, measured against the baselines named in the table.

These are KingTyre's own published comparison figures, and the baseline for each one is named in the table rather than left vague. If you are evaluating the tyre for a purchase order, ask the factory for the underlying test protocol — that is the number a technical buyer actually needs, and it is available on request.

The practical effect is worth spelling out. A full street tread gives the tyre a real rain margin, which matters enormously on a commuter that meets a downpour on an urban arterial. The shoulder blocks give a supermoto or stunt rider a physical edge to work against, and they survive the repeated high-side loads that a street tyre otherwise cannot take. The lower rolling resistance of the non-thermal compound translates directly into fuel consumption on a bike that spends its life at 60 km/h in traffic.

The non-thermal compound: grip from the first lap, and a longer working life

The compound is the single biggest technical difference between the K905 Sport Motard and a semi slick, and it is the reason the tyre grips before it has warmed up. A race compound is designed around a working temperature window: too cold and it slides, too hot and it greases up. That is the right logic for a race tyre on a hot track and the wrong logic for a tyre that has to work in morning traffic.

A non-thermal compound is formulated so that the rubber behaves consistently from cold to hot. Two published consequences follow:

• Consistent grip during the early riding phase. The tyre delivers the same steering response on the first corner as on the tenth, so a rider does not have to ride around for half a kilometre to find the grip. For street stunts, where everything happens in the first two minutes, this matters more than anything else in the tyre.
• A longer working life. Because the compound is not being pushed to a track temperature window, it does not wear out the way a soft race compound does. KingTyre publishes 8,000–10,000 km for the K905 Sport Motard, against 1,000–3,500 km for the K905 Semi Slick in mixed use.

That contrast is the whole argument for this tyre. If your riding is 8,000 km of commuting and the occasional supermoto track day, the Sport Motard costs a fraction of what a race compound costs over the same period.

Every published K905 Sport Motard size

All eight K905 Sport Motard sizes are 17-inch, and they cover the common sport, naked and supermoto fitments. Three sizes are published for the front and five for the rear, and every one of them is available in the same tread pattern and compound.

Two notes on reading this table. First, the ZR marking on a size does not make it a race tyre — it identifies the speed class of that size designation, and the K905 Sport Motard's published speed rating is W (270 km/h) across the range. Second, KingTyre publishes the load index as a range of 54–75 depending on size rather than a per-size table, so the exact load index and any fitting constraints for a specific size should be confirmed with the factory before you commit a purchase order.

If you are still working out which wheel width your machine needs, our 17-inch motorcycle tyre guide covers how rim width and aspect ratio interact, and which motorcycle tyre sizes sell best worldwide shows the demand pattern behind each of these sizes.

Where the K905 Sport Motard fits: commuting, stunts and supermoto

This tyre has one job description — a road tyre you can use hard — and it covers three very different riding styles without changing anything. That is unusual, and it is what makes the K905 Sport Motard commercially interesting for a distributor.

For the philosophy behind why supermoto riders run a completely different tyre philosophy to racers, read motard tires: why supermoto riders need a different tire philosophy, and for the race-oriented side of the family see our K97 Super Motard guide. If you are weighing this tyre against a race compound, our slick versus semi slick comparison and track-day tyre buyer's guide explain where each tyre type belongs.

K905 Sport Motard vs K97 Super Motard vs K06 Semi Slick

Once you are past the K905 Semi Slick, the next question is usually about the K97 Super Motard — and the honest answer is that the two serve different masters. The K905 Sport Motard is a road tyre with a supermoto pattern. The K97 Super Motard is a four-compound tyre built around the supermoto discipline itself.

If you are building a distributor range, the cleanest structure is to pair the K905 Sport Motard with the K97 Super Motard — a road-tyre and a competition-tyre in the same family — and add the K905 Semi Slick or K06 Semi Slick for the track-day customer. For a pure road programme with no track bias at all, the K97 Sport On-Road is the long-life road option. The full K97 Super Motard specification is on the K97 Super Motard product page, and the K06 race-derived semi slick is covered in detail on the K06 Semi Slick product page.

Tire pressure, maintenance and getting the most life out of the K905

Correct pressure is what turns a 10,000 km tyre into a 6,000 km tyre, and for this product the starting point is the tyre itself rather than a factory table. KingTyre does not publish cold and hot pressure figures for the K905 Sport Motard — the tyre sits outside the race-tyre specification sheet, and its published data is a road-tyre data set. So use this method instead:

1. Read the sidewall. Every tyre carries its maximum load and maximum pressure rating. That is a ceiling, never a target.
2. Start from the motorcycle's specification. Set the cold pressure to the front and rear figures given in the bike's owner's manual or on the tyre placard, and only adjust from there.
3. Set pressures cold. A hot reading is a result, not a setting. Measure at the start of the ride, before the tyres have been rolled.
4. Re-check hot and adjust in small steps. If the hot pressure climbs above the cold setting by more than the tyre's own tolerance, the compound and construction are working as intended; bleeding pressure to match a hot figure is what causes a hot tyre to overheat and blister.
5. Check the pair, not the single tyre. A mismatch between front and rear changes the balance of the chassis, and the K905 Sport Motard is deliberately built with matched front and rear grip.
6. Rotate the tyres. KingTyre's own care guidance for the K905 is standard tyre maintenance — correct inflation plus rotation — which roughly doubles the usable life of a set on a bike that does not run the same pressure on both axles.
7. Watch the wear, not the date. At a published 8,000–10,000 km, a tyre will usually need replacing on condition long before it ages out.
8. Store it properly if you are not riding it. Rubber ages in storage; keep the tyres away from heat, direct sun and ozone, and check them periodically.

For general pressure technique, including how hot pressures behave on race tyres for comparison, see what is the best tire pressure for racing slicks — but note that those figures are for the K06 and K00 race tyres and are not the figures for this road tyre.

Ordering K905 Sport Motard tires: wholesale, OEM and ODM

For distributors, the K905 Sport Motard is the volume tyre of KingTyre's super sport and commute ranges — and it is the natural entry point into the brand. It ships in eight sizes across the most demanded 17-inch dimensions, it has the longest published life of any tyre in this article, and it addresses the commuter and stunt market rather than the small race market.

The manufacturing backdrop is verifiable. KingTyre (Tianjin Kingtyre Group Co., Ltd.) was founded in 2015 in Tianjin and is one of the few Chinese manufacturers producing motorcycle radial tyres at scale. The Tianjin plant runs an annual capacity of more than 300,000 radial tyres across 150-plus sizes and five product categories — racing, adventure, off-road, cruiser and commuter — and KingTyre currently exports to more than 45 countries across Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East.

Quality and compliance are certified rather than claimed: production runs under ISO 9001 quality management, and the tyre range is certified to DOT for the United States, ECE R75 for Europe and CCC for China. KingTyre also runs OEM and ODM programmes for teams and resellers, including private-label moulding and branding — our private label and OEM motorcycle tyre manufacturer guide explains how that works in practice.

For a factory that also builds race tyres, the credibility is not a marketing layer over a road tyre. KingTyre's Full Gas Racing Team has competed in the FIM Endurance World Championship at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2022, and the compound, temperature and wear-rate data from that programme feeds directly into the development work that ends up on the shelf as a road tyre. If you are assessing a supplier rather than a single SKU, read how to choose a motorcycle tyre manufacturer in China and the wholesale importing guide for the logistics side; if you also plan to carry race-only tyres, the racing slick sourcing guide covers that side of the range.

Frequently asked questions

How long do KingTyre K905 Sport Motard tires last?

KingTyre publishes 8,000–10,000 km for the K905 Sport Motard, depending on riding style. That figure is roughly three to eight times the published life of the K905 Semi Slick in mixed use, because the non-thermal compound is not worked to a race temperature window. Hard riding, heavy loads and low pressures will shorten it; gentle commuting on correctly inflated tyres will reach the upper end.

Is the K905 Sport Motard good for wet roads?

Yes. KingTyre's tread pattern is published as improving drainage efficiency by 25% against conventional road tyres and cutting braking distance on wet surfaces by 12%, and the full street tread with lateral grooves is the reason. That makes it a genuinely usable wet tyre for commuting, unlike a near-slick or a race slick.

Can I use the K905 Sport Motard for track racing?

Not as a race tyre. KingTyre positions the K905 Sport Motard for road use and supermoto applications rather than professional racing, and its published data is road-tyre data. For track days and club racing, the K905 Semi Slick or the K06 Semi Slick are the correct choices, and for professional competition the track-only K00 slick and K01 rain tyre are the relevant products.

What is the difference between the K905 Sport Motard and the K905 Semi Slick?

Both are 17-inch road-legal K905 tyres with the same eight published sizes, but they are different products. The Sport Motard is a fully treaded street tyre with a single non-thermal compound, a W speed rating and 8,000–10,000 km of life. The Semi Slick is a near-slick race tyre with four race compounds, a ZR rating and 1,000–3,500 km of life. Choose the Sport Motard for the road, the Semi Slick for the track.

What does the W speed rating mean on the K905 Sport Motard?

W means the tyre is certified for speeds up to 270 km/h. All published K905 Sport Motard sizes carry a W rating, which is appropriate for a road tyre that has to hold stability at motorway speeds and at the higher speeds a supermoto track can produce.

What is the load index on the K905 Sport Motard and how do I choose it?

KingTyre publishes the load index as 54–75, dependent on size, rather than a per-size table. The correct procedure is to check the load index and load rating printed on the sidewall of the tyre you are ordering, and confirm it against the maximum laden weight of the machine. For a purchase order, ask KingTyre for the per-size load index table.

Does the K905 Sport Motard need tire warmers?

No. The whole point of the non-thermal compound is that it delivers grip from the first moment rather than needing a warm-up window, which is exactly what a street tyre, a stunt tyre and a commuting tyre require. Warmers belong to the race-tyre range — the K06 and K00 lines are warmed for 60 minutes at 80–90°C before use.

How does the K905 Sport Motard compare with the K97 Super Motard?

The K97 Super Motard is built around the supermoto discipline itself, with a directional treaded pattern and four selectable compounds for a dedicated competition tyre. The K905 Sport Motard is a road tyre with a supermoto-style pattern and one long-life non-thermal compound, aimed at commuters and stunt riders who need one tyre for the street. If your customer base is racing, specify the K97; if it is street-based, specify the K905 Sport Motard.

Is the K905 Sport Motard street legal?

Yes. The tyre is certified to DOT and ECE, which is what allows it to be registered and ridden on public roads in the United States and in European and most other international markets. Production also runs on ISO-certified lines. Approval applies to the size and construction as published, so any change of size or rim width invalidates it. Our DOT and ECE tyre codes guide and ECE R75 vs DOT FMVSS 119 comparison explain what each standard actually tests.

How do I order K905 Sport Motard tires in bulk from KingTyre?

The K905 Sport Motard is supplied as a wholesale product, with OEM and ODM packaging available for resellers and brands. KingTyre quotes per order rather than publishing fixed prices. Contact the factory with the sizes, quantities and delivery schedule you need, and mention whether you are ordering for resale, for a private-label programme or for your own brand.

Find the KingTyre K905 Sport Motard tire

The KingTyre K905 Sport Motard is available now from Tianjin Kingtyre Group, in eight 17-inch sizes with DOT and ECE certification, a W speed rating and a published 8,000–10,000 km service life. Open the K905 Sport Motard product page for the full size list, or browse the complete KingTyre product range to see how the Sport Motard fits alongside the race and road tyre lines.

If you are building a range, specify the K905 Semi Slick alongside it for track-day customers, the K97 Super Motard for the competition side, and the K905 Sport Motard for the street — the K905 Semi Slick guide and the K97 Super Motard guide cover those two in full. For a commuter-focused, high-volume line, the K95 scooter tyre guide covers the other end of the urban market, and the K95 scooter tyre product page carries its full size list.

For wholesale enquiries, per-size load index data, technical documentation for a specific size, or OEM and ODM packaging, talk to the KingTyre team and quote the K905 Sport Motard reference and the sizes you need.