Years ago I got a set of retreads on my car (I was a poor student). One of the tire treads separated from the belts and completely damaged the tire well. I was lucky I didn't wreck my car. I was told that the new treads are literally glued onto the belts.

Don't risk it. It's the only thing between you and road rash.

 

I don't post much on here but this caught my interest. I read an article in Sport rider about T-Hawks. They've been around for several years. Supposedly, They're re-treaded using the same process used for Re-treading aircraft tires. You could probably read about it on their web site, if they've got one. I know one of the things SR said was the tires themselves weigh a damn ton and slows the steering up quite a bit, and they were testing the T-Hawk DOT race tire.
Obviously, make an objective decision and go w/ it. If money is the issue and you can wait, Save for a month or 2 and spring for some qualifiers, pilots, or diablos! I've got qualifiers on my SH and they're good street tires. better than the old 208's

I would steer clear of DOT race tires for the street, though. They take longer to warm-up and you wont get the mileage out of them.

 

Sounds good and thank you all for the input. I was asking mainly because I did infact go to the manufacturer's website, where it was stated that "retreaded tires have come a long way since two decades ago" or some crap like that.

Basically I was hoping that it would be some kind of untapped technology that the price hadn't caught up with. But, as always seems to be the case, you get what you pay for. This seems to hold true for everything except cosmetic upgrades, and so there must be a reason retreads are so affordable.

It strikes me like buying refurbished electronics, different only in the fact that if my DVD player stops working, I don't die in a fiery crash!

I'm going with the Pilot Powers, turns out I only need the rear anyway (because yes, the front has very rarely touched the ground).