Not got a bike. On the front of the car I tried the cheapest tyre one side (Klieber) and an all singing Michelin on the other. I worked at a garage at the time so we got the tyres cost price. The whole exercise was to see which one wore the quickest. As I'm more inclined to drive like an old fart (so I'm told) I wasn't too bothered about handling etc, am happy in my own world plodding about.

Initially no pulling to one side, car was no noiser inside (Vauxhall Astra, X reg, still got it!). Fast forward a few years, tyres made their way to the back and both had worn the same amount. As the months/years went by the cheap one was fine, the Michelin started to perish on the tyre wall slightly. Days of working in a garage and getting cheap tyres now long gone so they ended up getting replaced with the cheapest I could find as the result was both wore the same and the speed I drive at made no difference to handling. Worn tyre wall possibly due to that one on the nearside so perhaps a bit of kerb rubbing helped it along?

If it is of any use a bloke I used to work with years back who now runs his own white metalling and classic car rebuilding service used to fit his own bike tyres. At the time he was a college teacher and worked from his shed so no tyre machine. He used tyre levers and never found the need to balance them.

Happy Crimbo!
Andy.