The tyre/tire thread

[Scary_1109]

Andy, good stuff man! that'll keep me busy for a few.

CHEERS!

-Scott

[snaggles]

Well shit! I was gonna get Diablos next time round, but thanks to TOJOH, who is ride on the same shit quality roads, in the same blindingly fantastic state in OZ, with the best girls wandering around, i wont stray from the Michelins i dont think. A friend has a ZX9R, i know its not a real bike, with Metzeler Sportec M1's on it that he swears by, maybe!!!!???? I do believe that V-twins and in line fours treat tyres differently, so maybe whats good for the goose isnt so good.........

[RO1747]

My rear tyres getting a little squared off, not too bad as yet but within about 1k it will need a new one. I was thinking about buying a couple of Michelin Macadam tyres (Both backs as they are on offer at M&P at the moment) but wondered if anyone has fitted one of these with the original fron (Untouched on my bike).

I'm not a 'thrash' type rider more of a sports tourer type really so the 'slight' loss of grip is of no concern.

Any views appreciated.

RO 1747

[pasystm]

i just fitted michelin pilot sport front w/ pilot road rear. road hooks up good and i think its gonna last alot longer. definately takes longer to heat up, but once its warm....
anyone hear about the new michelin pilot coming out this summer? i think its called pilot power....supposed to be between pilot sport and race tires.

[SiBorg]

Originally Posted by pasystm

i just fitted michelin pilot sport front w/ pilot road rear. road hooks up good and i think its gonna last alot longer. definately takes longer to heat up, but once its warm....
anyone hear about the new michelin pilot coming out this summer? i think its called pilot power....supposed to be between pilot sport and race tires.

I've got the same set up. Except, I would say that the rear tyre should actually heat up quicker, because it has more cuts in the tread pattern (this allows the rubber to move around a bit more). I also find it better in the wet over here in Old Blighty - this is probably because the Pilot Road is a Silicon construction, which is grippier in wet conditions.

I've seen Michelin Pilot Cup tyres, which, I think are between the Sport and Race models, but I may be mistaken.

Apparently, softer compounds are only stickier when they get up to temperature, so you only get the advantage if you are able to work them quite hard... Something it's not very easy to do right now in wet, near-freezing England!

[andyw]

I think I can feel another Spreadsheet coming on.......I'll trawl the site and list who's fitted what and then invite up to date comments on their choice of rubber.


All the links to tyre related threads are at the bottom of page3, or here

[SiBorg]

Originally Posted by andyw

I think I can feel another Spreadsheet coming on.......I'll trawl the site and list who's fitted what and then invite up to date comments on their choice of rubber.

Excellent idea, Andy.

I'm going to put a Pilot Road on the front soon, so I'll let you know how I get on.

[Mojo Riding]

the mez4 s are an excellent wearing tire and fantastic grippage.
Only high sided once while using them and they were cold yet plus a small wash of sand in my fav corner. I`ve used them on the track with no reserve at all. My sneakers of choice , hate changing tires every other month.

[andyw]

New Michelin Pilot Power Tyres replace Pilot Sports.

Ride Magazine Issue 106 Jan 2004 - First impressions:

"...And though they're designed as a sports tyre, we'd say they've got much more all-round ability than that"

[andyw]

...and a piccy of the tyre:

[andyw]

I've started the spreadsheet on who's fitted what tyres with info picked up from this thread....will 'trawl' other tyre related threads over the next few days.

So.....let me know what tyres you've fitted together with a few comments on how you arrived at your choice and what you think of them. (please PM or Email me)

Tyres Spreadsheet web version

[andyw]

This is another really good article from Bike magazine (April 2003 issue)......"The Right tyre for your Bike - Road, track or sporty road tyre - what's going to give you the best performance? Our scientific test reveals the truth"

These are links to scanned images of the magazine pages (fairly large file sizes!)

Introduction and the test

The test continued

3rd place Race tyres

Joint 1st - Road tyres

Joint 1st - Sporty Road tyres and summary

[mr_apisto]

My personal experience of the various manufacturers' tyres is as follows
Michelin:
Lots of grip but when they let go they've always tended to let go all of a sudden, nice feel until you get to that "all of a sudden" when I couldn't understand what had happened.
Metzeler:
As above but would sometimes let go for no apparent reason. Very unnerving. I stay away from these.
Pirelli:
Always been my favourites. Maybe not quite the outright grip of some, but I've never been frightened by them, always been happy with feel. My tyre manufacturer of choice.
Avon:
Good touring tyres but their "sports tyres" have never been as sticky as the oposition. Great feel.

All these comments relate to experience gained on other bikes (waiting for delivery on my SV) and have held true over some 20+ years of riding, the limits have changed but the way they perform hasn't changed that much.
My riding is, shall we say, "agressive." So far I've done over 1,000,000 miles (stopped counting a while back) as I rode dispatch bikes (long distance) for several yrs.
I've yet to find a tyre that grips well on the polished roads we have out here in Spain, even the tyres with best "feel" have on occasion, simply "let go" for no other reason than the highly polished asphalt. Bugger

[andyw]

1,000,000 miles eh..............guess your opinins are definately based on experience then!

Thanks and welcome to the site

[andyw]

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