Tires: Pilot Powers of Pilot Roads?

Well I need new tires after 5000 miles on my new 07. To my dismay after reading on here for hours on end I have found that my stock Dunlop 552 are only a OEM tire and I cant buy them. I had planned on only buying a rear tire since the front still has plenty of life in it but if I gotta switch I want a matching set.

So... I had seen a lot of talk about the pilot powers but no one seemed to mention the pilot roads. Anyone using them? Anyone ever run both, how do they compare to one another? What about the pilot power 2's or the pilot road 2's? Is it worth spending the extra cash to get the softer shoulders? Will they wear more even or will the dual compound rubber or feel weird on the road when transitioning from the hard compound to soft and vise versa. Is it even noticeable?

Scott how would you feel about being our Pilot Road 2 guinea pig?

YOU!!!! could write the review for them. It would be really great if more people would write reviews on different tires. I will try a set of michelin pilot roads, but I should have 12000 miles left on my avon storm st now.

I am also looking for anyone who has experience with the pilot road 2's or the bridgestone BT021. My back tyre needs replacement and I want to change the set (I don't like the OEM Dunlops).

As I have previously said I've only done 3800 miles on the OEM's so I am looking for a replacement which not only has a good grip but also a reasonable milage and reasonable grip in the cold/wet (as I ride in the winter as well).

Originally I was going to buy the BT021, I had run the BT020 on my previous bike without any problems and got a lot of milage out of it, so I assumed the BT021 would have similar characteristics.
I heard from a mate of mine who rides a FJR that the new bridgestone's wear out pretty quickly, especially the front tyres (this is info he got off his (dutch FJR) forum. So as you can guess I changed my mind about the Bridgestones.

I was also looking into the Michelin Pilot Roads, 1 & 2. the pilot road 1 is supposed to be a good tyre but has less grip than the 2 on the edges. The pilot road 2 is said to be a good tyre with plenty of grip but apparently the front tyre can sometimes wear down unevenly on the edges so that you have to replace the front tyres first.

My friend with the FJR explained that one of his mates (with an FJR) was running the pilot road 1 on the front and the pilot road 2 on the back and was very satisfied with the result.

Anyway I went down to my dealer today to ask for a quote for these tyres and he recommended the Metzeler roadtec Z6, which was also cheaper than the other tyres mentioned so far.

Well I decided to do a bit more research and found an old test (a year ago) on a German site, which rated the Metzeler better than both the pilot road (1) and the Bridgestone BT020. As you can guess I am not sure if they rated the Metzeler better as it was German (although generally German tests are generally considered (in holland) trustworthy and technically correct).

In Holland the police bikes run Metzeler tyres, I assume they are the Metzeler roadtec Z6, so they can't be all bad.

I would be interested if any of you know of tyre tests (on sites, in magazines or whatever) done with the pilot road 2 or BT021.

has anybody had any experience on the previously mentioned types of tyres and are willing to share the info. Please help!!

Scott,

I'm in the same situation as you, and having over 8000 miles on my stock Dunlops, I'm looking at the Michellin's PP's. However, only getting 3000 miles on the tires doesn't seem very inviting. I am looking at the Roads too. I see that Cycle Gear carries the tires, and has a pretty good tire comparison between the Michellin brands.

Cycle Gear - MICHELIN: Pilot Road Street Motorcycle Tires, FRONT

Pilot Road² mini review

I installed a pair of Pilot Road² in October. After 1900 miles I can offer these initial impressions:

1- Excellent grip. Don't let the term "Sport Touring" get stuck in your mind. These are great tires PERIOD. After a few calm highway miles I put these to the test along a section of canyon road I'm quite familiar with. They were consistent, predictable and rock solid. NO slides at full lean, with great feel when I applied quick counter-steering input. The only area that they fell short was on extreme braking (a controlled stoppie). It was here that they yielded as I tried to keep the rear off the ground. A few practice panic stops were fine, no problems. For normal road riding these will give plenty of traction.

2- Feedback. They turn in a little quicker than Pilot Powers will but that really has to do with the more parabolic form than anything else. When you first look at them mounted they look "small", like they are not the right size for the FZ. However, in town and other tight areas they work perfectly. You can quickly change direction with very little input, more weight shifting than handlebar pulling. Yet, at highway speeds, the bike tracks perfectly straight, with rain grooves and other road seams having no affect at all on your position.

3- Smoothness of ride. This is a bit more subjective as we all run with different tire pressures, speeds, body weight, etc. And, I might be analyzing this part of the performance with "rose-colored glasses". But I really think that the bike rolls down the road just a bit easier and with less road noise than before. BTW, I run 32 front/36 rear out here in SoCal as it never gets cold enough to warrant dropping air pressure during the winter.

Price was $310.90 delivered from Southwest Moto Tires. The one area I won't comment on at this time is longevity as I expect them to last at least 8000 miles. At my current rate of 1200-1500 miles/month I'll post a follow up report around April or May.

I hope this is helpful to those of you making the tough decision about tire selection. With a helmet, handlebar or other mod it's easier to give a test ride and if you aren't happy you can change back in many instances. However a tire choice is somewhat of a all or nothing proposition. It always nice to read feedback from other riders but you won't know if it's right for you until you've plopped down the cash, install them and then take it out on your particular bike on a familiar road. All I can say, as someone who uses Michelin tires EXCLUSIVELY is I'm very happy so far.

Cali rider said:

I installed a pair of Pilot Road² in October. After 1900 miles I can offer these initial impressions:

as someone who uses Michelin tires EXCLUSIVELY is I'm very happy so far.

Click to expand...

Thanx for the review, sound like good tyres.

I'm just curious how many miles you can get out of them, unfortunately I can't wait until May

Are the front tyres showing any signs of uneven wearing?

Pseudo Cloggy,

I posted something on the Metzeler Roadtec Z6 tire about two months ago in the technical forum.

I swapped out my stock Dunlop D252's for the Metzelers at 8800 miles. The Metzelers are, in my opinion, a great tire. Very good grip and feedback however, after about 4000 miles on them the rear tire started squaring off (flat in the middle of the tread) and I lost some of the confidence that I had when they were new. The tires still have a lot of tread left so I just had to start riding a little more conservatively once they started wearing.
BTW- I believe Metzeler and Pirelli are the same company from what I've read on the internet. I don't know who bought who or when they merged. I don't know if they run independent tire lines or just change the embossing on what might essentially be the same tire so I'll leave that answer to someone who knows more about tires than me.
At any rate, I like the Metzelers but personally want to re-skin with Pirelli Corsa's next time. A friend of mine runs them on his R6 and thinks they're great. Just my 2 cents (pence) worth.:thumbup: Cheers!

Cali rider said:

I installed a pair of Pilot Road² in October. After 1900 miles I can offer these initial impressions:

2- Feedback. When you first look at them mounted they look "small", like they are not the right size for the FZ.

Click to expand...

That's interesting.....do you think they lower the seat height at all?
(Being 5'8" tall, I need all the help I can get...

OneTrack said:

That's interesting.....do you think they lower the seat height at all?
(Being 5'8" tall, I need all the help I can get...

Click to expand...

No, it's just an optical illusion. The odometer is still perfect and the speedometer reads 10% fast, and a smaller diameter would have changed these values.

Oh well....Pilot Road 2's are still my first choice in the spring. :thumbup:
Maybe I can get boots with thicker soles.

I was going to run the pilot road2 but they were significantly more expensive them PPs the front was 189.00 and the rear was 239.00 thats why I passed. they were the same price as the 2CTs. but if you shop around I think you could probably find a lower price. as far as mileage on the PPs that will depend on your riding style. I ride fast everywhere so that takes a toll on the mileage. ambient temperatures of the road, the road surface, and your weight will also present variable factors in the results you see. as well as the type of tire that will be right for you.

wrightme43 said:

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-technical/220-tires-fit-reviews.html

Click to expand...

Thanks Steve, I have been browsing that site for a while now and I've found some good info. I saw a thread from Someone with the BT021 on an FJR complaining about only getting 3000 miles out of the front tyre. I also found a more recent German test (2007) of all of the types we've talked about, and the Metzler won the test by a fraction (in 2006 it won by a bigger margin), but the test was more about handling than durability. I won't try to translate as it cost my wife and I quite some time to translate all of the technical jargon, and although we could translate aprox 95% there are still a few terms we don't understand.

Bo67, the Pirelli diablo strada came out as a close runner-up in the same test (this was a test of sport/touring tyres), the Corsa was 2nd in the sport tyre class. By the way did you mainly ride highway or twisties? My considerations are that in the summer months I quite often take the scenic route (twisties) back from my work, but in the winter months I take the shortest route, it's mainly straight with a couple of long bends.

At the moment I'm still in two minds between the pilot road 2 and the Metzler, the main reason is I expect to get more milage from the pilot roads but the Metzler is cheaper, and better in the handling test.

Thanks for everybodies input, but in the words of Monty Python "you've got to work it out for yourself"

I may be the only person here doing it, but I have a Pilot Raod on the rear and the stock Dunlop in the front. I picked up a nail in the rear with only 1200 miles on the bike and the bike shop wouldn't repair the stock tire. I have about 5900 miles on the bike now, and I've not noticed any adverse effects at all. The Pilot Road was suggested to me by the sevice manager of the dealership where I bought the bike as it mated well with the stock Dunlop. I'd have to agree with him. I've taken my bike up HWY 50 around to HWY 89 going all the way around Lake Tahoe, ridden to Virginia City in Nevada and ridden on the Mount Rose (I think that it) road that connects 395 in Reno to the hwy around Lake Tahoe. On a couple of occasions I've been throgh those corners at quite a bit above the legal limit, and have been amazed at how well the FZ handles. I've still got plenty of tread left on both tires, so I'll keep riding until they wear out.

Pseudo Cloggy,

I run mainly straight-line interstate to/from work and hit the twisties on the weekend. The Metzelers were pretty well touted for being capable of both but at the end the day it seems to be a compromise; either awesome traction and not much mileage or graet mileage but traction will be less.

Good luck on your choice and let us know what you think of whatever tyres you buy.

P.S. Talked to my in-laws yesterday. They live in Northamptonshire (near Silverstone). My father-in law is a rider also. He's owns an '88 FZ750 since new and says it still runs like a top.

Next time I'm over for a visit I'll see if I can pry him from it and we can go for a ride!

Sorry Pseudo. I saw the Leeds United avatar before I realized you're in the Netherlands. I could put his bike on the ferry i guess.

Tyre test

Here is the tyre test from the motorcycle magazine Motorrad from Germany, I'm presently working on a translation.

Motorradreifen Test 2007 der Zeitschrift MOTORRAD

translations

Here are the passages of the different parts of the test, if anyone can improve or can think of better motorcycle jargon words feel free to PM me or post your own opinions.

General terms:
TOURINGREIFENTEST= Touring tyre test
SPORTREIFENTEST= Sport tyre test
Punktewertung= Scores/points
Maximale punktzahl= Maximum score
Kurven-verhalten = Cornering performance
Nasstest = Test in the wet
Verschleisstest =Abrasion test (wear)
Gesamt = Total
Platzierung = Position

Motorradreifen Test 2007 der Zeitschrift MOTORRAD
Motorbike tyre test 2007 from the MOTORRAD magazine

Die Zeitschrift testet auch in diesem Jahr wieder die neuesten Motorradreifen.
Es werden Sportreifen und Touringreifen getestet. Wir werden sowohl die Ergebnise hier veoffentlichen, sie finden Sie aber auch bei der Suche nach den einzelnen Reifen. Der Sportreifentest erfolgte auf einer Suzuki GSX-R 1000 (K6)
The magazine Motorrad tests the newest tyres again this year. Both sport tyre and Touring tyres were tested. Both test results are shown here. You find yourself in the search/quest for the details of the tyres. The sport tyre test was carried out on a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 (K6).

TESTKRITERIEN:
Test criteria:

Handlichkeit*: benötigte Lenkkraft, um die Maschine in Schräglage zu bringen oder in Schräglage beziehungsweise auf der gewünschten Linie zu halten. Wird in langsamen (50 bis 80 km/h) und schnellen Wechselkurven (100 bis 150 km/h) getestet.
Ease of handling :necessary (steering)-power required to tilt the machine without respectively veering off the steered line. Tested in slow (50 to 80Km/h) and quick (100 to 150Km/h) alternating curves.

Lenkpräzision*: wird in unterschiedlich schnellen Passagen mit komplizierten Kurvenradien getestet und gibt Auskunft darüber, ob das Motorrad dem gewünschten Kurs, der über die Lenkkräfte vorgegeben wird, folgt oder ob die Linie korrigiert werden muss.
Steering precision : was tested on several quick stretches of road with complicated curve-radius’s whether the motorbike followed the steered line or whether this line had to be corrected.

Haftung/Kurven*: Seitenführung in maximaler Schräglage auf nasser und trockener Fahrbahn. Eine Gratwanderung, die nur auf einer abgesperrten Strecke getestet werden kann.
Grip/Cornering : Cornering (grip) in maximum tilt on wet and dry roads, a balancing act, can only be tested on a circuit/track.

Haftung/Beschleunigung in Kurven*: Seitenführung und Kraftübertragung in unterschiedlich schnellen Kurven, wird ebenfalls bei Nässe und Trockenheit getestet.
Grip/accelerating in corners: Cornering grip and power transmission in separate quick curves, tested under wet and dry conditions.

Kurvenstabilität: Fahrstabilität bei schneller Kurvenfahrt, in Wechselkurven und bei Bodenwellen. Wird in maximaler Schräglage und in der Beschleunigungsphase, in der sich manche Reifen regelrecht aufschaukeln können, getestet.
Cornering stability: stability by quick cornering, in alternating curves and bumps (irregularities) in road. Was tested in maximum tilt and in the acceleration phase, during which many types of tyre can roll up.

Grenzbereichverhalten*: Beherrschbarkeit des Reifens im Grenzbereich der Haftung auf nasser und trockener Strecke.
Threshold performance levels: control of tyres on their grip threshold (limits) on wet and dry roads.

Aufstellmoment: Beim Bremsen in Kurven richtet sich das Motorrad je nach Verzögerung und Reifenkontur mehr oder weniger aus der Schräglage auf. Diese Reaktion muss vom Fahrer mit einer Gegenkraft (Drücken) am kurveninneren Lenkerende ausgeglichen werden.
Counter action (adjustment) moment: During braking in the corners, the tendency for the motorbike to right itself, is more, or less pronounced, depending on retardation (braking) and tyre footprint. This reaction must be counter-acted to evenly steer through the corners.

Shimmy: Dabei handelt es sich um eine Drehschwingung im Lenksystem, die im Bereich zwischen 60 und 100 km/h auftreten kann. Verantwortlich dafür sind neben bestimmten Fahrwerkseigenschaften auch die Eigendämpfung der Reifen, der Rundlauf und die Wuchtung. Wer bei seinem Motorrad leichte Vibrationen in diesem Geschwindigkeitsbereich spürt, sollte auf keinen Fall die Hände vom Lenker nehmen, denn extrem starkes Shimmy könnte dann zu einem Sturz führen.
Shimmy: This describes the rotary oscillation in the steering system (column) which can occur between 60 and 100km/h. This can be contributed not only to the chassis’ properties , but also to the tyres own damping properties, the rotation and momentum. Who ever experiences these small vibrations on his motorbike at speed, shouldn’t remove his hands from the handlebars, because the extremely powerful shimmy can be transmitted through the handlebars.

The translation looks very good to me. Nice work.

MSunder said:

The translation looks very good to me. Nice work.

Click to expand...

Thanks for checking Mirko :thumbup: