not trying to bash michelin, but...

...are your $285 pair of michelin pr2 ct's supposed to do this? since putting on these tires, ive spent hours chasing demons that i thought were in the suspension and bearings on my concours 14...it was the friggen new tires. it literally was like trying to ride in a bowl of jello! since im familiar with shinko 009 ravens, i put a set back on and the bike handles like the day it was new.

im merely squeezing the bead and the whole tread collapses


im pushing with one hand...and not very hard


you can practically wad these tires up with one hand. they were not this loose when i mounted them, but progressively got softer over 400 miles. the date codes are 3009, made in thailand, were purchased in jan 2010, and stored under my bed until august.

i have contacted michelin and they are going to call me back with further direction. my tire dealer has also passed this on to his peeps.

discuss...

I have a set of Michelin OEM's on my SV1000s and they are so far the best OEM tire I've had performance wise.

I'm wondering if the weight class of the bike is too heavy for the design of the tire.
I've read articles about the Bridgestone BT-016's being put on Liter bikes and they said the side wall would give on the track, coming out of turn under throttle. Of course these are different conditions but maybe that design is not good for your application? I love the 016's and haven't had any problems with them but I'm using them in a different application.

Please keep us up on what you learn on this.


Edit: just saw the pics Nah! That aint right! :spank: WTF!?

Wow... shouldn't be doin' that! I'm curious to see what either Michelin or your tire dealer say Maybe you just need to bake 'em on the roof of your house, and then ride only in straight lines...

ive used this model tire before on the c14...as has half of the concours owners group. they were absolutely fantastic and are the tire of choice. but not this set!

michelin rep just called me. they are sending me shipping tags to send the tires back to them. he spoke with his tech people and they stated they havent run across this issue before. still to early to speculate...

this is really wrong, i've been running on 2 sets of michellins Pilot roads and power's both 2cts and i've never had similar problem. Let us know how it end ups and what was the cause.

wolfe1down said:

and then ride only in straight lines...

Click to expand...

thats the problem...they wont hold a straight line to save your life! its like someone was grabbing the tail of the bike and shaking it as youre riding. highly unsteady straight and in slight curves...like being stuck behind the worst truck wind wash, but with no wind or truck! hard cornering was surprisingly ok...but not a sure footed as my last set of pr2's

I worked at a tire shop for 3 years and I can tell you that michelins have the softest side wall of any tires. You can do what you did in the second picture to pretty much any of thier tires. I'm talking about car tires here tho.

sixsix said:

I worked at a tire shop for 3 years and I can tell you that michelins have the softest side wall of any tires. You can do what you did in the second picture to pretty much any of thier tires. I'm talking about car tires here tho.

Click to expand...

+1 on the car tires. Worked in a shop for several years and michelins were by far the softest sidewalled tire out there. Also, they had a weak belt construcct - even a little excess heat from low pressure would cause them to separate like crazy. Don't know about m/c tires though.

my father in law works for michelin (im not using him for this situation...following the usual customer protocol). we have michelin tires on all our vehicles (three bikes and two cars). ive not had any problem, ever, with any michelin product until now.

i cant attest to sidewall strength on the ct's, as i dont change those tires. but ive never noticed anything odd about my michelin mt's in the past. ill be hyper aware (to the point of paranoia) now though.

Buy a set of far superior Metzeler Z6 Interact , problem solved :thumbup: Because that tyre has something serious wrong with it construction

yeah yeah Humperdinkel... give the Metzlers pitch a rest, LOL (only kidding).

I just bought the PR2's for my FZ6. There is a B series PR2 tire made for heavier touring bikes of which I would say without reservation a concours14 is. Just curious if you are using the B series tire or not. If not then I think that may be the issue.

Thanks

My dad had a set on his FZ1, and in less then 3000km, his rear tire was shredded and the belts were snapping and the front tire was bubbling in places. Nothing extreme in riding, just the usual highway stuff too. Dealer could not believe it and gave us a set of bridgestones at half price.

Michelin has soft side-wall and what you showed on pictures was normal.

I suspect you didn't had enough tire pressure when you were "chasing daemons" after instaling PR2's. They are quite sensitive on tire pressure (because of soft side wall).

Tire defect?

I'm on my second set of pilot road 2ct's, I loved them so much I had to go for them again. They're like riding with flypaper tires.

I'm sure it's an honest mistake and just a defective tire, in which case I don't see why they wouldn't reimburse you, but don't let this deter you from michelins. They're a terrific tire, and I'm sure others will back me up there.

Finished a set of Pilot Powers, a set of Pilot Powers 2CT, on a set of Power Pure’s at the moment. Killed a few sets of Power One’s on the track. No problems yet! I check tire pressure regularly and run Dyna beads. +1 on Michelin.

FZ6-ZN

chunky, ive been using michelin tires for a long time. ive been using the pr2's for the past 25k miles or so. none of them, ever, could be folded in half like that. not even the brand new ones on the showroom floor of the bike shop...of any michelin model or brand.

on that note, the tires went back to michelin saturday via ups. they sent me labels to ship them back.

chunky, ive been using michelin tires for a long time. ive been using the pr2's for the past 25k miles or so. none of them, ever, could be folded in half like that. not even the brand new ones on the showroom floor of the bike shop...of any michelin model or brand. also, the guy that im dealing with at michelin hq says its not normal either.

on that note, the tires went back to michelin saturday via ups. they sent me labels to ship them back.

after five months worth of emails and unreturned phone calls, michelin CALLED ME and have informed me, with great enthusiasm, that my tires are perfectly normal. im not an engineer, nor am i a compound scientist, but i disagree.

because the tires are without fault, i can 1) take them back and be a satisfied customer, or 2) get a PARTIAL credit (remember these only had 400 miles on them) towards another set (so i lose money there).

i have emailed murph to see if he has any ideas or options for me. depending on what he comes back with, im strongly considering the magazine idea.

yeah do the magazine thing

that is amazing

lol. so weird yet awesome. you would definitely get printed.

tjhess74 said:

after five months worth of emails and unreturned phone calls, michelin CALLED ME and have informed me, with great enthusiasm, that my tires are perfectly normal. im not an engineer, nor am i a compound scientist, but i disagree.

because the tires are without fault, i can 1) take them back and be a satisfied customer, or 2) get a PARTIAL credit (remember these only had 400 miles on them) towards another set (so i lose money there).

i have emailed murph to see if he has any ideas or options for me. depending on what he comes back with, im strongly considering the magazine idea.

Click to expand...

Very disappointing. I was sure they'd replace the set