PR4 Front 12.5k miles

imatt

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First off, what an amazing tire! I commute pretty much everyday, all year long, on my FZ. No matter the weather, hot or cold, (light)rain or sun, I'm taking the Fz to school or work.

The wet/rain capability of the pr4's is quite impressive. I've never once felt a slip or had moments of uneasiness while in the rain with these tires. I once even got caught in a crazy downpour, like a mini flash-flood, that overwhelmed the drainage system of the streets and was just over the rim deep in standing rain water. (fyi: all that water that the front wheel is breaking shoots directly at your boots.)

The traction in the twisties seems quite remarkable as well. I don't have the skill to find the limits of these tires, but every week on my days off I'm in the mountains working on testing mine and the bike's limits and the pr's have yet to become a bottleneck. Because I make these weekly trips to the mountains so frequently, I have set the bike up with front rotors from Braking, a set of SS brake lines, ebc HH pads, and R6 forks with 5wt maxima oil. (I really want to do something about the pegs dragging next!)

The bike came with still decent PR2's when I bought it. I managed to get about 8k miles out of the rear and the front lasted a little over 10k miles(I'm guessing the tires were at like 75% left when I purchased the bike). After the PR2 front died, I knew I wanted to have the same longevity and performance for my next tire. I had read about the wear issues of the PR3's, so the PR4's seemed like the logical next step.

Currently, with about 12,500 miles on the front, the center of the tire looks to still have a few more thousand miles left in it. But the interesting thing is that I have managed to polish off one side of the tire more than the other side.
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I noticed this heavy wear to one side after the return from my first trip ever to Tail of the Dragon. I did two runs up and down the Tail, the second run being quite spirited with a pack of about 6 bikes moving at a fast pace. Since then I have made 2-3 trips to the mountains and another trip to the Tail.

I have very very limited experience with bike tires, but after all the reading, and reviews, and the responses here on the forum of the different tires that are tried for our bikes, I think the Pilot Road series has got to be the best tire that blends longevity, performance, and wet traction all into a correctly priced package. Also, I go into these mountain trips as a lone wolf but somewhere along the way I usually catch up to another rider moving at a good clip, and I end up tagging along with them for a good duration. When we pull off for breaks and have that fellow rider conversation, the PR's on the FZ always get noticed and questions like "how are those going for you?" or "I see the you have PR's, I hear alot of good things"

My next set of tires is sure to be another round of PR4's. For the amount that I ride and the conditions I ride in, I can't see myself going in a different direction for tire choice. I would however, like to one go around, try something stickier like a PP3. I will always wonder how much better the performance could be, but I know the tread life is like half of a PR. Is PP front PR rear a thing? And is there even a reason to consider such a thing?

FZ's first time at the Tail! Not bad for 45,000 miles!
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Red Wazp

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Save your money and buy a set of PR2's. Less money than the 4's and work just a well. I still abuse them on my 990 and they worked just fine on my past bikes FZ6, FZ1, FJR1300
 
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