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Just a quick PR2 update...

RideBellChain

RideBellChain

Street Cruiser
10,000+ miles, and they're still round and still have a fair amount of tread.  These are the best tires I have ever used...they have great traction, and the dual compound REALLY saves the tires. NO FLAT SPOT!  It's really hard to believe tires would last so long, especially on a sporty bike.  I've been in the mountains 3 times, with trips from FL to NC, GA, TN...

I'll bet I'll get at least another 2000 from them, but I don't like wearing them all the way down...they'll get replaced before March because I have several trips coming up.  Pretty freakin' great in my opinion.

I was a huge Avon fan - had 3 sets of Venoms on my Yami Royal Star Venture (850lbs) and they made it feel "sporty", but they flatten out after a while.  How do the Avon Storms fair vs. the PR2?
 
I've had two set's of PR2's, best I can remember without checking my book I got around 4600-4900 miles out of them. I wasn't real crazy about them.
I've also had two set's of Avon Ultra Storm 2's & best I can remember they got around 5500 miles. Overall grip & wear was better.

Cliff  :beerchug:
 
RideBellChain said:
10,000+ miles, and they're still round and still have a fair amount of tread.  These are the best tires I have ever used...they have great traction, and the dual compound REALLY saves the tires. NO FLAT SPOT!  It's really hard to believe tires would last so long, especially on a sporty bike.  I've been in the mountains 3 times, with trips from FL to NC, GA, TN...

I'll bet I'll get at least another 2000 from them, but I don't like wearing them all the way down...they'll get replaced before March because I have several trips coming up.  Pretty freakin' great in my opinion.

I was a huge Avon fan - had 3 sets of Venoms on my Yami Royal Star Venture (850lbs) and they made it feel "sporty", but they flatten out after a while.  How do the Avon Storms fair vs. the PR2?
Click to expand...

+1

On my set PR2's I got over 12K before replacing them. They were great tires. I have the 3's on mine now and just turned 6K on them with plenty of tread left.  Do not think I will make the 12K. I still like them overall better than the 2's. Seem to handle better. Have no experience with the Avon Storms.
 
I rode my PR3s all last season, including a thousand miles out to Arkansas and back (actually more) and riding around fast on the abrasive roads up in the NW corner.

They are still good to go, I may have to change them mid-summer, maybe not.

And I'm a heavy guy, so I can't figure out why my tires (no matter what bike) always last a long time. Its not like I don't scrub them all the way to the sidewall edge.

When I shipped my ZX11 to Europe in 1992 (was it? LOL ptsd sucks) it had Michelin rain slicks on it. They weren't even legal in California on the street, but I had them put on, rode it to Expediters International, up onto the crate pallet, and watched as they secured it to the pallet and put the crate over it. 30 days later, as I was riding up west of Paris headed to Calais to get the ferry back to England (the crate was at Expediters in London) that rain slick had become a full slick. On the freshly asphalted, glassy smooth, properly done in the corners, French regional roads, those now-slicks stuck like glue. So I managed to "kill" those tires, but not without riding the heck out of them, screaming up and down the Alps, down and up and up and down the big canyon in the south just north of Nice, Cannes, and Antibe, and pretty much hanging off and knee dragging every chance I got. All with the bike loaded with full RKA saddlebags, tank bag, and seat bag.
 
I'm lucky to get 5,000 miles out of my PR3's rears, but I get better on the fronts.  Some have suggestedf that I have a throttle control problem, but I don't know what they're talking about.  ???  I twist the throttle, and it goes just fine.  :motonoises:  Surely, I must just be getting the bad tires.
 
Glenn said:
I'm lucky to get 5,000 miles out of my PR3's rears, but I get better on the fronts.  Some have suggestedf that I have a throttle control problem, but I don't know what they're talking about.  ???  I twist the throttle, and it goes just fine.  :motonoises:  Surely, I must just be getting the bad tires.
Click to expand...

Well, take for instance Sykes running the Kawasaki factory WSB ZX10R in 2012. When he made extra effort to be "smooth" he had tires until the last 5 laps or so, then they went away. That last part is a problem with the ZX10R which Kawk has been unable to solve, despite moving the tank, the top fairing, the windshield, the seat, and changing the sub-frame. Plus moving the motor mounts.

But when Sykes is not making extra efforts to be "smooth" he gets a good lead for the first half of the race, then the tires start to go away and he drops finish spots rapidly.

I give him credit for being able to be smooth enough to hold the lead against the strong competitors in WSB until there are only 5 or so laps to go, he reminds me of Rainey back in the day.

So there is twisting the throttle, and then there is twisting the throttle, and its not all the same, no?
 
nando said:
Is the general consensus that the PR2 last longer than the PR3?
Click to expand...

I don't think so, nando. There isn't a large enough sample of experience in this topic to draw a conclusion like that. We would need to ask several thousand motorcyclists to get any kind of good data on the issue.
 
I think if you get 8000+ from sport bike tires, you win.  Anything else is a bonus.  I'm going to try the PR3's this time, because it will be our rainy season soon enough and the tread has the extra little grooves specifically for water.

 
While I've gotten over 10K miles from PR2s ( twice )
I've never actually met anyone who could say the same
for PR3s.
 
yea, as I read tire threads I get the feeling that the 3s were made a hair softer and handle rain better...thus last a hair less then the 2s....but like JR says, there is no empirical data to really make that deduction
I am easy on tires so I ll patiently wait for the OEM junkies wear out....then tey the PR3...they werre superb in mi old RT
 
I had PR2s on my ZX14, and they were pretty good. Mind you, on the ZX10R and ZX14(R) we usually toast almost any tire in under 4,000 miles.

I slid my ZX14 around quite a bit, coming off apexes and such. It is too heavy to exit wheelie much, but it wanted to.

So when I got like 8k on my PR2s I was astounded. BT021s and such had never lasted as long. Michelin rain slicks would last even less time. But of course, the rain slicks had the best traction of them all, in the rain included. But on gravel they flat sucked, more than most tires.

My PR3s which were put on new when I got my C14 in 2012 are still good. I don't know how much more I will get out of them. NE Spring Rally in Bedford PA? Check! Crabby Pig meet-n-greet? Check! Mr. B's Barbeque? Check! Beyond that, I don't think they really owe me anything.  :motonoises:

And I want a chance to mount new ones, and balance them, myself, with my highly modified free harbor freight motorcycle tire changer.  :great:  So I know they are getting replaced this summer, just not how soon.
 
I have 7,200 miles on my current PR3s and they still have plenty of tread left, and aren't cupped.

So come Spring, they are good to go. How long that will last, I've no idea.  :motonoises:
 
PR2s were mounted on my `09 when I bought it in Aug `12 with 12500ish miles on it.  I have no idea how many miles were on them then, but they weren't new.

I'm now at 17600ish and they are starting to show noticeable center wear.  They are still very usable at this point and I see getting close to if not just past 20k with them.

At this point, I have been very happy with them and would buy them again, albeit in a 55 series for the rear.
 
How much does a 55 series rear tire raises the rear end of the bike...
I am very interested in this...preciate if you had those actual measurements
 
nando said:
How much does a 55 series rear tire raises the rear end of the bike...
I am very interested in this...preciate if you had those actual measurements
Click to expand...

Math wise the 55 is 3/4" larger in diameter, which should translate into a 3/8" height increase on the axle.
 
I have 13000 plus on my PR2 front tire with slight cupping.  The rear has about 12000 miles on it and still handles decently.  I'll be replacing them next month.
 
nando said:
yea, as I read tire threads I get the feeling that the 3s were made a hair softer and handle rain better...thus last a hair less then the 2s....but like JR says, there is no empirical data to really make that deduction
I am easy on tires so I ll patiently wait for the OEM junkies wear out....then tey the PR3...they werre superb in mi old RT
Click to expand...

Like you, I thought a tire was a tire...because I'm not racing. But OMG what a difference when you get rid of the trash they put on the bike at the factory.  I pulled mine off as soon as I started getting a flat spot...and WOW, what a difference!
 
20 thousand miles?  I don't know how you guys get these amazing mileage amounts, Wow... I have run PR2 and PR3s only in 55 aspect ratios for the last 40k miles on my 14 and have never seen 7k miles a set. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. These Michelins are great and I really don't expect them to last forever. The better a tire works in the twistys the harder it gets rode in my world. This is a big ol' sport bike to me and gets pushed like one. The tires suffer in and out of the corners, just the price I pay to play....Life is good...
 
I have gotten 17,000 miles on PR2s and about 16,000 on PR3s Very similar. Anyone that is getting under 10,000 miles on these must be riding through hot coals.
 
It's not all in how you ride, it's also in the condition of the roads...Florida, GA, NC, TN (for the most part) has wonderful, fine-ground tar roads without the pebbles in them.  Maybe that's why...

I've been on some roads up north where commentary started like "man, I'd hate to go down here..."  when the road looks like someone glued a bunch of rocks together to create a flat surface...
 
Scaffolder said:
I have gotten 17,000 miles on PR2s and about 16,000 on PR3s Very similar. Anyone that is getting under 10,000 miles on these must be riding through hot coals.
Click to expand...

Mile's or KM's ?
 
I've got approximately 4,000 miles on my PR2's and they measure 5/32nds just off center.  I'm going to put another 3,000 on them at least..  We'll see what they look like when I get back from Las Vegas.
 

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Miles. Northeast miles. I have gotten that kind of mileage 3 separate times. I also broke the 11,000 mile barrier with the "CRAPPY" Bridgestones. There are a few others that have gotten 16,000 and 17,000 miles on Michelins. I will admit, I had on rear PR3 wear out at around 7500 miles. Not sure what happened to it.
 
Got a trip to the mountains in May (2000 round trip, plus some aggressive riding)...and I still have "fair" tread...ugh...I don't want to have to change tires up there, and don't want to be riding on low tread either...

I saw where Russ was measuring the depth of the tread...is that the best spot? (closest as possible to centerline?)
 
RideBellChain said:
I saw where Russ was measuring the depth of the tread...is that the best spot? (closest as possible to centerline?)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where to measure a MC tire, in those grooves there is a ramp from the center down to the tread depth.  Most of the wear is in the center of that tire and I wanted to measure it as close to the center as I could without measuring the ramp.  There are wear bars on the tire and they are not in the center of the tire.  (Not sure, but you might be able to see on in the picture.)
 
2k miles? Do not leave with a tire that is even close to the wear bars. Change it and save that one for a spare. Not a good thing to have to change a tire while on the road. Kinda messes up the trip for everyone with you. The last third of a tread goes VERY very quickly.....
 
The current set mounted on my 2008 C14 has over 12K on them and still have tread.  They actually seem to be holding up longer than my buddies on PR3's, but it may also have to do with riding habits.  I noticed that the rear would get a little loose when pushed hard during a trip last Fall, so I just backed it down a notch and all was fine.  I think that the rubber is just getting hard over time and I will replace both ends in a few weeks (if it would ever quit snowing here in MN).  I'm thinking about going to the PR3's to evaluate their performance.
 
So I got the PR3's the other day...nice tread pattern...it's the PR2 pattern, but then they added these thin water channels, and "holes" for the water to exit.  In theory it makes sense...

So I got a little drizzle last night on the way home from dinner...South Florida, mind you, so it needs to rain for a good 30 minutes for the oil and crap to run off the road (no hills here!)...but it started while I was riding, so I kept on going (had about 5-6 miles to get home).  I did NOT feel any different than driving on dry roads!  This doesn't mean go nuts and ride it like you stole it, but it certainly did give me a little more confidence that these are doing more than the PR2's.

Nando - if you're still using stock tires, you're gonna be AMAZED when you switch them out!

I highly recommend these tires...got 12,500 on the last set of PR2's, which includes 2 trips to the mountains and spirited riding while I was there.  I also do a lot of highway miles and usually ride around 85 or so.  Plenty of 2-up riding as well. These were the best wearing tires I have ever used on any bike, and even after 12k miles - not even a hint of a flat spot on either tire!  Wow.
 
Ridebell,
I hear you! I rode the PR3 on my RT as soon as they came out...Superb!!!
But you are talking me into going back to the PR2 based on your wear. I drive like a skirt on dry, but a younger skirt. In the wet, I drive like a 90 yrs old grandma without her glasses. So I probably wont benefit from the difference between the 2/s and the 3/s...and the longevity of the 2/s is really attractive.
 
We'll really know more in the rainy season...until then, I just like them as much as the PR2...wear and performance will show in the next 8,000 miles, then we can make a scientific decision for the next set.  :)

Cya!
Mark
 
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