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"Thoughts on Tires "

razorsedge

razorsedge

Scooter
I hear a lot of back and forth about Pirelli's or Michelins or PR3's . The list goes on debating about hardness and grip. Then comes price.  Here's my take on tires. It's where the rubber hit's the road.  Laterally ! We ride sport touring high performance motorcycles. They eat tires. That's a given . Except that fact.  But my main concern is not the wear of the tire or the cost. It's the fact MY LIFE is on the line with my tires. I ride my C14. I love curves as much as you guy's do. So the bottom line is this. What is your life worth ? It totally sucks when your bike high sides in a curve and you loose it. You get beat up if not killed. Your bike takes on major damage . What's the cost on that ? $$$ . To me, give me the best rain tire that grips the BEST ! So what if it only last a few thousand miles. It sure feel's good to know your safe with your tires. IT'S MY LIFE !

I'll take the Pirelli Angels
 
Actually (IMO) the Pirelli's are the better dry tire. The PR3's are the better wet tire. Both great tires.
 
Trouble said:
I go for grip ! I haven't had any problem with water channeling with any tire I've owned.
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Then IMO, your using the best tire for it (of the tires that I've tryed).  :beerchug:
 
My perspective is that even "crappy" modern tires are SO much better than tires I used to use when I was younger.  I've gone through phases of trying this or that tire, trying to find the "prefect" one.  The bottom line to me is they are all good...even "cheap" ones.  Just pick what makes you happy, put them on, and go ride.

I've put 10,000 miles now on a set of shinkos.  based on price (less than $200 a set), most people would consider these el-cheapo.  I've been monitoring them pretty closely and am very pleased with the handling, being able to scrape hard parts a few times, no grip issues in turns, wet weather compatable, and longevity.

I'd always error on the side of caution when suggesting tires to someone else, and suggest one of the "big name" types (primarily because I don't know other's interest in perceived risk-taking), but I'm VERY satisfied with them personally.

This opinion and 3 bucks will get you a beer.  :))

:beerchug:
 
Everything I've heard and read says the PR3s are an improvement on the PR2s.

I have a near-new set of PR2s on my ZX14. Well, its mine now, but not for long. But anyway, I scrubbed those tires all the way out to the sidewalls, riding twisties and mountain roads. And they stuck as well as any tire I've ever run, including the Michelin rain slicks I had on my ZX11 when I toured western Europe on it. Those turned into full slicks by the time I returned to London to ship it home to California.

So I'm looking forward to putting the PR3s sitting in boxes in my garage on my new C14 in 2 to 3 weeks. :)
 
Privateer said:
Everything I've heard and read says the PR3s are an improvement on the PR2s.
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Night and day better. IMO, the PR2's sucked azz! But the PR3's are pretty good.
 
Cap'n Bob said:
Night and day better. IMO, the PR2's sucked azz! But the PR3's are pretty good.
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See...this is where I scratch my head.  I've ridden PR2s and think they are fantastic.  Bob...where did they let you down?
 
Sport Rider said:
Cap'n Bob said:
Night and day better. IMO, the PR2's sucked azz! But the PR3's are pretty good.
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See...this is where I scratch my head.  I've ridden PR2s and think they are fantastic.  Bob...where did they let you down?
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Mine were very unpredictable and did not inspire confedence. They always kept me on edge because they use to step out in corners without reason or warning. It varied so you could not predict when. Riding harder, easy, slow, fast, it didn't matter. You just never knew. Obviously it got worse in the cooler weather. IMO, the PR2 rates right up there with the ME880 as the most unpredictable tire I've ever used. Those are the only two tires that I removed from the bike before I needed to for some reason. IMO, junk!
 
Sport Rider said:
what pressures were you running on them?
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All different pressures. Nothing helped them. And there are others with the same exact stories about their PR2's. I always said that I thought there was a quality problem with them. Why some had great tires and others had total $h!t. And they were suppose to be the same tires. But not long after, the PR3 appears?  ;)
 
Bob, I don't know, maybe you got a stale set, or something.

I mean, seriously, I all but slid around corners going to and coming back from the National, and my ZX14 stuck like it was on fly paper. With PR2s......
 
interesting experiences.  my buddy rides an FJR and he's always liked the PR2s as well.  He did miss a turn once in the middle of WV.  Hmmmmmm....  :beerchug:
 
You might want to give the Continental Road Attack 2's a try.  I've had them for about a year now and they have really impressed me.  Very neutral handling and great grip.  So far, the wear (or lack there of) looks very good too.  They really made a great deal on how my C-14 handles and rides.
 
Yeah, I'm kinda thinking Bob got a bad set of PR2s.  Im very happy with my set and think they compare surprising well with the Pilot Power Pures on my last bike.  As always, YMMV.
 
    I first thought that myself. The problem with that theory, is that there were others that reported similar or the same exact thing that I said about them. I personally think that Michelin has a quality control problem or something in the manufacturing process that caused this. When more than just a couple of us were complaining about very similar issues with the PR2. Then shortly after, the PR3 appeared. And for a tire that was suppose to be the same with some minor changes. The tires are so night and day different, there has to be more to it.
    Like I said, quite a few others said the same thing about theirs. Not to the point of saying many folks had problems. But it was more than just an isolated few. I'm actually surprised that Michelin is still selling the PR2. Maybe they had a large supply of them left on hand?  :)) 
I really don't know. But if it was just me, I would agree. But there were way to many for us all to have gotten a bad set. That is unless there might have been a quality or production issue with the PR2!
 
Yeah, there must be more to this story.  Maybe a QC problem with a particular molding machine or batch of rubber.  If that's the issue, it doesn't speak well of Michelin's QC which I thought was supposed to be pretty good.  I really do think my PR2s are "significantly" better than the OEM bridge-rocks (but then again, I never thought they were as bad as some people say....maybe I'm just too easy to please.. :truce:)
 
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