General Question on Pilot Road Tires

[ST090]

I have been reading good reviews about the Michelin Pilot Road tires. For those who have or have had the subject tires, can you comment how they handle on dry grooved pavement.

The grooves to which I am referring are sometimes called rain grooves in pavement and sometimes, the grooves are caused when an asphalt road surface has been scraped off or ground down leaving ridges or groves. Some tires want to track these grooves or cause the bike to wallow.

So how do the Pilot's handle the dry pavement grooves?

[georgeorge]

I can't say that any tire would handle that condition well. I do like the Pilot Roads though. I would recommend them to anyone.

[Coop]

I'm with Brian.

[BentAero]

Looky heer:
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6372

Ann heer:
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6913

FWIW, I plan to try 'em on the next go-round.

[crazykz]

He already checked in with me Gary.

Curt

[JReviere]

I have a set of them. The rear has very little water siping ... none down near the center of the contact patch. I would expect the rear to hydroplane easily. I know on wet grass or anything even close to slippery, the traxion is not good at all. Otherwise, no complaints, no compliments. I've not had them long enough to comment on rate of wear.
JR
394
03/ST-1300-A
Lake Livingston, TX

[ccryder]

Does anybody have a comparison b/t the Pilot Roads and the Avon 45/46 combination?

Tahnks
Neil S.

[naturally wired]

Compared to the stock tires my pilots do better on wet roads......are way better in the corners.....do not follow cracks or tar snakes at all(.) all the cuts in the tire go side to side....none of them go around the tire .....so how could they follow the cracks?(.) the tires do give off moe noise at speed though.....

[ST090]

I have been running two different Avon 45/46 sets for about 8,000 and 7,900 miles so far on the existing second set. At 7,900 miles, I have 3 mm remaining on the front and 4 mm remaining on the rear. The Avons handle dry pavement rain grooves and other grooves described in my initial inquiry very well. Hardly a weave or wollow. I had a set of (OEM) Dunlops initially. There are a couple of grooved pavement areas around Tucson about 1/4 mile + long, one section is on a corner on I-19 just east of Tucson, AZ. With the Dunlaos,I would hit those grooves at 70 mph and it was just about like a tank slapper. With the Avons, I can hit the grooves at 70 mph and hardly notice any steering impact. I find that tar snakes do not effect the Avons as much as other brands. I have no reason not to continue with the Avons but thought I might give the Pilot's a try depending on what I could find out about how the Pilot's handle on the rain grooves.

[trueblu]

[QUOTE=digitalmartin]I have a Pilot Road on the rear (original on front)

I can't seem to be able to get the Pilot Roads for the front here in Canada, but the back tires are no problem. So how does the back Pilot Road behave with another Brand of tire in the front? What is recommended to pair it with? What about Z6 in front and Pilot at the rear?

[Asphalt]

I had McBride cycle in Toronto ask me why I would want to run with Pilot Roads commenting that they're an old tire technology, more expensive and why not run the Metzeler's. What has me believe they don't know anything about these tires is that he commented that you can only get a Pilot Road rear tire since Micheling does not publish a part number for the front Pilot Road tire.

I contacted Michelin who gave me the part numbers for their front and rear for the ST1300....Their reply is posted below.
(I have not yet tried to get another quote or ask about availability in Canada with the Michelin given p/n's.)

-----
For your Honda ST1300, our sources show that the front tire is size 120/70
ZR 18, and the rear size is 170/60 ZR 17. The Michelin part numbers are
91283 (F), and 69078 (R). Both of these tires are available in the US and
can be ordered through the motorcycle dealer's distributor. Thanks for
choosing Michelin.

If you have additional questions, please respond to this email or you may
call us at 1-800-847-3435 between 8:30AM and 6:00PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday to allow one of our Consumer Relations Representatives to assist you.

Michelin North America
Consumer Relations
-----

[naturally wired]

What is the weight rating on the avons?:confused: ......

[naturally wired]

If you ever find a pair buy an extra front.......I had the same problem ...but I looked a little harder and found them and yes I bought an extra front because the rears easy to get just about any where.....

[ST090]

Load Index of Avon 45/46

Front: 59 W

Rear: 72 W

[ccryder]

I ran them on my Buells, along with Macadam 90 & 100, and really liked them but the Buells are 150# lighter. I'm getting 9-10k out of the Avons but, I'm satisfied with their stability, especially in dirty air. I have heard the MEZ6 are the best. Either way I'll have to burn this next set by the begining of June so I have a fresh set for my CO-WY-MT and back trip. I need to get at least 6k miles out of the set or I'll have to change tires on the road.

Time4Sleep
Neil S.

[Clark]

.... the Michelin Pilot Road tires. For those who have or have had the subject tires, can you comment how they handle on dry grooved pavement.

This issue is a pet peeve of mine. The stock Dunlops were so bad on rain grooves, the first time I rode over them -- on the way home from the dealer -- I thought I had a flat.

Pilot Roads do not follow rain grooves. Also, they manage to substantially dull the effect of pavement joints, etc.. They provide excellent grip -- at least on dry pavement. They are predictable and neutral even when cornering at ridiculous speeds and lean angles. I don't spend a lot of time riding in the rain so I can't comment on that. I've got about 8000 aggressive miles on mine. They maybe have one or two thousand miles remaining life.

I've also tried the Metz Z-6's. I like them, but I only got 4500 miles out of them. I know others on the board get much longer life from those tires, so I suspect my experience was related more to my riding style than the tires. ;-) It seemed to me the Z-6's felt a little more stable and planted than the Pilot Roads, but were a little slower and less precise in turns and transitions. Since I ride my ST like it's a 600, I stuck with the Pilot Roads. Overall, I think both are great tires.

[jeffmiller]

Ok...I'm at 6K on my STock tires. I see no abnormal wear or issues. How long can I go before I need new ones?

[Ken]

Jeff, depending on how much weight you carry, how agressively you ride, and the types of roads you put the most miles on, most people seem to get between 7-10K on the stock sneakers. But I've seen where some folks get much more than that. I went with a Z6 (front) and an 880 (rear) at about 9500 miles. The rear wasn't bad, but the front was getting thin and I wanted to do both at the same time.

[FlyingFinn]

Some tires want to track these grooves or cause the bike to wallow.

So how do the Pilot's handle the dry pavement grooves?

I have not tried with my ST yet, but I had both Michelin Pilot Road and Metzeler Z4 in my Blackbird. Metzeler has better grip and handling nicely when new. But mileage was clearly shorter and as we now, the characterictics of tire will change when to profile will get more flat because of the wearing ==> tends to be more nervos in grooves and gegerally. Michelin had much better mileage and therefore the profile was "circle" much longer ==> hangling better in grooves. Generally I liked the Michelins more in normal touring speeds and fits nicely to my driving style. If you are driving on the track or generally "on the limit", the Metzeler might be a little bit better.
Juha :03biker:

[MidLife]

The stock Dunlops were so bad on rain grooves, the first time I rode over them -- on the way home from the dealer -- I thought I had a flat.


Pulled off the Freeway myself a few weeks ago because the bike started to "dance" around. Was sure I had a flat and was completely miffled when I find out I didn't. Thanks to your post, now I know my OEM Dunlops are the culprit. There were rain grooves, but fairly shallow and did not think they would have matter.

They seem to be very noisy too!