Michelin Road Pilot 2 Blowout

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Aug 5, 2007
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Shawnee, Ks
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98 ST1100
Went for a ride this afternoon since one of last nice days for the year. Rear tire had a slow blowout. I bought the bike early this summer and PO said it had about 2K on it. I've put 3-4K on bike this summer. I keep a pretty close eye on my tires for abnormal wear. I've kept 42psi in this tire (hadn't checked it in a couple of weeks though), wasn't showing any weird signs. Admittedly I didn't specifically look at the tire as I went out to get on the bike but I would have noticed this anyway, pretty observant on the bike. I'm not an aggressive driver, don't make more left turns than right. But take a look at the tire. I was doing about 35-40 and slowing down to turn onto the on-ramp of an interstate (thank the Lord it didn't happen 60 seconds later), so only went maybe 75 yards or so to get over to the shoulder and get stopped. I can't figure out what might have happened to this tire. Thoughts?

 

Mellow

Joe
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Well, the PO could have been right about the 2k or not... maybe it was 4k, maybe more.

You said you keep a close eye on your tires but not in the last 2 weeks and not before this ride.. could have had an issue, small leak, low pressure, etc.. before you even left.

Glad you got out of that one okay. Slap a new one on and keep going...
 

Avtrician

That is a weird wear pattern. Is there anything that could be rubbing on the tyre? Is the tyre/wheel mounted correctly??

I had a PR2 on my ZZR1100 for 18000Ks (approx 12000miles) and it had no problems and was used pretty hard.
 
OP
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mp66226
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I thought it very odd. I'm 99% sure that worn out stripe all the way around the tire wasn't there when I left (I went about 20 miles). I put it on the center stand and spin, wheel/control arm seem solid. Not had any problems other than the typical PR squirrelyness in wind and a sense of "falling over thed edge" when leaning either way (others on this forum have mentioned this too). I've not had these before but the center portion of the tread always seemed raised but kind of "flat" as well. Is that normal tread for the PR's? When I take it all apart I'm going to look a little closer for anything mechanical but don't see anything obvious.
 

Mellow

Joe
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Is that normal tread for the PR's?
Yes, that's how all mine have worn. Usually, when the side cord is showing it's a sign of low tire pressure and possibly riding in high wind. I've seen that with other tires and bikes.

All tires are not created equally. Sometimes, ya just get a bad one.
 

Two Brothers

Walking, Talking, and Smiling!
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Could be lower pressure problem. Remember all tires will wear more on left than the right.

You turn longer going left than right. We see this more in guys who ride more in town than interstate.

This could happen quick but there are signs to look for also. Tires change colors kind of like a jaw breaker. The rubber changes color the closer it gets to the belts. This is a sure sign that the cords will show soon.
 

Dinkie Diesel

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I would be very quick to blame air pressure as the culprit. We may all use 42psi as a benchmark but the more I see and hear the more I'm inclined to think that air gauges are different/inaccurate.
 

Kevin_56

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When my PR2 wore out, the left side and CENTER were toast. See this thread.

May have to agree with Dinkie and wonder about pressure as you still had some tread left in the middle. I did not lose pressure, but changed that tire out quickly.

Note the jaw breaker coloring Tim mentioned.

Kevin
 
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I have had this pattern, I was two up fully loaded coming back from Arkansas. I hadn't paid attention to my tire pressures since leaving Eureka Springs, I limped into Durango with that kinda tire pattern, checked my tire pressure and it was down around 28 psi.
 
OP
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mp66226
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Funny, I was eating a jumbo shrimp when I read this. ;)

Anyway glad you got it pulled over safely. :)

:06biker: :06biker: :06biker:
Yeah, yeah...the humor is not lost on me. I couldn't figure out whether to call it a very fast leak or a slow blowout.:) Three seconds to flat made me pucker up no matter what you call it. :eek:4:
 

FJRHank

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So it looks like you need to reset your camera date, it's not 5-30-2007 ;)

And wow, that tire looks really odd, the bridgestones I've used never looked like that when they wore out. Of course the 021 badly cupped front was just incredibly bad looking but in a different way.

regards,
 

sherob

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I have to say, just looking at what tread is left on that tire, it was probably toast before it blew ;) JMHO of course ;)
 
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I just had to do an urgent tire replacement this very weekend from a PR2 suddenly showing its insides after a 200 mile ride to Broken Bow. The only tire I could find was a Bridgestone 021. Rode home on it today on wet roads and it seemed fine - would life the front tire on a wet road which is all the traction you can get.
 
OP
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mp66226
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I kind of replayed the day yesterday in my mind. When I left for my brief 20 mile ride, I'm 99.9% certain the tire didn't look like that. It was incredibly windy (35+mph, and higher gusts) yesterday. The bike was pretty squirrely but I chocked that up to the winds. I stopped at one store on the way, about 5 miles from where it finally gave in, parking in a spot that was somewhat uphill so I could use gravity backing the bike back out of the parking spot. As I recall, as I left the store and was backing the bike out downhill, I had to push a bit more than I expected to back the bike up...hmmm?

I went out and closely inspected the tire this afternoon and in the place where it is showing the cords, there is a nice neet little round hole in the middle of it. I'm thinking that I had something in the tire, and it was way low as I was riding but didn't recognize it. Then, running that low it wore the tire down extremely fast and the nail, or whatever, came out finishing off what air was left in there.

At least that's my story and I think I will stick with it.
 

Mellow

Joe
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I went out and closely inspected the tire this afternoon and in the place where it is showing the cords, there is a nice neet little round hole in the middle of it. I'm thinking that I had something in the tire, and it was way low as I was riding but didn't recognize it. Then, running that low it wore the tire down extremely fast and the nail, or whatever, came out finishing off what air was left in there.

Makes sense to me... glad, in the end, you were able to deal with the issue.
 
OP
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mp66226
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Thanks for the feedback gang.

So, the great and mysterious question...what to replace it with? The front probably has 2K left in it (a PR2 also). But I'm a big guy, my wife rides with me about 30% of the time, I've got a givi box on the back, but I would like to get more that 6 or 7K out of the next tire. Like I said, I'm not a terribly aggressive rider (never drug the pegs on this bike). How about the B020? Looks like most folks like this tire and get pretty good mileage out of it? The other that I thought about was the Pirelli Angel or the Conti-force, both 160/60zr17's same as the PR23. Thoughts? Oh, and this is on a 98 ST11.
 

Throttlejockey

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My trip out west this summer was with a set of BT020's, I made the entire trip with one set, 10,400 miles and the front still had some life left in it. The rear was into the wear bars. There were some hard miles put on them also. Lots of twisty roads in AR,AZ, CA and Beartooth Pass. (oh, and the BRP on the east coast also)
 
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