Michelin Commander II... Ride report

Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
449
Location
DFW Area - TX
Bike
2012 ST1300
STOC #
8946
I tried a Commander II on the rear of my ST1300 (160/70/r17) paired it with a PR4GT on the front and just completed a 5,300-mile trip and thought I would share results and thoughts...

I have been searching for a tire that I could get 10k miles out of, so far the best I had found was the PR4 GT which I can get around 7-7.5k miles on. With a planned trip to Prudhoe bay, I need a 10K plus tire so I tried a Commander II for my Key West adventure. We detoured to ride the Snake, Tail of the Dragon, and all the other twisties in the area of NC & TN. Good combination of twisties and Intestate on this trip to test.

I will say I love the feel of the tire on dry pavement, it is quiet and feels like I have excellent grip. On wet pavement, I felt it slip in several corners which was very concerning, it was not horrible but I was not confident that it would stick in any wet condition, especially in the turns.

I started with 7mm on the new tire and after 5k miles I still have 5mm remaining I am confident that this tire will last 10-12k miles.
With it being slightly larger in diameter it fixed my speedometer error and now it is 100% accurate - another plus.

I hear the Commander III has improved wet weather performance, I may put that on for the AK trip.
 
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tnman
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
449
Location
DFW Area - TX
Bike
2012 ST1300
STOC #
8946
UPDATE -

Just swapped out my second Commander II on the rear. The first one had just over 10,000 mi on it with 2-3mm left of tread. I Took this one to Prudhoe bay and back, just over 12,000 mi on it and still had 2mm left on it. This was 99% highway mileage, very few twisties so all the wear was in the middle (also had about 1,000 miles of gravel road). The tire held up well. If you are looking for a high-mileage tire I would definitely recommend the Commander II for the ST1300!
 
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