2016 Sports Touring Tyre Test Motorcyclenews.com

That was interesting. Good test, great communication. I must say I'm more tour than sport and longevity concerns me most among these choices since the reviewer said they all grip well in all conditions. And, since longevity wasn't tested, I'll be staying with what I know; PR4's. Although, I could be tempted with the Metzler's, if I knew how long they lasted. I get about 9,000 miles out of a PR4 rear; I start picking up sharp objects and get flats between 7,000 and 9,000.
 
I've always liked and trusted Bruce Dunn's tire and bike reviews going back to his time at Bike.

I've not tried newest Metzeler Roadtec but I did the Z8 and of course I'm on T30s now so I'd agree with his rankings.
 
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My last experience with a Metzler was with a Z6 that went to the chords at 6K. Have run a few sets of PR 2 & 3; for me the BS T30 GT has worked very well! Around 7500 for the rear and over 15 K for the front. Reassuring grip in both wet and dry conditions. Just mounted a set of Evo GT spec., so far so good!
 
They said nothing about longevity, thats the top requirement for me, the last two sets I got 16k out of the rear PR4GT's and over 20k out of fronts. Of course that was commuting 1150 miles a week on highway and back roads. I would like to try the BS T30 Evo GT since my commuiting is 950 miles less a week now. I can get front and rear for $50 more than just a rear PR4 GT.
 
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TMUS said:
They said nothing about longevity, thats the top requirement for me, the last two sets I got 16k out of the rear PR4GT's and over 20k out of fronts.
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Wow, great mileage. How do you do that? I barely get 9,000 on the rear and 11,000 on the front. I must weigh too much and use the throttle too much.
 
Don't know, I guess a lot of commuting miles. Here's a photo of my rear tire I am replacing soon at just shy of 16,000 miles. Put on at 84,000 miles now at 99,630 miles. I may push it to 100k. Just got done rebuilding the front forks, front tire at same mileage, got a few more thousand to go.


Tire 21K.jpg
 
I like everything about the T30GTs except mounting/dismounting them. One of the most difficult tires I have encountered.
 
Wonder why they didn't test the Pirelli angel GT tires?
After several sets I like the much better than the pr3/4, Metz, Dunlop or stones.
Great in all conditions, and I average about 10k out of a set, and I don't baby them.
 
Igofar said:
Wonder why they didn't test the Pirelli angel GT tires?
After several sets I like the much better than the pr3/4, Metz, Dunlop or stones.
Great in all conditions, and I average about 10k out of a set, and I don't baby them.
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Thanks for that, I'm having a set fitted later this month to replace the Michelin PR4GT's.

I've had a couple of sets of the PR4's and had a severe loss of confidence when the bike went sideways in Greece last year... straight stretch of road, and no drain covers, tar snakes or oil, but they just let go!

The Pirelli's seem to be a love or hate tyre....
 
Igofar said:
Wonder why they didn't test the Pirelli angel GT tires?
After several sets I like the much better than the pr3/4, Metz, Dunlop or stones.
Great in all conditions, and I average about 10k out of a set, and I don't baby them.
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Bike did a couple of sport touring tire tests (maybe 2010 thru 2014 with Pirellis included and they came out toward the bottom rankings. Pirelli/Metzeler has not updated this tire recently so I can see why it did not make the cut in this review.

I think it's important to remember that even lower ranked tires are still very very good tires and it is the character of the tire being discussed here which is very subjective. If something works for you that's not mentioned it's still probably a pretty good tire.
 
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May also depend on what magazine does the review...the last review for the Pirelli's I saw rated the angel gt's at the top of the heap etc. I don't remember who published it but remember they were testing them on the wet slippery deck of an aircraft carrier which I thought was stupid?
I like the price of the Pirelli's and availability compared to the others.
 
Igofar said:
May also depend on what magazine does the review...the last review for the Pirelli's I saw rated the angel gt's at the top of the heap etc. I don't remember who published it but remember they were testing them on the wet slippery deck of an aircraft carrier which I thought was stupid?
I like the price of the Pirelli's and availability compared to the others.
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That CW review of the Pirelli is not a test comparison, it's review of a tire hosted by the manufacturer who controlled the variables. That's not the same as a test that controls the variables.

The Bike magazine tire tests are blind and they use a methodology to produce both objective and subjective data to rank the tires. They obtained tires at random, the rider did not know what tire he was on, his bike's suspension was prepared and set up for his weight and style, they measured tire temp after a warm up period and at the end of test, measured lap times, and the rider recorded his subjective opinion of how the tire felt to him during warm up and hot laps on a test venue that had different types of pavement surface. The professional rider had experience in road racing and tire testing for manufacturers. Readers saw the results and comments by individual tire and then overall.

Bike does these informative tests fairly often for different tire types. They did one sport touring tire test on wet surfaces. The German mag Motorrad does them was well.

One has to sift through repeatable data like this vs personal factors like expected mileage and cost and come to their own conclusions what is best for them.
 
Igofar said:
May also depend on what magazine does the review...the last review for the Pirelli's I saw rated the angel gt's at the top of the heap etc. I don't remember who published it but remember they were testing them on the wet slippery deck of an aircraft carrier which I thought was stupid?
I like the price of the Pirelli's and availability compared to the others.
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Carrier decks have tons of non skid mixed into the paint. That is a weird place to do anything with motorcycles for sure.
I cant wait to burn through my roadsmarts and put some new tires on. I have a RS1 rear and RS2 front and I do not like the combo at all.
Just don't know what to replace them with!
And I have not seen mention of the roadsmart 3's they tested yet.
 
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