Bones
Your Humble Scribe
The "hum" of Michelin Pilot Road tires is well known to us in ST-Owners land. I discussed it with Dave at Motorace when I had my test set of PRs, I wrote about it in my OneWheelDrive review, and I've talked to a bunch of you all about it personally and through the forum. I concluded that the hum is a result of the grooves, which are much more horizontal than on the BT020s or Z6s, the other tires I've had on my ST.
When I saw photos of the PR2, I immediately noticed that the grooves are now more closely aligned with the tire's circumference. I wondered if the result of this design change would be a quieter tire. This is more of an issue for me now that I replaced my stock shield with a Clearview, which makes the cockpit substantially quieter and lessens the need for earplugs. (Earplugs, by the way, make the hum a non-issue).
I decided to ask Michelin if the new PR2s would be quieter than PRs, which, I pointed out, have a reputation as a loud tire. A Michelin customer relations guy responded promptly:
When I saw photos of the PR2, I immediately noticed that the grooves are now more closely aligned with the tire's circumference. I wondered if the result of this design change would be a quieter tire. This is more of an issue for me now that I replaced my stock shield with a Clearview, which makes the cockpit substantially quieter and lessens the need for earplugs. (Earplugs, by the way, make the hum a non-issue).
I decided to ask Michelin if the new PR2s would be quieter than PRs, which, I pointed out, have a reputation as a loud tire. A Michelin customer relations guy responded promptly:
Concerning your question, the Pilot Roads are a very quiet tire and we regret to hear of the issue that you are experiencing. We have had no real complaints of noise on this tire. We suggest having the selling tire dealer inspect the tires and call us with an inspection. We will be glad to review the matter at that time. We look forward to speaking with you concerning this matter.
I responded with links to various threads on this forum that speak to the infamous hum. My reply said, in part:
I'm writing to share information based on my personal experience and that of the active (and vocal) ST1300 owner community. We rack up the miles and, with the 18" front rim, we have few choices for matched sets of rubber. PRs are one such set, with a reputation for good grip, smooth and linear turn-in, great wet performance, squirrelly performance on tar snakes, and an annoying hum. Assuming you and I will agree to disagree on whether the Pilot Road is a quiet tire, I'd like to recast my question: Will the Pilot Road 2 be noticeably quieter than the Pilot Road?
The meat of the reply from Michelin:
Concerning your question: Will the Pilot Road 2 be noticeably quieter than the Pilot Road? We are not aware of any complaints made to us concerning noise on the Pilot Roads. The Pilot Road 2 will be a smoother riding tire and may be lower on noise but noise is subjective so we cannot comment directly concerning the question. Once again, we have had no official complaints made to us concerning noise on the Pilot Roads.
The meat of my reply to Michelin:
Whether my contact with you qualifies as an "official complaint" is not for me to decide. I'll grant you that noise is subjective, but when so many people sharing a constant (the Honda ST1300) also share the opinion that one of the few tires available for the bike is loud enough that they won't buy them again, I think there's something more to it than coincidence. Perhaps the PR2s "may be quieter" as you suggest, but apparently we'll have to find out from someone other than the company that makes them.
We ended up talking on the phone. Apparently he checked the links to our discussions, was surprised by what he found, and forwarded them to the technical people. He said he'll keep me informed. If he does, I'll keep all of you informed. I'm not sure what will come of this, if anything, but I thought I share this experience with the forum.