Tyre choices

I think I am going to take the plunge and ditch my Bridgestones for Michelin. Frankly they keep giving me unpredictable grip, including a front letting go at 20mph on a large roundabout on the Bristol ring road after I had been riding for an hour and a half. Dry as you like and nothing on the road, just what these tyre's have done to me, and the wet is nerve wracking.

I'm debating the Michelin Power 3 and the Pilot Road 4. Michelin marketing claims the Power 3 will give decent wet grip from the compound. Given I don't intend to ride when wet (yet seems to rain each time I get on the bike)I'm inclined to go with that over the Road 4. However has anyone tested one in the wet and can claim otherwise?

Any tyre's worth looking at from Dunlop, Metzler or Avon.

Bike is a GSX-R 750 L5 for those unaware

More importantly how do you ride?

No point have the softest compound if a sport touring tyre will work just as good and last longer

Not doing trackdays atm.

Mostly A roads round Somerset, Wiltshire and Devon. Plenty of curves. I don't sit miles below the limit, would be a lie to say I don't try and push it but I am certainly not up to the speed that some people do hooning it around.

Sport touring is probably the area to look at tbh. I would like it to have grip towards the edges of the tyre but I would like some life in the things too.

If the Power 3 is that soft then it would probably be a no go, not sure what milage you get compared to a Road 3 or 4.

Pilot Road are great tyres, but can wear funny, so if your a fair weather rider and don't need the wet grip, look at something else. Pirelli and Continental are good, most premium brands are but I personally wouldn't count Avon as a premium brand. Bridgestones are the exception I have always called then "slipstones".

Baring in mind my bike is probably nearly twice the weight of yours and I carry a pillion 90% of the time with luggage about 50% I get about 8-9k out of pilot road 4's

I have never had them slip on me even when giving it some but I don't push it like I used to! I have about 10mm of unused tyre on the edge these days but I know people that often scrape the pegs using these tyres

Pilot Road are great tyres, but can wear funny, so if your a fair weather rider and don't need the wet grip, look at something else. Pirelli and Continental are good, most premium brands are but I personally wouldn't count Avon as a premium brand. Bridgestones are the exception I have always called then "slipstones".

How do they wear funny out of interest?

The tread blocks flex a lot and causes funny wear! its nothing to worry about though

The tread blocks flex a lot and causes funny wear! its nothing to worry about though

Is it all bikes though or certain types?

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I think its more to do with the load that is carried rather than the bike

My mates R6 was hardly noticeable but mine is pretty bad!

He rides on his own and mine is a heavy bike usually fully loaded

I think its more to do with the load that is carried rather than the bike

My mates R6 was hardly noticeable but mine is pretty bad!

He rides on his own and mine is a heavy bike usually fully loaded

There is a GT version for heavyweight bikes and 2-up tourers. (OEM for the BMW R1200RT)

Ive been using Pilot roads for the past 5 years and frankly... i see no automatic competitor for riding year round in the UK climate. or European touring.

I use the GT version

They wear in steps between the rain sypes. Any tyre can do that between tread if your suspension rebound settings are slightly out (leading edge step rebound is too slow, back edge step rebound is too fast), but with the PR3 and PR4 having rain sypes in addition to the normal tread they seem particularly susceptible to it, and as soon as you change your loading, pillion, luggage, etc, your suspension is wrong again, or some bikes don't have adjustable compression/rebound so you can't sort it even if you wanted to. I can't be arsed messing with suspension settings, so long as preload is set right for sag, I leave compression and rebound at factory settings.

I have recently changed job and work from home the majority of the time, so I'm no longer commuting by bike, so have become a fair weather rider (if riding is only for pleasure why not). If you ride in all weathers the PR3 and PR4 are amazing, but dry conditions plenty of other tyres are just as good. The stepped wear pattern on my bike causes the front to shudder under hard braking, so I'm going to look for a different tyre.

My Tiger Sport is pretty heavy at 235kg wet, but it's still not heavy enough to warrant the GT version. The difference is the sidewall anyway, so won't stop the stepped wear.

My zx6r had Bridgestone as OEM fitment which I thought were good until I got a set of PR4. They really are very good.

They're so good I even stuck a set on the track bike as intermediate/wets. I did a review of damp track action here.

I just realised the odd wear was about the roads not the powers. I clearly need sleep

Was aware of the roads wearing funny. No one tried powers at all? It's mostly fair weather riding so I don't see the need to go the extra to get the sipes, but if the powers will be a pile of crap in the wet or damp then I'd spend the extra.

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I used to use the pilot power 2ct's if it helps

they where good in the dry not so great in the wet

I could spin the rear up if I was a bit keen! and they used to move about a bit till I stuck a couple more PSI in the rear

I was lucky if I got 3k out of them!

I used to use the pilot power 2ct's if it helps

they where good in the dry not so great in the wet

I could spin the rear up if I was a bit keen! and they used to move about a bit till I stuck a couple more PSI in the rear

I was lucky if I got 3k out of them!

I think the phrase is f*ck that then.

Roads it is.

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I had bridge stones on my yzf 600 and they didn't give me any confidence at all , only been riding for just over a year and after asking this forum for advice I changed to Metzler roadtec 01 and its like riding a different bike .I'm not very experienced and these tyres haven't been on long but I feel my riding has improved 100% .

I've used many different brands of tyre on various bikes i've owned,but i'm back using Michelin Pilot Power(single soft compound all over),excellent grip in the dry,and in the wet as well..they're reasonably priced as well, i wont use anything else now...

Before going to Michelin I used Pirelli Diablo Strada (same tyre as Metzeler Z6) and was always very happy with them, so just used them again and again. When they were discontinued and replaced with the Pirelli Angel ST, I had a decision to make, and due to journalists getting their knee down in the wet on the then new Michelin PR3, I switched to them, and then onto the PR4.

Now I might try those Pirelli Angel ST's, you can get them now for £150 a pair.

For the average road rider: stick with sport touring tyres. You won't outgrip them with heat and they will stay grippy from colder temps and after you've stopped at the lights on a chilly day.

Sport tyres are OK for road riding in summer but unless you're on track then the sport touring tyres will generally perform better on road. They are also a 4 season tyre vs the sport tyre that will really only perform well in 2. Sub 10° you would really need to be careful on road with a sport tyre and every time you stop for a few minutes in that kind of temperature it's back to being a bit easy on the throttle for a bit.

Road 3 or 4 or any other decent sport touring tyre will largely be a better choice for road grip than any sport tyre out there.

Take it to the track and obviously that's where the sport tyres will have the edge.

I'm currently running the PR4's, very happy with them, a great all rounder, great in the dry and superb in the wet. I'm up to 6k on the current ones and they should see the summer out for me. I had the PR3's before these and they were very good as well but I'll definitely be sticking with the 4's when it's time to change again.

I bought the bike with Bridgestones (BT16's) on and frankly couldn't get rid of them quick enough.

16 page pull out in the MCN with tyre tests

I was pretty surprised at some of the touring tyres actually

16 page pull out in the MCN with tyre tests

I was pretty surprised at some of the touring tyres actually

Yeah I saw that so picked it up. The power 3s get a reasonable all round approval. They seemed pretty middle of the road on the pilot road 4s.

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