I have been riding a long time. I have had 10 different road bikes. But this will only cover tires since I started
this web page back in 2007
As of this writing I do not have any pictures. I will try and take some in the future.
I know everyone rides differently. But I think you can look at my experience and judge what issues
I had and the type of mileage I got on the different tires and compare to what you have run and see what differences you might expect
| Suzuki RF 900 and Dunlop D220's. | I bought these while riding this bike home to Colorado after buying the bike from a friend in Los Angeles.
The tire stuck well and gave a good ride, but did not last as long as I would have liked. I could see the carcass rubber after 3200 miles.
At least this is an improvement over the Metzler Z-6 (Which you will read about later). On the other hand you can see how I had the bike
loaded on my way out to Laguna Seca in my ride report "The way to and from Laguna Seca 2007". I did have the bike weighed down
and I did hit some nice speeds on my way out through Utah and Nevada. But I did a very similar trip in 2009 with my K RS loaded the same
and got twice the mileage out of the Pilot Road II's I never get my tires all the way to the edge, so ultimate grip has never been a concern for me. These might grip better than other tires, but that has not been an issue for me. So if you tend to leave 1/4 inch of so chicken strips like I do these tires may not be the ones you want. |
| Suzuki RF 900 and Michelin Pilot Road tires | I bought these in California when the Dunlop 220's wore out on me away from home. I have been very happy with these tires.
They got me home from California with no problems and I rode the rest of the year. In April of 2008 I bought a new bike and these were not
worn out yet. I sold the bike to a friend at work. I still have the mileage I put these tires on at, and if he ever rides the bike enough to wear them out (he has only put 2000 miles on the bike in 2 summers) I will report on the final mileage. |
| BMW R 1100 RSL and Metzler Z-6's | I bought this bike used with these tires on it. The previous owner kept all receipts though so I know the starting mileage on them.
I got decent mileage out of them (7100 miles) BUT. When the rear wore out the first indication was I was down to cords showing. I was watch the tires closely because
I knew how many miles were on them. But I started the day and the tire looked fine, but at the end I had the cords showing. Now in the tires defense it was a long day
being a little over 500 miles. But again, doing a little reading on the internet I am not the only person to have this experience.
Several people have noted that they checked the tires at the beginning of the day and at the end they also had cords showing. I think this might be due to the fact that they is not tread in the very center of the tire. This fact hides how much rubber you might or might not have remaining. I would much rather have seen carcass rubber like on the Dunlop's that have the cords showing here. I had no other issues with these tire, rain grip was good, they cornered well enough for me. But because they go to cord without warning I will never buy them again. |
| BMW R 1100 RSL and Michelin Pilot Road's | My second attempt at trying these tires out. I put them on and did about 1500 miles on them when routine maintenance showed that the bike needed some transmission work. When I took the bike in, there was a nice K 1200 RS with low miles at the shop. Rather than wait for the repairs to the R bike, I bought the K bike. |
| BMW K 1200 RS and Michelin Pilot Road II's | I bought this bike used, I had the dealer replace the Metzler Z-6's on it before I even brought it home. That's how much I don't want
to deal with the unknown tread left on the Z-6's. The Pilot roads worked great. This is a heavier bike than the RF 900 but with the same horsepower. I have several trips on this set of tires. I did my first Iron butt ride down to Tucson AZ with them. I also took my son with me to Utah for the World Superbike race. After that I loaded this thing up for bear and headed out to California again. In Washington state I noticed the tires were showing some wear so I decided to replace them. I found a dealer with another set of them and had them replaced. 7200 miles on this set. If I had been at home I might not have replaced them. There was still some tread on them. But being on the road you sometimes have to change tires when you can and not EXACTLY when you want to. Overall, so far I love these tires. They stick well enough for me (and my 1/4 inch chicken strips) and also give me all the performance I need in the rain. I am not sure at this time if I will try another tire on this bike. I have been very happy with the Pilot Road II's, but if I hear of something else worth trying I am not against that either. |
| BMW K 1200 RS and Michelin Pilot Road II's | On there now. We'll see if they work as good as the first set. |
| Well, not so much. I was beginning to look at replacement tires because the tread was getting low on the rear.
I was going to try some Contenentals, but then I saw my front tire. wear bars showing. This is the first time I have ever
worn out a front tire first. Instead of getting to wait and try what I wanted I neede tires now, so on went a set of Dunlop Roadsmarts. 7100 miles out of this set. |
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| BMW K 1200 RS and Dunlop Roadsmarts | I went for my usual trip to California for the MotGP. When I got home I traded the bike in for the Duck. These tire had a little under 5500 on them when I got home and if I had kept the bike I would be replacing them. They worked well. I saw a lot of rain this trip and never had an issue, but did they not last long. |
| Ducati ST4s and Michelin Pilot Road II's | When I bought this bike it had new Pilot road II's on it. I got 7200 Miles out of the rear but the front still looked good. So I bought just a new rear. This is something I haven't done for a long time. I remember back in the 80's and 90's buying two rears to one front. But not so much lately. Which leads to the next review... |
| Ducati ST4s and Contenental Road Attacks | I wanted to try some different tires, so this time I bought Contenental road attacks. I put the rear on first since the pilot road that was up front still looked good.
After 1000 miles the front went south so I put the matching Contenental on front. These tires were still on the bike when I sold it, but the front was cupping pretty badly with only about 2200 miles on it. The rear still looked great. |
| BMW R1100S with Pilot Road II's | Yet another different bike purchase that came with new Pilot Road II's. I got almost exactly 7000 Miles out of these tires. |
| BMW R1100S with Pirelli Agel GTs | I bought this set for my vacation ride in 2014. I put 6000 miles on them in July. I liked the tires just fine. Stuck as well as I needed them too in the rain (I never felt any slip at all, but I don't push that hard) And worked well the whole trip. They were pretty squared off when I removed them, there was some tread left, but not much. |
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