Diablo Strada followup review

[HaulinAshe]

I now have over 4,000 on the Pirelli Diablo Strada front, and just over 2,000 on the Strada-E rear.

The front has developed the rumble noise, but only at times, and only when you are leaning off upright in turns. Grumpy said he had some tires do the same thing. It's not anything wrong, it just makes some noise as the tread in contact with the road changes from the solid rubber middle, to the grooved pattern sides.

This past weekend I ran about 600 miles in the rain. The last 200 were on mostly dry pavement with very wet leaves and wet pine needles everywhere. The rear voluntarily slipped out many times under a hard 4th gear twist as I passed across the stripes, while passing cagers. But this was not anything I did not expect and I felt the Diablo regained traction very predictably and somewhat quicker than I would typically expect. Never had to back out of the throttle. Just had to squeeze the tank hard and manage the big girl's ass.

Dry road performance is still excellent with no signs of that troubling sweeper wobble that I felt with softer tires. Turn-in is definitely more predictable than with the Mich PRs. You can tell that the stiffer sidewall of the Diablo makes it a more predictable tire than the Mich, IMHO. Can't say that the Diablo does anything significantly better, it just does its best every single time with much less variance than the Mich PRs. Hope this makes sense.

Am determined that the next set I put on will have some type of wear indicator in the center. I plan to experiment with the old tire and determine approx how much tread depth is available in the center stripe. Probably will use a Dremel bit to bore a tread indicator hole in the center rubber to a predetermined depth. If anyone has good knowledge of just how deep that should be... PLEASE SHARE and save me some experimentation.

At this point I would rate the Pirelli Diablo Strada as the best performing "road" tire that I have run on the FJR. Not sure if it's really worth the horrible pain of mounting that beast when doing my own tires. The Mich was a piece of cake compared to that stiff-walled, rim fighting devil Diablo! Can you spell tire machine?

Just thinking out loud as promised. Hoping to repay some of the great advice and info everyone has shared with me about tires. I'll post a final when this rear and front both meet their maker in a few thousand more.

 

[Thug]

Good write up I concur!

 

[FJRME]

I have a little over three thousand on my Stradas. Great, predictable tires. My only other experience is with the Metzlers that came stock on mine. They were ok too. I never had any trouble with them. They lasted 4k. My rear Strada is about done. The front has some wear left, but I will change them both. I just ordered the Pilots today to try them, so your critique is disconcerting. But I figured if I am going through tires that quickly, at least they won't be on there long. I really like the Strada, but I wish the rear would have lasted a little longer. I hope the Pilots are as good. I know every opinion is subjective, and dependent on your riding style, total weight, etc.

I flipped back and forth all morning between Strada and Pilot. Prices are about the same. I think the urge to try something new won out. Then I read your review. Thanks pal! :lol: If the Pilots don't work for me, and especially if they act like yours did, I will stick with the Stradas. My rear Strada was not an E model.

 

[Mike-H]

Nice write up.....thanks for the information....

 

[03silverbullet]

My rear Strada was not an E model.

The E model should last a goog bit longer

 

[Mike-H]

My rear Strada was not an E model.

The E model should last a googbit longer

Shouldn't that be good?....just askin.....

 

[03silverbullet]

My rear Strada was not an E model.

The E model should last a googbit longer

Shouldn't that be good?....just askin.....

oops! sorry about that

 

[fhaze]

I concur as well. I did 3800 miles in 6 days..about 1k was in the wet. RT129, Cherohala, Slab, 32d to 90d, very very nice tire. Anxious to see hop many miles i get. I had BT020 on and saw the center wear bar at 6200.

No sliding around for me on the street, but the tires had great initial turn in, and held the line nicely. A few intentional brake induced skids from the rear were very controllable.

The rear looks fantastic, and the front still looks new.

 

[Warchild]

Just thinking out loud as promised. Hoping to repay some of the great advice and info everyone has shared with me about tires. I'll post a final when this rear and front both meet their maker in a few thousand more.

Nice write-up, Jeff... this kind of serious analysis is what makes this usually NEPRT topic worthy of staying in the Technical forum.

 

[Toecutter]

Here's my real world experience, having gone through a regular Strada front & rear and now on an "E" spec.

+1 on all the good stuff said above. My current tire has already gone further than the previous one did, and still looks good.

The problem I have with 'em is their lack of tread groove across the center of the rear tire. There's no good way to tell when it's about worn out. You can take off on a 600 mile hop thinking you have plenty of meat and get surprised with a dangerously worn tire before you make it home.

For the same reason, I'm suspicious of the wet traction while straight up, but have no experience to confirm my mistrust.

For that one downside, I'm probably going to try another model in the rear once my current one expires, either an Avon or Michelin. But I'll <pun> stick with </pun> a Strada up front for now, especially since I have my free one still in standby.

 

[Bike Effects]

The Strada "E" does have wear indicators. They are just hard to find. Look carefully.

 

[Penforhire]

In terms of wear, is it really dangerous at all to have thin rubber? I mean, the water grooves can all be measured and isn't that all that matters at tire end-of-life?

 

[Groo]

In terms of wear, is it really dangerous at all to have thin rubber? I mean, the water grooves can all be measured and isn't that all that matters at tire end-of-life?

I think the concern is more related to cord showing up in the middle of a ride... not water traction...

 

[MCRIDER007]

In terms of wear, is it really dangerous at all to have thin rubber? I mean, the water grooves can all be measured and isn't that all that matters at tire end-of-life?

The thinner the rubber, the greater the chance of having a puncture from a small sharp object that normally would just break off or be embedded in the rubber.

 

[MCRIDER007]

Am determined that the next set I put on will have some type of wear indicator in the center. I plan to experiment with the old tire and determine approx how much tread depth is available in the center stripe. Probably will use a Dremel bit to bore a tread indicator hole in the center rubber to a predetermined depth. If anyone has good knowledge of just how deep that should be... PLEASE SHARE and save me some experimentation.

I cut up a rear Avon and Metz Z6 this summer. The Avon had about 2/32nd of rubber between the bottom of the center tread and the cord so when the tire got to the wear bar there was actually about 3/32nd of rubber left in the non-tread center portion of the tire. The Z6 was quite different. The owner replaced the tire before it got to the center most wear bar and it was a good thing he did because it looked like it would have been about a tie between getting to the wear bar (off center) and showing cord in the center.

The Strada and Z6 have similar tread patterns but the Strada's tread goes almost to the center of the tire and the center wear bar is only about a half inch from the actual center of the tire so it looks like there should be rubber left in the center when you hit the wear bar -- but the only way to know is to cut one up.

 

[Constant Mesh]

If the Strada is like the BT020 the standard rear tire will offer more mileage than the special tire for the FJR. The standard BT020 rear has a deeper tread.

BT020 'N' = 6/32 inch deep tread, my mileage = 8785 miles

BT020 standard = 7.56/32 inch deep tread, my mileage = 11870 miles

Strada standard = 7.6/32 inch deep tread

Strada 'E' = ?

 

[HaulinAshe]

The Strada "E" does have wear indicators. They are just hard to find. Look carefully.

I read some threads that said the Strada rear DOES have a wear bar. So before I mounted the beast, I sat in the floor with it, rubbed it, talked to it, but I swear I could not find anything that resembled a wear bar/indicator. Please enlighten me with a pic if you can.

 

[Hotboot]

My Strada's did not get the chance to go "wear bar". When you get that "feeling" diving in and powering out of corners, it's time to replace. This usually preceeded a long trip anyway. Got 6500 great miles out of the rear, not the E version. Good write up Jeff.

 

[MCRIDER007]

The Strada "E" does have wear indicators. They are just hard to find. Look carefully.

I read some threads that said the Strada rear DOES have a wear bar. So before I mounted the beast, I sat in the floor with it, rubbed it, talked to it, but I swear I could not find anything that resembled a wear bar/indicator. Please enlighten me with a pic if you can.

I don't think a pic is going to help, at least not one from my camera. The wear bars are really small and are located about 1/2 to 5/8 inch from the tip of the tread that goes almost to the center of the tire. There seems to be 17 of those treads on each side of the tire but only 3 of the 17 treads have wear bars so they are hard to find. There are also some additional wear bars closer to the sidewall.