Michelin Pilot Road

[RTSR1/FJR]

Well, the bike came with New Pilot Sports when I bought it. Rear lasted a whole 1500 mi. Front still looks new. I know I'll get much better out of the Road, but just wondering what some have gotten. My buddy's a Michelin distributor and gives me a good deal on tires, and so I run nothing but Mich. on the R1 and now the FJR obviously. When the front wears out I'll replace it too with a Road to match the rear on the FJR. Just wondering what people are getting.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

I've run three sets of Road rear / Sport front combos. I average around 6000 / 6500 a set. No problems with any set of these tires. I've just switched to Avons to give them a try. I don't have enough miles on them yet to judge how long they'll last, but the turn in in the corner is smoother and quicker than the Sport.

 

[markjenn]

I'd expect 30%-50% longer life out of a sport-touring tire like the Roads compared to a full-sport tire like the Sports/Powers. As always, comparing tire mileages across bikes, riders, climates, roads, speeds, etc. is just about impossible, but my experience is that sport-touring tire does about this much better, everything else being equal.

Did you buy the bike used? I have never heard of Pilot Sports being mounted as OEM on a FJR which typically ships with sport-touring tires, typically Metzelers Z4s or Bridgestone BT020s.

- Mark

 

[Canes]

Lot of VFR riders went to the Road for the rear and the sportier version on the front with good results. Unless you are doing track days or riding it harder than you should on the road, I’m betting you will be happy with the grip and milage of the roads.

How do you like the Roads on the heavier FJR?

 

[motorgod]

I got 5774 miles out of the stock Bridgestones....about 5500 miles out of the Avons...just switched to the Pilot Roads...hope I get better mileage...rear tire mileage...

 

[escapefjrtist]

Switched to the PR's when the OE Z4's were gone. The front now has over 8000 miles on it and still looks OK. I would estimate the front has another 2 - 3000 miles left on it. The rear PR was ruined with a puncture at 1000 miles so can't comment on it. Been running a mismatch (Strada) for 7000+ miles w/o any ill effects.

--G

 

[Bounce]

my last set of Pilot roads saw me get 9200 miles out of the rear. I could have gotten 10k miles but had a trip coming up. I swapped them as a set because I wanted to try the the Avons. I got at least 8k miles out of the first set of PRs I used and, again, swapped early because of distances to be traveled.

as a comparison, i got 6k miles out of the OEM BT020 with the front seriously cupping at 4k and the back squared off big time when the swap to the PRs happened.

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

I'd expect 30%-50% longer life out of a sport-touring tire like the Roads compared to a full-sport tire like the Sports/Powers. As always, comparing tire mileages across bikes, riders, climates, roads, speeds, etc. is just about impossible, but my experience is that sport-touring tire does about this much better, everything else being equal.
Did you buy the bike used? I have never heard of Pilot Sports being mounted as OEM on a FJR which typically ships with sport-touring tires, typically Metzelers Z4s or Bridgestone BT020s.

- Mark

Yeah bike was used. 2003 with 8000 mi. on it for $8000. Bike runs like a top! Tires were new when I got it. Killed the rear in the mountains! lol

 

[yanktar]

Warchild (where the heck is he, anyway?) tested the Roads on the FJR a year or so again and claimed they were a bit squirmy or something like that. I have them on my FZ1 (which uses the same size tires) and LOVE them, but it's a different bike with different geometry.

So you'll have to get some other insights!

 

[twowheelnut]

Warchild (where the heck is he, anyway?) tested the Roads on the FJR a year or so again and claimed they were a bit squirmy or something like that. I have them on my FZ1 (which uses the same size tires) and LOVE them, but it's a different bike with different geometry.
So you'll have to get some other insights!

IIRC, he tested the Attacks, not the plain old Roads.

 

[Yambone]

My first tire was the OEM MEZ4, which got 7.5K miles, but the handling was somewhat unpredictable. The PRs are great, excellent handling, but only got 7K miles on the rear. Wore a narrow strip down the middle maybe due to some higher speeds on a long trip on coarse roads in west Texas.

I now have the Avons, nearing the end, look to get about 8K miles on the rear.. They are also good handling, but harder to balance. They are wearing more evenly than the PRs. Guess I'll try the Avons one more time. If you're getting a good deal from your buddy, I'd stick with the Michelins, as I haven't seen any extreme differences in mileage so far.

 

[Bounce]

Warchild (where the heck is he, anyway?)

On his way to Denver for the finish of the IBR.

 

[Craig in Denver]

IIRC, he tested the Attacks, not the plain old Roads.

As written, makes it sound like both are the same maker.

The Road Attacks are Continentals and the Roads I think the guys are talkin' bout are Michelin's Pilot Roads. :cownoy:

 

[yanktar]

The Attacks are NOT the Michelins. Michelin Pilots come in Road and Sport compounds, maybe a few others. For cars there are more versions. I have Pilot Sport A/S on my SLK320 and am not crazy about them--they just don't have the solid feel of confidence I like. But on the FZ1 the Pilot Roads are muy fantastico!

 

[twowheelnut]

The Attacks are NOT the Michelins.

Well I'll be gawt-damned! There I go confusing things again. Went and cornfused Michelin with Continental and Attacks with Powers. **** me. My bad. :blink:

 

[snikr]

After my Me Z4's wore out at just under 9000 miles I put a set of PR's on the FJR. So far I'm at just over 6000 miles on them and they are MUCH better then the OEM Z4's. And it looks like I should get maybe 10,000 mile sout of the rear PR and I do a lot of 2 up riding. I may try the Avons next just to see how they work but I am very happy with the PR's.

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

After my Me Z4's wore out at just under 9000 miles I put a set of PR's on the FJR. So far I'm at just over 6000 miles on them and they are MUCH better then the OEM Z4's. And it looks like I should get maybe 10,000 mile sout of the rear PR and I do a lot of 2 up riding. I may try the Avons next just to see how they work but I am very happy with the PR's.

Well, I put the Mich. ROAD on today and went and scrubbed it in. Seems to stick well and seems to ride better than the sport did (or maybe I just got used to that flat spot). lol Anyway, well see!

 

[McRuss]

I'm getting ready to pull off my first set of PRs. I got almost 12,000 on the front, about 7,000 on the rear (I had a previous rear that got the other 5,000...then a nail.) I have a new front (for an unknown reason) so am going to go with another set, then try Avons. Both front and rear PRs have some tread left, wear bars are close but not quite, but the handling has gone south to the point that I no longer want to ride the bike! I'm running pretty high pressure in the font to avoid a 'ridge' that started to build in the first few thou miles.

 

[Randy]

I went through 2 sets of PRs before switching to Z6s. The Z6s, by far, outperform the PRs, IMO. The PRs never gave me a good sense of confidence at greater lean angles. They seemed to wallow in the turns much more than the Z6. I only got about 3800 miles out of each PR rear. With the Z6, I'm at 5000 and there's still a ton of life left in them.