pilot road4 Gt or just pilot road 4?

[PoorSSJ]

I have a 2013 FJR and am wondering if I should go with GTs or regular pilot road 4 tires. I may do some light touring/overnight trips with it. I do not ride two up. Recommendations

 

[Madmudder]

https://moto.michelin.com/DC/en/tyres/products/pilot-road-4-gt.html

Michelin recommends the GT's for the weight of the FJR but others have used the non GT model without issue. If you should have an issue Michelin may bach stating the recommended tire was not used.

You have the ultimate decision.

 

[mikerider]

They all have the same rated weight so I didn't bother. I use non-GT.

 

[gray ray]

PoorSSJ,

I use the GT's and will never use anything else, and here's why.

I love riding twisties at a very spirited pace, on my 07, but I was never really satisfied with the stock suspension or the turn in rate of the bike. Racetech springs, valves, and spacers took care of the nose dive under hard braking into corners. Ohlins took care of wallow coming out of the corners, under hard acceleration. But the turn in rate was always a bit sluggish. The bike seemed to take a lot of effort to turn into a corner at high speed. I attributed this to the bikes excessive weight, and just got used to it.

About a year ago I put a set of 4GT's on, and WOW!!! Problem solved. The stiffer sidewalls improve the handling immensely, both at high and low speeds.

The down side is that the stiffer sidewalls transfer every bump up thru the tires and into the bike itself. You can run over a dime and tell weather it is heads or tales.

If you ride a lot of twisty roads at high speed you will love the GT's. If you ride a lot of slab, I would not recommend them.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[HotRodZilla]

GrayRay, you only needed to bump up your pressure. I had the same issues when I first got my FJR. Moved pressures to 41f and 43r. Perfect ever since, and the T30s I have on now are the first GT spec tire I've ever run.

 

[smithpa68]

I have used both and ride 50% two up. I think the GT had less scalloping on the front for equal mileage. Scalloped less for sure in the rear tire. I didn't notice a huge difference in handling. But I don't claim to be pushing the FJR's limits. I like the idea of engineers saying it is designed for the extra weight since I am two up often, but honestly couldn't tell a huge difference. Try em both.. not sure you can really go wrong.

 

[JSaul]

I have used both and only have the 4 on right now due to dealer ordering the wrong tires. I have a new set of GTs going on before my next ride. The GTs felt better on mile 1. With the 4s it was several hundred miles to get use to them. The 4s also scalloped where the GT did not.

 

[user 8909]

A T30 GT has been the only GT tire I've bought and mounted. It road and wore great but was a real booger mounting and dismounting. That's one tire I should have taken to a dealer.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I've run regular PR4's, which were fine. I put on GT's shortly before the bike went down, months ago, and liked them fine for the brief time I was on them.

 

[Intech]

I say neither to the OP's original question. Go for the PR2's from JakeWilson.com. Best bang for the buck.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Good point Intech. I never felt under-tired with any of the many pr2's or 3's I've run.

 

[sidewinder]

Has anyone run both Gt and non and noticed the mileage wear? It seems I got a set of the non GT on my hands, and hate to go through the BS of shipping them back and re-ordering the GTs.

 

[user 31223]

I ran both, actually got better mileage out of the regular. But I was riding unfamiliar roads on both, so not sure how much that played into it, I sold the bike before the regulars were done, so can't give you a total, but I got (estimated) 4k out if the GT, was looking at about 6k out of the regular. Someone said it was more likely low air pressure, but they wore out on a trip to Chicago from Sacramento over 2 weeks

 

[BigOgre]

For another data point - I have a PR4 GT mounted behind a T30 EVO GT with both currently at about 13k miles. Never two up and psi's about 43r/41f give or take depending on the ride. A good amount of that mileage was slab last year (Red Lodge, NERDS, EOM) but also enjoyable day rides. Tires might still pass state inspection if they concentrate on the sides and don't look at the middles.

Unless I know I'll be hitting rain, I'd have no problem doing a few more day rides on those. That said I hope to have a new set this week. Same combo except I'm going to try the non-GTs to see if there's a difference in feel.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

My PR4GT's, front and rear, lasted around twice as long as any of the other PR's I've run. I tried to explain it away and minimize it, but I have to simply admit that mine lasted much longer than non GT's. All the PR's handled great. 40/42psi. GT rear got hard/harsh nest the end of its life.

 

[mikerider]

My PR4GT's, front and rear, lasted around twice as long as any of the other PR's I've run. I tried to explain it away and minimize it, but I have to simply admit that mine lasted much longer than non GT's. All the PR's handled great. 40/42psi. GT rear got hard/harsh nest the end of its life.

How long did your PR4GT last? Here is my rear PR2 non-GT after 12000 miles and I'm still running them (the front is about the same):

 

[Bill Lumberg]

That'd be a PR2 for me after 5-7K miles. I replaced my rear GT (guesstimating) somewhere just short of 15K and it probably would have done another 3 easy. I replaced it because it felt hard and jarring, not because I was out of tread. I think mileage gleaned from quality tires varies greatly from rider to rider. Getting anywhere near double is a big savings, especially since I pay to have tires changed, and it's not cheap. I had two more sets of tires in the garage when I had the GT's mounted. Once I work through them, GT's are going back on my bike. I find that all the PR's grip fine, dry and wet, for me.