PR 3's

[carlson_mn]

In for more reviews. I have a fresh set of PR2s on and they are great so far. Just couldn't come to pay $55 more for the set of PR3s before more reviews are in.

 

[smellthat?]

In for more reviews. I have a fresh set of PR2s on and they are great so far. Just couldn't come to pay $55 more for the set of PR3s before more reviews are in.

+1 I just bought a set of PR2s even though rubber on mine should last through the Summer. Waiting on long-term reviews.

 

[dwpools]

How many of you, spend the extra money and buy the higher load rated tires? I always ride one up and 75% of the time are day rides with little load.

 

[SkooterG]

How many of you, spend the extra money and buy the higher load rated tires? I always ride one up and 75% of the time are day rides with little load.

This has been argued back and forth ad naseum. Everybody's has their own opinion.

Mine is don't bother getting the higher load 'B' spec tire for the type of riding you do. I never have and have experienced no issues.

 

[Tree Doc]

I do a lot of 2 up riding and DON'T use the B spec tire. I am very please with performance / wear of the standard PR2.

On another note, just checked Derby and the PR2's went UP about $30 from our old favorite price. I just got mine about 1.5 weeks ago for the $235. Glad I didn't wait!

 

[Jer]

I had a set of PR3's mounted before my trip to the Clan Gathering in Mill Valley, California in July. Rode Highways 3 and 36 from Yreka to the coast, lots of curves and I rode them hard. I also rode a section of Highway 1 called the Dragon of the West. After arriving in Mill, Valley I followed Fairlaner and Exskibum on a spirited ride of highway 1, so my new tires received a good break-in. I put close to 2000 miles on the tires and notice minimum wear. Maybe if nobody else buys them I will be able to get my next set at a lower price.

 

[gravity]

I've got a PR2on the front with 6000 miles on it and a PR3 on the back with about 2000 miles on it. It seems to ride the same to me. I rode agood 2 hours in hard rain on the way home from NERDS and so far so good I guess time and miles will tell.

 

[stew71]

Just ordered a set of PR3's from Revzilla. Can't wait to see how they run out here in California.

 

[Bill]

I just finished the SCMA USA Four Corners Tour on a set of PR 3s that I mounted a few hundred miles before I left.

They are just the regular PR 3 and I did the ride with fully-loaded saddlebags and a really heavy Givi E50 Maxia trunk.

When the tires were new, the tread depth on the rear tire was 8/32". The front tire measured 5/32".

At 10,752 miles the rear tire has 5/32" of tread depth remaining while the front has 4/32" remaining.

Obviously, most of the miles were ridden on the interstates while covering 27 states and 3 Canadian provinces but I did take some time to ride a couple of canyons near Malibu, CA and I did ride in Hurricane Irene in Quebec so I know that they corner really well, handle flooding highways really well and last one hell of a long time on a variety of highway surfaces at an average speed of 75 mph. Oh yeah, I rode for 6 days on 100+ heat with the highest being the Arizona desert where it hit a high of 113 degrees. Guess that they work well on really HOT highways also.

These appear to be the longest-wearing tires that I've ever had on a sport-touring bike

 

[FJReady]

Bill,

your report should be good news to the mile eaters around here. Glad that the PR3 appears to exhibit the long life of its predecessor.

I want to pointv out that I can't follow your conversion math however. You say that the rear has 8/32" tread depth with is consistent with the new PR2 (rear) tread depth in my garage. But how did you get .16mm out of that? I get about 6.4mm as equivalent to 8/32"(1/4")

Am I missing something?

Using your SAE units, it looks like you'll comfortably get several more thousand miles from the PR3s. Good to know in case the PR2s are phased out.

Congrats on completing a great ride.

 

[Bill]

LOL... My tread depth gauge is only in SAE so I looked at a metric conversion chart to see what the depths were for those who had metric gauges.

I just decided to edit the post and remove the metric measurements. If anyone with only a metric gauge wants to know the depths, they can look them up themselves and hopefully will do it more accurately than I did.

Not to start a whole new NEPRT discussion but, I did not balance either tire when I mounted them. Since I was using Ride-On Tire Sealant for extra insurance during the trip, I decided to just let the sealant balance the tires. That stuff worked MUCH better than I had any reason to expect.

 

[huron52]

I thought I would try the PR3's. So far 6,000kms (4,000 miles) and they feel a little different than the PR2's.... can't say better or worse. I put them on to (a) try them ( B) get people to notice the odd pattern in the tread.

Thanks Bill for you report!

 

[huron52]

Sometimes I belive that tire threads can be just like oil threads.... Everyone has their own opinon :lol:

 

[Pete Bansen]

I had a set of PR3's mounted before my trip to the Clan Gathering in Mill Valley, California in July. Rode Highways 3 and 36 from Yreka to the coast, lots of curves and I rode them hard. I also rode a section of Highway 1 called the Dragon of the West.

Inquiring minds want to know where "the Dragon of the West" is located! Is that the section between Leggett (where Highway 1 meets 101) and the coast north of Ft. Bragg?

C'mon, Jer - spill it!

 

[TomInPA]

Pete, Hwy 49 Coulterville to Mariposa is known as the Little Dragon. A google search will give you lots of hits.

CHP has been known to routinely share this road with us, so carry a RD and be aware.

 

[allrider]

I had a set of PR3's mounted before my trip to the Clan Gathering in Mill Valley, California in July. Rode Highways 3 and 36 from Yreka to the coast, lots of curves and I rode them hard. I also rode a section of Highway 1 called the Dragon of the West.

Inquiring minds want to know where "the Dragon of the West" is located! Is that the section between Leggett (where Highway 1 meets 101) and the coast north of Ft. Bragg?

C'mon, Jer - spill it!

Hells Canyon in OR

 

[Jer]

I had a set of PR3's mounted before my trip to the Clan Gathering in Mill Valley, California in July. Rode Highways 3 and 36 from Yreka to the coast, lots of curves and I rode them hard. I also rode a section of Highway 1 called the Dragon of the West.

Inquiring minds want to know where "the Dragon of the West" is located! Is that the section between Leggett (where Highway 1 meets 101) and the coast north of Ft. Bragg?

C'mon, Jer - spill it!

Yep, that's it. I wonder if the Dragon of the East has logging trucks. It is a fun ride and you finish at the Ocean.

 

[Pete Bansen]

I had a set of PR3's mounted before my trip to the Clan Gathering in Mill Valley, California in July. Rode Highways 3 and 36 from Yreka to the coast, lots of curves and I rode them hard. I also rode a section of Highway 1 called the Dragon of the West.

Inquiring minds want to know where "the Dragon of the West" is located! Is that the section between Leggett (where Highway 1 meets 101) and the coast north of Ft. Bragg?

C'mon, Jer - spill it!

Yep, that's it. I wonder if the Dragon of the East has logging trucks. It is a fun ride and you finish at the Ocean.

I thought so. That's a phenomenal 25 miles or so on a bike. Those log truck drivers can really drive, too!

Have not ridden the section of 49 that Tom mentioned, but I'll have to give it a try when it gets a little cooler.

 

[kevinw]

<snip> These appear to be the longest-wearing tires that I've ever had on a sport-touring bike <snip>

That's interesting. I haven't tried PR3s on our FJR but I'm on my third rear PR3 and second front on our 1400GTR (C14). The next set to be fitted will be PR2s. I think the 3s handle really well, especially in the wet where they are very confidence inspiring, but the wear rate is disappointing. Each of the rears was replaced at the GTR's service interval of 3750 miles and that just gets rather expensive and impractical. The front lasted for two services.

Nearly all of these miles were two-up with luggage, a lot of twisty roads but some highways as well. Most of it was on rallies or long runs so fewer heat cycles than one may expect. The wear is mostly on the sides with quite a pronounced step between the hard centre and softer sides.

I was reasonably relaxed when I had to change the first one after 3750 miles. It was mostly worn on the RH side and the IBA TT1000 (1000 miles round the Isle of Man TT circuit, clockwise) was a fair chunk of those miles. The second rear seemed to be wearing better but I replaced both front and rear at the next service as the front was completely knackered and I didn't think the rear had enough life left in it for us to to complete the Wolfhound Rally. I emailed Michelin via their web site at this point to ask about the wear rate but they didn't reply. The third rear has now done about 3600 miles and there is about 3mm tread which is better. I suspect this is because a lot of those miles were on Irish roads and tracks in Ireland that were pretending to be roads so were much slower miles.

To give some balance, several members of a GTR forum I'm a member of are reporting good mileage with PR3s but they are mostly riding solo with no luggage so I'm wondering whether it's a weight issue. Of course it could be the way I ride but PR2s used to last 7k+ miles on the GTR.

Both of the dealers I spoke to about the wear rate looked at the rear tyre and said the wear looks like an under-inflation issues although I'm quite anal about tyre pressures so they are always run at the recommended 42PSI. The last tyre that was taken off has been sent to Michelin for comment so I'll be interested in what they say.

Kevin

 

[Fred W]

Both of the dealers I spoke to about the wear rate looked at the rear tyre and said the wear looks like an under-inflation issues although I'm quite anal about tyre pressures so they are always run at the recommended 42PSI.

Have you verified the calibration on your pressure gauge? It is easy for a gauge to be off by 3-4 psi and that will make all the difference in the world on tire wear.

Also, hopefully this doesn't need to be said but...

You are setting your tire pressure to 42 psi cold and then not adjusting the pressure later on as the warm up, right?