Problems with Pilot Road 2's?

[08FJR4ME]

(Front PR2) I slipped on tar snakes while going through a sweeper yesterday. Quite disturbing to say the least.
A shower must have come through and left the roads slightly damp. Some areas wetter than others. It wasn't raining at the time. Never had that happen with my Bridgestones.

And what tire doesn't slip on tar snakes???? :glare:

You wanted a comparison so i gave one? Granted I have only run the stock bridgestones and the PR2's. I don't ever remember slipping through sweepers with the Bridgestones. To me the there are a stickier tire. Yes I have slipped many a time with my XR650L on Tar snakes. Dahhhhh!

 

[canucklehead-biker]

Front lasted 23,500 km (14,600 mi), rear I changed after I got back from CFR at 26,000 and a bit (approx 16,280 mi.) Rear had life left, but I had a puncture at CFR and figured it would be prudent to change.

Never experienced any issues with them, and just put the second set through about 7000 kms including 2-up tour to the NoCal coast, a Lee Parks school and a spirited (for me at least) run up the east side of Mt Saint Helens and along the Cascade highway. I've never felt anything but confident in the tires.

I'm not a 10/10ths rider (hell, I'm probably not a 6/10ths rider) and at the extremes of performance they may leave something to be desired (I wouldn't know), but for the kind of riding I do they are excellent.

My 2 cents, YMMV, etc, etc, etc...

Griff

 

[rockmurf]

15k miles on my rear tire, middle starting to get flat.

 

[FJR Flyer]

For the best tire ever, it has to be the Storm. Too bad they don't have quality control though - I've had several that were out of round, one by slightly less than 1/8".

Yeah, I've got to question the quality control. Put a new Storm on the front when I got the bike in Sept. AT 5K miles it was shagged out, cupped and at the wear bars. Put another Storm on the front as the rear had a lot of life left on it. Now, another 5K+ miles later, the current Storm on the front still looks like new. No cupping and nowhere near the wear bars. Same basic riding, mostly commuting, but also did an SS1K. The rear, with 10K+ miles, is well into the wear bars, now, but not dead.

I have a set of PR2s ready to go. It will be an interesting comparison. I ran Dunlops on my FJ1200 forever. So its all a learning exercise.

 

[TellurideFJR]

I am near the end of the life on my front PR2 and is not great but really no worse than any worn front. I will say that the shape is a little different as the center compound stands up higher as the softer side compound wears faster. In a corner I have to keep it from turning deeper and with putting 4000 miles on in the last 10 days, I have seen it change a lot this week. I have another set of 2s in the garage that will be mounted before my ride to Maine later this month. After that set... I dunno. At WFO there were lots of bikes with PR2s but the guy with the car tire was claiming huge mileage and other guy with $100 Shinko's actually liked his. Whatever floats your boat...

 

[johnny80s]

I am near the end of the life on my front PR2 and is not great but really no worse than any worn front. I will say that the shape is a little different as the center compound stands up higher as the softer side compound wears faster.

I commute a lot and wear out the middle more than the sides. The only time I had that problem with the sides wearing faster was when I did not have enough air in the tires. Those were Roadsmarts.

 

[Big-B]

I've been saying this about the PR2 any time I add to a tire post.

Never liked the PR2. I was glad when my inspection came due and I had a reason to replace them even though there was some tread left. Fairly early on the rear would break loose and spin at random intervals. I was hoping to get the extended mileage but the harder compound center section was too much of a trade-off from the PR. The spinning got worse as the miles went up. I really did not feel safe on the rear tire.

I was very happy with the PR so I went back to it. The PR is a little sensitive to tar snakes and wet painted lines. But all-in-all I'm pleased with it. For me it has been very good on wet roads.

Michelin used to have a very definitive scale on its website showing ratings for wet traction, dry traction, breaking, and a couple other numbers. It made it very easy to see the characteristics of a Pilot Road vs. a Pilot Sport. When the PR2 came on the market Michelin quit providing the specific information and went to a very generic 'type of riding' classification that directed most people in the sport touring category to the PR2. No where did they have data of how the PR and PR2 compared on the specific numbers. I emailed Michelin, they replied that it was not available.

Bike feels much better on the stickier tires.

Brian

 

[sportrider]

The PR2's work for me. I have run them pretty hard and am happy with how they work. I like them so much I am going to throw a set on my KTM 950SM. I have not done a track day with them yet, but a recent trip from Albany, NY through WV, the gap, to Nashville and back left me happy with the handling wet and dry and the mileage.

 

[Slappy]

After 5K on two sets of Road Smarts I needed something with a little more durability. I went with the PR2's. IMO they are typical Michelin tires. Hard and designed for high gas mileage. I liked the RS for their stickiness and they definitely gave me that. However their aggressive wear on the sides made them hard to ride towards the ends of their lives.

Just over 1,000 miles after putting the PR2's I went on a group ride up to big bear. On the 138 there are some fun parts. I was following Neil who was 2 up so he wasnt pushing it through the tight areas. Twice the back end got a little squirrely. Nothing dangerous but a little disheartening having new and broken in rubber that wont hold the road when expected. These are good touring tires but not the best sport touring tire. I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on the Pirelli Angel ST's.

My problem, amongst many, is I need a tire that holds up to a daily commute of 40 miles a day. I also need a tire that holds up to Palomar Mt three times a year, one of those times while 2up. I need a tire that can keep up with Lanny and Fairlaner on Sage Road or Latigo Canyon and at the same time holds its shape and gives me 8K solid miles and can be pushed up to 10K before all the tread is gone. Right now the PR2 gives me the commuting durability but it is not tacky enough to keep up on the twisty roads. I am hoping the new Pirelli is that tire.

 

[Fred W]

+1 on everything you said, except I'm getting much better mileage on the Roadsmart (rear) than you do.

I'm really looking forward to the Angels as the Strada was my favorite tire so far.

And I think I have a solutions for you: Buy a second set of wheels and have commuter rubber on one set.

 

[wheatonFJR]

... On the 138 there are some fun parts. I was following Neil who was 2 up so he wasnt pushing it through the tight areas. Twice the back end got a little squirrely. Nothing dangerous but a little disheartening having new and broken in rubber that wont hold the road when expected. These are good touring tires but not the best sport touring tire. .........Right now the PR2 gives me the commuting durability but it is not tacky enough to keep up on the twisty roads. ....

My experience exactly on some MO roads.

I loved the PR2s on my long trips...if I didn't push too much.

However, as I live in the land of straight roads...twisty roads only come when I hit out of state roads...and that doesn't happen as often as I wish.

 

[Warchild]

QUOTE (Big-B @ Aug 3 2009, 02:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I was hoping to get the extended mileage but the harder compound center section was too much of a trade-off from the PR. The spinning got worse as the miles went up. I really did not feel safe on the rear tire.
This is *precisely* my feelings on this tire... and it was reinforced in spades yesterday.

I did a quick 600-mile spin to Whidbey Island and back, and there were three separate occasions where the read tire started to step out for no obvious reasons when heeled over in a sweeper. Tires now have over 6000 miles on them, plenty of tread left but I can not wait to dump this POS and get some Storms mounted up.

Again, this is why we have NERPT... tires frequently offer difference experiences to different riders under their unique environments.

 

[Duster19]

Well I have a brand new set of PR2 for my next set of tires and will have to report back on how I like them.

1st. set was Bridgestone B21's (Actually had 2 diff. sets and both fronts were POS). Up until around the 3000k mile mark they were great tires. At 3000k the front went to shit. The rear tire was a pretty good tire overall.

3rd set was Avon Azzaro's (great tires for $150 bucks ..). I have 3000k miles on them and they look great. No cupping or head shake at all.

Like most have said, take these tire discussions at that. Find the tire the suits your needs.

Dave

 

[J.P.]

I haven't read through all the threads on the PR 2s, and so I don't know if this is common knowledge or not, or if I'm being snowed, but I just got off the phone with Dennis Kirk because I was getting ready to pricematch and order a set of PR 2s and I found three part numbers for the rear (180/55 ZR17) and 2 part numbers for the front (120/70 ZR17).

I was curious as to why this was, so I called and asked.

According to Dennis Kirk, one of the front and one of the rears are specifically designed for the Triumph Tiger 1050.

Dennis Kirk part #s:

Rear - 543611

Front - 543610

So that leaves two other rears, and one other front. The difference in the two rears is apparently due to different construction for different types of riding. One of these rears has 3 Polyamide/1 Aramid tread plies, and is meant for 2-up/fully loaded riding, and is slightly more expensive (Dennis Kirk part # 543510) and the other rear has 2 Polyamide/1 Aramid tread plies and is meant for lightly loaded single-up riding (Dennis Kirk part # 543359).

The other sites I looked at to price match (SW Moto, Derby Cycles) seemed to only have one model of PR 2 in each size (180/55/17 and 120/70/17).

Perhaps this could be the reasoning behind the difference in rear feel that some have compared to others?

(once again, I didn't search, I just was doing some looking around at reviews on PR 2s today, and this just happened to be the top thread in NERPT, so I apologize if this is already common information)

 

[road runner]

I have a set of PR2's (the regular ones not the B, FJR spec. tire) with 3800 miles on them and the rear is getting a flat spot. Also the more concerning thing is the rear is cupping. The cupping is so bad I can feel it vibrate whenever I lean either way. I'm no expert, but that can't be good for traction.

I just picked up 2 nails in the rear PR2, so I just ordered a Strada to replace it :yahoo: . I didn't get another reg PR2 because I didn't like the way it cupped. I would have tried a PR2 B (FJR spec) but they are on back order.

BTW I ran these 3800 miles at 39 front & 42 rear psi., never loaded up with gear and 400 miles with pillion.

I may try a PR2 B spec on the rear in the future, but I'll never buy another PR2 reg. tire.

My .02

A.C.

 

[Wee Willy]

Tar snakes DEFINITELY suck (great name BTW...I wasn't sure what to call those nasty little things). Michelins rock. My PR2 looks almost new with 1500 miles on it. My OEM Bridgestone was worn out at this point. Did a run up and down the mountain yesterday with about 9 other riders for the 100 mile burger run; very aggressive and fast once we left Angeles Crest behind...very quick (triple digit?) speeds on occasion. Bike was rock solid and very predictable even on a rough stretch. I would NEVER have tried doing the same with the Bridgestone under the same circumstances. It was a piece of crap. I'll put a pic of the PR2 up on the other thread later.

Back's beginning to look pretty shabby now though. It's flatting in the center and the wear strips have popped through at 6400 miles. Edges look good with some strange scalloping going on that is the effect of hard cornering under acceleration. Pics in a few.

Cheers,

W2

 

[drboblj]

I just replaced my OE Bridgestone BT02 s after 4250 miles (and a nail) The front was worn much more than the rear (what's up with that?) and I didn't feel comfortable with my road-side plug repair in the rear tire, so I replaced them both. Because new "original equipment" tires weren't available from anyplace but a Texas warehouse I went with Metzler Roadtec Z6 s. To my great surprise the FJR's squirrelly cornering is corrected! After much fiddling with the suspension and tire pressures I had come to accept the FJR's inability to carry a line through a corner while shrugging off road imperfections and small stones, etc. as an unfortunate reality. I thought that , maybe, I might actually be able to DO something better as a rider, but nothing I tried made much difference and my "cornering confidence " remained compromised. (Actually, I believed that I had gotten used to the BMW Telelever front suspension which is very forgiving of rider miscues and road surprises and that I had simply uncovered one of the real differences between these designs.) The Metzlers simply DO NOT behave like the Bridgestones in a corner. Gone is the abrupt and unpredictable little lurching and side-stepping of the BT02s, my cornering confidence is restored, and maybe these things will last a little longer than three months!

 

[zorkler]

My take on this out of the 4 sets of tires i have put on te fjr , b/stones , p/roads . strads , and now the pr2 with jut over 9k on them I would go with the pr 2 again .

 

[snikr]

I have a set of PR2's (the regular ones not the B, FJR spec. tire) with 3800 miles on them and the rear is getting a flat spot. Also the more concerning thing is the rear is cupping. The cupping is so bad I can feel it vibrate whenever I lean either way. I'm no expert, but that can't be good for traction.
I just picked up 2 nails in the rear PR2, so I just ordered a Strada to replace it :yahoo: . I didn't get another reg PR2 because I didn't like the way it cupped. I would have tried a PR2 B (FJR spec) but they are on back order.

BTW I ran these 3800 miles at 39 front & 42 rear psi., never loaded up with gear and 400 miles with pillion.

I may try a PR2 B spec on the rear in the future, but I'll never buy another PR2 reg. tire.

My .02

A.C.

I'm having the same "luck" with the rear PR2. Just ordered a set of Strada's the replace them as I don't like the sound of crossing "rumble strips" when I corner. Had to put a PP2 on the front (PR2's were on back order) and it is WORSE than the rear PR2. And I ONLY have a little over 4000 miles on the set of tires! Just ask Art (roadrunner). He saw them last weekend. No more PR2's for me till I find out if the B specs work!

Tom

 

[GPRIDER]

4500 miles on my PR2s and no complaints. Seem to be wearing fairly well. Still love the Avons though. Turn in is better, but quality control is not.

GP