Michelin Pilot Road 2 tires

[R.W.]

It's time to change my rear 2CT, it lasted 3,500 miles...

[Yakima9]

+1 on Derby Cycles - Motorcycle Accessories

$269.99 shipped for the pair. Ordered them Sunday night, got them Wednesday. Gonna get them mounted up this weekend....

[John451]

Originally Posted by emon07

I have a 5th gen VFR.......

The only issue I have with the Michelin Pilot Powers is in warmer weather I kept getting flats.....

I tried the Dunlop RoadSmart tyres about mid-winter last year. For touring, everyday riding and riding in colder temps the Dunlop Roadsmart tyres are the perfect tyre for me

Nice write up, have had 5 sets of rear Powers of which 3 developed flats near lifes end, 2 inconveniently in the wet and when plugging found they are a light carcass that wear very thin. Interesting review on the Roadsmarts, have been very happy with my current R2's and find a little slower turn in than previous Powers they are also very predictable and much better wearing than the Powers.

Roadsmarts have been getting such good writeups and look attractive wonder how normal people rate the 2 back to back, have you compared the Roadsmarts against the Pilot Road 2's ?

[RedRover5683]

I own a 2007 VFR800A. I got rid of the OEM Metzeler ME4 tires after ~800 miles, shortly after the rear tire totally stepped out during a lowspeed right-hander while riding 2-up (which resulted in ~$1300.00 in cosmetic repairs). I replaced the ME4's with the Road Pilot 2CT's, and so far I've rode them ~300 miles. (I'm running them at 36psi front, 42psi rear.)

Thus far I'm finding the Pilot Road 2CT's to be absolutely the smoothest, most well-mannered, best handling, most stable, and the most forgiving tires I've ever experienced.

Indeed, during the short time that the ME4's were on my 2007 VFR800A (36 front, 36 rear, per the owner manual), I was becoming increasingly concerned about the bike's handling and stability. For example, when entering and traversing curves and corners the bike would tend to rather abruptly wander, in which it would often oversteer into turns, then understeer while I would try to correct the bike's path of travel, then it might suddenly begin to oversteer in the other direction.

Moreover, ME4's front tire tended to want to skip over bumps, while the rear tended to frequently break traction and begin to step out a bit, after which it often tended to be a tad slow in locking back up. Furthermore, this slippage of the rear ME4 would often occur on pavement that, so far as I could tell, looked to be good road. Hmmm...

At first I suspected that these unsettling and alarming handling behaviors might be due mainly to problems with the suspension itself, the setup of the suspension, or perhaps both. But then after my lowside, I began searching this forum and found a number of complaints about the ME4's that sounded very familiar. So, while my VFR was shopped for repairs I had the Road Pilot
2CT's installed, and now, finally, the motorcycle handles so much better.

I find it rather curious that Honda's owner manual for the 2007 VFR800A recommends only 3 tire brands: Dunlop, Metzeler, and Bridgestone. No mention of Michelin. (Yes, the Road Pilot 2CT rear tire is a tad fatter than the OEM recommendations, but I'm thinking that the 2CT's fatter rear tire may actually be more appropriate for the VFR?)

Among those of you who love the ME4's (or Metzeler's in general), that's great; I mean no disrespect. Indeed, it may very well be that the ME4's are indeed excellent, but that my current level of riding skills are simply not up to realizing what these tires are capable of in the hands of more sophisticated and skilled riders. All I can say is that for my current skill level and riding style, the Road Pilot 2CT's are the best sport-touring motorcycle tires I've experienced thus far.

For what it's worth, I'm currently 48 years old, and I didn't begin riding until after I passed the Basic Rider Course in 6/06. After that, I began learning on a 2002 CB750 Nighthawk, riding it ~8000 miles before the 1st snow fell in late 2006. Then in 2007 I put ~13,500 miles on an '07 BMW K1200GT, until I managed to total the Beemer in 11/07. Next, I began riding my current VFR in April of this year. So, as you can see, I've come rather late to the party, and I freely admit that I have very limited riding credentials. I respect and admire those of you who've been riding since you were kids! By comparison, I'm still green, and so my opinions are best taken accordingly.

All that said, here's how I would rate the tires I've experienced so far: Michelin Road Pilot 2CT's > Dunlop Qualifiers > Bridgestone BattlAx's > Metzeler Z6's > Metzeler ME4's.

If you've read this far, you have the patience of Job! Many thanks,

Kurt