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Michelin Pilot Road II Cupping?


CharlesW

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I have had a similar situation. The last few hundred miles on a well worn but not-to-the-wearbars front tire was giving me strange feedback. My description was when turning it felt as if the forks wanted to pogo. And there was vibration in the bars. I brought a new tire in to have mounted. The Honda tech pointed out the cupping in the front tire. Said that would cause the symptoms. After riding 150 mi. on the new tire last night I felt a lot of vibration. And if I took my hands off the bars on deceleration, there was a some shakeing to the bars. So I brought it back to the Honda shop and they found severely worn steering head bearings. To demonstrate, one person leaned on the rear while the bike was on the centerstand. With the front in the air the tech turned the bars back and forth. There was a huge area in the center steering arc that had a very loose feeling. There was absolutely no on-center firmness. I had a similar situation with my other high-milage '01 at 80,000 miles that was corrected by installing tapered roller bearings. What astonished me with the current situation is that this '01 has only 26,000 miles on it!

Since I leave tomorrow for SumSum2, I asked if it was safe to ride 4,000 miles with this condition. Tech said no problem. Just don't go no-handed for any more than a second or two. It would degenerate into a tank-slapper for sure.

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I've got the PP2 front and PR2 rear. The front has only slight cupping but surprisingly the rear has some also, a little more than the front. No hands on the bars shows no decel shake, maybe just a very slight amount. This set has about 7-8K on it, mostly commuter miles. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, I've never had a rear cup on me before that I recall.

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I've cupped a rear before but only by steering with the throttle, something I definitely don't do during the commute... What I've never done is put a flat spot on a rear 2" left of center... Really hope I didn't buy a bent frame...

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  • 1 year later...

Early on my riding life I rode a road every day for 2 years to and from work, it had 6 hairpin bends, side of front tires were always cupped, cause from braking into the apex whilst on the side of the tire.

Many years latter, new tire and rode across Australian high country at a good pace, started with a new tire, when I got home, tire cupped on both sides on the front. Lots of braking into tight corners. You don't have to brake hard, just lots of it.

As for saving the tires, I don't worry, having a good time is the price of the tires. P.S. I run Metzeler M5's

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  • 5 months later...

I ordered a set of PR2´s yesterday night online as the company had a sale on them. Its sad to hear the fronts cupe, becorse the reason I did go for Michelin is I have been reading good about their wear, milage and grip. My fromer fronts during I have owned the VFR (5th gen) has been a D208 that cuped really bad, a Roadsmart that cuped only slightly and a RoadAttack2 that has some cuping. The RA2 cuping can be from a bad steeringbearings thro, as I had to change the steeringbearings as tire has some 3k kms and bars started to wobble as I let the bars around 60km/h. But the cuping has gone futher after that.

What I do find intresting is I found one site, mynetmoto.com had the PR2 listed as discounted! But the older PR not!

But back to the cuping, might it have some to do whit when Michelin moved the production from Spain to Thailand?

I know it effected dirt/mx tires quit a bit (as I have ridden mx in the past until late 2008), both in how they gripped as wear, and there was mutch quality diffrece betwen tires from diffrent production dates, some worked better and lasted better than others even same modell as size ridden on same track.

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Check your riding style and learn some new habits.

The cupping will slowly go away once you learn how to ride properly.

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I'm glad this thread is still going.

I've had PR3's on my bike for the past 8000 miles, the rear is flat-spotting in the middle and scalloping badly on the edges. The front is scalloping noticibly on the edges as well...

Both front and rear are really bad in the water sipes especially.

I'm getting PP3's now... because I believe the wear is in part to over-powering these sport touring tires. I am 240lbs, and ride pretty aggressively in the corners. Never had a knee down... but like to transition left/right quickly and power through sweepers. The wear spot in the middle is due to a 50 mile round-trip highway commute monday through Friday.

When I do the tires, I plan to re-set the sag... my only fear is that the rear will not adjust to a high-enough preload to get me in the correct sag range. Will this be a factor in the cupping of tires, or is it more 99% front suspension...

Or am I just a big fat ham-fisted oaf rocketting around chewing up rubber?

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I have one set each of PR2's and PR3's on 2 sets of wheel that I've alternated between over the past 14,000 miles. Each now have right at 7,000 miles. The PR3's have gotten the touring duty and the 2's more aggressive riding I do on day rides. The 3's have significant cupping, especially on the front - enough to make the head shake at around 35 mph. When I switch back to the 2's the shake is gone. I've just ordered a new set of 2's. I'm a fair weather rider and will probably be sticking to the PR2's as long as they make them. Aside from the scalloping on the 3's, both have been great tires and I am very pleased with the mileage I've gotten from both.

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http://biketrackdayshub.com/motorcycle-tyre-wear-guide

Read this, it help me understand what was happening ..

So according to this I´m running to high rebound on the rear as the leading edge (first touches the road as tire rotate) has some tread raised... time to turn the rebound adjuster then....

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http://biketrackdayshub.com/motorcycle-tyre-wear-guide

Read this, it help me understand what was happening ..

So according to this I´m running to high rebound on the rear as the leading edge (first touches the road as tire rotate) has some tread raised... time to turn the rebound adjuster then....

Yeah Griff sent that to me and I found out Sunday it works . I had turned the damping setting on the rear CBR shock the wrong way . Before I left for the Dragon Sunday mourning I trimmed the the little edges off of mine and blistered the Dragon and the edges did not return .

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Generally of PR2.

I ordered a set last Friday and got them today. I belived the PR2´s where made in Thailand nowdays, but to my surpice mine where made in Spain, and DOT stamp say 4113 and 4813, so not that old ither. I recall some that has run several sets, some has worn out even, front and rear, where some sets the front has been worn out way before the rear. I wounder if this has to do where they are made?


http://biketrackdayshub.com/motorcycle-tyre-wear-guide

Read this, it help me understand what was happening ..

So according to this I´m running to high rebound on the rear as the leading edge (first touches the road as tire rotate) has some tread raised... time to turn the rebound adjuster then....

Yeah Griff sent that to me and I found out Sunday it works . I had turned the damping setting on the rear CBR shock the wrong way . Before I left for the Dragon Sunday mourning I trimmed the the little edges off of mine and blistered the Dragon and the edges did not return .

The funny this is, as I did check the tire more close, the outer 1/3s has the leading edge has some tread rise, where the middle 1/3 has some tread rise on the back edge! Hmmmm?

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But back to the cuping, might it have some to do whit when Michelin moved the production from Spain to Thailand?

I know it effected dirt/mx tires quit a bit (as I have ridden mx in the past until late 2008), both in how they gripped as wear, and there was mutch quality diffrece betwen tires from diffrent production dates, some worked better and lasted better than others even same modell as size ridden on same track.

Ive never had any cupping on the road 2 rears, and 98% have been from Thailand. Im not sure any have came out of spain. Only my front powers have come out of spain, but a ive ran a couple dozen road 2's.

I ve seen some here post pics of cupped road 2's which was alittle surprising, many of those also have aftermarket suspension mods, which can also play a big role.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've never had any cupping issues with the Michelins on previous bikes including 2 sets on my last VFR, however, I've just done a tyre check on the bike I just bought and the Michelins are cupped on the front.

I'm guessing tyre pressure may have had a lot do with this as the bike was not used often.

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I've never had any cupping issues with the Michelins on previous bikes including 2 sets on my last VFR, however, I've just done a tyre check on the bike I just bought and the Michelins are cupped on the front.

I'm guessing tyre pressure may have had a lot do with this as the bike was not used often.

But...I'm pretty ocd about tire pressure and my pp/pr2 or pr2/pr2 combos have always cupped. And yet they are the only tires that haven't induced head shake even when completely worn. And I'm not all that heavy at 185lb, but I do have an Ohlins shock and RC front suspension. But I'm not aggressive on the street although maybe a little ham fisted and clumsy through the corners. I think all my Michelins have come from Spain, except one rear from Thailand...I could smell the curry on that one.

Maybe someone needs to put all this user info in a database and create an algorithm that provides the ultimate answer. :wink:

Actually, my current PP3 front has worn incredibly well and evenly, no cupping. The rear PR2 is cupped though, along with being squared of from the daily commute.

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