Pilot Roads:the Highest Mileage Tires For The Viffer...

[Dariusx]

Nearing 6,500 mi on my OE Dunlop D204 rear which is at the wear bars now. Tread life and stability are more important to me than stickiness since I mostly commute and go ez in the bent stuff.

From what I gather on here an other sources, it looks as thought the PR's will last the longest. I am hoping to get at least 10K+ out of a set of back rubber if possible.

Does this sound reasonable?

[toddulu]

:blink:

I'm curious as to what the results of this will be. I just pulled off the standard Pirelli Diablo and only got 4500 out of it. I just put on the Pirelli Strada to hopefully get more miles, but I'm curious as to what others have to say...

[Guest]

Yeah I think the Pilot Road 2 tires tested really well:

Sport Touring Tire Test Done on 800 Vtec VFR

[AB-Oz]

try a rear Bridgestone Macadam if you want high mileage, hardest damn things on the planet!!

[VFRtiger]

I am getting ready to change out my PRs with PR2s because of an upcoming trip. The current PRs have almost 13,000 miles on them and could probably go another 1,000 or so with no problems. Of course we are fanatical about tire pressure checks and most of my time is spent on our wonderful FL roads, very little curves.

[Baileyrock]

I personally HATE Pilot Roads and would never run them again even on a wheel barrel as they are the worst feeling tires I've ever ridden, but this only applies to people who ride hard and fast , but most avg. riders would never notice a problem with them. :blink:

Now the New Pilot Road 2's are a fantastic tire IMO with exceptional grip wet and dry and much improved handling over the old PR's. I'm also confident they will out last Strada's, PR's, 020's, 220's, and any other ST tire I've ever run and with better grip to boot!

I recommend them highly. :goofy:

[Veefer800Canuck]

try a rear Bridgestone Macadam if you want high mileage, hardest damn things on the planet!!

Macadam is a Michelin product line, the old 90x and 100x radials from back in the 1990s.

They are discontinued, but there is some old stock in warehouses and they're slowly being sold off.

Just checked, and Michelin is not listing them on their site anymore.

There are the Macadam 50 series, but they are sized for smaller commuter type bikes and are also not radials.

They do however, still have Rossi doing a horn mono on Michelins. :blink:

[Darth Bling]

I am hoping to get at least 10K+ out of a set of back rubber if possible.

Does this sound reasonable?

It all depends on your right wrist. For example, I've gotten 9000 miles out of a pair of Diablo Stradas, but Baileyrock only got 2500 miles or so out of a set. If your easy on the throttle, don't accelerate hard, and never go more than 5 over the speed limit when slabbing down the highway, then yes it's quite reasonable.

You three best bets for tire life are probably going to be the Metzler Z6, Diablo Strada, and the Pilot Road 2. They are offer good traction, but they should last 8k miles or more if you're easy on the throttle and don't slab down the highway at high rates of speed. Personally, I'd take the Stradas over the Z6s (I've ran both and I like the Stradas better).

I've heard bad things about the original Pilot Roads. They do last a while, but they apparently have poor feedback and lack decent grip. The new Pilot Roads 2 are supposed to be pretty awesome though. I've heard good things about them. I've just purchased a set of Pilot Roads 2, so I'm going to see how many miles I can put on these things. I'm expected at least 9000, maybe even 10,000 miles out of them.

[doug5551]

Thanks for starting this thread.

I use Pilot Roads and PR2s only.

The best I have gotten with the original Pilot Roads was 12,000 miles on a rear and 18,000 miles on a front.

The rear PR I am using now seems to be wearing out a little quicker than that, but I rode 5,000 miles in a week going from San Diego to Jacksonville, Fla and back, and that might have something to do with the wear.

I am definetly in BR's classification of "but most avg. riders would never notice a problem with them". I absolutely love the original PR, but I am not an aggressive rider.

I have one partially used PR2 which I need to put back on. I do not know yet how the PR2 is going to compare with the original PR for mileage yet.

I do know I am going to stick with Michelins for my tires.

[Guest]

You'll get excellent mileage with the Dunlop D220's also. I put my first set on at 6500 miles. I know have 12,400 miles and they're still real fat and feel fine. I bet I get a good 8000+ out of them no problem. They defenitely dont stick as well as even the OEM rubber though.

[sckego]

I haven't ran Pilot Roads on the VFR, but I did have a set on my SV650. They had good lifespan (4K miles on them when I sold the bike, still looked nearly new), but like others said, they don't have very good grip at all. They'd be fine for sedate commuting/cruising around, but I got the back to slip out several times at what I would call just a moderate pace. Forget about anything approaching real sport riding.

The Metzler Z6 that I had on the VFR, on the other hand... there is a confidence inspiring tire. I never did a trackday on it, but I did some pretty agressive sport riding on it, including some 2-up, and it was rock solid. It had nearly 10,000 miles on it when it got a flat, and probably had another 1-2K left before it would have had to be replaced.

I replaced the Z6 with a Pilot Road 2... I'm planning to try that one at the track sometime this summer, and will report back later with how it did grip and wear-wise.

[Tightwad]

For my first Tire Change, I went from Pilot Sports to Bridgestone BT021. I found these tires to be very good. I don't recall the mileage I had on the bike when I installed them, but it was probably in the 16K mile range. I have 23K on the bike now, and the rear is getting very close to bald. Not tremendous mileage, but i am not super gentle on them. They worked well on my recent trip in the Ozarks, where I wore them from side to side pretty well for a flat land boy.

[BonusVFR]

I have had 204s, BT20s, BT21s and PRs on my 5th gen. The best for mileage has been the PRs............got a whole 6k out of the rear. Most of the other rears got about 5K or less.

Would love to try the PR2s but opted for the new Dunlops instead as they were cheaper. Have an old blackbird tire (not used) in the garage too.

[Guest]

I can't believe someone hasn't said anything about the Conti Road Attacks. One could easily get 10K on those riding easy. I got 9000 on my first set and 8000 on the second set. The second set wore faster because I was getting more skilled on the VFR and riding more aggressively.

Riding the Stradas now just to see how long they last. If they don't last as long as the Contis I'll be going back to those. They have similar ride properties, but I am like the Strada a little more right now. They have an easier turn-in than the Contis.

[Dariusx]

I am getting ready to change out my PRs with PR2s because of an upcoming trip. The current PRs have almost 13,000 miles on them and could probably go another 1,000 or so with no problems. Of course we are fanatical about tire pressure checks and most of my time is spent on our wonderful FL roads, very little curves.

Wow, 13k is pretty impressive...I'd be thrilled with that :comp13:

[HiDesertMLB]

Cheng-Shin Hi-Max tires are my all-time favorite! (j/k) :comp13:

I have Bridgestone BT020's with 7,000 miles on them. There's another 1,500 mi. of wear left. Not very sticky when warm, but a good commuter tire. I like them. BT021 is their replacement it appears. From what I understand, BT021s aren't offered in a 170/60-17.

[Guest]

I have Bridgestone BT020's with 7,000 miles on them. There's another 1,500 mi. of wear left. Not very sticky when warm, but a good commuter tire. I like them. BT021 is their replacement it appears. From what I understand, BT021s aren't offered in a 170/60-17.

According to this page they are:

http://www.motorcycle-karttires.com/glamou...x?productID=180

Just found a screw in my rear tire (BT-020) last night before my ride home from work... The tire is due for replacement anyway, so I filled it with air and rode home. Still had 20psi in it when I got home (35km ride) but i'm still replacing it now. It's been patched once already.

That BT-021 looks nice. Too bad I just replaced my front (also BT-020) last year. I doubt i'd have a problem with BT-020 in front and BT-021 in back though.

[Bent]

I'd rather have tires that stick to the road very well and will go around a turn competently than a tire that lasts a long long time but is dangerous in the handling and stick department.

Tires are like beer, oil threads, and people. That's why there are so many kinds. :fing02:

[Guest]

I was pissed I only got 2000 miles out of my OEM Metezler ME4As, totaly junk the tire came square on the back from new. Just put on Pilot Road 2s and cant wait to see how they do. I love the Pilot Powers on my sport bikes.

[Nicole]

I got 16,000 out of the BT-020's that came on the bike. Replaced with another set of 020's and have 9,000 on that set now. Plenty of tread left too.. I didn't crash at TMAC either! :fing02: I don't ride as aggressively as many of you but they never made me feel uncomfortable, even in the rain.

[Bent]

I got 16,000 out of the BT-020's that came on the bike. Replaced with another set of 020's and have 9,000 on that set now. Plenty of tread left too.. I didn't crash at TMAC either! :fing02: I don't ride as aggressively as many of you but they never made me feel uncomfortable, even in the rain.

Yeah, but you're Nicole. There's only one of those you know, well, but then there's Michelle too..... :beer:

Have a nice weekend!!! Easy on those tars.... :fing02:

[Stéphane]

High mileage tires and riding style - although important - is only one part of the equation. There's also the shape of the tires, Look below there are 2 tires: The one on the left (triangular shaped tire)is a sport tire with a smaller contact patch while riding upright, while the one on the right (touring) offers a much wider contact patch going upright. This allows longer life even with a softer compound.

[Guest]

I got 16,000 out of the BT-020's that came on the bike.

If you actually got that kind of mileage out of the rear, I can only imagine what that tire looked like.

Why are most of you trying to push the envelope? Tires are probably one of the most important items that should always be in good shape....not to see when the cords start to come through. :fing02:

Back on subject: I bought a set of BT021's last year and put only about 5000 km (re:3000 miles) on them. The rear is showing almost no wear yet but I replaced the front with a PR2 when I upgraded the suspension. To those that are wondering about mix/matching front and rear, so far this combo has worked out excellent.

[Baileyrock]

I got 16,000 out of the BT-020's that came on the bike.

If you actually got that kind of mileage out of the rear, I can only imagine what that tire looked like.

Those are actually Trailered miles Nicole got. :fing02:

[didit]

Just had a set of PR 2CT installed. All of 100k on them. From the start they felt great, with little effort for transition.

I had PP on last time and they too were teriffic, but a little dissapointed on the mileage. Looking forward to longer life!

As for Stephane's comment, when I tried out his ride last year I could really feel the difference in transition. Felt like it just wanted to get over now.

That triangle profile really makes a difference.