Tire Mileage & Combos - Different Front & Rear?

[BrianF]

Is anyone running a combo set on their 12? Thinking maybe Pilot Power front and PR2 rear?

My tire mileage is dropping, dropping, dropping. OEMs went about 3800 (includes trackday), first set of PR2s about 6000 (all touring), second set of PR2s about 4500, and my current front PR2 is at the wear bars at 3000. Unreal. The crazy thing is the fronts are wearing about twice as fast as the rear on the last 2 sets.

Yes it's a heavy bike and yes I ride, um, rapidly (with almost zero straight roads or commuting), but this is getting out of hand.

As I plan to ride this through the winter and then send it to the scrapheap, I'm wondering if anyone is using two different tires. Figure it never hurts to ask first, if not, I'll just take the plunge and see what happens.

Gracias.

[crazybrother]

Brian, my fronts wore out before the rear too... I'm thinking, heavy breaking in the corners... PR2's front & rear now.. Seems to be better.

[Volfy]

I currently have Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa front and Metzeler M5 rear. I did it mostly because my local tire dealer happened to have this pair on clearance for dirt cheap. I knew they wouldn't last, but at the price I got them, I didn't care. I am surprised I actually went past 3000 miles with them. I probably could go a bit more, but the set of new Roadsmart II's sitting in the garage is growing impatient.

With these (relatively) heavy STs, front tire wearing faster than the rear is not uncommon. The C14 I rode before has this tendency too. Thought a lot of it depends on how the bike is ridden. A lot of riders use ONLY front brakes and likes to "stab" them. For street riding, I almost always commence any braking with the rear brake first to settle the chassis. For me, the C14 wore fairly evenly F&R, but other riders report 1.5 to 2 front tire to every rear. Even though I have on the VFR1200 a "sportier" front tire than the rear, the Rosso Corsa is only wearing moderately more than the M5. The soft compound, though, is making the front cup badly.

Still, if you are going to run different tire F&R, I would still go with a better tire up front, even if it means changing 2 fronts for every rear. Front tires are cheap and I'd rather have all the traction I can get there.

[BrianF]

Brian, my fronts wore out before the rear too... I'm thinking, heavy breaking in the corners... PR2's front & rear now.. Seems to be better.

I've always had PR2s front and rear too...and my riding style certainly hasn't changed. I'm fine with 2 fronts for every rear, just wanted to see if others had experience with that wear, and whether they've matched a softer front with an ST rear.

I currently have Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa front and Metzeler M5 rear. I did it mostly because my local tire dealer happened to have this pair on clearance for dirt cheap. I knew they wouldn't last, but at the price I got them, I didn't care. I am surprised I actually went past 3000 miles with them. I probably could go a bit more, but the set of new Roadsmart II's sitting in the garage is growing impatient.

With these (relatively) heavy STs, front tire wearing faster than the rear is not uncommon. The C14 I rode before has this tendency too. Thought a lot of it depends on how the bike is ridden. A lot of riders use ONLY front brakes and likes to "stab" them. For street riding, I almost always commence any braking with the rear brake first to settle the chassis. For me, the C14 wore fairly evenly F&R, but other riders report 1.5 to 2 front tire to every rear. Even though I have on the VFR1200 a "sportier" front tire than the rear, the Rosso Corsa is only wearing moderately more than the M5. The soft compound, though, is making the front cup badly.

Still, if you are going to run different tire F&R, I would still go with a better tire up front, even if it means changing 2 fronts for every rear. Front tires are cheap and I'd rather have all the traction I can get there.

Good stuff here Volfy, thanks. I'm actually a pretty heavy rear brake user (at least when the bike is loaded - as it was for most of this last sets' life) and other than the occasional panic-brake moment I'm very smooth on/off and don't trail brake heavily. That's part of the reason I'm so amazed by the drop in mileage from set to set.

I think I'm going to take a run at the Pilot Power (or whatever they have laying around at the dealership), and we'll see what happens. Can't hurt to try.

[Switchblade]

Just did the PP3's front and a Continental Motion rear today for 350 miles. Really like the the way the rear fills when turning tight and I think it because of the different V shape of the front compared the rear. Its like the front turns in and then the rear turns in a little later.

[VFRKEN]

Just my 2 cents and thought I'd share but I cant say enough good about the Battlax BT-023GT I'm over 4000 mi and going strong on my set of Bridgestone BT-023GT , it's a Sport Touring Specific tire reinforced for heavier ST bikes and it's Canyon Chaser's High Mileage Leader , here's their review: http://www.canyonchasers.net/reviews/tires/bridgestone/bt023.php

[luvtoleanit]

Good to know, and thanks for posting. I just mounted a set of these and couldn't believe my first day of twisty work. They stuck like glue.

[spud786]

BT23gt on the 1200 might work fine on the 1200, on my 800 it was slick on the sides, so bad I wanted off that tire before the fall and rainy season. The bar is set at the PR2 , the GT fell short, although the life is similar, performance I found lacking on the GT. I only ran the rear, as its the only place I run sport tour tires.

Edited September 18, 2013 by spud786

[BrianF]

PP2 will be delivered tomorrow, and mounted this weekend. Will let y'all know what I think after a bit of mileage.

[Dutchgixxer]

I run S20 in front and a T30 rear. A good combination. With the S20 the steering is much quicker.

[Volfy]

It's about time Bridgestone come up with a new Sport Touring tire. T30 isn't available on this side of the pond yet. Hopefully it will give PR3 a run for the money.

[luvtoleanit]

It's about time Bridgestone come up with a new Sport Touring tire. T30 isn't available on this side of the pond yet. Hopefully it will give PR3 a run for the money.

The 23GT has been great for me so far, really surprising amount of grip. S20 front/23GT rear would be a good combination.

[2thdr]

I have run one weekend of Ozark Mtn twities on a new rear BT023 (non-GT version) on my CB1000R and it never turned loose...I like it! Still have the OEM BT015 sport rubber on the front and considered getting a front S20, but elected to get another BT023 for the front...we'll see how that goes. I'm not expecting any surprises, the softer compound on the sides seems very grippy.

[Beck]

I usually wear out my fronts before my rears. Riding the twisties and braking (I hardly touch the rear brake and do so only lightly just to settle the bike) for corners really beat them up quick and really accelerated the bad cupping I used to get from Dunlops too, before I switched over to PR2's The PR2's had held up much better than the previous Dunlops I ran before them. Hardly any cupping up front and the rear had resisted getting a flat crown from superslab droning, so it seems like Michelin's dual compound design really works.

[BrianF]

I usually wear out my fronts before my rears. Riding the twisties and braking (I hardly touch the rear brake and do so only lightly just to settle the bike) for corners really beat them up quick and really accelerated the bad cupping I used to get from Dunlops too, before I switched over to PR2's The PR2's had held up much better than the previous Dunlops I ran before them. Hardly any cupping up front and the rear had resisted getting a flat crown from superslab droning, so it seems like Michelin's dual compound design really works.

My problem (and this is a great problem to have) is that I am the inverse of most riders: I spend about 3/4s of my time railing corners, and at most 1/4 on straight roads. That means I burn through the softer compound very quickly and leave the middle relatively unused. PR2s are great tires, no argument there. Excited to see how the bike handles with some sticky rubber up front though.

[Volfy]

My problem (and this is a great problem to have) is that I am the inverse of most riders: I spend about 3/4s of my time railing corners, and at most 1/4 on straight roads. That means I burn through the softer compound very quickly and leave the middle relatively unused. PR2s are great tires, no argument there. Excited to see how the bike handles with some sticky rubber up front though.

Sounds like you'd be prime candidate for single-compound tires like the Metzeler M5. Instead of using dual compound, they applied different tensioning to the steel strings from center to shoulder. Unlike the front Diablo Corsa, which is worn similar what you described (shoulders worn much more then center), my rear M5 has worn fairly evenly and actually has the typical flat strip down the center. I do carve corners, but nowhere near as much as you do, so you might get even better life out of the M5 than I did.

[BrianF]

I'm digging this thread up to report good news: despite being swamped at work, I've finally put about 600 miles on with the PR2/PP2 combo and I can report that it works very, very well. Steering is extremely responsive, to the point that I had to adjust my entry and exit points on some of my favorite corners. The bike just wants to get leaned over.

In terms of wear, I think I'm about 1/4 of the way down on the PP2. The rear PR2 still looks pretty good around 50%. At this point I see no reason why I won't switch to this combo full-time, though I still plan to kick the 12 outta the garage come Spring. We'll see.