Pilot road 2 - expensive? I think not

[Gingernutz]

When I changed my BT023s last time I wanted something different because of road noise in the front. I stumped up £280 for a pair of pilot road twos. I thought I had been had but just worked out I got 18000 miles out of them. I am kind on tyres but that is ridiculous. They were very squared by the end but still grippy and road legal. I've swapped them for Pilot Road 3s at an eye watering £303 fitted but reckon these might be the last tyres the bike will ever have at that rate. Thread pattern is weird and obviously still need riding in but hoping for big things in the wet this winter. Anyone else on them?

[Punkstig]

The PR3's are exactly the same compound as the PR2's, the only difference being the design of the sipe pattern, in the wet they are fantastic, although I believe there's a set if Metzelers with a better wet rating.


Good time of year to put the PR3’s on however if you rarely ride in the wet then the PR2's are cheaper with the same mileage life!

[nick crisp]

When I changed my BT023s last time I wanted something different because of road noise in the front. I stumped up £280 for a pair of pilot road twos. I thought I had been had but just worked out I got 18000 miles out of them. I am kind on tyres but that is ridiculous. They were very squared by the end but still grippy and road legal. I've swapped them for Pilot Road 3s at an eye watering £303 fitted but reckon these might be the last tyres the bike will ever have at that rate. Thread pattern is weird and obviously still need riding in but hoping for big things in the wet this winter. Anyone else on them?

18000 miles?!! This is getting ridiculous. Do you have a hover-bike?! 6000 miles out of my last PR2s, front and rear! (Yes, I know mine's a thou, but even so....) Mind you, I only paid £236 the pair, fitted on the bike, wheels balanced. 6000 rear I'm actually quite happy with tbh, but the front......not so good. But still really like them.

[Punkstig]

Suspension setup has a big effect on tyre wear too Nick, too firm and it puts more pressure on the tyres wearing quicker!

[nick crisp]

Suspension setup has a big effect on tyre wear too Nick, too firm and it puts more pressure on the tyres wearing quicker!

Yes but I like the way it's handling at the moment, better than my last 3 thous. I like a hard ride, oo-er! I'm not really complaining, just after 30 years of riding bikes, 15 years of working in the trade, I've never heard of people getting these kinds of mileages from their tyres, not on 600s and over anyway. All I can think of is that tyre tech has improved so even stickier tyres are lasting longer. After all, I only used to average about 4000 per rear!

[unfazed]

When I changed my BT023s last time I wanted something different because of road noise in the front. I stumped up £280 for a pair of pilot road twos. I thought I had been had but just worked out I got 18000 miles out of them. I am kind on tyres but that is ridiculous. They were very squared by the end but still grippy and road legal. I've swapped them for Pilot Road 3s at an eye watering £303 fitted but reckon these might be the last tyres the bike will ever have at that rate. Thread pattern is weird and obviously still need riding in but hoping for big things in the wet this winter. Anyone else on them?

How on earth do you get 18000 miles out of a back tyre? :eek :eek If I get 5000 I would be lucky. :'(

[Punkstig]

Same as anything -give and take, mileage or sticky, although that really is changing!


Up until these michelin's I think 12,000 was my best out of a rear, but was normally around the 10,000 mark.
Now I'm disappointed if I don't get 15,000!

[Dead Eye]

I reckon I should see 8,000 at least out of my BT023's on my 600, hopefully more

[nick crisp]

I think I would like to see everyone post what mileage they get out of their tyres, so I can see if I'm doing something wrong, or if the thous are really that much harder on the tyres, or maybe you get less if you live in Wales?!!  :lol  Then again, their roads are smoother, so you should get more mileage out of em.

There is one other possibility: Since I've moved from London/South east, I'm doing more higher speed rides as the choice of good roads has improved for me out this way. Certainly that would help to explain why I got so little out of my last front.

[Punkstig]

Harder riding = lower mileage,
Heavy acceleration affects rear tyre heavy breaking affects front tyre, I try to be as smooth as possible when it comes to corners or braking for junctions, accelerating I can't help myself! 

[Gingernutz]

If it's any help comparison wise on the bridgestones I got 11-13000 and both wore out at the same time. The shoulders went first but the rp2 the wear was more even except for the squaring. I use the bike for work - 1000 miles a month claimed in mileage plus call commutes on top  so not much huneing into corners. I am an engine breaker but like to keep the pace up - even in Sussex we have a few decent roads for making progress. Tbh I'm surprised you get 6000 out of a rear on a thou -mates r1 eats them know a third of that

[andybesy]

I've just checked my service log and I got 17,800 out of my BT023 FRONT.

Unfortunately my last BT023 rear was changed due to puncture at around 6,000.

But on the previous one I got around 10,000 before deciding to change it due to squaring ahead of a big tour. Could have squeezed 12k but wanted to enjoy the Alps.

18K is outstanding, but shame to put up with squared tyre during summer!

Andy

[peterjca]

I also usually get 10 to 12K out of a rear, in my case BT23s. My FZ1 Fazer, at 26K+, is still on its original chain and sprockets!

[Gingernutz]

Peter when I got my latest foxeye it had a manky rusty dry chain and had only done 6000 miles in five years. I put a did gold heavy weight c &S  kit on - 43000 miles ago.  Not made any extra effort to look after it just reckon the little fazer isn't up to stretching it. On a thou 26k on the original chain must be a record

[peterjca]

It was MOT-ed and serviced a week ago. It's got a scotoiler and I clean the muck off the chain every few weeks with hot soapy water followed by a coating of scotoil. Also, I'm not much of a hooligan rider which is probably more to the point! Can't recall having original chain and sprockets lasting that long on any new bike I've had. On a previous FZ1, they were changed on or before the 18K service. Perhaps a thou is wasted on me  :eek

[adeejaysdelight]

I am happy with 4000-5000 from a rear. I only use the Fazer for fun, so there is only a few miles for the bike to warm up and the rest of the time it is turned up to 11. If I want to take it easy I'll take the car. If I want to preserve tyre life I will take the 125. If I take the 600, its because I want to get my freak on.

[NotAnotherHill]

I've got my third set of PR2s on my 600 Fazer. I can get a tad over 7k out of a rear before it has got down to the 1 mm mark on the rear. The front has more life but I always change in pairs. I'm fairly 'spirited' in my riding. There's no way I could get 10k plus out of a set of tyres unless they were made of rock.

[nick crisp]

So thank god it's not just me then! 18,000 miles ffs  :rolleyes

[VNA]

PR2's are good and should be available at a discount now.

I had a set on my thou, got 6000 out of the first rear.  The second got punctured at 3000 miles - about half worn, still got it as a spare.  So front, which was well ropey at the end had done about 9000 miles and would have failed an MOT.

On PR3's.  The wet weather grip is good, it feels just that wee bit better.

[VNA]

You get a good bit more milage out of a rear on a 600, but 18,000 miles?  FFS.

Tyres have improved immensely when it comes to wear.

The Metz's my thou came with, well the rear was totally shagged in 3000 miles, not to mention it didn't grip that well.

The BT020's would give 4000 miles per rear.

Now I can get 6000 miles- amazing, though only if I can avoid punctures.