[Michelin Pilot Street Radial Cbr 250r Forum
Kody Coste
Not a tire I would normally purchase. Went down to Brothers Powersports in Bremerton, WA to chat with Mike about tires. He and nick both had some great input. I have been runnin the Michelin Pilot Power 3's since about the 500 mile mark on Priscilla and I am at about 12000 miles. Been through several sets of the power 3's. Bought the last set in November. Mike was laughing about how destroyed they were after a few months of ridin the wet Washington weather. Burnt up toasted, flat spotted from rollin burnouts and screwin around in the wet. Lots of TC 'testing' rofl.
They recommended the new Pilot Road 4 and had excellent reasoning behind it.
1. Fantastic wet weather traction.
2. 20% of the middle portion of the tire is a med-hard compound with aggressive directional siping.
- this gives excellent long wear and yet provides a level of conformity to the road that gives great feedback and surprisingly good adhesion in the wet and improves on dry roads.
3. The outer 40% on either side if the middle strip is a medium compound for grip at lean.
- this is an excellent 'feeling' tire. The grooves stop well why of usable lean angle tread leaving firm traction contact patch in michelins excellent medium coumpound. This tire warms up well and starts to provide fantastic grip and feedback right to foot peg feeler touchdown on a stock length bike set up for cornering (aka tail high, weight forward, 28 mm sag front, 29mm sag rear).
I was skeptical, considering a sport touring tire not grippy enough for my usual hooligan ridin. But this tire grips very well, almost as well as the power. At the edge of adhesion, it does give up a little grip compared to the power 3. But that is not truly a safe level of push on the street. The adhesion edge I have found so far without great conditions is confidence inspiring and absolutely solid. I am surprised, actually blown away by how much I like this tire.
I purchased and run only the 190/55 profile rear and this tire has a very nice shape for lean angle adhesion. You give up a little 'launch grip' on the street, but the long wearing excellent performance even in the wet, seems an excellent trade off.
NOTE: This tire is very sensitive to pressure. I weigh 185lbs. Inflated to 41.5 rear / 41.0 front, was too hard. It returned a 'squidgy' feel at cruise. I checked and reduced the tire pressures to: 38 front / 39 rear, and now she feels flawless! Very nice compliant ride with a slightly softer sidewall stiffness than the power 3. Very comfortable high performance, high tech tire. Very stable at speeds in excess of 170mph so far.
Thank you to Mike V., And Nick, excellent service and fast and efficient work, as always. It is rare nowadays to find a dealership that exceeds expectations! Also thanks to an excellent sales staff that always feeds me coffee! And a huge poppyseed muffin that hit the spot! :)) they are great down there, they know I get cranky if I'm not fed!
Same impression i had with the pilot road 3's. I got over 12k on them rite now and still have about 4/32 left on tire. Maybe good for another 2k miles or so...will be getting the PR4's next. Im about the same weight as you..can not say enough good things about this tire. Plus here in cali we have much hotter days in the summer. Average 90-100 degrees. That heat will heat up and burn out tires faster. Winter here has been pretty mild 30-70 degrees nights/days. Party on man party on.these tires have lasted me over a year. Im usually buying tires every 4-6 months. 4-6 k miles.
I must add some impressions here after several hundred miles of hard riding and a dyno session.
While this is a fantastic tire it is also a heavy tire. That unsprung weight wayyy out on the edge of the rotating mass does not lend itself to dyno work. Heavier tires throw lower numbers. As dyno work is a large part of what I have to do, I simply sourced another tire that I know has a light carcass I can swap to on dyno days. For street ridin, the road 4 is fantastic, but it does have a slightly heavier 'feel'. Not a bad thing, and not something most would even notice. And at high speeds it is very stable. Grips excellent right to the edge, wears very well. Requires a slightly firmer input on the bars at the limit due to this extra tire weight. A slightly more deliberate set of inputs is required as it is a heavier tire. If you are used to that 'supersport' light tire feel given by a pilot power or a Pirelli diablo Corsa sort of tire, this tire may not be the tire for you. I like it, it is performing well. The reality is that it is a 'sport touring' type tire and that means it needs a heavier carcass to produce that long wear zone in the middle. Just my 2c. I wanted to make sure to update my impressions so that anyone considering this tire is aware of the negatives as well as the positives! Cheers!
It looks like the size of the compound areas have remained the same as the PR3. They have added other versions, standard, GT, and trail for load rating. It looks like the size of the rubber zones have changed per each version of the 4 series.
I know our bike sorta falls into the touring class. The touring tires are mainly designed for 2 up and loaded bikes. They are probably the ideal type tire for our bikes in all other weather conditions except summer. Where a Q3 or power would allow you to take advantage of the stickier rubber in the warmer weather.
I have to say after several days of riding and one absolutely beautiful day yesterday, these tires are earning my respect. It was clear and dry and 56*f yesterday and I was in F-Off drivin off corner vigorously after a good warm up. Was pushing hard enough to get the front to start to make that 'WHORRRRRLLLL' sound as adhesion reaches its limit. Great tires. Absolutely a street tire, not a track tire, but more than enough grip to push very hard. Some corners that I know well I was pushing hard enough on exit to get the rear end to start stepping out a little, and this is where this tire is fantastic, when this tire does let go, it does so in a nice predictable smooth fashion, gentle decrease in throttle roll and she hooks back up predictably. I found that traction line between hard and medium compound in the rear and found myself leaning a little harder to access the sticker rubber. Fun tire! Wearing great in the short amount of time I have been on her hard. Slips under hard launches are easily controlled with this tire via a little clutch slip. I like the feel of it at lean, very confidence inspiring in the same way as the power 3. She ain't gonna do anything unpredictable on ya!
Note: !AGAIN! Tire pressure!! Can't say enough about staying on top of it. I make it a habit to check my tire pressure every single time I get ready to ride. Has added a total of twenty seconds to my prep time. Unless I need to adjust pressure, in which case I need to do that so it's right. Then every ride you KNOW it's right. You never want to be second guessing yourself at lean.
I keep waitin on them pics so I can post up a thread about it bud! Next time we gotta take wayy more pics! I had so much fun! You are one faaaasssstt MOFO! A freakin pleasure ridin with you and the gang! Can't wait to do it again on the 9th! WOT! Thank you again for welcoming me to a FANTASTIC team bro! The OPRT crew is gonna get major props!
Pilot Road 4 GT has a stiffer casing with a patented new technology for motorcycle tires that delivers the stability you need for heavier GT-class bikes while riding solo, two-up or with luggage, and the comfort you desire.
Hagrid not sure what kinda roads you ride on or how hard you ride your bike but only getting 3600 miles out of a set of theses tires I cant belive ??? Unless you do massive burn outs and spin the wheel up every chance you get. ???
last set of PR3's I had I got 13k out of them. I posted up pics and. milage on other posts. I just got the Pr4's about 3 months ago. Already have over 5k miles on them and they show very little wear. The Pr4's are a step abouve the pr3's in Road feel and handling. I got the sport not the gt versions. I have a 10 inch stretch on my bike so you would think I'd sow more center tire wear than stock wheel base bike. I have a 100 mile commute to work. Do 200 -300 mile tyisty rides on the weekend. Temps where I live in the summer months range from 65 - 110 degress during the day. As Cbast has said they require air pressure to be around 40 psi. I run 40psi frt qnd 42psi rear
She feeds in power consistently to the limit with predictable and stable slides leaving black strips on corner exit. This is a SPORT TOURING tire. The performance of the pilot road 4 at ANY angle for a street tire should be considered FLAWLESS. Did another track day with her today. I have like 6000 miles on that front. And maybe 3000 miles on that rear. To still give consistent track day grip on such a big motorcycle is really incredible performance for a street tire. Possibly the best street tire I have ever ridden. And at the track they feel fine. No they don't grip like a power 3 at full lean, but damn if I didn't touch knee down on Priscilla with em several times at the track today. That's impressive for a sport touring tire in my book.
Not sure on what the gt is rated but the sport is w ratred tire. 75w printed on the sidewall. As ive said before the pr4 is a step above the pr3. If you look at specs between the 2ct and the pr4 they are close to the same. The pr4 has similar construction as the 2ct. Its even printed on side of tire . Joust a different compound rubber on the pr4 for better milage and longer wear.
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