Michelin Pilot Road 3 Update...

Michelin Pilot Road 3 Update...

Author
Discussion

Mr OCD

Original Poster:

6,388 posts

210 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
smack said:
y2blade said:
These will be going on the FireBlade next....EVERYTHING I've read says they are superb tires,
Remember they are Sports Touring tyres, not sticky sports rubber that get better the more abused and hotter they get. The PR3 will cope, but be out of it's zone.
Very common opinion from people running 'sticky sports' rubber on the road who have not tried current ST rubber for themselves.

I have a lot of mates back home who ride bikes... they have been riding for a great deal longer than me and dismissed all ST rubber for that same reason. Until one day last year one of the lads got fed up of replacing tyres every 2000 miles and gave the PR3's a try ... he couldn't tell any difference between the 'sticky sports' rubber and the PR3 on his litre sports bike on the road and now won't shut up about how good they are ...

Guess what most of them are using now ... yep ... PR3's ... smile

y2blade

56,029 posts

214 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
Mr OCD said:
smack said:
y2blade said:
These will be going on the FireBlade next....EVERYTHING I've read says they are superb tires,
Remember they are Sports Touring tyres, not sticky sports rubber that get better the more abused and hotter they get. The PR3 will cope, but be out of it's zone.
Very common opinion from people running 'sticky sports' rubber on the road who have not tried current ST rubber for themselves.

I have a lot of mates back home who ride bikes... they have been riding for a great deal longer than me and dismissed all ST rubber for that same reason. Until one day last year one of the lads got fed up of replacing tyres every 2000 miles and gave the PR3's a try ... he couldn't tell any difference between the 'sticky sports' rubber and the PR3 on his litre sports bike on the road and now won't shut up about how good they are ...

Guess what most of them are using now ... yep ... PR3's ... smile
Yep

y2blade said:
Silver993tt said:
smack said:
Remember they are Sports Touring tyres, not sticky sports rubber that get better the more abused and hotter they get. The PR3 will cope, but be out of it's zone.
You won't get near to the limits of the PR3 on the road unless you ride like someone who shouldn't be on the road in the 1st place smile
Aye that's what I thought but People run them on trackdays too, without an issue.
To me they sound ideal for fast road use.


Have a read:

user review said:
I’ve been running the new Michelin Pilot Road 3s on my 2011 ZX-10R for 1800 miles. In that time I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve asked me why I’m running wets on my bike. I can’t blame them for thinking that, because Michelin’s new Pilot Road 3s have a very weird-looking tread pattern and don’t look like any other road tyres on the market.

At the heart of that weird tread pattern is the new ‘Sipe’ technology. These sipes are essentially the thin gaps in the tyre’s tread pattern which act to break the water film and help the tyre remain in contact with the road. Each sipe is connected to a series of small wells that Michelin call reservoirs and these are used to store the water on contact and then release it once the that portion of tyre is no longer in contact with the road.

So really, you wouldn’t think there’s much new here. Afterall, the tread pattern on your tyres has been designed to do exactly the same thing. Or has it? Not exactly, as the sipes sit between the normal tread pattern and are much more abundant than the usual grooves in your tyre. So while the sipes remove the water, the tread can work harder at finding grip.

On the tyre’s launch, Michelin claimed it could do everything: kneedown in the wet, good grip on dry roads, lots of miles. It all seemed a bit like the marketing machine had gone into overdrive.

I’ve clocked up 1800 miles on them so far, with a majority of the miles being motorways, it has to be said. A recent trip to Spa contributed to around 650 of those.

The warm-up time for normal road-riding could almost be measured in metres, not miles. My ZX-10R has traction control, which would normally chirp in if I gassed the bike up as soon as I left the drive, but it doesn’t with the Pilot Road 3s they just dig in. I can also get to the traffic lights at the end of my road (it’s not a very long road) and pull a rolling stoppie without the front washing out.

On a Sunday blast, they’re faultless. I don’t find myself lusting after more grip like I would have done if I’d fitted sports-touring tyres to a superbike 5 years ago. They warm-up fast and feel good from the very word go.

In the wet they’re nothing short of impressive. Sometimes when you have to go places on a superbike in the wet, you need a deep breath before you set off but the wet conditions don’t affect my confidence with these tyres. It takes a hell of a lot of front brake on a wet road to get the ABS kicking in.

At Spa I went out on track for one session. It’s a fast track, with lots of flowing corners. While the Pilot Road 3s felt good for the majority of the track, I was only tickling the bike ‘round and didn’t learn the track enough to push the tyres and see what they would do. The only real excessive wear I noticed after Spa was to the sipes on the front wheel, where under heavy braking they had started to wear. However, on certain points on the track you're scrubbing off speed from 150+mph and so that's the wear you'd expect. You're not going to be doing that on the road 3 times every couple of minutes.

That said, they weren’t rubbish like I’d expected them to be, so I headed to Brands Hatch to ride the GP circuit, to properly put them through their paces.

I’d booked into the Advanced group, however seeing as only about 5 people in that group weren’t going to be lining up on the British Superbike grid at Brands Hatch in a fortnight’s time, I changed my group to the Intermediate. I’d rather not get in the way of ten Superstock 1000 riders all going for the same bit of tarmac.

I didn’t run tyre warmers and set the pressures from cold to 26psi rear and 28psi front. Quite low, really. However, after my outing at Spa, I felt that I could do with as much flex at the front as possible, without over-working the tyre. On the rear, I went for 26psi as I’d intended to really work it hard and get it spinning to see if it would wear in double-quick time.

After the first session, where I gently wobbled ‘round to learn the track, the tyres came hot with 30psi rear and 31psi front. I probably could have run them even lower but kept them so.

If you’re running these tyres, I can’t imagine you’re going to be taking them into the Advanced group on a trackday without realising they’re lacking compared to an out-and-out Supersport tyre and treat them accordingly.

However, in the Intermediate group, I got overtaken once and he was on slicks. I found the Pilot Road 3s a bit weird to ride on; instead of running in with a plenty of corner speed, I was getting every last drop of braking done upright, turning in as late and getting on the gas earlier to try and ask less of the front tyre. I’m confident a better rider could push the front harder than I did in the corners, but I didn’t need to push it.

While the traction control did kick in a fair bit throughout the lap, I was really provoking it. Leant over on corners like Clearways, Paddock Hill Bend, Druids, Graham Hill, infact every corner, I was opening the throttle way earlier than I usually would, often well cranked over. To be honest with you, I was just having fun getting the rear moving. On the launch of the ZX-10R in Qatar, we were running super-sticky Bridgestone BT-003s and they were moving around just as much. When driving out of corners with the bike more upright there was no spinning, no traction control intervention.

Can you take the Pilot Road 3s on track? Absolutely. Are there better tyres for trackdays? Yes.

After the trackday I was expecting, confident infact, that the tyres would be completely knackered. They’re not.So far, they’ve clocked up 1800 miles in all conditions, including 7 laps of Spa and over 20 laps of Brands Hatch GP they’re not even half-way finished.

Which is a shame really, as I was hoping the smugness that oozed from the Michelin marketing material would have a major Achilles heel.

As it turns out, I’ve been proven wrong.
I'll give them a try (probably next year at this rate) see how they work out.

BaronVonGrumble

195 posts

140 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
I've had several sets of these PR3's and agree with all the positive comments.

I actually can;t fault them - yes of course there is sticker rubber out there but for durability, puncture resistance (used to get them all the time), WET riding, and all purpose road riding they are faultless.

I even did that stupid green laning video on these tyres and they did surprisingly well - even at road pressures (yes in hindsight i should have lowered them but it all got a bit scary).

I did a TD at snetterton on a gsxr750 on them too - they did very well but you have to remember you're not on slicks and your fine. Vid here:

http://youtu.be/y3gN4YH8SNA

I got 8000 out of the rear and 12000 out of the front on a gsxr 750 comuting to work in C London. Amazing.

Got them on the CBR1000rr and the GSXR1000 - fantastic.


Brendan Lennon

170 posts

239 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
Had the PR3 at the isle of man last year, loads of grip for the roads in fairness and they lasted ages.

Tried a track day with them and to be honest the traction wasn't great from the rear once they got hot, but in the rain you could keep pace with race-bikes on full wets! there was what felt like 90% of the dry grip available in the wet and they never really spun up like crazy on the power either, just slow predictable loss of traction - pilot pures are a little better on the edges in the dry and offer more feel, but only last 1/3 as long.

Video with the michelin pilot road III ;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=nxnNZA9...

coupeboy

522 posts

205 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
Had a set of PR3s on my CBF, got 4500mls out of the rear and just over 5000mls out of the front, mainly riding twisties, so not much commuting or motorways. I'm on my second set now and have no complaints.

GTIR

24,741 posts

265 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
I want to ride out with the NW crew. phone

LoonR1

26,988 posts

176 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
I don't get 11,000 miles out of a set of tyres on my car, let alone bike whistle

I've got some of the new fangled Power Pures on my road bike and I can honestly say they're st. No confidence in the front at all. I'm going back to Pirellis next year. If anyone wants these lightly scrubbed Power Pures you can have them, as long as you collect.

Just put a set of the new Power Cups on the trackbike repacing the Power Ones in the range. I'll let you know my thoughts after Oulton this weekend, although they seem to have grained a lot after barely being used at Croft on prety low pressures.

GTIR

24,741 posts

265 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
LoonR1 said:
I don't get 11,000 miles out of a set of tyres on my car, let alone bike whistle

I've got some of the new fangled Power Pures on my road bike and I can honestly say they're st. No confidence in the front at all. I'm going back to Pirellis next year. If anyone wants these lightly scrubbed Power Pures you can have them, as long as you collect.

Just put a set of the new Power Cups on the trackbike repacing the Power Ones in the range. I'll let you know my thoughts after Oulton this weekend, although they seem to have grained a lot after barely being used at Croft on prety low pressures.
Power Pures?

Really?

And you're surprised they are st!

Mr OCD

Original Poster:

6,388 posts

210 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
Wouldn't mind those tyres Si please... smile

LoonR1

26,988 posts

176 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
GTIR said:
Power Pures?

Really?

And you're surprised they are st!
Yes, I am surprised as the Power Pilots they replaced in the range were superb.


Mr OCD said:
Wouldn't mind those tyres Si please... smile
All yours as per the texts.

Biker's Nemesis

38,536 posts

207 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
GTIR said:
I want to ride out with the NW crew. phone
Get your arse up here then.

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
LoonR1 said:
All yours as per the texts.
Yeah but what about the tyres

13aines

2,153 posts

148 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
Yazza54 said:
Yeah but what about the tyres
rofl

Mr OCD

Original Poster:

6,388 posts

210 months

Wednesday 5th September 2012
quotequote all
Yazza54 said:
Yeah but what about the tyres
biggrin

Si is soooo gonna kick your ass sunshine biggrinwink

Always wanted to try the pures out myself but didn't want to spunk £300 on tyres that will only last me a couple of months.., Perfect opportunity to do so now.

Cheers Si smile

Mike600F

1,049 posts

155 months

Thursday 6th September 2012
quotequote all
Was thinking about moving from PR3s to pilot power 2CTs next as I've never ridden any sports rubber and I'm curious about the difference, not sure I'll bother based on all the comments on here.
Do like a bit of variety though. . . .

LoonR1

26,988 posts

176 months

Thursday 6th September 2012
quotequote all
Mike600F said:
Was thinking about moving from PR3s to pilot power 2CTs next as I've never ridden any sports rubber and I'm curious about the difference, not sure I'll bother based on all the comments on here.
Do like a bit of variety though. . . .
Pilot powers are good bit obsolete

SteelerSE

1,885 posts

155 months

Friday 7th September 2012
quotequote all
I bought some of these earlier last year and have 6000 miles on them. They look maybe half way worn.

I also took advantage of a deal from motorcycletyresuk.com and have a new pair waiting for me when these finally wear out. I can only reinforce what everyone says about them. Truly spectacular value, hugely confidence inspiring and - the key for me as a commuter in almost all weathers - excellent wet grip.

This is on a VFR800 so it's not a 160bhp tyre eater but I have fun and these tyres will probably see me through the winter. At this rate I think maybe April for the new set - I'd guessed that I'd be replacing them round about now but that's a long way from the case.

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Friday 7th September 2012
quotequote all
Mr OCD said:
IIRC there was a suggestion that they would not last as long as PR2's due to the sipes...
A mate who does about 20k miles/year commuting has gone back to PR2 on the rear, but but PR3 on the front as he reckons he's gets better mileage out of the PR2. As I understand it they're the same compound but the extra sipes mean they shift water a bit better, and the blocks move around more so they run hotter. So in hot dry weather it seems they wear a bit faster becasue they're hotter. He's planning on switching back to PR3 for the inter though.

BT023 are getting very good feedback too, but as I'm happy with the PR2/3 I don't see the point in trying them. I'm my third PR3 rear having had an irrepairable puncture on the first, but decent mileage out of the second. Only about 30 miles in to my PR3 front though, I'll be taking the long way home tonight to scub it in before I go on holiday next week.

moanthebairns

17,918 posts

197 months

Friday 7th September 2012
quotequote all
Purity14 said:
I just got 17k out of my PR3's on my SV650.
Including an alps/italian trip.
They are 0.5 above the wear markers, about to be replaced with the same again.
wow!

Mike600F

1,049 posts

155 months

Friday 7th September 2012
quotequote all
moanthebairns said:
wow!
+1. Incredible.