whats the best tyre for wet conditions?

[designermatt]

I need advice, whats the best wet weather tyre that you can buy? Regardless of mileage?

I want a tyre that will go on my road bike which I will take to a few trackdays, however I want something that has enough grip in the dry for novice group, and has the best possible grip in the rain/wet?

Reason is I dont have wets on wheels yet , or the ability to get them to the track if I did so I want the best possible tyre that will be great on dry days, but will not stop me having confidence and grip in the wet conditions , e.g. standing water, raining, damp track etc...

Ive got m7RR's on my 955i triple which were great in dry , but not pushed them in the wet at all because I have no confidence after lowsiding a different bike on diesel in the wet ages ago.

My sv650 which is for track work has contimotion tyres on it which I dont trust at the moment being a cheap tyre , although did get my knee down on a trackday in the dry easily enough.

What do people think then , M7rr's, pilot road 5's , roadtec 01's , bridgestone bt 23/ 16's, pirelli rosso 3's ,angel gt's? conti sport attacks?pilot pwer 3's? power 2ct's?

any suggestions welcome

[obscene]

Pilot roads are the perfect tyre. Did enough days in the novice group on them and in pissing rain. Never had a problem with them.

[Birky_41]

I think any of the ones you said work well. I've found M7RR good in the wet and cold and my mate who runs S21s says the same. I prefer the ones he runs in the dry tbh

[ar-em-en]

I've used m7rrs at novice pace in some very bad rain with no worries at all.
I don't have spare wheels either but currently only do euro trips but if I start doing UK days again a set will be going back on. Fantastic tyres for my speed and I'm sure plenty that are quicker than me.

[creampuff]

obscene said:

Pilot roads are the perfect tyre. Did enough days in the novice group on them and in pissing rain. Never had a problem with them.

+1.

They are up to PR4 now I think. PR3 and PR4 are a lot better than PR2.

[Speed addicted]

creampuff said:

obscene said:

Pilot roads are the perfect tyre. Did enough days in the novice group on them and in pissing rain. Never had a problem with them.

+1.

They are up to PR4 now I think. PR3 and PR4 are a lot better than PR2.

Up to PR5 now!
Apparently better yet. I’ll be fitting a set to the explorer once I’ve done the current Pirelli’s,

[Birky_41]

I did a day in the most horrible sleet, ice wet winter track day running m7rrs

Honestly I can't begin to feel you how slippy it was and really I should've gone home like everyone else but I'm too tight and wanted my monies worth

https://youtu.be/BVWivpXsZ00

I stopped at towards the end as the sleet was stinging my neck. Anyways for a road tyre they did OK given the circumstances

[Mike 820]

Op, what did you decide on in the end?
I'm in a similar position.
Tempted to get the Road 5's but also looking for opinions on alternatives.

[Bungleaio]

I'm in my first year of riding so I am far from an expert but I have had Road fives on my street triple RS since new and I'm very impressed.

I've covered over 5k miles on them in mostly dry conditions but I have had them in torrential rain and they perform very well.

[Ryan-nunm9]

I put PR5’s on my K1300R 2 days ago and road home from the workshop in the rain. Was only an hour in the rain but hugely impressed in that short time.

Had PR4’s on before and they were ok. 8,000 miles out of the front tyre.....granted I should’ve changed it 1,000 or so sooner! The rear got about 5,000.

[jhoneyball]

Ryan-nunm9 said:

I put PR5’s on my K1300R 2 days ago and road home from the workshop in the rain. Was only an hour in the rain but hugely impressed in that short time.

Had PR4’s on before and they were ok. 8,000 miles out of the front tyre.....granted I should’ve changed it 1,000 or so sooner! The rear got about 5,000.

Is there a GT stiffened sidewall version of PR5 yet? I had PR4GT on my K1300S and whilst they were fine in the wet, they started to get quite unstable over white lines etc in the latter half of their life. Moved to Metzler 01 (stiff sidewall version) which is way way nicer. But not had any serious rain yet to compare the wet behaviour

[Pothole]

jhoneyball said:

Is there a GT stiffened sidewall version of PR5 yet? I had PR4GT on my K1300S and whilst they were fine in the wet, they started to get quite unstable over white lines etc in the latter half of their life. Moved to Metzler 01 (stiff sidewall version) which is way way nicer. But not had any serious rain yet to compare the wet behaviour

Not yet. Think I head the GT is out in October. I'm on the second set of PR4GTs on my Tiger Sport and I've not noticed the whitelining you mention. Very different type of bike, though.

[Ho Lee Kau]

Birky_41 said:

I did a day in the most horrible sleet, ice wet winter track day running m7rrs

Honestly I can't begin to feel you how slippy it was and really I should've gone home like everyone else but I'm too tight and wanted my monies worth

https://youtu.be/BVWivpXsZ00

I stopped at towards the end as the sleet was stinging my neck. Anyways for a road tyre they did OK given the circumstances

you surely are one mad sonofagun....

[Mike 820]

I ended up getting the PR5s. So far so good. Have been out in the wet on them and have no complaints.
Hoping to do a trackday on them before it gets too cold/wet.

[Ryan-nunm9]

Pothole said:

jhoneyball said:

Is there a GT stiffened sidewall version of PR5 yet? I had PR4GT on my K1300S and whilst they were fine in the wet, they started to get quite unstable over white lines etc in the latter half of their life. Moved to Metzler 01 (stiff sidewall version) which is way way nicer. But not had any serious rain yet to compare the wet behaviour

Not yet. Think I head the GT is out in October. I'm on the second set of PR4GTs on my Tiger Sport and I've not noticed the whitelining you mention. Very different type of bike, though.

Just been on the Michelin website and strange how it recommends PR4 for the K1300S but PR5 for the K1300R considering the main difference if lack of fairing and higher wider bars on the R!!

[Ho Lee Kau]

Mike 820 said:

I ended up getting the PR5s. So far so good. Have been out in the wet on them and have no complaints.
Hoping to do a trackday on them before it gets too cold/wet.

Trackday? Aren't these tires classified as touring?

[Ryan-nunm9]

"Sports touring" - The side compund is meant to be really good in the dry.

I think they'd be fine on a track day (not a race), no doubt been tested on one.

[mike150]

Mike 820 said:

I ended up getting the PR5s. So far so good. Have been out in the wet on them and have no complaints.
Hoping to do a trackday on them before it gets too cold/wet.

I did a Michelin trackday with brand new PR5's, it was a hot day and I had not done a trackday in 3 years.

The Michelin sales manager asked at the briefing if anyone was using PR5, I put my hand up along with one other guy who was a complete novice and he said, 'while we don't recommend them our PR5 is the first road focused tyre we have allowed on a trackday and they should be fine'

Due to Michelin's trackday rules stating anyone on them must be in the novice group but as the day went on I was getting faster and faster to a point where the instructors wanted me to move to the intermediate group as I was the fastest novice but I was done for the day anyway. Got the pegs, boot and knee down.

I might ad that the tyres have not seen rain yet...................should have got the RS's

[Mr_Tickle]

I put a set of PR5s on my Z1000 recently and first impressions are good. Only done about 1000 km on them so far but they inspire confidence. Not done any proper rain miles on them yet or ridden in the cold (still 28ºC over here).

[Biker 1]

I try to avoid rain, but do ride in stty winter salt. PR5 any good in the cold? Maybe something else??