new tires... your opinions please

[citizenx]

So I am getting new tires for my 2001 Buell X1, the following are some recommendations from my mechanic.

I ride agressive in the twisties and want to make sure I can just think about my riding and don't have to worry about my tires. At the same time I really don't want to have to replace tires every 2k lol. I also use my bike for an everyday rider and commuter, i prefer to ride over drive every time.

avon storms ultra 2
$128 front (have heard that the sides wear off really quick on the front)
$180 rear


Michelin
pilot road 2
$119 front
$154 rear

pilot road 3
$154 front
$199 rear

Bridgestone (this is the setup he recommended first)
Battlax BT-016 (for the front)
Battlax BT-023-GT (for the rear)
$124 front
$179 rear

Must buy tires from him for him to install (charges 60 bucks to mount and balance), prices are just there to give you guys an idea of what they cost relative to each other.

Please share what you think/your experiences with these tires.

Thank you in advance for your help :)

[uly luigi]

I like the road2's, got em on my Uly, probly won't run any others

[citizenx]

Do you do mainly touring or do you push them hard in the corners? how much life you get?

Thanks :)

[GAXB9R]

That seems to high for tires to me. Check out www.sportbiketrackgear.com they have good prices and review videos usually. I know you have to buy from him to get the 60, but even if he installs both for 100 and you pay 200 for tires your still coming out for the good. If you don't mind spending a little extra and supporting the local economy that's cool too[up] I have the Dunlop Q2 and I like them. The Michelin 2CT are good tires too or you could go pures. I don't think any of those tires are on your list though:p

[uly luigi]

Not touring but commuting and weekend twisties, I can drag knee and never think about the tires, good in the wet too,got ~7k miles on em and the edges are noticeably more worn than the centers

[citizenx]

GAXB9R:
Yea, I know I can prob get them cheaper, but I am ok spending a little more to support this guy...

This guy has been working on bikes for i think around 30 years... reason he recommended these tires is because of a Buell being a twin and the back tire getting tore up in the center because of the torque when engine breaking... I have no experience with this because this is my second Buell (first was a blast) and I have never put a set of tires on them.

How good of life do you get out of your Q2?

uly luigi:
Awesome thanks for the help :)

[GAXB9R]

Only have about 2k on them now. Nothing to judge by and they are my first set. Some people love them and some hate them. I like them along with the pilot powers I had before. What kind of riding do you do? If you do more long stretch riding you will want to get a harder center tire, but they have them with the soft confidence inspiring sides as well. Tires are like women you like riding them at first but they get worn out and then you want to ride another at some point in time.[cool]

[EmptyChambers]

The Michelin Pilot Roads are an odd tire. Despite being 2CT, the center is no tougher than a standard pilot. Its just the sides that are stickier.

[citizenx]

My normal riding is:

-riding to class and around town every day
-hard rides through twisties on a little 10 mile road back and forth a few times (2-3 times a week)
-160+ mile rides on weekends trying to find every strech of twisties possible
-once a month or so 300 miles of riding round trip home and back on hwy

[citizenx]

good to know thanks EmptyChambers

[GAXB9R]

Yeah with that riding you will want to go with a sport tourer type. Pilot road 3 should suffice. It's all in opinion though. Do some searches through google and see what other riders are saying. YS8XkFhSRX0&gl=US

[citizenx]

cool, once again thank you for your help :)

[BuddhaBuell]

PR 2's here as well

used to run Pilot Powers but they wear down wayy tooo quick where I live.

The PR 3's are awesome and the major dif between them and PR 2's are the extra sipping for wet riding, where I live it does not rain much so I did not need to up the extra $$$ for extra sipping.

I ride aboot 1000+kms/week and have 3k on the PR 2's with no noticable wear..

I know another BC Bueller who had over 17 k on his PR 2's...

for the record I ride BamBam like I stole him
:D

[GAXB9R]

I think I'm actually going to try the pilot road 3 when the Q2 wears out. I have heard nothing but good things about them.

[citizenx]

Thanks for the input that is good to know BuddhaBuell

[citizenx]

yea, It looks like people really like the pilot roads.

man, it is nice to be back on a Buell and back to a community of people that truly care about riding and helping each other out. BuellXB Rocks :D

[EmptyChambers]

Whoops! Srory guys, I was thinking of the Pilot Power 2CT. I had one and that was my experience. Here is a helpful little chart to make up for any bad info I gave out.

http://jcpakbikes.com/MichelinTireComparison.jpg

[citizenx]

Thanks for correction and that chart does looks helpful :)

[dflack001]

I just got a Pilot Road 3 package (front and back) for $294 shipped from sportbiketrackgrear.com. These tires are getting extremely good ratings and Michelin makes a really good tire that last a long time. Just a warning for sportbiketrackgear.com...they don't tell you if your order is back ordered, I had to call and find out why my tires weren't in in the 2 day shipping time they advertise.

[Miami78]

I got just over 16k miles on my pilot road 2's, loved them! Have the pilot road 3's on now, loving them, too! Only 1.5k miles on them so far, but extremely happy with them. If they last as long as my last set I'll be very pleased. I ride fairly aggressively, and I ride a lot of highway...could not ask for a better tire than the pilot road's.

[dflack001]

Wow that's alot of miles Miami! Can't wait to get my Pilot Road 3's on!

[mowgoli84]

currently using pilot road 2's on my bike.. had a new set on when i got it.

push them just as hard on windy back roads as i push pp2cts and such.

may stick with them for for street riding and commmuting

[citizenx]

Thank you everyone for your input, at this point it is looking like I will go with the pilot road 2(80 bucks less). I will prob wait till till tomorrow to call, to make sure no one can change my mind :).

ps. if anyone thinks the 3 are worth the 80 bucks please let me know.

Thanks again everyone

[Litos]

ps. if anyone thinks the 3 are worth the 80 bucks please let me know.
if you ride in ran, then yes.

if you don't ride in the rain, go with the PR2's...

when i'm ready to get tires, i'm going PR2's - i don't even think of opening the garage in the rain lol.

[citizenx]

Good to know, that is sort what i was thinking from what I have read. I only ride in the rain when i have to... and if i do it is normall around town, nothing hard.

Thanks

[dflack001]

The PR 3'$ will give you better stopping and handleing if you do get caught in the rain. The PR 3's are also supposed to last longer with the new x-sipping.

[njdevils1990]

The x-siping is actually what gives it better traction in the rain. They use a different tread compound to get longer life anywhere from 10,000-15,000+ miles. Tho with the sipes they can chop under hard breaking and if you don't balance your tires often. Personally I would go with either the Michelin Pilot Power 2CT for mild street riding/spirited riding or the Michelin Power Pure tires for more spirited riding/some track day riding. I have always ran the Power Pures on my 1125cr and my xb9r when I had that, I usually get about 7,000 out of a set and my last set I got about 8,300 miles out of them. I get mine from revzilla.com for about 280 a set and free shipping for me it's pretty much next day since they're based in philadelphia.

[Extractor]

The new Michelin Power Pure is all the tire anyone can possibly use .... Period:D

[dflack001]

Been riding on my Pilot Road 3's for abouta 1000 miles and they are amazing!! :D The grip is unbelievable and the angle you can get outta these is insane! [up]

[RT Performance]

The new Michelin Power Pure is all the tire anyone can possibly use .... Period


I though that till i got the new Bridgestone s20's.
great tire and can be had for under 250 a set.
Super grip not sure about wear i might have ridden two track day's [cool]

http://www.chaparral-racing.com/Product/bridgestone-battlax-hypersport-s20-rear-tire/330-0385.aspx

[Extractor]

Not to be cocky but I don't care how much a tire is, if it's the best I want it and I've tried them ALL... On many different bikes. The Power Pures are the best Street /Track tire available, there also the lightest tire available.

[Racinjitter]

I switched out my dunlop Q2's for a road 2 in the rear and a pilot power in the front. I commute 54 miles one way, mostly straight roads. On the way home I take a different route which is all turns and 70 miles. I have about 2k on them now and love them. No table top and has held up pretty good in the twisties. I do get a lot of wheel spin when the tires are warm, but not up to operating temp.

[dflack001]

Wheel spin up front, out back, or both? I have noticed my PR3's to be quite sticky with quick warm up...

[Racinjitter]

LOL, wheel spin from the rear only. I slid the front tire while breaking them in, but that was my fault.

maybe a little clarification is in order, when warming up the tires from ambient but not up to operating temp I get wheel spin from the rear tire.

I don't know how you would spin the front tire? :p

[Extractor]

"OH BOY"

There seems to be a lot "Racers' on this blog. The truth be told if they where real racers they would'nt be riding a Buell....;)

[dflack001]

Lol, I suppose it would be hard to spin the front but I wasnt sure if you just meant it slid a little. I have gotten a bit of a burn out between gear changes but mot enought to make it do anything crazy.

[matt87951]

citizenx - did you ever get new tires? I am trying to decide on what tires to put on my 2002 M2 Cyclone. I was wondering what you got, and what you thought about the performance of what you bought on the tube frame Buell.

These are my top two choices:

Michelin Pilot Road 2 - $263
Pirelli Angel - $245

What does everything think about the Michelin and Pirelli? Which one performs better / last longer, etc? I know there are a lot of responses for the Road 2's, but curious to see what everyone things of the Angels, particularly compared to the Road 2's?

Thanks!
-Matt

[matt87951]

Anyone with experience on the Bridgestone BT-023? How about Shinko Podiums?

I ran Podiums on my XB9R and loved them, but all I had to compare with was the factory tires on the XB9R which were well worn and dried out when I got the bike. How would the Podiums or BT-023's perform on an M2?

-Matt

[Squeadlies]

Do not buy the Dunlop Sportmax Q2s. They are terrible. Almost ripped my foot right off on that one.

[nikfleisch]

Started running pilot power 2ct about 1.2 k ago, I already have decided I will run nothing else on the buell. Do it, you won't regret paying a little more

[oh9bolt]

Started running pilot power 2ct about 1.2 k ago, I already have decided I will run nothing else on the buell. Do it, you won't regret paying a little more

[up][up]

I just wish they made a 200/50 so I can see if I like it, I have a 190/50 and it doesnt feel any different than my original 180/55.

[Extractor]

No one is listening... The PURE POWER Michelin's are the "BEST" tire on the market for your Buell. I have owned 6 Buell's and these are the best tires for these bikes.....PERIOD.

If you worried about money then you don't care about your tires...

[Jmal18]

Don't know if this has been said, but motorcycle superstore has good deals on tires.

[citizenx]

citizenx - did you ever get new tires? I am trying to decide on what tires to put on my 2002 M2 Cyclone. I was wondering what you got, and what you thought about the performance of what you bought on the tube frame Buell.

Sadly not yet... I had to almost completely tare it down, I am getting the rear shock rebuilt by racetech, rebuilding the front forks, replacing the intake seals, wrapping the exhaust, painting my tail and repainting my front and lower fairings, and fixing a few other small things. After all this is done I will get the tires done.

However, now i am thinking about saying screw long life and getting these for some sticky tires.. plus super cheep :)


front (http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/28/394/6142/ITEM/Metzeler-Sportec-M3-Supersport-Front-Tire.aspx)
rear (http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/28/394/6144/ITEM/Metzeler-Sportec-M3-Supersport-Rear-Tire.aspx)

So reason for all the change, the mechanic didn't get it done b4 i got back in town, so i figured save some money and do it my self :)

[Mike88Recovery]

pilot road 2 for sure since they've got the dual compound longevity. I've put 1500 miles on mine and it still looks brand new if that's any testament, my friend rides a 'busa and got 8k out of his.

[Extractor]

"CLOWNS" Metzelers are NOT stickey!!! Don't be cheap get he Michelins you will be the happiest clown on this site............

[vance580]

The Road 3's will be my next tire for my CR. I have about 3 different friends running them on commuter bikes and one of them has 8000 miles on a SV1000 and they still look new. I run Dunlop Roadsmart 2's on my XB and am very happy with them. I got about 9000 out of the front and about 8000 out of a rear and they have been through rain winter and sun. Great tires and have never broke loose on me or made me have pucker moments. I had Power 2CT's once but man I commute and ride my XB everyday and just dont have the money to be buying tires every month as I put about 2-3000 miles a month on her.