initial impressions with the Pilot Road 2

[captain chaos]

I finally got around to changing the rear tire on my bike. I had a set of Pilot Powers on it when I bought it but I've already finished off the rear despite heavy snow when I purchased the bike in Feb and torrential rains for the past month and a 1/2.

Anyway, I spooned off the Pilot and slapped on the Road 2. Set it up in my newly purchased Harbor Freight balance stand (which works fantastic BTW ) and balanced her out. The tire balanced easy and only required 1oz to get it dead perfect. I wiped the tire down real quick with some paper towel and some washer fluid I had laying around to try to get any grease or bead lube off that I may have inadvertently gotten on the tread while mounting and slapped it back on the bike. Then, it's off for a ride.

It was getting late so the ride had to be short but I wanted to make sure everything felt good in case the weather would let me ride to work the next day. I took off and and did some slow weaving to try to get a feel for the tire and to hopefully start scrubbing off and oils that may still be on there. I turned off on to one of my regular side roads that has a few curves on it and picked the pace up slightly. I was still being very gentle and weaving a bit but the further I rode the more I was trying to get it broke in and scrubbed. First corner is probably 60deg around and was uneventful. Tire felt solid. The quick 90 that came up afterwards was more of the same. Felt solid, turned in nice and never felt "uneasy". Very confidence inspiring. The next corner was a bit of a right hand sweeper with a bridge in the middle that is a bit bumpy as you transition on and off of it. I gassed it a bit and picked up some speed. Still feeling good! , handled the transitions just fine. I turned off on to another side road and gassed it good to see how it felt straight up under some power and once again, no surprises. A quick "S" curve and some more straight and all is good. After that I turned onto another road, picked the pace up some more and started pushing the tire just a little. Still gripped fine and felt remarkably like the Pilot Power that was on there before when leaned over a bit. A very good thing. After a few miles I turned around and repeated the same stretch except at a much higher pace. The harder I pushed it the better the tire felt. I really had to restrain myself and keep repeating in my head, "new tire,take it easy...new tire, take it easy". This thing was practically begging me to push it.

After I got home I checked things out. The tire was moderately warm to the touch after just a short ride at a modest pace so it seems to warm up at a decent rate. A quick look revealed probably less than 1/2" of chicken strip on either side and a quick chuckle by yours truly. Confidence inspiring indeed. I felt as though I was being really gentle overall and would not have guessed that I'd leaned quite that far on a tire with less than 10mi on it. Never once did it give me cause for concern though; No slips, no squirms, nothing. I can't wait to get it to the point that I feel comfortable pushing it a bit. :D

Overall, very happy with my initial impression.
pros:
-stable, planted feel
-smooth predictable turn in/ smooth transition to leaned over
-easy balance
-feels smooth
-CONFIDENCE INSPIRING
cons:
-Could turn-in a bit faster. I prefer a tire to "fall into" a corner a bit more.
-Would love for it to be a little bit cheaper but $140 ain't bad.

[Miami78]

I had a very similar experience with my pilot road 2's...now have almost 12k miles on them and they still have tons of life left. Love them and will either get them or the road 3's when it finally does come time to get new tires.

He was my review right after I got them...
http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-Foru...Chat/New-tires

[GatorBuell]

I got 14k on mine and I love these tires. Waiting on my new set to get here. Very good in the rain.

[captain chaos]

Very encouraging that you guys are getting so many miles out of them. I plan on putting about 10,000mi on my bike this year and was really hoping to get a full riding season out of them. thanks.

[WALLSXB]

Just installed a set on my SS a few weeks back , only got about 150 miles on them and they seem very grippy .

[jeepin79]

Thanks for the review, this is one of the tires I am considering. I assume these are a dual compound tire?

[Stevenc150]

Yup -

[RT Performance]

Being I plan to commute alot this year I thinking road 2's or 3's
I really like the tread on the new 3's and there the same money as pure powers I have been running.