I have had a new set of Pilot Road 3's on my bike for about a month now, and just got to test their wet abilities. All I can say is BT-016's will NEVER go back on this bike. I ran through 3 rear and 1 front BT-016 getting on average 3,000 miles out of a rear before getting to the cords on the rears. I got just around 8,000 miles out of the front, and again cords.

I replaced the front with a PR3, then the back ($ is short). For me, with a properly set up front end and completely stock rear shock/spring and my 2up weight of 315 lbs, I noticed an immediate difference in the way the bike handles. It is much more compliant going from right lean to left lean and back, turn in is smoother and faster, and it feels more stable at high lean angles (I do not drag my knee, or elbow, since I usually ride in shorts and a shirt, but I do hit corners faster than my roommate can in his Supra).

Monday we had a freaking Monsoon, over 3 inches of water in 45 minutes and a total of about 6 inches in 3 hours. I rode home in shoes, t shirt, and jeans, with a helmet. I took the freeway and did the full 70mph. No puddles or rivers or wet pavement gave me any issues. Deep water almost did not seem to exist except for getting soaked and slowing down a little from the extra rolling resistance. Even attempted to do a quick burnout for some friendly neighbor kids at the end of the block on concrete, 10,000rpm, lean over bars, dump clutch and the front end just shot up. Excellent wheelie, but a bit scarey as it was unplanned (new SRK clutch to be ordered on Fri.)

Only downside I have found going from BT-016 to PR3 is warm up. BT-016's were warm by the end of the block, even in 40*F. The PR3's take a 1/4 mile to maybe a 1/2 mile if it is real cold. It was a comfort having the tires heat up that quick, but I am willing to forgo that for better handling and *hopefully* 2-3 X the longevity.

 

If the tires are warming up slower than you'd like, consider reducing tire pressure.

However... the distance you say it takes to heat the tires up seems fairly standard... if they're truly "heated up".

 

Dude, Wear some gear! Secondly, the freeway,(strait line) at 70 mph in the rain is nothing. How is that a good way to gauge wet performance? and 1/4 mile warm up times? what are you talking about? I think it takes more like 5 - 10 minutes of riding to reach optimal tire temps.

 

I actually just finished putting 15k miles on my rear pilot road 2, I changed it cuz I saw that the cords were starting to show on a tiny area.

 

First off, my motto has always been "Safety Second, Fun First". I do wear a helmet most always, everything else can be fixed

Second, I did not *just* do straight line freeway. I did as much cornering as I was comfortable with, and the tires gave me confidence they would hold much, much more. I live in upper Minnesota, out in the sticks. We have more "country" road than most citiy-ots have ever seen, and those have corners.... lots of them. (My favorite little playground is HWY-210 between Carlton MN and Fon-Du-Lac MN, AKA Jay Cooke State Park)

The rough 1/4 to 1/2 mile is to get the tire up to temp enough that if I need to jam on the brake, corner hard, or accelerate, the tire does not loose traction. "Cold" to me means the rear spins when give more than 1/4 throttle in 1st. "warmed up" to me means it will pull the front tire in the air instead of spin. I know these are not track temps, but I said warmed up not track temp.

Jesse: I have lowered the tire pressure. Any lower and it begins to feel "squishy" or maybe "squirmy" would be a better word. Either way I have the tires adjusted to give me good grip and handling. I believe the press is something like 31r/33f give or take a couple.

 

Haha, its cool, just testing you. I Recently put the new Conti Road Attack 2 on my 94 F2. Went with the 120/70, 160/60 combo and raised the fork tubes about 10 mm to compensate for the taller tire. These tires have been great in every arena so far. (Rain grip, dry grip, light turn in, easy to get warm, good highway and high speed stability ect....). If they last a long time this tire will be a winner. Anyone else tried these? I had the pilot road 2 previously and enjoyed them very much. The attack 2 is definitely a more sporty tire in my opinion base on the light effortless turn in and tremendous stability leaned over with that sticky 120/70 up front. When these tires are warm you can easily notice how much softer the rubber on the outside of the tire is compare the the middle, cool stuff. Much more dramatic than the dual compounds in the road 2. highly recommended so far.

 

Yeah, i got 13k on mine now and the tread on the front and middle rear is gone. No cords yet lol

 

reading this thread possibly answers a question as to why you guys stateside get more miles out of a tyre than those of us this side of the pond.

Running tyres down to the cord!!!

Legal minimum over here is that the depth of tread is at least 1mm throughout a continuous circumferential band measuring at least three quarters of the breadth of the tread,




Hmm may be there's a market in shipping part worn tyres to the States ;o)

 

wow those are two wayyyyyyyy different classed tires.

oh bt-16, are insanely soft, so soft you cant push on your tire to check air pressures.(ie when you dont have a gauge)

i was wanting to do pr3 rear with a pilot power front...

 

33 front and 31 rear cold tire pressures aren't entirely abnormal for street riding. Going lower won't necessarily create a squishy feeling however, just excessive wear if they're heating up too much.

I run 24 psi rear and 28 psi front cold when hitting the track, aiming for a 26 psi front warm and 31 psi front warm. Then again, I'm putting a lot of heat and wear into the tires.


I don't know these tires on this bike though, so my commentary past here is limited. I am considering running some on my GSXR 750 however.