alright , so i narrowed my tire chioce for my 929 down to Michelin. im torn between the "powers" or the "2 ct" .all the descriptions i read for these tires are very similar , anyone have an opinion on either tire. The 2ct's are a little more by $10 or so , thanks for any advice

 

I have powers- great all around tire.

But the two tires you listed are very similar, I don't think you can go wrong with either.

 

I use the pilot road 2, the one with the 2ct compound on the edges and harder compound in the center. I don't ride real aggressively but they are fine since I don't track the bike. I'm over 5k miles into this set and am just starting to see the rear flatten out in the center. My friend has the same set on his Street Triple and managed over 12k miles on the front, but wore the rear sooner. Apparently the solution is to use the road 2 on the rear and pilot power on the front. If you're not putting a knee down every time you turn in the city they should be fine, but they will get greasy if you ride like a maniac everywhere. I'll be at the dragon mid-may to see how they handle more heat.

 

Pilot Powers are great tires. I have been through one set of PP's and one set of PP 2CT's. Great grip and good mileage. I have almost 4K on my PP 2CT rear and still have some tread left. I am switching to Pures this year for my type of riding. What kind of riding do you plan on doing? Do you use every bit of your current tires to the very edge? If no on the second question then go with the regular Pilot Power. The center compound of the regular PP and the PP 2CT are the same. The 2CT has softer compound near the edges which is very small. I have seen riders buy the 2CT's and not lean their bike far enough to even use the softer compound of the 2CT. If you do not ride hard on the street then the Road 2 or Road 3 may also be a good choice for you.

 

i ride agressive and have no chicken strips , my biggest fun is not tripple digit speed , i love to power hard out of corners hard . the dunlop that came on the bike is just the worst , ive had it kick out hard on me . ive lost all faith in dunlop now . back in my F2 days it didnt get much better than dunlop sportmax 2's , cant say ill be on that edge often but when i do i want to be able to trust that it will bite . i really want a tire that will warm up fast , not really concerned with mileage, just want a sticky tire. ive noticed the odd shape of the 2ct's , is it noticable compared to others ?

 

What do you mean by odd shape? I never noticed anything different with the shape of the 2CT's. A 190/50 tire has a flatter profile when compared to 180/55 tires.

I push my 2CT's very hard and only had one time where the rear stepped out on me. I later determined it was the road surface was messed up from another crash that caused the tire to slip. The cost of tires has went up since last year and now I can get Michelin Pure's for about $15-20 more per tire than PP 2CT's. I paid $127.99 for a 2CT rear last spring and now they cost $145-155. I can get a Michelin Pure for $170. I already have a Pure on the front and will install a rear after I finish off my 2CT next month at the drag strip.

 

the profile looked weird to me , maybe just the look of the unmounted tire?

 

Michelins have a slightly pointier profile than some of the other major brands. You can even get a very pointed front for track use (makes great turn-in).

I have run a 2CT on the track and scraped fairings on the 954 with no slippage. I have buddies that have even raced with the regular 2CT and done great.

If you aggressively ride street, I'd go with the 2CT (or the Pures - great tires also IMHO).

 

thanks for the info randy! ... scraped the fairings on yer 954 ? that is riding with the gods brother...

 

Yea, it was an uphill right cambered turn...I felt the peg and brake pedal scraping on the rearsets, guy behind me said he saw the sparks start flying and just knew I was going to lose it. Started acceleration a little earlier than I normally would, which made the bike stand up and I continued on. Saw the big black scrape on the fairing ridge when I went into the paddock. Then I bowed down and praised the Michelin Man.