Changed Tyres

[5hort5]

A story about my new tyres

Well I asked about Michelin Pilot Road 2's on here and got a mixed reception about them but had them fitted today anyway, they seems to fit what I wanted out of a tyre from the specs.

I haven't changed tyres much on bikes as generally I either crash or sell the bike before they need doing. Originally I had the factory fits on the bike when I picked it up, a K3 pointy, but felt them to be rubbish and squared so I changed them to Michelin Pilot sport's. These tyres were great and felt well planted, loved them to bits.

In the winter months I have lost confidence cornering and the bike was feeling just a touch vague, the tyres were still above wear limiters but the back was squared off; I had covered about 2500 miles on them. On very close inspection in the tread groves themselves the types had small cracks in, nothing big but they were there. Now I don't know if this is normal or not but I thought that I'd get them changed and I also didn't like the fact that the back was squaring.

The new tyres went on today and even fresh fitted they feel so so so much better than the other tyres, the cornering is great and sharp, the bike doesn't feel sloppy and I feel the confidence in the front back again.

I think I learnt something here .... don't rely on the wear limit marks on the tyres, if you get a feeling something is a bit wrong it's always worth changing them if they are warn.

It has made a hell of a difference to the over all performance from both me and the bike. I don't think that Michelin's are the best tyre but I do like them, I think it's more the fact that a 3/4 warn tyre isn't a great thing to rider on fast or build confidence, wear limits are just that, "The Limit" not the point at which they feel wrong and may need changing.

Just a few small things I'd like to add;

- Small cracks in the tyre are fairly normal - often caused by small bits of stone that go into the soft compound of the tyre when warm, and then fly out again.

- As for going to the wear marks, that's only for allowing water to flow through the groves so that they don't act like slicks on the road (which would be madness in the wet!). There's a fair way to go before you end up getting to the canvas with most tyres.

- For the tyre squaring, you're right, it doesn't feel nice and a new tyre is always going to feel better. However, if you can't afford to change tyres as much as often, there is nothing wrong with keeping a square tyre on the back as long as you ride accordingly, and adjust the riding style to be less aggressive on the lean angle where the squaring off is (and therefore with a smaller grip area.)