Tyres - I Surrender

[Nanna10r]

Front Pilot Power & Rear Battlax 014.
Well after the Braking & Cornering Course & coupla hundred ks Commuting thought i'd give a report on the Tyre combination Mick from MTM fittet to the ole FZR6.
As stated on another post I asked for matching Brigestone Battlax 010 or 014 or 012. Mick had a 014 "be it a 150 instead of 140 no worries mate they were always under tyred" in stock & ordered a front 014 to match. When i front up he's got a Pilot Power for me, for the front.
Well be Buggered if they dont work excellent together. Felt really wierd scrubbing them in, but maybe that was the oversize rear. But once i started too push a little they were "Ekmerlent" I was more confident on these tyres then i have ever been before. i Didnt feel either front or rear was going to let go once. Only chicken to be seen was about 5mm left rear (only 2 real left handers n yet to get it right).
Mentioned this to Phil at highside leathers whos been around Racers n bikes since "Noah was in Shorts" n he said "Mick would know !".
So "I Surrender" cause i cant make head or tail about tyres anymore. I guess you just have to listen to the old blokes that have been there done that & give their "truths" a go.
Gonna ring Mick & ask if 012 would also work with a pilot front. Apparantly the 012 is the his biggest seller.
Cheers Brett

[Yankee]

told ya... the man is a tire god. but really with today's tire technology, it doesn't surprise me in the least......
so where are the pics of the day Brett??

[mrmina]

Brett,

my mate on a gixxer bought the bike with 012ss both front and back. when he changed the back he went to a pilot power and guess what.... now he only runs them two.

012ss on the front and pilot power on the back. The guy at the shop tried to sell him the pilot for the front but he refused. he reckons its an excellent combination.

[Nanna10r]

Mick said the Pilots are better for the front Mina(pilots are a bit papery n puncture more on the rear) but they are all pretty shit hot imo.
Cheers Brett

[greenmeanie]

Yep you gotta trust Mick when it comes to all things round n black Brett. I think he would be talking about sales of 12ss v 14's cause when i was there the other week he was selling more of the tyres like mine(12SS) compared to 14's. He is not a big fan of michellin and can spend quite a bit of time discussing in detail why .

[irishmale]

Just purchased 2 new Pilot powers for my 2000 ZX9.

I have previously only run Bridgestone 020 front and rear.
Have done 2 sets of these.

Looking foreward to getting some feedback from the Pilot Powers this weekend.

Can offer feedback latter.

[Nanna10r]

Update from Mick the tyre Magician
For the lovely & talented Janelles zxr400 Mick was gonna fit powers front n rear, He likes the powers on the rear of smaller bikes its the litre bikes that they cant cope with the abuse But because they are an unusual size he put the best that would fit. Battlax 014s both ends. Its done about 300ks & i think the Power on the FZR front is a better tyre then the 014 on the zrx. But this may also be the difference in Width n profile as the fzzr6 is a 110/65 n the zxr4 is a 120/60. The ZXR4 is a much stiffer bike then the FZR6 as well imho.
Anyway He recommends 014 (SE construction) for the ZX12R's & 012SS for the ZX9R's thats what will go on "tiggr" in a week or so.
Cheers Brett

[greenmeanie]

You won't be disappointed in the 012 SS Brett.........i can assure you. Also pretty good wear life IMHO as well.

[Yankee]

what wear life did you get (or are you getting) outta the 012's glenn?? i am not overly happy with the way the 014's have dissappeared, but i guess you gotta expect that with the softer/grippier compund?!

[greenmeanie]

what wear life did you get (or are you getting) outta the 012's glenn??

Yankee i got about 6500 km's out of the last set of 12 ss however the rear was slightly illegal ........i like to get value for money 0 commute just all wkd fang type stuff @ a reasonable pace plus incl 1 trackday @ darlington. Comes down to bike and how you ride yankee . I just find these tyres really suit the 750. Try them mate @ Micks prices u can't go wrong.

Also the 12 ss is the softest bridgestone street tyre currently available so go with the best in my opinion.

[Nanna10r]

Big Kev has had me chasing tyres for his 12r, Mick the magician recons battlax 014 SE for it, but said the 012 SS are the go for the lighter, less tyre eating bikes like the 6r,7r & 9r. I didnt think to ask him about the 10r i'll do that next week when i'm getting 012 ss fitted to "tiggr" Totally agree Glenn after the last 2 sets Mick has fitted for me (fzr6 & zxr4) bugger the wear rate I'm going for grip. Once the 014/020 combo triangulated the front 014 it handled like sh!t. But i did get 10k outtathem.
Cheers Brett

[Jonno]

Big Kev has had me chasing tyres for his 12r, Mick the magician recons battlax 014 SE for it, but said the 012 SS are the go for the lighter, less tyre eating bikes like the 6r,7r & 9r. I didnt think to ask him about the 10r i'll do that next week when i'm getting 012 ss fitted to "tiggr" Totally agree Glenn after the last 2 sets Mick has fitted for me (fzr6 & zxr4) bugger the wear rate I'm going for grip. Once the 014/020 combo triangulated the front 014 it handled like sh!t. But i did get 10k outtathem.
Cheers Brett

So Mick recommends Battlax 14 SE just for the front?
Did he mention about tyre wear and options for the 12r?
Should I keep the 200/50 or go for a 190?

Iam happy putting a pilot sport on the front and a pilot road on the rear as I did with the ZZR12, but the rear has me a bit mithed for the ZX12r, should I put a pilot road on for wear as I do do alot of distance and will be more in the coming months.

Pilot roads come in 190/50, pilot sports 200/50.

Thanks.

Jonno

[Mojo67]

I've put about 500kms on the Pilot Roads, and I couldn't be happier with them. I don't push as hard as some, ymmv.

Another thing to think about. We're doing at least 1500kms in late March through NSW over the Easter period with the double points. We won't be cruising, but in that environment we won't have many Valentinos either.

Mind you with the amount of kms you've been clocking up you'll have worn out a set of Battlax's before then anyway!

[Nanna10r]

Jon Mick said 014 ES (has to be ES) front n rear for the 12R. If anything I'd go 012ss front 014 ES rear for the best grip combination. I also think a pilots - power front & sport rear would work but i'll check that later today.
Cheers Brett

[Jonno]

I was thinking more Pilot sports all round actually.

Had them on the ZZR1200, the front was fantastic with all that weight; the rear did the Sir H. Bolte act as per usual. I then replaced the rear with a 190/? Pilot road and it was a perfect combo for what I was doing and the wear was minimal in comparison.

Can't get 200/50's for the rear in Pilot power or Pilot road afaik.