Pilot Road 2's (2CT's) Opinions, Experiences?

[Darwin]

I have run just about every tyre around on the zzr12 and now the zx14. Rear wear is from 4000 - 6000 kms (Diablo). I have 8000 on the road 2 rear and another 3-4 thou left, and I give it a hard time.
Although not as confidence inspiring as the softer tyres, I have definately found the right tyre for me and my bike .

cheers
Darwin

[easyrider]

2c's front compound middle medium= 2 outside is 1 (softest)
rear " " Hard = 3 " is 2 (medium)

Thats on the Mitchelin scale.

[ianthomo]

I have had a set on my ZX6R for about 6 months and I love them. They provide me with confidence to ride it hard in the dry and the wet.

[Strika]

I got to try this tyre out today with a ride out west to the Brisbane Ranges. To save you reading through..in a nutshell, the Pilot Road 2 (2CT) has so much grip that it's difficult to tell if it's any more or less grippy than an M3!!!!! And that's high praise indeed.

OK, for those interested, initial feel from the tyre is good. It's quick to warm up..to a point...and has a confidence inspiring stable feel to it. The carcass is a little more spongey/springy than an M3 and loads more flexible than a Conti. (I find the Conti to have a hard feel to it as the carcass is quite stiff. It transmits more shock through the bars and frame than other tyres I have used.) So I may have to firm up the comp and rebound adjusters a turn and see how it feels.

Turn in is not as sharp as a power or an M3, but is adequate and was probably more a matter of getting used to it than anything else as it got better and easier to tip in and hold a line as the day wore on!


I mentioned warm up before and mentioned it wa good up to a point. That point is that with a power or an M3, I can have it on it's sdge by about the third turn without any drama. The PR2 needs a good half dozen turns before you really start cranking it or it will walk. But once a few turns are done, it's seriously as good on it's side as an M3. However, as I have mentioned before, I have found the M3 to get a bit skatey under power while cranked over. Basically the PR2 is pretty much on par in this area.

Along Highlands Rd on the way back this afternoon, I was having a derby with a good mate of mine who I have ridden and raced with for 15 years or more now. He is an Ex Australian Superbike School Instructor and can steer pretty damn good!! So when I say we were cracking on a bit, we were cracking on a lot! One particular section has some turns posted at 60. I was glued to hi tail, but he had Racetechs on his new 08 CBR600 and he was opening the throttle bloody early. So I was naturally following suit and seeing if the PR2 would take it. It did surprisingly well as a matter of fact, however it did let go a few times. No more than an M3 does at that pace on that road, but let go all the same.
The first time was unexpected. The tyre had been good all day so far, but we were only warming up. By Highlands we were hot! The first let go was in one of the 60 posted turns which was a right hander over a crest so it made the bike a little light as it went over the top, but neither of us opened the throttle till on the downhill section. As soon as I saw him open his, I cracked mine a touch and the back started to slide. Nothing nasty, nothing too snappy (thank you Mr. Michelin, finally a Michelin which slides predictably!!) pretty much as the M3's do when they let go. Now, I wasn't sure if it was the tyre or the road surface, so in the interests of attempting to create as equal an opportunity for the PR2's to work as the M3's, I kept into the throttle and even started pushing my mate a touch. If I had more than about 8000rpm showing when I dialled the gas on it would spin the rear easily. Providing I used a taller gear with less revs, it was happy to go edge to edge and not move an inch. When I got off the bike tonight and tucked it away in bed I had a little gander and there is feck all wear really although I can see it has worn a touch right near the edges where I was horsing around with the throttle after I realised how much fun it was to spin it!!! Not sure about the blackie situation as I was behind my mate and Daylight was behind me! Bump absorption was good both upright and at full lean.

In summary, while grip levels are not race tyre like, they are not that far removed from the grip of a Pilot or an M3 in my opinion. I will reserve passing a final verdict on the tyre until I have had the opportunity to do more miles and see how grip alters throughout the life of the tyre. But, if I can coax more than 8000 roadworthy Kilometres from this tyre, then it will be a PR2 replacing it for sure!

I've never been a fan of Michelins, however I am happy to eat humble pie where the PR2 is concerned! Now my only issue is what front will be a good match for it. The conti seems fine but it is a harsh tyre so I'll have to have a think about it.

[deafwish]

Hey Strika,
What tyre are you running on the front?

Robsalvv,
How is the Power front & PR2 rear getting on?

Cheers.
Daz.

[Strika]

Hey Strika,
What tyre are you running on the front?

Robsalvv,
How is the Power front & PR2 rear getting on?

Cheers.
Daz.

The Beemer has the Power front Road2 Rear combo. It works fine on the Beemer. But it's not exactly cutting edge now. The 9 currently has a Conti on the front and seems to be getting on well with the rear. Mind you, it currently has rooted head stem bearings ( I've been practicing wheelies. Even did a few today. One was a minger! Pulled it up in 2nd and clicked all the way through to 4th! A record for me! ) so perhaps I should wait till I replace them before passing comment!

But taking the rooted headstem bearings aside, the Conti Sport Attack and the PR2 rear seem to work fine together.

[Robsalvv]

Wellllll, I've had the pilot power front, pilot road 2 rear for a while now.

I'm getting good wear on the rear for the type of riding I do, and for the most part I'm able to have a confident fang in the twisties when I get there. There's still some squidge factor on the side but that's while you put too much power through before the edge has warmed up.

The bike still steers slower than with PP's front and rear... I thought this'd improve as the tyres wore down, but I think the PP profile is more pointy than the PR profile, so the front is a little higher than spec... at my next service I'm planning on putting some properly sized springs and will consider dropping the front 1 or 2 mm.

We'll see.

There's a good chance I'm doing a tassie trip in Jan... I'll definitely be PP's front and rear for that.

[Robsalvv]

Mileage: 31622km. i.e. 3673km in 2months of mostly commuting and heavy acceleration, with some twisties. Tread depth at the wear indicators is about 5.1mm so about 0.7mm wear.

New pilot power front, tread depth above wear indicators about 3.1mm.

Wear update:

Mileage: 41794 km, same kind of riding as mentioned above.

Rear PR2: Tread depth at the wear indicators is about 3.0x mm. 13845km travelled for a total wear of about 2.8mm, so that's about 5000km/mm ...I'd say there's at least 10000kms left in the rear (wear should go up as the tyre thins)

Front PP: Tread depth at the wear indicators is about 2.1mm. 10172 km travelled for a total wear of about 1mm, so I'm getting about 10000km/mm

Damn, I need more twisty time.

[hoffy]

Im not saying anything more about tyres.. cause you know what ill say about PR2's..

[z900/zx9]

Im not saying anything more about tyres.. cause you know what ill say about PR2's..

No i have no idear why dont you tell us

[hoffy]

Im not saying anything more about tyres.. cause you know what ill say about PR2's..

No i have no idear why dont you tell us

they are great ....

[Blurr]

Im not saying anything more about tyres.. cause you know what ill say about PR2's..

No i have no idear why dont you tell us

they are great ....

agreed!!

I used a PR2 for a ride from Sydney to cairns then across to darwin via townsville and tenant creek. Then from Darwin back down to tenant creek, across to ayres rock (its not ullaru!! dont get me started) than down to port augusta across to Broken hill and back to syd.

A total of 13,500kms were traveled with luggage on the back and on 60-70 degree tarmac. These tyres helds up great and even had enough tread on them to do the trip again.

They also have the added benefit of feeling very stable and grippy on the twisties due to the dual compound .

Cant recommend them enough

[Wattie]

what fucken bike did you torture on that trip???????????????

[Blurr]

the 10r tortured me

[IsleofNinja]

I'm now running a PR2 rear and Diablo Corsa 2 front.

Have previously only run Pirelli Corsa/ Corsa 2 but just don't last on the rear at all.(I mean I could back off the throttle but where is the fun in that??)

Suprisingly the Corsa 2 / PR2 work fairly well together. The Pirelli steerer is a touch lower / less aggressive on turn in than a PP but the grip levels hard over seem to have it over the PP.With a 190 PR2 on the back , feels very progressive though a bit slower to warm up than the Pirelli's.
Lasts a hell of lot longer and grip once warm is not really an issue as such. Don't tear up like the Corsa's on the rear either.

I would take any tyre advice from guys like Strika , Hoffy ,z900 etc very seriously.. They ride in GOD's COUNTRY !!!! If they couldn't ride they'd have been peeled of a tree/armco a long time ago.



IMO