Michelin Road Pilot 4's ?

[noobie]

Anyone using these on a bird? I'm confused as they have a 4 and a 4 gt

Michelins own website says 4's for the bird but at the same time looking at the bumpf, gt's are quoted for the larger sports tourers. I'm confuddled

This from Carol Nash review The tyres come in three variants – the regular Road 4, for regular sports tourers over 600CC; the Road 4 GT for larger machines; and the Road 4 Trail for heavy, high torque trail riding touring bikes.

 

[Cougar377]

Anyone using these on a bird? I'm confused as they have a 4 and a 4 gt

Michelins own website says 4's for the bird but at the same time looking at the bumpf, gt's are quoted for the larger sports tourers. I'm confuddled

This from Carol Nash review The tyres come in three variants ? the regular Road 4, for regular sports tourers over 600CC; the Road 4 GT for larger machines; and the Road 4 Trail for heavy, high torque trail riding touring bikes.

Straight from my local bike tyre fitter....

The GT is a strengthed sidewall version of the 4, designed for the extra load on bigger bikes which are primarily setup for 2 up, fully loaded touring.

If you don't do much of that and ride mainly solo then the 4 will be fine.

 

[ChildoftheJago]

I run standard PR4's. I quizzed my tyre fitter about the GT's and he advised standard for the Bird.

 

[noobie]

Thanks chaps, I did wonder if they meant the heavier weight tourers rather than sports tourers

 

[DiverBones]

Did you see the tyre reviews in MCN a few weeks ago? I was going to get Pilot 4's for my and my wife's bike. In the review the new Metzeler Roadtec 01's came out top above the Michelins. We're just back from a 3,000 mile trip round Europe where we had every sort of temperatures and weather and the Metzelers were great. They recommend the heavy duty for the rear on a blackbird but Michelin say the normal on the rear if you go for them.
Sorry if I've just caused confusion.

 

[noobie]

No, no confusion chap.

All these companies want our hard earned cash and it helps at purchase time if we share the good, the bad and the information.

 

[Alexhoc]

I'm watching this with interest as my tyres will need replacing soon. I have PR2s on now, and I don't know if I should go for PR4s, Avons, or Metzelers, I've heard good things about them all.

 

[bmwdumptruck]

Not sure if what I saw was the MCN review, but what I saw was set up by Metzeler which then surprisingly produced not just the best tyre on test with the 01, but their Z8 model came second closely followed by the other German brand continental and the best selling Michelin almost last. Go figure that if you think it was a valid test:dunno: and, one tester on one bike, so each test and each tyre would have been tested under different conditions as the day warmed up etc.

Nothing more to say about Avon, won't be going there again.

The pilot 4's seem to be getting very mixed reviews, and I seem to recall Michelin recommend the GT version if you tour two up fully loaded.

Personally I'd save a few quid and go for pilotroad3's. Excellent tyres.

 

[noobie]

Does it sound tartish that I like the 3's more than the 4's because the pattern looks pretty :-0) I wonder how many have selected the tyre based on pattern design before.

I think I'll try the 4's, they are going on the bike on Friday and I've got a 150 mile round trip Sunday to break them in.

I recently had new pads all round, new rear bearings and at the same time as the tyres, a new chain and sprockets are being fitted. I only mention this as it should remove any issues of tired worn out kit may have had on the tyre performance.

I've been quoted ?277 including fitting, balancing, new valves and the vat which I thought was a good price.

 

[Boggymarsh]

Why not look at Battlax BT023GTs? I ran these for two sets and was always very happy with them in all weather conditions.

I am now running on Avon Storm 3D XMs and whilst they are perfectly good I found I had more confidence in the BT023. My riding is very progressive and even on a warm day I have yet to get them tacky but this doesn't seem to affect the amount of grip they give, even when getting the power on in 2nd/3rd higher rev range :-0) The 3Ds have such deep tread that they have proved to be excellent in laying pools of water I often find whilst running up and down the M20 and have barely budged when hitting them at speed. I am currently some 6k into this set and they have barely worn, indicating a potential 15k from the rear atleast.

Tyres are very much horses for courses and yes, a pretty tyre pattern is pleasing on the eye.

 

[noobie]

During the war, I was a dye in the wool Bridgestone man. BT 56's all the way until they went into BT 57's but lets be honest they were poor on the tyre wear 3k mileage on a tyre is piss poor given I can get 2 big fat car tyres for the same price as a bike rear but the more I used them they seemed to lose their way on development and quality.

The last Bt tyre I enjoyed was a BT014 that was standard fitment on my zzr 1400 and I loved that even as brief as it's appearance was.

I did see the mcn article on tyres, I think they have a shortened version on you tube?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzcgeHLZMvw

I didn't know Pirelli own Metzler?