Michelin Pilot Road 3 tyres progress report

This post is predominantly for my mate Jules in Australia.  He's been nudging me along to write a progress report on how the PR3's are going on the Street Triple.  Personally, I think he simply wants to sit back and watch the fur fly as everyone seems to hold strong opinions about tyres, even if there's bugger-all objective evidence for aforesaid opinions!  The report is a bit nerdish (oh all right, anal!) so if you want to do something exciting like watching paint dry, it's ok by me :-)!  Think yourself lucky - Jennie has to put up with this sort of behaviour all the time!

Background
Just to recap, I'm an Avon fan, having had them on my Blackbird and then the Street Triple.  I fitted them to the ST after being a little disappointed with the Dunlop Qualifier sport OEM tyres.  The Qualifiers gripped ok in the warmer weather, I was nervous about them in cooler, wet conditions and they also tended to tip into a bend rather than roll in smoothly.  By 6000 km, they had lost most of their tread and also lost their shape.  The replacement Avon Storm 2 sport-touring tyres did most things really well but were outstanding in the wet, which was not unexpected based on past experience. They were replaced at 10,000 km which was satisfactory, given that the ST gets used for its intended purpose although the front tyre triangulated a bit towards the end of its life.  I would have happily used them again except that the NZ Avon importers had hiked the price significantly beyond that of competing brands.  That was the spur to look around and the PR3's sport touring tyres were chosen.  Photos of the Storms and PR3's when first fitted, together with some accompanying remarks can be found HERE.

The PR3's have now been on for nearly 6 months, so how have they gone so far?  Before we get to that, let's have a think as to why opinions on tyres vary so much (a euphemism for unadulterated bullshit in most instances) .  There are many variables which impact significantly on tyre performance (road surface and temperature, ratio of straights to curves, tyre pressures, bike weight and geometry, riding style to name but a few. Bike magazines which test normal road tyres round a test track for lap times don't replicate real world conditions either.  In other words, we're not comparing apples with apples in most cases. I'm not going to offer up much in the way of hard science either BUT what is relevant is that the ST has been ridden by me over virtually identical road and weather conditions for a touch over 20,000 km using 3 different sets of tyres.  At least this gives strong comparative indications, if not absolute ones.

First Impressions
The PR3 is similar to many modern road tyres in that it has dual compound construction - harder towards the centre to reduce wear when vertical and softer towards the edges for additional mechanical grip when leaned over.  I have the higher load rating "B" specification on the rear.  Carcass construction allegedly also increases the contact patch area when leaned over but other manufacturers make that claim too.  Where the PR3 is significantly different is in the tread pattern.  Michelin claim that they are the first to use the fine grooves (called sipes) which are a feature of some performance car tyres for clearing water at a higher rate than conventional rain grooves.  Here's a picture of the front tyre when it was first fitted:

Pilot Road 3 front - brand new

After leaving the tyre fitting place, my first noticeable impression was at walking pace coming up to the first set of traffic lights. There appeared to be a slight vibration through the bars at around 5-10 km/hr.  I actually wondered whether the transverse sipes were creating a harmonic at low speed. It wasn't enough to be worrying and it now seems to have gone away.  Don't think I was imagining it!  After taking it easy for 50 km or so, I started to explore the characteristics a bit more.  Turn-in was similar to the Avons, in that it's a progressive roll rather than the more pronounced drop in of the Dunlop Qualifier.  The reason may be due to a less crowned profile.  I'm also of the view that the PR3 is fractionally slower steering than the Avon Storm 2, but not to the extent that it's an issue and feel perfectly at home on them. In fact, they were so reassuring that there were no chicken strips on the rear tyre at the end of the 160km trip home.

Experience to date
The tyres are just coming up to 7000km from new.  Three characteristics are immediately noticeable.

• The profile is perfectly even with little or no hint of squaring off  on either tyre or "triangulation" on the front.  

• There is heaps of tread left.  I regret not measuring the tread depth when new but there is still over 3mm in the centre of the rear hoop  which suggests that 12000 km + will be easily attainable, even riding with enthusiasm.

I set the tyre pressures with a quality digital gauge (NEVER with a gas station inflator) and run them at 35-36 psi front and 39-40 psi rear, a little lower than in the Triumph manual.

Here are photos taken today, showing the tread and even wear profile.

Front

Rear

Front - worn nearly round to the edge and minimal tearing

As mentioned earlier, the PR3's were chosen over the Avons principally on price - NZ$600 fitted and balanced against $NZ650.  If you factor in the clearly superior tyre life, then it makes the PR3's a really attractive economic proposition.

• The third characteristic is performance.  In the dry, they really grip.  Job to say whether they're any better than the Avons because my mental bar is set lower than the limits of either brand of tyre but suffice to say, they're confidence-inspiring.  However, in wet conditions, they're sensational.  I thought Avon were great (and they are) but the PR3's are better.  In my last post on riding Dr Andy West's Daytona 675, he enthused about their performance in the wet and has subsequently said that when the Supercorsas are worn out, he'll be replacing them with PR3's.  Clearly, the Supercorsas are a superior tyre for continuous high speed work such as track days but for everyday road use where they don't reach the high operating temperatures required especially in the wet, grip is probably less than the PR3.  They certainly didn't give me much feedback in damp conditions.  Another interesting thing I noticed when Andy was riding my bike and I was following him in the wet was that the tyres were leaving a noticeable dry line behind them.  Perhaps this is an indicator of good water-pumping ability.  Must observe other bike tyres too.

Well, there we are - some impressions of the Michelin PR3 based on a comparison with other tyres fitted to the Street Triple and used in near-identical conditions - hope you think that it's been worthwhile.  More to come at life end.

Addendum:  The full end of life report can be found HERE

New tyres - difficult replacement choices

The Street Triple came equipped with Dunlop Qualifier sport tyres.  In overall terms, grip was probably more than my riding habits would require excepting unforeseen events.  However, by 6000 km, the rear hadn’t got much tread left and both tyres had lost their original profile to a significant degree.  It was noticeable that under hard cornering, the bike tended to drop in rather than progressively roll in. My earlier musings on tyres is HERE.

Because some decent distances were planned to be covered in the following 6 months, I replaced them with a set of Avon Storm 2 Ultra sport touring tyres.  As mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I’ve been an Avon fan for years.  The dry weather grip is probably on par with many other good quality makes of tyre but what has been outstanding for me is wet weather performance.  Even with standing water on the tar seal, they hang on exceptionally well and don't suddenly let go.  The other feature I’ve really liked is that they retain their profile through a large percentage of their total lifespan, meaning that you don’t have to replace them early because handling has been adversely affected.

I've just covered a shade over 10000 km on these tyres and the rear is down to the minimum depth wear bar in the centre of the tread.  Note in the picture though how even the profile across the tyre is - no big flat in the centre to upset the handling.  The tyre is dual compound with a harder centre and softer sides.  Although it wasn't really noticeable when new, the harder compound in the centre can clearly be seen now although the transition can barely be felt with a fingernail.  Sooo... verdict on the rear tyre - extremely satisfied with the performance.  Good grip in the dry, outstanding grip in the wet, turn-in is very progressive and profile remains pretty constant over its total life.  Not a bad tyre life overall considering the conditions of its use on predominantly twisty roads with coarse chip.

Avon Storm Ultra rear @10000 km
Harder compound in centre

The front tyre probably has at least a further 2000-3000km of life in terms of centre tread depth but it's developed significant flats on the side of the tyre.  The flats are clearly visible in the photo below. Whilst the handling doesn't feel compromised at present, it certainly will before long.  The root causes of the side wear are hard to determine.  I'm paranoid about accurate tyre pressures and am inclined to think that the wear is probably normal given that the roads I mainly ride on are twisty with coarse chip.  Fairly stiff suspension, budget suspension damping and vigorous countersteering won't help either.  Verdict: Excellent tyre in terms of wet and dry weather grip but uneven profile wear well before reaching minimum tread depth.

Avon Storm Ultra front @10000 km

Where to from here?
I don't want to go back to pure sport tyres and replace them at least twice a year, so sport-touring tyres will fill the bill for longer life, but still provide grip for enthusiastic cornering.  I've done a lot of reading and Pirelli Angel ST's, Dunlop Roadsmarts and Michelin Pilot Road 3's all seem to fit the bill, although I've read a few reports detailing the odd issue with all of them.  Realistically, will they offer any more in terms of performance and "feel" than the Avon Storms?  Is there a case for taking a chance on something else at present?  Is there a significant price differential between brands - enough to influence the final choice? 

My thinking was to simply replace the rear tyre with an identical one.  For the front, I was tempted to go for the sportier Avon VP2 Sport for even more grip (they're compatible).  I don't mind the odd rear wheel slide but the couple of front end slides I've had in years gone by are a bit unnerving.   I got 7000 km from the front VP2 on my Blackbird and the lighter weight and more aggressive steering geometry of the Triple should give significantly more life, still allowing both tyres to be changed at the same time. It's pointless skimping on tyres when their role in keeping you upright is so important.

Meanwhile, a few days later.....

After a little more research on the 'net, the new Michelin PR3's looked an interesting proposition but maybe not enough to sway me.  However, after a call to our nearest decent tyre depot, I was surprised to find that there is indeed a significant price differential.  The full Avon set is NZ$650, balanced and fitted whereas the pair of Michelins is a nice round NZ$600.  The price advantage and performance research has been sufficient to convince me to buy a set and it will be interesting to compare their performance with the Avons.  Doubt that I'll be buying a lemon as some of the early reports are pretty encouraging.

Tuesday.......

Rode to the Drury Performance Centre in South Auckland to get the new tyres fitted.  I hadn't been there before and was extremely impressed with their professionalism so have no difficulty in giving them a well-deserved plug!

Drury Performance Centre

After greeting me and double-checking the tyres I'd ordered, I was given a voucher for a coffee at a cafe across the road.  Actually, it wasn't really a cafe as such,  it was Roma Coffee Roasters and I was able to sit and have a superb cup of Macciato whilst watching beans being roasted on a commercial scale behind the counter!

Meanwhile, the guys had started to replace the tyres and I strolled round having a look at some of the tyres in stock.  The 300-section tyre shown below was pretty impressive - presumably for an outrageous chopper or something like a Rocket 3.  You'd need a healthy bank balance to replace that!

Serious rubber!

There was a gorgeous early (1980's) GSX-R 1100 parked inside which caught my eye.  It had aftermarket Ohlins suspension and Yoshimura cans but the rest of it looked pretty stock standard.  It was in beautiful condition, not show pony good, but good as in someone who loves his bike, rides it regularly and hard and loves it to bits.  I  mentally raised my hat to the owner.

Gorgeous early Gixxer

The Michelin Pilot road 3's are a pretty new tyre and replace the hugely popular PR 2's.  The 3's have very fine grooves (sipes) as part of the tread pattern to apparently hugely increase wet weather performance.  These are rare on motorcycles but as an aside, I found out sipes were first invented in the 1920's to increase the grip of rubber shoes in wet slaughterhouses - nothing new under the sun eh?

Rear PR3

Front PR3

Here's where things took a bizarre turn!  I was sitting in the customer reception area waiting for the fitting to be completed and was flicking through the NZ Magazine Motorcycle Trader (Aug 2011 edition). It had an interesting article on tyres and I noticed that there was a photo of a Street Triple.  See propped-up magazine in the photo below - bottom photo in magazine. (Click to enlarge).

A sudden realisation.....

It suddenly dawned on me that it was was MY Street Triple and the photo was taken from my blog post from 21st February this year!  It shows the laser wheel alignment rig I'd originally built for the Blackbird. I'm not annoyed - surprised more like at seeing it but I don't think an email to Motorcycle Trader will go amiss to find out a bit more.

Taking the normal care with new tyres, I headed home down some twisty back roads to scrub them in.  Normally with new tyres,  they feel quite flighty in comparison with the old ones but I'd have to say that these didn't feel significantly different to the Avons which they replaced.  I think that this is testimony to how well the Avons held their profile over the complete life of the tyre.  Once on the coast road up to Coromandel,  I felt confident enough to press on a bit and when I got home, the rear was scrubbed in right to the edges.  Initial impressions are very favourable and really looking forward to evaluating them over a longer period and in a whole range of conditions.  I'll certainly be going back to Drury Performance Centre, really nice guys with a great service ethic.

ADDENDUM:  I followed up the matter of my photo appearing and whilst they didn't directly admit to stealing my photo from the blog, they did offer a carabiner-type helmet lock and fancy wire strop as a "goodwill gesture", plus a free subscription to their magazine.  I was quite happy with the outcome - they got the message and I got some goodies!

Note: A full end of life review of the Michelin PR3 tyres mentioned above can be found HERE

Chain lubricant and tyres - a couple of product reviews

DUPONT CHAIN LUBRICANT
Back in February, I bought a can of DuPont Multi-Use Lubricant to try out on the Street Triple chain. Up to then, Motul chain lubricant had been the long-term favourite.  The Motul did have one drawback though.... it flung sticky black residue onto the wheel rim, underside of the chain guard, rear of the numberplate and annoyingly; it baked onto the underside of the high level mufflers. Solvent was the only way of shifting it.  Oh yes, and it gradually built up in the engine space ahead of the front sprocket and gradually oozed down the hot engine.  Nothing like getting sticky grease onto your cleaning cloth to trigger a burst of bad language!

 DuPont Multi-Use Teflon spray

Fellow blogger Sonja also used the DuPont teflon product and said that she's well-pleased with its performance.  After 3000 km of its use, Sonja's comments are spot on.  Firstly, there's no fling which is just wonderful - no more use of solvents before getting out the soap suds.  Secondly, the chain doesn't pick up dirt, staying clean and bright as per the photo above.  Most importantly, does it do the job of minimising chain and sprocket wear?    Well, maybe 3000 km isn't much of a test but if we accept that component wear is one  contributor to chain slackening, there hasn't been any need to tension it in those 3000 km.  The signs are all good!  Price is a touch more than most other top end brands.  Although NZ$30 per can (~US$23) isn't cheap because of the relative lack of competition in our market, it still will last a decent length of time.  Oh, and the rear paddock stand bought earlier this year makes chain lubing so much easier than the old method of wheeling it along and spraying a section at a time!


AVON STORM 2 ULTRA TYRES
Now if I see a motorcycle forum post about "Which tyre is the best?", chances are I'll pass it by as there's more bulls*it spouted about tyres than virtually any other bike topic!  Talk about people getting hot under the collar and arguing the toss without presenting any reasonable evidence to back up their claims!  I also have some reservations about the validity of motorcycle magazine track testing in relation to a real world environment.  Truth is that virtually any tyre made by the major manufacturers will meet the requirements of the road riding community.  They will all have their particular strengths, drawbacks and "feel" but the real trick is matching the tyre to your environment and style of riding. Let me give you give an example.

The Street Triple came equipped with French-made Dunlop Qualifier sport tyres.  Gripped like heck in the dry but felt slightly vague on corners in the wet - fantastic performance overall though.  Started to lose their profile shape before 4000 km and the bike felt like it wanted to drop in than progressively roll into a bend.  Rear tyre was worn out at 6000 km and the front hoop still had plenty of tread, but worn badly out of shape.  See the photos towards the bottom of this link to a previous post on tyres. However, the Qualifiers were a sport tyre and overall life is maybe about what you'd expect for a soft compound when ridden fairly hard.  The distinct change in shape and "feel" at around 4000 km was a bit disappointing as they didn't feel right for the rest of their life, but they did their job pretty well overall.

I replaced them with the Avon Storm 2 Ultra sport-touring tyres for a couple of reasons.  I wanted a bit more longevity than a pure sport tyre because of some longer runs which had been planned and I'd long been a fan of Avon tyres on my Blackbird, particularly in terms of superb wet weather performance.  The Storm 2 Ultra is a relatively new tyre which owes more to the Avon VP2 sport tyre than it does to the old Storm ST.  It has dual compound construction, harder in the centre and softer towards the outside for improved grip.  It also has other interesting features which can be ignored for this review.  I'm pretty sure that the dual compound helps to maintain the profile for a bigger percentage of tyre life too, but more on that later.

WEAR
I've just passed the 8000 km mark and both tyres still have plenty of tread.  The rear will last for at least another 2000 km and the front considerably longer than that.   Rear tyre pressure is set at 39-40psi.  Incidentally, I never use a gas station gauge to set tyre pressures.  They're notoriously inaccurate and always carry my own fairly expensive digital gauge.

Rear Storm 2 Ultra at 8200 km

It can be seen from the photo above that there's plenty of tread right across the width of the tyre and more importantly for the sake of handling, the wear profile is pretty even with no significant flat wear area in the centre.  Ok, so the Triple only weighs ~170 kg and I mainly ride on twisty roads but it's still pretty darned good for 8000 hard km.

The photo below shows the front tyre with slight evidence of "triangulation"/flattening on the edges of the front hoop.  If I have to change it at the same time as the rear because of that wear becoming more pronounced, it won't be a big deal.  Maybe I could afford to raise the front pressure from 36 psi to 37 or 38psi in future to reduce any risk of significant carcass deflection, but the former figure was the tyre manufacturer's recommendation for this bike.  Countersteering is also probably a significant contributor to the front tyre wear given the extremely twisty roads with coarse chip that I ride on.  By comparison, the Blackbird was a heavier bike with a weight-forward bias and more conservative steering geometry, so the recommended pressure was 42 psi.

  

Front Storm 2 Ultra at 8200 km 

Note a hint of flattening off on the sides

A final comment about rate of wear.  It's hugely dependent upon where you ride, how you ride, the weight of the bike and a few other factors like how good your suspension is etc. It's noteworthy that a top aftermarket shock on my Blackbird added nearly 2000km to rear tyre life.  A great excuse to get permission to go upmarket!!!

The only valid comparison is where most of the contributing factors are pretty constant such as on your own bike and the area you mostly ride in.  Expect other people from other areas to have completely different results in terms of tyre life.  If you mainly tour, then tyre life is probably going to be a sight more important than someone with sport tyres who enjoys trackdays or caning it in the twisties!

HANDLING
Let's deal with wet weather first.  They are fantastic and support Avon's deserved reputation for being great in the wet.  I've had the odd small slide over wet tar snakes and the like but they've been utterly controllable.  There's really nothing to say apart from them being totally confidence-inspiring.  In the dry, they are as confidence-inspiring as the Dunlop Qualifier tyres the Street Triple came equipped with.  This may well be because although I like to press on a bit, I'm probably still well within the design parameters of the tyre on most occasions.  That speaks volumes for modern tyres.

The other thing I've always liked about Avon tyres is that they tend to roll in rather than drop in.  This characteristic, combined with them retaining their profile for a big percentage of their life; also adds to rider confidence.

WHAT NEXT?
The Avon Storm 2 Ultra tyres completely suit my "fitness for purpose".  Fantastic in the wet and more than sufficient for my road riding ability in the dry, even when pushing a bit.  They "feel" great too.  That suggests that I'll simply replace them when the current ones are stuffed.  There is a slight chance that I'll fit the Avon VP2 sports tyres with the softer compounds which I had on the Blackbird in the last year of ownership.  If I do go this way, it will only be for curiosity about comparative grip and life rather than real need. You depend heavily on tyres to keep you safe.  It's false economy to skimp. 

Motorcycle tyre performance in the real world

If ever there's a subject guaranteed to raise blood pressure and provoke circular (no pun intended) argument, look no further than tyres!  Anyone incautious enough to ask on a forum "What's a good tyre?" will not only get conflicting results, most of the feedback will contain plenty of hot air and stuff-all in the way of qualitative facts.  Motorcycle magazines are only marginally better - lap times with the same bike using different tyres but how representative is that of the real world either?

In terms of main brand modern motorcycle road tyres, there's probably little difference between them in the performance envelope that most of us operate in, although there's no question that overall, tyre performance has improved markedly over the years.  Good news for all of us given the critical role they play in keeping us safe.

It's that old question about "fitness for purpose" because the term performance means different things to different people. Basically, sports tyres give incredible grip but (relatively) limited life and at the other end of the scale, touring tyres give longer life but a bit less grip. Manufacturers now try to blur these distinctions with additional options and we as consumers have seemingly endless permutations whilst trying to decide what's acceptable for the type of riding we do.

I wonder what others think about the subject of tyres?  Here's some personal experiences over the last few years that have marked the quest for tyres that fit my purpose.

Acquiring the Blackbird in 2001 was the first foray into riding what might be termed "hyperbikes" for want of a better word.  Enormous horsepower, heavy with a forward weight bias and conservative steering geometry that "pushes" the front end - those factors are an extreme test for any tyre.  It came equipped with Michelin 90X radials.  For the first few weeks, it could have had sugar-coated doughnuts on the rims and would have still been safe because I rode like a complete granny whilst getting used to it.  As confidence grew, a bit more power was applied, particularly whilst leaned over driving out of corners and the first limitations became apparent - the rear would spin up with little provocation in all but perfect road conditions.  The Michelins would have lasted forever because they were a pretty hard compound but in terms of grip, they struggled to cope with the new generation of performance bikes.  After 6 months of ownership, the tread depth had hardly dropped at all but they had to go because I'd lost confidence in them.  In wet weather, they were a nightmare.

The replacements were Dunlop D220's.  Better in terms of grip but as confidence grew in them and they were pushed a little harder, another problem manifested itself.  Have a look at the picture, particularly towards the bottom of the tyre:

As distance on them increased, the front tyre developed a terrible profile with big flats (almost concave in fact) from just off the centre line of the tyre running out towards the edge.  An under-inflated tyre could exhibit similar symptoms but it wasn't that as I was anal about pressures. The handling was horrible with it wanting to flop into corners. Fortunately, there was a lot of collected experience on the 2 major Blackbird websites and there was a strong body of opinion that most tyres simply weren't up to supporting the dynamic loads generated by heavy, powerful bikes when cornering and were almost certainly deflecting badly under load.  As already mentioned, the standard Blackbird has fairly conservative steering geometry with a weight forward bias.  To drive it quickly through corners requires a fair bit of countersteering and that exacerbates the problem.

Some manufacturers clearly recognised the problem and Avon brought out the Azaro "B" specification tyre which had additional reinforcing to reduce carcass deflection.  When the Hayabusa was released, Michelin shod it with the HPX, another reinforced tyre, for the same reason.  As soon as the Azaro "B" was released, I put a set on the Blackbird and the alarming front profile wear pattern disappeared.  Overall grip was pretty good too.  Clearly, the weight component and less extreme steering geometry compared with pure sports bikes had created their own particular set of issues.

Avon then released the Storm sport-touring tyre which was a further development of the Azaro "B".  This proved to be a real winner among sport-touring bike owners and is the Blackbird tyre of choice in the UK and NZ as well as with a lot of SV650/1000 and Hayabusa owners world-wide. I've had several of these tyres and whilst the good dry weather grip is probably on par with other major competing brands, the wet weather performance is the best I've ever encountered.  The other thing I like about Storms is that they keep their profile through a large percentage of their life, which means that handling remains uncompromised for longer.  Life was around 7500 km from a rear Storm which mainly consisted of spirited riding rather than touring or they would have lasted longer. Front Storms lasted nearly half as long again.  Overall, not bad for a heavy performance bike being pushed on grippy surfaces. Tyre life comparisons without replicating the exact road and road temperature conditions are pointless.  Where we lived pre-retirement had less-twisty roads with smoother surfaces and lower temperatures.  It is noticeable that the tyres lasted longer than where we live now.  This is a photo of a Storm rear:

Superb tread pattern for clearing water!

Mind you, new tyre development isn't always smooth sailing.  Four of us with Blackbirds fitted the newly-released Storms in readiness for a South Island tour in early 2007.  All of us experienced a low speed front end shimmy, two of them so severe that even rebalancing had no impact whatever.  A bit of networking both in NZ and around the world revealed quite a number of other cases and Blackbirds seemed to be particularly affected.  To cut a long story short, we worked with the NZ importer to gather data as well as with overseas users and Avon were able to identify an intermittent manufacturing issue and addressed it promptly. Far from the fault putting me off Avon tyres, it actually gave me confidence that here was a company that was willing and able to respond quickly to feedback.

Working with the NZ importer had a useful spin-off and I was subsequently approached in 2009 to formally evaluate a new pure sports tyre, the Avon VP2. It was a new generation tyre with a radical carcass construction to increase contact area when leaned over and had an overlay of 3 different types of rubber plus grip additives for wet weather.  I had severe doubts as to whether a pure sport tyre on a heavy bike was a smart idea but was pretty surprised at the outcome.  Firstly, the grip.  The VP2's were still effortlessly holding on long after my nerve had given out, both in wet and dry conditions.  They also had a great "feel", progressively rolling into corners rather than "dropping in" despite the aggressive profile (a high crown).  This was a clear example of just how good modern tyres are.  Most of us will never explore the outer limits of traction during normal riding but it's comforting to know it's there for those occasional "oh shit" moments!  Secondly, life.  The rear VP2 lasted for just over 5000 very hard kilometres which was a real surprise as I wasn't expecting much more than 3000km.  On a lighter pure sportsbike, the life would have been significantly greater.  I subsequently replaced the worn rear with a Storm sport-touring tyre, but kept the front VP2 on and it lasted for around 7500 km all up; a pretty good result considering that the 'bird tends to "push" the front end.  Had I kept the Blackbird, a Storm rear, VP2 front would have been the combination of choice for the type of riding I do.  The photo below shows the rear VP2 at 5000km.  The centre tread is down to the minimum depth indicator, yet there is no real indication of "squaring off" in the centre, a remarkable achievement by the manufacturer.  Carcass construction and the use of different rubber compounds for the centre and sides clearly have a significant influence in keeping a good profile for a big percentage of total tyre life.

VP2 profile has remained excellent over its life

Moving forward to recent times, the Street Triple came equipped with French-made Dunlop Qualifier pure sport tyres and I was prepared not to like them because of my past experience with the Dunlop D220's.  This proved not to be the case as dry weather grip far exceeded my modest abilities although in the wet, I didn't feel as confident with them compared to the Blackbird with Avons.  However, this is akin to comparing apples with oranges because of the differences in the 2 bikes - far too many variables to reach a meaningful conclusion.  At just over 6000 km, the rear tyre  needed replacing.  I was expecting a little more distance given that the Triple only weighs 167kg dry compared with the 230kg of the Blackbird but it's still ok for a pure sport tyre, especially given the type of roads where we live!  The front still had plenty of centre tread but it was developing flats on the sides and whilst the handling was still acceptable, the transition from upright to leaned right over was no longer linear in terms of "feel".  Here's a photo of the front profile and the flats are quite noticeable.

The following photo shows a different view of the front tyre wear.  Despite the high crown of sports front tyres, it also shows how far a bike can be comfortably leaned over in perfect safety.  The rear has no "chicken strips" at all and the high angles of lean weren't noticeable at the time because the bike felt so planted.

So what now?  A set of tyres that would last up to and beyond the forthcoming endurance ride in October were needed so the VP2 sports tyres I'd really like to have fitted might be pushing the boundaries of life until that time.  Besides, there aren't any in the country for a few more weeks and waiting that long wasn't an option. The new Pirelli Angels looked  interesting and early feedback seems very promising, but full-life evaluations over a whole range of conditions don't appear to exist yet.  However, Avon have recently released the Storm 2 Ultra based on the VP2 technology, only with sport-touring compounds so those are the ones I've just had fitted. Ok, so no-one has done a full-life evaluation on these either, but the purchase decision was based on the considerable experience mentioned above with the forerunners of this tyre.

In the dealer's workshop for new tyres

Far too early to comment on them other than saying that they feel very predictable and directional changes are rapid.  More performance comment to come in due course but for what it's worth, here's a  photo of the front hoop taken at the end of the delivery trip home.  As previously mentioned, the Storms have a deserved reputation for exceptional wet weather performance and that's a feature I'm particularly keen on!

Avon Storm 2 Ultra front tyre

From personal experience, its clear that all the major manufacturers are heavily investing in continuous improvement and that's great for us as consumers.  It probably doesn't matter at all what major brand you choose as long as it's matched to the type of riding you do and whether it's suitable for the bike in question; particularly whether carcass construction will adequately support the dynamic loads imposed by heavier bikes.  The real test is does it "feel" right and give you the confidence to ride in the conditions that you normally encounter.  For me, as previously mentioned; the decision to stick with Avons at least this time round, is largely based around my historical experience of their performance.  Incidentally, I was so used to the performance of the Avon Storms that it was possible to tell when tyre pressures were as little as 2 psi different from my normal settings!

I also mentioned earlier about being anal with tyre pressures.  This comes from bitter experience of gas station gauges which are notoriously inaccurate and correct pressures have such an impact on both grip and tyre life.  I carried an analogue AccuGage brand on the bike for some years.  These are bourdon tube devices constructed like a barometer and are very accurate.  Sadly, it slid off the seat at a gas station forecourt and that was the end of that!  I now have a reasonably expensive digital gauge which looks a bit more robust!

Whilst on the subject of tyres, some small CO2 cartridges and plugs for emergency repairs are normally carried.  Thankfully, they've never been used yet but I've always fretted about whether the 3 cartridges would be sufficient for a full inflation, especially when you're a long way from home.  They're no good of course for small pressure adjustments on the run either.  What I did recently was modify one of those cheap 12V compressors that you buy in automotive accessory shops.  They have large plastic cases which would be a pain to carry on a bike but the internals are very compact.  The case was removed and the accessory plug replaced with crocodile clips to attach directly to the bike battery.  Stick it in a plastic bag and instant air when needed!  The compressor gauge is ignored as it's just as inaccurate as those at gas stations.  My trusty digital gauge is in the photo too.

Mini-compressor for the bike

Finally, it's worth reiterating a comment from the earlier post on aftermarket suspension.  After the OEM Blackbird rear suspension was swapped for a top of the line Penske unit and the fork internals were replaced with upmarket components from the UK, the average improvement in tyre life was close to 2000km.  This is almost certainly a result of  the tyres having less dynamic stresses due to the suspension doing its job effectively.  Something else to ponder on!

Addendum: For an update on Michelin PR3 performance, click HERE