Tire suggestions

[RedNigel]

OK
My rear PR3 is about ready to give up the ghost at about 8500 miles. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I would like to get more than that out of my rear tire dollar.
A: Am I asking for too much to want more than 10K from my tire?

B: Can anyone suggest a tire that will have a little more hang time?

 

[Chucksklrst]

OK
My rear PR3 is about ready to give up the ghost at about 8500 miles. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I would like to get more than that out of my rear tire dollar.
A: Am I asking for too much to want more than 10K from my tire?

B: Can anyone suggest a tire that will have a little more hang time?

It will be hard to get more than that out of any tire, with all the chip-seal and heat that you have in North Texas. I never got more than 8500 myself when I lived down there. Moved back here to Colorado and my rear tire milage has gone up to around 10k. And this has been on my ST1300. My last tire on the ST got almost 12k. Try another set of PR3's and and see how they preform. Some say that older PR2 get better milage, but I have never run any of them.

 

[JohnC]

Saw this review a couple of days ago:
http://www.motorcycle.com/products/pirelli-angel-gt-review-91564.html

But YMMV. Oh, wait, that is the problem.

 

[mikesim]

Based up everyone's experience here, the PR3's seem to be the most popular, long-lived tire in the group. I'm kinda surprised that you only got 8.5K out of yours based upon others reports. Being the contrarian that I am, I went with the Dunlop Roadsmart 2 on my last tire change and have been very pleased. I have about 13K on 'em and they are still going strong. You might give the Dunlops a try.

Mike

 

[pizzaboy]

Bridgestone BT-45
Metzeler Roadtec Z6

 

[SuperDave]

I went the other way.

My stock BR20's made 10,000 miles easily.
The dealer ordered a new set directly from Honda at a price of $97 from $129 rear.
They give a discount to those who purchased the bike there and I got out the door for $291 installed.

Their quote for the PR3s was $200/$270 plus install.
The PR3 may be better but not twice as good as the BR20s.

Ask you dealer to order directly from Honda.

SuperDave

 

[EX Winger]

Mi PR3's are coming off later tis week, about 18K on the rear and just shy of that on the front. No I have not babyed them other than making sure pressures were set at 42 rear and 37 on front. mostly road miles in OR Wa, and Northern CA, Maybe 100 miles of gravel included. Rear right at the wear bar, Front not to wear bar , bu cupping , rear cuped a little, but center is flattened out very similar to a car tire and it feels very similar to my wing with a darksider rear on it. They are singing to me now in coners much like Dunlop E-3's on the wing at 7500-8000 miles If it were not for the CO and SD trip I would probably leave them on for another two thousand mile, but I don't like to get caught by hi-way robers away from home when I can prevent it.

Eldon

 

[BigBill]

I'm looking too...my OEMs are getting near the end at 6k, so I need some reliable, long wearing tires.

I'm not a very aggressive rider and I avoid bad weather as much as possible, but knowing I'm a bigger guy I need something tough for commuting and long rides.

I've always used Continentals on my bicycles and loved them, anyone have any experience with Contis on their NT?

 

[charlie b]

The PR3's on mine were just starting to show some wear at the 6000mi mark. Avon Storm's and stock tires were already squared off at that point.

If you're only getting 8500mi on the PR3's how many did you get on the stock tires? 5k or less?

You might want to go with really cheap tires and just change them often. If you go that route might as well invest in some tire changing gear and do them yourself.

Metzler 880's are the king of distance for most other bikes, but, when I looked the Metzlers were almost as expensive as the PR3's. Heck, the PR3's weren't that much more than most of the other premium tires and since they wear much longer were worth the difference. I wish they made them to fit my Guzzi.

 

[Phil Tarman]

My stock BR20's made 10,000 miles easily.
The dealer ordered a new set directly from Honda at a price of $97 from $129 rear.
They give a discount to those who purchased the bike there and I got out the door for $291 installed.

Their quote for the PR3s was $200/$270 plus install.

That's similar to what my dealer does. They heavily discount Bridgestones and I don't think they care whether you bought the bike there or not. I paid about $270 for a pair of BT-023s, but they don't discount the mounting that much. Their quote on PR3s was way higher than I've paid for them online with free shipping. I've got a pair of PR3s in the garage that I'm going to ship to Henderson, NV, so Rick and I can get a mid-Four Corners tire change on the Epic Ride, that I paid $270 for the pair from Bike Bandit.

 

[BigBill]

Saw this review a couple of days ago:
http://www.motorcycle.com/products/pirelli-angel-gt-review-91564.html

But YMMV. Oh, wait, that is the problem.

Those look very good...Revzilla has some great pricing on those too!

 

[jackgermain]

Funny - I just came from the shop, looking at price of tires, but not needing them now. They all favored the PR-2 -- just saying.

 

[charlie b]

How many of them have them on their bikes and how many miles have they gotten?

Have they tried PR3's to know if they are better or not?

 

[Phil Tarman]

I've said this before (bet that surprises you all, doesn't it?) but "BIKE" is my favorite motorcycle magazine. It's a great British magazine and one of the things they had for quite a while, but have discontinued the last few months was a tire comparison. The BT-023 was their favorite sport-touring tire for a long time, but the PR3 replaced it. The PR2 never ranked that high with them. They also liked the Roadsmart 2 a lot.

 

[BigBill]

Anyone have any first hand experience with Metzelers? Their me880 is known to have a long tread life and nice ride for touring, though not as sporty as some others.

The PR3's are at the top of the list, but still want to do a bit of digging first.

 

[Phil Tarman]

BigBill, I had a ME-880 Radial F and ME-880 Bias-ply rear. The front lasted about 17,000 mi; the rear about 15,000 mi. But when I replaced them with BT-023s, the change in handling was so dramatic that I decided never to use the Metzlers again. If there were a radial ME-880 150/70X17, I might try it again.

I ran bias-ply tires on my two Concours for about 159,000 miles and they handled better than the OEM Dunlop radials, a K700 front and a K701 on the rear. But the bias-ply just doesn't work very well on the rear of the NT.

I guess you might try a bias-ply front with the bias-ply rear Metzler and have a better experience than I did...

That might be a better experience.

 

[BigBill]

At the dealer getting my pannier lid warranty'd...looked down to see a PR3 in the right size, so I bought the set and getting the front installed now, rear will be in first of the week.

Surprisingly my dealer has better tire prices than the online stores, its a low margin item for them to keep their bike customers coming back.

 

[junglejim]

Hard to evaluate, but I can't tell the difference.
I can only say the the PR3 worked as well or better than the OEM tire.
But than means I was comparing a new PR3 to an old OEM tire, and I didn't do anything measurable.
My first ride on my new front PR3 was on a cold rainy day and I didn't push it at all. But the new tire fealt better than the old OEM tire (as usual).

 

[BigBill]

I would hope they do MUCH better than the OEM tire, mine was cupped so bad it was like riding over a washboard.

The ride home was great, felt like a completely different machine after changing just the front.

 

[charlie b]

PR3 at below freezing worked very well. I only rode down in the low 20's, but, it handled it fine. Can't say it would corner as well as when warm, but, it did everything I asked of it. Braking ability was also good.

Keep in mind that in those temps I am watching carefully for icy spots, like where runoff has gone across the road and frozen, or black ice, or other such winter hazards. Cornering ability is not high on my mind And on ice none work very well. BTDT.

I tried the Avon Storms after reading the stories on the UK NT site. Many of them recommended the Storms. But, I only got 11k out of mine. They were stickier than stock tires and a bit longer lasting. So, I tried the PR3's. They did everything the Storms could do, and were very quiet to boot. Road noise was cut in half or more. That to me also tells the tale of why they last so long. Tire noise is due to rubbing on the pavement. No noise means less wear.

Pirelli Angels might be worth a try. I have Demons on my Guzzi, but, they are notorious for not great mileage (they stick like glue though ).