I know, I know. Tires have been talked about to death on this site, but here it goes: I recently fitted my 6th Gen VFR with a Michelin Pilot Power up front and a Pilot Road out back.... they are a DRAMATIC improvement over the MEZ4's that came on the bike....
This combo has more than enough grip for even the most aggressive street riding, I assure you. And they handle beautifully. Good stick up front with a durable rear hoop. Highly recommended.
Pirie, May 13 2006, 10:13 PMI know, I know. Tires have been talked about to death on this site, but here it goes: I recently fitted my 6th Gen VFR with a Michelin Pilot Power up front and a Pilot Road out back.... they are a DRAMATIC improvement over the MEZ4's that came on the bike....
This combo has more than enough grip for even the most aggressive street riding, I assure you. And they handle beautifully. Good stick up front with a durable rear hoop. Highly recommended.
I was planning to slap on a set of Dunlop D220's after this set of Z4's are done, but I htink I'm going to give the Pilot Roads a try. I have do have a set of 220's on my F4i though, and I'm happy with them.
SEBSPEED, May 13 2006, 10:19 PMI was planning to slap on a set of Dunlop D220's after this set of Z4's are done, but I htink I'm going to give the Pilot Roads a try. I have do have a set of 220's on my F4i though, and I'm happy with them.
Haven't tried a PRoad rear a Power front, but PRoads are teh suck. Slow turn in, round profile, and squirmy and uncertain at the edge.
I have found that I get only about 1000 miles short of the PRoad mileage out of the PPower if I keep wheel.gif and such antics to a minimum.
I've been running a PP front and PR rear for about 1500 miles and it is OK but not great. It is no better than PRs front and rear. With this combo the bike moves more than I like on the tar snakes. I'm going for a Power on the rear as well next time. Jules.
jeremy556, May 14 2006, 01:21 AMHaven't tried a PRoad rear a Power front, but PRoads are teh suck. Slow turn in, round profile, and squirmy and uncertain at the edge.
I have found that I get only about 1000 miles short of the PRoad mileage out of the PPower if I keep wheel.gif and such antics to a minimum.
How many miles are you getting out of your Powers ?? I've got about 2k on mine now, figure I might have 1k left.
cozye, May 14 2006, 08:25 AMHow many miles are you getting out of your Powers ?? I've got about 2k on mine now, figure I might have 1k left.
I got 4081 miles out of Power rear I just replaced a few days ago. I usually don't get near that, closer to 3 or so. This tire I put on just before the tmac meet, and rode it on the slab around 48psi, 38-42 while in the twisties.
My throttle linkage was blocked by a coolant hose, so I was limited to about 2/3rds throttle during this time, so that made a huge difference in the wear I am sure.
I got 9500 miles out of my last Pilot Road rear, new ones on for nearly 6k miles now. no complaints.
Pirie, May 13 2006, 09:13 PMI know, I know. Tires have been talked about to death on this site, but here it goes: I recently fitted my 6th Gen VFR with a Michelin Pilot Power up front and a Pilot Road out back.... they are a DRAMATIC improvement over the MEZ4's that came on the bike....
This combo has more than enough grip for even the most aggressive street riding, I assure you. And they handle beautifully. Good stick up front with a durable rear hoop. Highly recommended.
"Aggressive Street riding" is a very broad term, your 10/10ths might only be 6/10ths to me or vis versa.
For most or the avg. rider, any of the current gen. Sport Touring tires will work fine in almost all conditions.
I found the Roads very unstable and veg feeling when pushed at all or leaned, enough to drop my confidence level in half from a Power. People like myself that like to push our heavy VFR's closer to the limits will NOT like the Roads at all.
Almost any tire will feel better than the MEZ4's IMO ! fing02.gif
I'm doing the same, the road is mounted and now I just have to find time to put the power on the front. I doubt this setup could be as sticky as the Diablo Strada's, I'm just trying to get more than 5,000mi. out of the rear.
What does one have to do to get 5000 - 9500 miles on a tire?
I have been riding for 25+ years and with the exception of an enduro, I rarely get more than 3000 miles.
My Ducati was lucky to get 1200 miles.
Do I need to stop braking?
Stop accellerating?
Stop leaning over while accellerating?
What?
Damn it! I want to know the secret!
Are these 9500 commuting Miles at 55mph on perfectly paved roads?
gr8vfr, May 14 2006, 07:05 PMAre these 9500 commuting Miles at 55mph on perfectly paved roads?
idea3.gif I suspect that lots of those miles are cruising the interstate across large states, cruise control on, straight ahead.
gr8vfr, May 14 2006, 07:05 PMWhat does one have to do to get 5000 - 9500 miles on a tire?
I have been riding for 25+ years and with the exception of an enduro, I rarely get more than 3000 miles.
My Ducati was lucky to get 1200 miles.
Do I need to stop braking?
Stop accellerating?
Stop leaning over while accellerating?
What?
Damn it! I want to know the secret!
Are these 9500 commuting Miles at 55mph on perfectly paved roads?
I think I got 5K out of a PRoad once before.
I got 4K out of a PPower rear recently - astonishing to me until I figured out my throttle was blocked comp13.gif
jeremy556, May 14 2006, 08:32 PMI think I got 5K out of a PRoad once before.
I got 4K out of a PPower rear recently - astonishing to me until I figured out my throttle was blocked comp13.gif
It is a trick that is done with the right wrist. It isn't hard to do. I can even do it on a ZZR1200
FWIW, I put the D220's on my F4i when I removed the toasted 208's, at 4200mi(they were really toasted!), and the 220's look about half done at 72xxmi now. Wheelies and hard acceleration are a daily occurence on that bike, full angle leans less so, because, while there are some good roads around, most don't allow it, so I went with ST tires, because I found that I couldn't take full advantage of the profile of the sport-class tires. Make sense?
baileyrock, May 14 2006, 05:56 PM"Aggressive Street riding" is a very broad term, your 10/10ths might only be 6/10ths to me or vis versa.
For most or the avg. rider, any of the current gen. Sport Touring tires will work fine in almost all conditions.
I found the Roads very unstable and veg feeling when pushed at all or leaned, enough to drop my confidence level in half from a Power. People like myself that like to push our heavy VFR's closer to the limits will NOT like the Roads at all.
Almost any tire will feel better than the MEZ4's IMO ! fing02.gif
ummm... hard to compare riding styles etc. via the web I suppose.... at any rate, perhaps my love of the P Road / P Power combo is simply a result of having the terrible MEZ4s! I will say that I've so far found the combo pretty nice at the limit.... with pegs dragging, etc.
What setup are you currently running?
Pirie, May 15 2006, 08:25 AMummm... hard to compare riding styles etc. via the web I suppose.... at any rate, perhaps my love of the P Road / P Power combo is simply a result of having the terrible MEZ4s! I will say that I've so far found the combo pretty nice at the limit.... with pegs dragging, etc.
What setup are you currently running?
Pirie, please don't take anything I'm saying as dog'en your ability or choice of tires, many people love there Roads. They just don't work for my riding style, you may be much smoother than I and don't have the same issues.
I strictly run Power's F & R, just mounted my 5 or 6 set of them on for the TexasMac meet and there are my favorite tire right now. IMO they (Powers) provide the best wear, grip(wet/dry), value and confidence level for my riding style of any tire I've tried. This being my 13-14 set of tires I've run through on my Vtec in the last 34k miles of running almost nothing but twisties.
Another thing I like about the Power's is that they grip right down to the cord, which I sometimes hit trying to get every last mile out of them and with my avg. ride being 300 plus miles. My avg. rear mileage is about 2300 miles.
The other thing I like about the Power's is that I think the front tire maintains it's profile better than any other tire I've tried!
This is what my avg. rear Power looks like when I replace it!
shop-garage 007.jpg Pirie, May 15 2006, 09:25 AMummm... hard to compare riding styles etc. via the web I suppose.... at any rate, perhaps my love of the P Road / P Power combo is simply a result of having the terrible MEZ4s! I will say that I've so far found the combo pretty nice at the limit.... with pegs dragging, etc.
What setup are you currently running?
Probably due to coming from Mez4s like you said. Try a PPower front and rear - you will change your mind about the Road if you are dragging pegs for sure.
Tks for the feedback Bailyrock & jeremy556..... I may have to give a Power rear a try next..... time will tell. happy riding...
baileyrock, May 15 2006, 08:53 AM The other thing I like about the Power's is that I think the front tire maintains it's profile better than any other tire I've tried!
Hey Kevin,
I've become less that enamored of PRs lately. A couple of times the front has felt like it wanted to tuck. Nothing dramatic, just a small but sharp snap to the inside. Weird thing was I wasn't pushing the bike much at all. Dropping the pressure a bit helped, but I'm in the market for different rubber and PPs are next on the list. Do you always replace as complete sets or are you getting fronts to outlast rears? If so, what do you get out PP fronts? TIA
vfrjim2002, May 19 2006, 07:59 AMHey Kevin,
I've become less that enamored of PRs lately. A couple of times the front has felt like it wanted to tuck. Nothing dramatic, just a small but sharp snap to the inside. Weird thing was I wasn't pushing the bike much at all. Dropping the pressure a bit helped, but I'm in the market for different rubber and PPs are next on the list. Do you always replace as complete sets or are you getting fronts to outlast rears? If so, what do you get out PP fronts? TIA
I got that with the PRoads as well as the front cupping like hell - bad enough it made the bars go back and forth while leaned over. They are also very squirmy on the edge and won't hold a good line on the edge easily.
I normally replace each tire as it wears out and don't do a set unless I am going on a trip or something. I figure 3-4k for a rear and 5-6k for a front. For comparison I would get 5-6 out of a PRoad rear and 6-6.5 to the front (still tread left, but bad cupping).
Gotta go with Bailyrock on this thread. +1.gif
Doing almost exclusively twisties (I'm a lazy and comfort oriented SOB and trailer the slab portions) I gave up on "mileage" tires long ago. No more "sport touring" tires. Once you go sport you should not go back - else you risk a slide unsure.gif
014 or PP for me. Only 2500 miles from the rears. Little difference between the two. Never tried Dunlops.
Just to throw my 2 coins in here I resently purchased a Dunlop Qualifier for my 5.0 gen and WOW that puppy sticks...I have a Strada up front which had plenty of meat left so I didn't worry about matching rubbers but a Qualifier will definitely be my go to tire for awhile...
Had a 220 on before getting nailed and the Quailfier just really impressed me in the sweepers, now to see how it does in the tight stuff
rumor has it that you will get like 1500 miles out of that qualifier
Nobody likes the mez4, but it has decent wear and steel belting.
I just ordered another MEZ4 rear, at 5,000 miles the rear is just starting to kiss the wear bars. The front is wearing into a V shape, but no cupping or anything. They arent the best, But I cant afford to replace tires frequently the MEZ4's seems not bad for longevity with decent traction.
I rode over a steel staple yesterday it didnt make it through the tire I pulled it out. Whether the steel belting aided is the unknown.
cozye, May 19 2006, 09:15 AMrumor has it that you will get like 1500 miles out of that qualifier
I will try to confirm
Im at 1K so far..still looking good, but I commute mostly and play a little
spud786, May 19 2006, 09:16 AMNobody likes the mez4, but it has decent wear and steel belting.
I just ordered another MEZ4 rear, at 5,000 miles the rear is just starting to kiss the wear bars. The front is wearing into a V shape, but no cupping or anything. They arent the best, But I cant afford to replace tires frequently the MEZ4's seems not bad for longevity with decent traction.
I rode over a steel staple yesterday it didnt make it through the tire I pulled it out. Whether the steel belting aided is the unknown.
I think you would be better off and get similar if not more mileage and much better performance from a mez6 or pirelli strada.
Red98V4, May 19 2006, 10:09 AMJust to throw my 2 coins in here I resently purchased a Dunlop Qualifier for my 5.0 gen and WOW that puppy sticks...I have a Strada up front which had plenty of meat left so I didn't worry about matching rubbers but a Qualifier will definitely be my go to tire for awhile...
Had a 220 on before getting nailed and the Quailfier just really impressed me in the sweepers, now to see how it does in the tight stuff
I'm anxiously awaiting your input here. lurk.gif I put a Qualifier on the front and I'm thinking of replacing my 220 rear with a Qualifier but need it to last a little more than 1500 miles. Go ride! Go!
Pilot Roads suck, you will end up with a wobble in the front as they wear and cup badly.
I'm running Diablo Strada now. Great warm-up, very sticky, and with about 2500 miles are barely showing any wear yet. I'm totally impressed with these tires! They seem to be an exceptionally good match for the VFR.
Came off 020's and went Pilot Roads look'n for more mileage and all I can say is;
NEVER AGAIN!!!!!! ohmy.gif
The front gives way with no notice.
I was hope'n a pilot Road rear tire with a Power front would be the answer; sounds like it may not be.
I may be screwed, 'cause my VFR is my daily commuter through the mountains each day to work so I can't live with change'n tires every 3K miles. unsure.gif
Mmmmm, live with the slide'n, yuck
Slow down, bigger yuck
Change tires every 3k, $ yuck & time yuck
Guess I will try the Power front laugh.gif
gord0001a, May 19 2006, 04:38 PMPilot Roads suck, you will end up with a wobble in the front as they wear and cup badly.
I'm running Diablo Strada now. Great warm-up, very sticky, and with about 2500 miles are barely showing any wear yet. I'm totally impressed with these tires! They seem to be an exceptionally good match for the VFR.
I agree, the Strada's are great on the vfr. I now have the Power front on to go with my Road rear and like the way it handles dry but have already had a slip from the Road rear while downshifting on wet pavement. Through 2 Strada rears I never had a single slip, wet or dry. Depending on how long this Road lasts, I may try the Power rear or possible Z6's. Then back to Stradas if nothing else can compare.
End of thread · 30 posts recovered Wayback Machine snapshot 19 Oct 2006