This thread is to provide review for the Michelin Pilot Road 3. I have them mounted on my 2004 VFR800, stock rims and mostly everything else. I had Michelin Road 2 on there before and will be the basis of most of my comparisons.
Three weeks ago I wore my Michelin Pilot Road 2 rear down to the threads unsuccesfully trying to keep up with Munky, DanHor7, Jballs, and a few others. That evening I stopped by Cycle Gear to get some new tires and decided to give the Michelin Pilot Road 3 a try after eyeing them a few months and reading all positive reviews about them. The next day, I mounted the tires and attempted to keep up with Donkey, JohnMark, and Dtwist (TMFD tagged along) on the Forbus loop. As recommmend to me, I took it easy on them until I felt they were scrubbed in fairly well and the chicken strips were almost gone. By them time we got to Forbus, I was feeling them grip very nicely and started to ride a bit more aggressively. I took them out two other times, (L-loop beginners and F-loop beginners/intermediate pace) and was comfortably getting over on my bike more so that I had with my Pilot Road 2.
About 600 miles on them, here are my initial thoughts compared to the Micheln Road 2:
- The turning profile of the tire is considerably more agressive and on the VFR, I instantly felt the difference. I felt bike wanted to lay over more easily and that there was plenty of grip when I rolled on the throttle.
- The tire compound feels softer than the MR2 tire. This could be because it was a new tire and the old tire was down to it's threads, but it seems to be a more comfortable ride than I remember.
- Although Michelin had people take down the videos of them dragging a knee with this tire, I can see that being the case. I noticed that my corner speeds were higher and I felt confident to get over more than before. I'm sure with practise, dragging a knee with these tires on my VFR would not be a problem. I'll let you know if that happens.
- I paid just over $400 for them mounted and balanced from CycleGear. Overall, probably not a bad price for such a new tires (and needing them very spare of the moment), but you probably can get them cheaper other places (<$300 online). If these last 5000 miles and perform this well most of that distance, then I'll likely buy them again for this bike.
One of the reputations this tire has is handling well in wet weather. If the opertuntiy comes to test that out, I'll be sure to post up on it.
For a sport touring tire, this has impressed me so far. I will keep posting up when how they perform over the next few months. I've got a trip to the gap and bofd planned in two weeks and will have other chances to put them through the paces.
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Originally Posted by .Cheetah.
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