Pilot road 3 long term test

[redneckj]

11,100 miles on the front and rear. Stock suspension (yes, it sucks). I use my bike alot for work. This involves alot of interstate travel. While traveling I have the saddle bags and my Givi V46 fully packed. I also ride in the twisties and do some canyon carving as well. The tires simply work. I don't think that 99% of the riders could out ride the PR3's on the street. The rear is NOT a B spec either. I run 41-42 psi front and rear. I stay on top of the air pressures. I do not change the rear air pressure on the rear tire when loaded. I run the same air pressure all the time. I would really like to try other tire options but with the mileage and grip these tires have provided me so far, I wonder why I would change?

 

[wabill]

Glad to hear about the good mileage. I have those tires on my Monster and love the handling on that bike. I've Dunlop Roadsmarts on the FJR and had been thinking about switching to Michelins.

 

[JamesW]

My favorite, usually change them out around the 9500-10,000mile mark just cause I am real tire finicky when it comes to tread. I ride single up and run 39psi front and 42 psi rear.

 

[RossKean]

It looks like these have another 2-3 thousand miles left in them. I tried a set of the PR3's but mine were done at 10,000; I get a bit better lifetime out of the PR2's. I'm not a particularly agressive rider but I think local road surface conditions have a lot to do with longevity. I found the PR3's to be noisy (especially in turns) - particularly in the last half of their life.

 

[Top_Speed1]

Look great for 11K!

 

[DrWing]

I'm looking at these pictures and saying, Wow. That's flippin great!

I've been running the Dunlop RS's for years and keep close track of the air pressure. 40 front /42 rear. Normal miles are around 8500-9500. They just seem to work for me. Will be looking to a possible switch to the PR3's next time around.

Question for RossKean.....what do you mean by "noisy" in the turns? Just wondering.

 

[roger dodger]

+1 for PR3

I just replaced my set w/ more tread than OP @ 12k, and maybe also 'rounder' due to my highway to twisty ratio (2.5 :1).

The tire works great when new, used, hot, cold, rain, or dry.... no problems, no complaints, just happy all 12k miles. YMMV

 

[RossKean]

I'm looking at these pictures and saying, Wow. That's flippin great!I've been running the Dunlop RS's for years and keep close track of the air pressure. 40 front /42 rear. Normal miles are around 8500-9500. They just seem to work for me. Will be looking to a possible switch to the PR3's next time around.

Question for RossKean.....what do you mean by "noisy" in the turns? Just wondering.

Its not awful; certainly not a problem since I wear earplugs. Fairly loud "hum", especially while cornering after the tires were at about the half-life stage.

 

[FJRMGM]

Really good tire wear my friend!! For some on this forum, anything over 5k miles on a back tire is impossible.

you might want to try a pair of the Bridgestone BT-023 GT's. I have been running them for a while now and they are great in all conditions.

 

[Top_Speed1]

Motorcycle Superstore has a very competitive tire sale going on now for 3 more days; the Michelin mileage misers are one of many.

 

[escapefjrtist]

<snip> you might want to try a pair of the Bridgestone BT-023 GT's.

The 023GTs won't give you the mileage of the PR2s/PR3s. The trade off is the 'stones are great tires until the very end of life, the Michelins, first half is OK then it gets ugly...

--G

 

[Top_Speed1]

<snip> you might want to try a pair of the Bridgestone BT-023 GT's.

The 023GTs won't give you the mileage of the PR2s/PR3s. The trade off is the 'stones are great tires until the very end of life, the Michelins, first half is OK then it gets ugly...

--G

Must be really ugly with 11K then, OP (redneckj) at 11K?

I haven't experienced this "huge" dropoff at the halfway mark, more normal wear and what I guess I expect.

 

[redneckj]

Ummm, no way. I have in NO way noticed any handling issues. We just got back from the "most spirited" ride since I have bought my bike one year ago. We rode all the good roads around Republic WA on Saturday and then rode Cache Creek road/ hwy 155 to omak then north cascades hwy to home. Cache Creek, Peter Dan/Manila Creek, Bridge Creek, West End and HWY 20 through Sherman pass will surely test any tire and any suspension. My tires passed the test and my suspension got a D.

 

[Top_Speed1]

Ummm, no way. I have in NO way noticed any handling issues. We just got back from the "most spirited" ride since I have bought my bike one year ago. We rode all the good roads around Republic WA on Saturday and then rode Cache Creek road/ hwy 155 to omak then north cascades hwy to home. Cache Creek, Peter Dan/Manila Creek, Bridge Creek, West End and HWY 20 through Sherman pass will surely test any tire and any suspension. My tires passed the test and my suspension got a D.

Thanks for confirming what I had kinda thought (I hope I'll make your 11K and find out for myself!).

I got 7K on my PR2's and noticed very little drop-off as of yet (like said, thought it was the norm). I do run a FatSider 190/55 in the rear however

 

[ULEWZ]

Zero drop-off at the halfway point on my FJR with the PR2s, but that is 2,500 miles for me.

Absolutely no difference in grip or handling. It may be different if you usually wear a flat spot on the center of the tire.

 

[BruceWA]

The PR3's on my previous bike were history at 9k. Never gotten more than 10k from any of the tires I've tried on various sport touring mounts. The stones are at 8k and shot!

 

[escapefjrtist]

you might want to try a pair of the Bridgestone BT-023 GT's.

The 023GTs won't give you the mileage of the PR2s/PR3s. The trade off is the 'stones are great tires until the very end of life, the Michelins, first half is OK then it gets ugly...

--G

Must be really ugly with 11K then, OP (redneckj) at 11K?

I haven't experienced this "huge" dropoff at the halfway mark, more normal wear and what I guess I expect.

I spend a lot of time on back road twisties and tend to wear the sides off before the middle. 'Stones keep a nice round profile...PRs, not so much! YMMV

--G

 

[Top_Speed1]

you might want to try a pair of the Bridgestone BT-023 GT's.

The 023GTs won't give you the mileage of the PR2s/PR3s. The trade off is the 'stones are great tires until the very end of life, the Michelins, first half is OK then it gets ugly...
--G

Must be really ugly with 11K then, OP (redneckj) at 11K?

I haven't experienced this "huge" dropoff at the halfway mark, more normal wear and what I guess I expect.

I spend a lot of time on back road twisties and tend to wear the sides off before the middle. 'Stones keep a nice round profile...PRs, not so much! YMMV
--G

you might want to try a pair of the Bridgestone BT-023 GT's.

The 023GTs won't give you the mileage of the PR2s/PR3s. The trade off is the 'stones are great tires until the very end of life, the Michelins, first half is OK then it gets ugly...
--G

Must be really ugly with 11K then, OP (redneckj) at 11K?

I haven't experienced this "huge" dropoff at the halfway mark, more normal wear and what I guess I expect.

I spend a lot of time on back road twisties and tend to wear the sides off before the middle. 'Stones keep a nice round profile...PRs, not so much! YMMV
--G

Would make sense, PR's have a harder compound in the middle, softer on the sides.

 

[FastJoyRide]

I've just ordered a pair of PR2's (B-spec rear) as in the past I've found that I can consistently get 10,000 miles out of these - two-up and loaded most of the time.

My second set of PR3's still have a little life left in them (much less than the OP's) but they are barely over 7,000 miles now and won't see 8,000 for sure.

Love the grip and handling of both types of PR's, but don't see enough rain in our semi-desert valley to take advantage of the 3's superior(?) grip in the wet.