Due to crazy work schedule and generally busy family life, I have been pretty much reduced to commuting on the 1125R for the last year or two.
Been running the Pirelli Diablo Rosso since my first set of CorsaIII wore out, and have been generally very happy with them in all conditions. However, I am about to need a new set of tires, and am thinking of going for something maybe one notch higher on the longevity scale.
My commute is 60 miles round trip each day, and it consists of 95% highway. I am wearing out the center of my tire long before the rest of the tread area comes close to the wear bars.
Any suggestions from you fine folks on here? I don't want to give up all grip in favor of something rock hard, but maybe just something that will get me an extra thousand miles or so before needing replacement.
I'm averaging 7500 miles out of a rear BT-016. I don't race. I commute on mine, but it's only 40 miles, 75% hwy. I've heard the BT-021's or 23's will last longer, but I don't know that for a fact.
Dual compound, great tread life, wonderful transitions in turns, excellent traction even in standing water (oops, heheh). Pricey...but when you figure 7-10k miles? Very nice tire.
Definitely need to go dual compound! I run Dunlop RoadSmarts on my S3 and will be putting them on my 1125 as well... they just came out with a new version i'll have to look in to. They wear great and still grip turns and wet roads excellent!
I'm only riding mine on grippy un-patrolled backroads in sunny California (sorry winter suffering folks) and have had the best mileage with the Pilot Road 2 so far (just under 3000 miles). In contrast the stock was done by 1700, Pilot Power 2CT 1100, and the RoadSmart 2400. Trying the Bridgestone 023 now, like it so far.
I have been commuting for the past 5yrs on my motorcycles rain or shine ( crazy san diego weather lol). I put a total of 65k miles on my little sv650 (still miss her) 85% free way. No tire comes close the economy continental conti-motion. The most I ever recorded was 14k on one set before the steel started showing. Now I wouldn't say they are the best for performance, but they handle-led great in rain and even in canyons. I run bt-16 on my zx10r and while I do like them alot I only get about 5500 miles out of them, but that is mostly canyons. Im using my 1125r for commuting now and I put angels on her. I was going to put bt-23 for better mileage, but my buddy at the shop recommended the angels and I gotta say I like them more than my bt-16. They give me a big confidence boost and have great transition, not that the bt's don't but I believe there is a noticeable difference in performance and they are suppose to last you around 7500 miles. I am probably going to put them on my zx10r as well. Hope this helps
PR3's are designed to work better in the wet, but ive gotten 11k out of the rear and 13k out of the front on my PR2's....keep in mind i am far from easy on my bike, not saying im a crazy knee dragger (although i want to be lol) but ive dropped pegs before and the tires do great in all areas! ill be gettin the PR3's next
I'm in the same situation as you. I commute on my bike in SoCal, a 60 mile commute (each way) 5 days a week. I put 5k miles on my bike in two months.
I hated the PR2's compared to the corsa III's.
I lost confidence in the bike when I had PR2's.
I ran PR2's for about 4k miles, and then took them off the bike because I couldn't stand them anymore.
Also, the PR2's were terrible over 100mph. The bike felt unstable. (and it wasn't the alignment or balancing, I had them balanced and aligned by a great shop)
Corsa III's FTW My thought is yeah, I spend more in tires, but I bought this bike to have fun, and I didn't even want to take the bike to palomar with the PR2's.
If you want more miles, I would go for Angels over PR2's.
PR3s hands down. Ive currently got 8500 miles on them and there is at least half tread left. I will be replacing them early (10k ish) due to the fronts starting to feather a little on the sides. I have no doubt I could go near double that mileage if I were willing to give up some handling to do it.
the angel st's have been great here in florida plus up to WV and N.Ga. and even a track day at jennings with them. I've never found a need for more traction. btw i tip scales at close to 280 suited.
I got 12k miles on a set of PR2s, and they were fine except for me lowsiding at a track day (which, in retrospect, was a terrible idea on those tires). Spun the rear up leaned over hard coming out of a hairpin trying to get a drive...
I've got PR3s on now and love them. No issues at speed, great turn in, and great grip for commuting.
I can also they they're actually decent on ice. I wasn't riding hard at all, but I had no wheel slip on what was very definitely ice last week.
on a daily driver I use mostly for commuting (DL1000) I use a Metzler cruiser tire on the SoCal Freeways (hard/long wearing center tread)....I 'm not saying it's a good choice for sport bike but if money is tight and you need 10K miles out of a tire it might be an option...in our club down here there is good vibes about the Angels from Pirelli ( on some ducks). the guys here at work run Michelin 2CTs lasting maybe 7K (YamahaR1s)...like punisher1125r - I too used BTs on a SV - put new BT23s on her and then sold her - the 23s were at the right price point - the BT21s I had on her lasted appox 5K miles ( commuting and backroad work)....good luck
Shinkos have been discussed here many times. There should be a sticky at the top of all Badweb pages stating "Shinkos suck, we all agree, lets move on" Lol
Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 10:46 pm:
After reading about Froggy's hypermiling exploits, I decided to pump up my tires to 50#. Commuting. If I get a chance to head for the mountains, I drop to 40. Also, like Froggy I don't weigh much - 160-165 in full gear.
I got 8500 miles out of my last Corsa III rear. usually see 5000-6500. My first front went 19994 miles before lo-siding me, next 3 went 5000.
Mount them and ride till they're toast... part of the ride is "New Tires!!" So far I like the Pirellis best, over Dunflops(NEVER again a sportbike) and Metzlers.
Try the new Q2. It's a good tire. For race tires, Dunlop UK N-Tecs are the best rear tire in the paddock. $500 a set, but they last long enough to make them actually cheaper per lap.