NEWS REVIEWS AND CUSTOMER COMMENTS

IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS ON THE TYRES YOU ON YOUR BIKE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS GOOD OR BAD. SEND US AN EMAIL alan@sidcupmotorcycletyres.co.uk

                              The all new Michelin pilot POWER ONE ROAD & TRACK TYRE

Michelin Power One

 Alan

Having just replaced my Power One's with a new set fitted by you today in readiness for my trip to Germany, I'm providing you with my opinion on the tyres as requested. The ones I have been using on my Gixer 750 are the Road/Track version and these are the most suitable for my type of riding, mainly fast road and some track days.

First thing to say is that these are the best tyres I have used in almost 12 years of Sportsbike riding, providing me with levels of grip and confidence way beyond anything previously experienced. I want to be totally objective though, and would have to say that if tyre-life is very important then people need to look elsewhere, but this is a trade-off I willingly make to enjoy the benefits provided by the Power Ones. I have done about 1700 miles of fairly hard riding and the rear is about done, the front, which you are keeping for me until after my trip, will probably give me about another 1600 miles. One very important thing is to get the pressures right for your weight. When I first used them I stuck to the hand book pressures, 36 front, 42 rear, but I found that when really cranked over the back did step out a bit. This was disconcerting so on the advice of a guy who set up my suspension I lowered the pressures bit by bit until I found the right ones, which for me was 33 front, 37 rear. No movement, and totally stable, bliss! I weigh 11 stone btw. My mate experienced exacty the same when he first used them, and being heavier than me adjusted to suit his own weight, again spot on.

When I first saw the tread pattern (or lack of it lol) I had definate misgivings about handling in the wet, but having used them in France, luggaged up, in rainy conditions, I no longer have any concerns, not that I am foolish/brave enough to try getting my knee down in the wet. Quite how Michelin have managed this, I don't know, but for anyone wanting to use them and worrying about handling in the wet, stop worrying. A friend of mine with a Gixer Thou rode his bike on a wet track day at Spa and told me there was standing water in places and the tyres were brilliant albeit at an obviously slower pace.

Riding home today, I honestly can't wait to get them scrubbed in, but thanks for doing your usual careful fitting and for the banter (0;

I'm happy if anyone wants to contact me to ask more about the tyres, email me their number and I'll ring them.

Kind regards,

John

Second report on Pilot Road 2

So far my earlier comments on the tyres’ performance remains the same. I don’t feel there is much more to say! The only incident of note has been finding a half inch Phillips screw in the rear tyre! Fortunately use of my tubeless tyre repair kit got me to Sidcup Motorcycle Tyre Centre, where they put in a permanent repair plug, as the puncture was just off the centre of the tyre. It has in all honestly been a year since I last had a puncture!

I have not noticed any discernable changes in tyre performance as this remains consistent. In the recent cold weather of December, tyre warm up was excellent and one can ride with confidence in cold conditions even if the first few yards of road before hitting the main road was slippery! In my case, I negotiate a private 300 yards rough track from my garage, which at times can be very slippery and muddy after it had rained and was at one point covered in a dense layer of leaves for a while! The tyres coped well with off-roading, even though they are not really designed for that!

If there is one comment I can make, it’s that the tyres have significantly improved both the   Hornet’s handling and performance. With the Roadtec front tyre, every time I hit a ridge across a slight right hander on the local main road at 30 mph, the bars flap in reaction. With the Pilot Road 2 front tyre, being of a lighter construction, this has been totally eliminated. No wonder I simply don’t want the Roadtec back! It now means that I have much more confidence in the Hornet’s handling quality that I am exploiting it to the full, getting much more fun out of hustling it down twisty roads! On the performance side, the Hornet now accelerates faster than I’ve known it to and I regard this as a big plus from having lighter tyres.

Regards, Robin

Third report on the pilot Road 2

Sunday 3^rd December provided ideal test conditions for the Pilot Road 2s, being blustery with strong winds and pouring down heavily to start with. I went on the Kent Advanced Motorcyclists Group’s club run to Birling Gap on the south coast in Sussex. About 24 of us, including three lady bikers turned up!

Riding down a lot of A and B roads that were covered with mud, leaves, sticks, standing water and paddles, I did not encounter one problem at all. The tyres remained consistently steadfast in grip and steering response and my lean angles were impressive, yet it can be done in total confidence, bearing in mind the need to read the road ahead to look out for any slippery surfaces. Acceleration in a straight line for overtakes, once the white centre lines were cleared was excellent.

Only once did I notice the rear tyre slip and that was when negotiating the M20/M25/A20  interchange roundabout and that was when my line took me across the white centre line of the A20 when leant over to the left. Just a slight twitch of the rear tyre corrected by backing off the throttle slightly indicates a high degree of responsive feedback from the tyres under such conditions.

The ride home from Birling Gap was in drying conditions, though much of the roads I traversed were either damp or wet or a mixture of damp and dry. This provided me with ideal conditions to test lean angles and steering responsiveness, which is what I seek for my Hornet 900, as it has responsive and quick steering for a 900cc machine.

I was able to test rapid line changes and hard braking for bends and also for roundabouts where safety permits and I was more than impressed with the steering response and ability to change line rapidly and feel these tyres suit the Hornet 900 extremely well. The performance was consistent and smooth throughout and I have not noticed anything that indicates otherwise.

Tale of two tires.

Blast! Yet another puncture in the rear tyre of which I seem to be plagued by at least two punctures a year, as Alan Cooper will attest to, ever since I was directed to his lock up! Hope it’s not an ancient curse or summat?! To whoever in KAMG sent me his way, ‘Thanks a lot mate, you owe pints of beers!’

As I have been using Michelin’s Pilot Road 2 ever since I had a free pair fitted to my Honda CB900F Hornet in return for my report on them, of I which I have since covered over 30,000 miles to date, I felt it was time for a change and I was considering either the Pirelli Angel or Avon Storm ST 2 Ultra. To be fair, today’s bikers have it easy with tyre choices, as gone are the days of picking up a new Jap bike with dodgy wet weather gripping tires! Has anyone noticed where Yokohama tires have gone lately? I don’t suppose anyone misses them! Neither do I! In any case the front PR2 has covered 18,000 miles and still had 2mm of tread left, which is remarkable considering the Honda CBF1000 is no light weight!

After much meeny, miny moing, I finally decided on the Avons for my Honda and it was a wet Saturday when I rode over to SMT’s lock up having pumped up the rear tyre after finding it flat despite the use of the temporary repair kit a couple of days before! Boy, I found it hard work pumping up the tyre, sharing the work between both legs! Ten years ago and more it was pretty easy pumping up the tyre. Old age catches up with all of us!

Once the tires were fitted, Alan Cooper advised me to scrub them in first. First impression once back on the road was very favourable. Slow speed balance and straight lining was excellent and wet weather grip was feeling very good. So I looked forward to my Sunday ride to Rye, to get the scrubbing in over and done with.

Sunday came and I was up early, eager to test the Storms and scrub them in. I checked the pressures first. Once done, I rode for breakfast at the Oakdene Café and was impressed by the lean angles I was getting on wet surfaces and the feel when braking a bit more than moderately. They certainly felt very sure footed in the wet.

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and mug of tea, I set off for Rye and with just 50 miles covered from day 1 was cranking the bike pretty well over, on wet surfaces and I do mean wet! I was supposed to be scrubbing them in such was my confidence in the Storms!

I was certainly amazed at the ease with which I can tip the bike into corners and it felt a lot quicker and more responsive than with the PR2s but this article is not a critique of the PR2s, far from it as I am still a fan of the PR2s. I was riding on broken, cracked surfaces at that, dodging potholes, something we must all do a lot of this year! Keep them eyeties very well peeled and don’t ride up too close to admire yourself in the driver’s mirror, lest the car uncovers a pothole big enough to swallow you and your pride!

The Storms were stable at all speeds and tracked dead straight and were smooth on all surfaces, from smooth to rough and on my Leicester jaunt to the recent Deaf Biker UK club’s AGM, were in my opinion giving that bit smoother a ride at 70 mph on the M25 and M11 than the PR2s. I suppose due to the PR2 design, the carcass flexes in a way that moulds the rubber into the surface which increases contact patch for better grip. Nothing wrong, with the idea as we are using Moto GP tyre technology on sport/touring bikes! Rossi and co are very well paid to be our guinea pigs, even if that is on Bridgestones! This is not to say the Storms don’t flex as much as the PR2s because according to the Avon website they do flex to increase grip like the PR2s but they appear to do it in a smoother manner in comparison.

The fact the Storms enable me to lean my CBF1000 quicker into bends, is a bonus over the PR2s as I prefer my tires to have this characteristic. I have felt that the PR2s do feel a tad slow in tipping over into bends and it was noticeable. Maybe the weight of the CBF1000 has some effect on the tyre performance? The PR2s worked very well on the CB900F Hornet in contrast which is a lighter bike and uses a wider rear tyre.

The Storms remained stable and grips very well under all conditions and I can lean right over to the edge whereas I could never lean the PR2s to the very edge of the tyre. There was always that near one eighth of an inch of untouched virgin rubber, no matter how hard I chuck my CBF1000 round bends and yet doing so on either tyre feels so natural that I don’t even feel and think I am leaning that far over. Until I shock myself looking at the tyre that is! ‘Mum, look at how far I can lean over!’ ‘Boys will be boys!’

My Leicester jaunt gave me an opportunity to test the Storms on all types of roads and the widish A47 to Leicester from Peterborough was perfect as there were sweeping bends and some roundabouts thrown in and plenty of over taking opportunities so I was able to see how the Storms react to sudden bursts of acceleration for overtakes and heavy braking from speed for the three roundabouts dotted down the road and they certainly took the punishment in their strides with no adverse reactions or drama.

The next day saw me ride across to friends in Stow Bridge, Norfolk and after that via Ely and Newmarket for Saffron Walden down B roads and home and as the roads were dry, I was chucking the CBF 1000 round every bend going and the ease of tipping into bends was amazing with such smooth control and the ease of changing line halfway round some bends was done without fuss.

If there is one area that can make or break one’s confidence in a tyre, it is how the front tyre copes under emergency braking and I can say the Storms are more than capable of pinning the front end down sharp under heavy braking as do the PR2s. The instant gripping action can be felt very clearly through the bars and this is even on a wet surface, so in an emergency, one can have every confidence in the Storms keeping one safe and sure with their capabilities. The feedback is such that one can feel the front brake locking and the tyre skidding if on a non ABS bike. I did this on my CB900F Hornet on the PR2s, with no problem, even when the bar flapped full lock right-left-right on a wet surface before I released the front brake! A must do again event?! Mind you, I have yet to test the front Storm with the ABS working and this I will do when I get an opportunity.

One thing I had to do was to adjust the rear shock as the setting I used for the PR2s did not suit the Storms. The ride felt a bit harsh at times and I have softened the damping and rebound as this shows how much the PR2 flexes and any flexing of the tyre does affect suspension performance and having adjusted the settings for the Storms, it was interesting to note how much better the rear shock felt for it. I am fortunate in having Ohlins suspension on my CBF1000 as I am able to adjust the rear shock when needed, something one cannot do with the standard Honda shock as it only has pre-load adjustment which is totally inadequate for a sport/tourer!

What is my opinion of the Avon Storm ST? I am now a convert to the Storms even though I have always liked the Pilot Road 2s ever since I tested them. It is very much down to a matter of personal preference over what you really want from your tires, what bike you are riding and there is a big choice of excellent tires to choose from out there, so be wise and get the best possible tyre to suit your bike and your riding style.

Robin Hancock

 IS THIS A MARMITE TYRE YOU DECIDE

Alan you asked me to let you know what I thought about these tyres, which you fitted to my 2003 Mille R.

Well they are fantastic! Excellent grip from both ends, the front is particularly sticky and gives excellent feed back, they are as good as the Pirelli super corsa's which are the OE tyre on this bike but they proved to very good in the wet unlike Super Corsa's.

15 of us have just returned from a week in the the southern French alps all on various sports bikes gixer thou's, R1's, Fireblades etc.fitted with Diablo, Diablo corsa, BT 014, Sportec M1's and all were impressed by my Conti's they have outlasted both the 014 and M1 which are absolutely shagged on all bikes which had them. The Diablo, Diablo corsa and Sport Attack have worn about the same on all bikes but in my opinion the sport attack is grippier in both wet and dry.

In short an excellent tyre, everybody should try them and then, there's the price