BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

My MEZ 4's are ready to be retired. Have gotten 21k kms on them.
Next season I plan on longer trips. I have heard great stuff here about the MEZ 6's, but wondering if I'm better off with Mich Road Pilots. Based on the touring I do I'll get to the twisties a few times a year, but usually with a passenger to I'm not riding too aggressive. While riding solo I love the twisties but put more miles on with a passenger/luggage.

Can anyone advise on how much stickyness I'd loose out on if I go with the Road Pilots (longer lasting)? Would twisties be out of the question with these?

tor1150r wrote:My MEZ 4's are ready to be retired. Have gotten 21k kms on them.
Next season I plan on longer trips. I have heard great stuff here about the MEZ 6's, but wondering if I'm better off with Mich Road Pilots. Based on the touring I do I'll get to the twisties a few times a year, but usually with a passenger to I'm not riding too aggressive. While riding solo I love the twisties but put more miles on with a passenger/luggage.

Can anyone advise on how much stickyness I'd loose out on if I go with the Road Pilots (longer lasting)? Would twisties be out of the question with these?

My bike came w/ the Pilot Roads.
In the past 6500mi, I've been very pleased with their performance.
Unless you can & do ride like those dudes on SpeedChannel, I can't think of a situation where the Roads would not have enough stick for you....
If you plan on longer trips 2up, I would even look at the Metz ME880s.
Great mileage tire, high load capacity, and good stick for a Touring tire.
I will probably go with them when I'm done w/ the Michelins....

Z6.

Everybody says Z6.

I like Bridgerstone BT020.

Pilot Road is also good.

Flip a coin, maybe?

Just changed mine to pilot roads, big toss up with the metz but the pilot roads are really good, the stock macadam were not a good tyre, too hard and very inclined to slide on you, although to be fair, they always did grip again. Pilot roads for me!

I use Z6s and am very happy with them but I ride twistys all the time and only occationally get a trip in. The Pilots may be the thing for you but I can't help with them.

Just recently replaced my Bridgestone 020's at just 6000 miles. It seems that the front wants to "cup", my dealer said a common problem with the Rockster suspension. Read a good article on the internet about the Pirrelli Diablo Stradas, said they were almost a cousin to the Z6's, and was able to get a set for 207.00, delivered to the house from JC Wholesale in the LA area via Ebay. So far,300 miles, pretty happy, dont seem as sticky as the 020's, but been taking it easy and breaking them in, supposed to last longer.

I'm saying ...

Z-6

Z6. Love 'em!

Z6

P19's

Sorry, just wanted to see if I could start people scrambling to find out about P19's... but, I don't think there is a P19. But if there were I bet they'd be awesome.


I'm gettting Z6's soon based on oodles of Z6 praises here.

My bike came with BT56. Now at 5500 needing to replace. Would like something with more mileage, but I love the grip on these tires!

I'd try the Pirelli Strada...

Started with Macadams, seemed to stick good enough for my riding style, cut the front one cupped real bad, after 11,000 miles I changed to Z6's, they lasted 9,000 miles, currently running pilot roads I think I will like them the best.
Mike 04 1150R

Had Bridgestones (BT020). Switched to Pilot Roads. These tires are great so far. Mileage is gonna be ok. Good in the twisties. Never experienced any sliding or anything (had that every now and then with the Bridgestones) so very confidence inspiring.
Also very good in the rain...

I have no experience with the Z6's so can't make that comparison. The Z6's are always recommended by lot's of people here, so they are probably good too. But not so many of them tried Pilot Roads....

776

http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/cupping/

http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/tirewear/

Yellowjacket - C cups are nice, but BMW cupping is a bit different!

These bikes tend to be pretty hard on front tyres. That's due to the paralever and steering geometry. The cupping shows up in excessive wear either side of the centre tread. Almost as if the bike is trying to 'understeer' all the time. Usually shows up on bikes that do a lot of 'hill' time and have to work the front end.

In my experience, it gets worse if lots of heavy braking is used on twisty roads, and is very sensitive to tyre pressure rather than anything else. These bikes tend to 'push' the front end a lot. You won't notice it, but it's happening all the time.

Some brands seem to be more prone to cupping than others, but again, I believe that this is more a function of differing tyre pressure requirements than the tyre itself. My Dunlop 220 did not cup. I know others that did. My first Avon didn't cup until the last few thousand kms. My current one seems to be fine also, but is only at half life.

There are lots of opinions on why it happens and what you can do about it, but I think the biggest problem is selecting the 'right' tyre pressure for the brand of tyre. Here in Aus, almost everyone runs 36/42 all the time. I read lots of stuff on the Board were you guys run much lower pressures. Personally, I think most are too low, but that's individual preference and I'm not here to say that I'm the expert. I have very little problem with cupping at 36/42.

Beware!!!!!!

The current R1150's use radial ply tires, the ME 880's are of bias ply construction, to my knowledge, making them not suitable for use on the R1150's. Correct me if I'm wrong...............

The ME 880's are standard fare on the R1200Cruiser.......

I think that one of the things that lead to everyone's Macadams cupping is the tread pattern. The tcontinous groves down the middle, and blocks on the sides seems to cupp more easily than the pattern on the Z4 front, Z6 front, and the Pilot Rd front. I liked the Z6 rear that I had, and the z4 lasted much longer than the Macadam. I am currently running a Pilot Road front(400 miles), and a Macadam rear(7700 miles). I will mount the Pilot Road Rear here soon, and see how I like the combo.