Tyres, Brakes and Suspension » Bye Bye Michelin PR4

I have 12,500 kms on my bike and the Michelin are left with 4/32 on the tread. This morning , I pressure the tire to 38/43, inside the tolerance, and I filled up the tank with 94 octane. I choose my roads to be twisty and not busy. At 8am, it was already 27C and calling for 32 with humidity index of 40. The bike was running so good being stiffer and cutting into those curves with so much ease. After 400 kms, back in my garage and check the tires that are now down to almost 3/32. One more ride and that is it. I have order a set of Dunlop RoadMaster lll. I read a review that they have a 20% longer life than the PR4. I like the Michelin but the front tire was cupping at 5000 kms with 36 lbs. I increase to 38 and it kind of even out . I will give a shot to the Dunlop, will see how they wear out.

It's very nice to get good mileage out of a set of tyres but I prefer to choose my tyres on performance above mileage and I always change both
tyres at every tyre change.

I have just fitted Michelin road 5's, so far they are a step up from the RP4 which was a good tyre in itself, less road noise, more confident feel in low corners.

Be interesting to see how many miles you get on the Dunlop's, 😏


Ged

After 3000 + kms with the Dunlop, I must say I really like these tires. The tread pattern is less aggressive than the P4 so the ride feels smoother and quieter . As for performance , compare to Michelin. I don't see any difference. The Dunlop grip is excellent in the curves. I can't say about wet condition, very dry weather here with the occasional thunderstorms. I am curious to see how long they will last. I was disappointed that the front P4 was cupping at 5000 kms . My previous set on my RS 17 lasted 19,000kms. This Dunlop deal was hard to pass. Less than $400 cdn installed all taxes in. So far, they are great hoping they will bring me to the end of the season.

Must agree with Bye Bye to PR4's,
Have had 2 sets and both felt bad even when new on ridges along the road where the resurface of each half joined and white lines. Also did not feel right on slow corners, tending to drop in.
Based on the 70,000km rider who has now had 5 sets of Dunlop Roadsmart 3 I went for them. Just fitted and have done 250 miles so far.

IT FEELS LIKE A NEW DESIGN BIKE!!!
Even compared to fitting the second set of PR4's No squiggy feeling over ridges less noise, softer ride on rough roads with no, repeat no less grip. No tipping in on slow corners or hard to turn on fast. In fact I feel so much safer on the Dunlops, even in the wet, it is as if my RS has another 20hp.
I will follow up in 3000 miles time but so far absolutely superb.

AlanM

Never yet used Dunlops myself (at least in living memory) but what's the deal with Roadsmarts and Roadmasters? Confused... are they the same tyre in different markets or something?

Zitat von Freddyfruitbat im Beitrag #7

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Never yet used Dunlops myself (at least in living memory) but what's the deal with Roadsmarts and Roadmasters? Confused... are they the same tyre in different markets or something?

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It is Dunlop Road Smart lll.
After 3000 + kms with the Dunlop, I must say I really like these tires. The tread pattern is less aggressive than the P4 so the ride feels smoother and quieter . As for performance , compare to Michelin. I don't see any difference. The Dunlop grip is excellent in the curves. I can't say about wet condition, very dry weather here with the occasional thunderstorms. I am curious to see how long they will last. I was disappointed that the front P4 was cupping at 5000 kms . My previous set on my RS 17 lasted 19,000kms. This Dunlop deal was hard to pass. Less than $400 cdn installed all taxes in. So far, they are great hoping they will bring me to the end of the season.

Following on from several people's recommendations, I have just had some Dunlop Road Smart III tyres fitted. The PR4s that came off were, I thought, very good tyres except, for the last few hundred miles when I found them to be quite unpleasant. They started following cambers, white-lining and delivering nasty surprises often enough that they made me nervous. They had done 9,400 miles and still had about 1.3mm in the centre with loads of tread left elsewhere. They would undoubtedly have been usable for another thousand or so miles but the handling meant that they had to go. The front was cupping and the rear was quite squared off. As an aside, I was impressed at how easy and well designed the two wheels were to remove and replace for the first time. Some wheels on other bikes are much more tricky.

The Dunlops feel good but I have only done about 70 miles on them and of course, new tyres always feel good after the old, worn out ones! I got them from a small workshop that is very local to me for £270 on loose wheels. I could have got them cheaper but it would have taken half a day to travel to and from the tyre dealer, so the petrol and time hit was not worth it for me. I also like to support small, local businesses. In addition, he is a very nice bloke who knows what he is doing!

Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #8

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Zitat von Freddyfruitbat im Beitrag #7

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Never yet used Dunlops myself (at least in living memory) but what's the deal with Roadsmarts and Roadmasters? Confused... are they the same tyre in different markets or something?

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I always thought Roadmasters were 1950's-era Buicks.

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When I was growing up I saw a 1958 Buick Roadmaster at a car show and fell in love with all of the chrome on that car. I bet the amount of chrome on a single Roadmaster would weigh as much as all of the chrome used on BMW motorcycles in a year's production.

Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #13

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When I was growing up I saw a 1958 Buick Roadmaster at a car show and fell in love with all of the chrome on that car. I bet the amount of chrome on a single Roadmaster would weigh as much as all of the chrome used on BMW motorcycles in a year's production.

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When I was stationed at L.G. Hansom Field, located west of Boston, during 1968, I bought a well used 1960 Oldsmobile 88 to get around during the winter while I was rebuilding my Yamaha YA-6 summer ride. In those days if you wanted a car to last for a while in the Northeast you would buy a big American land yacht as they had a lot of steel on them, which took a few years to rust all the way through the body. I doubt it had Michelin PR4 tires on it, though.

However, the old battery of the Olds did run down one cold winter spell and it froze solid, which of course caused the case to crack. When the temperature warmed up and the battery acid melted, it escaped through the cracked case and caused a bit of an environmental and oxidized metal hazard, which I did my best to ignore.