I've had many bikes and over the 30 + ye ..."
JustinJackBall421 -
December 13, 2014
I've had many bikes and over the 30 + years I've been riding and I have tried many different tire brands. When I put my first set of Michelin Pilot Power on a Yamaha R1- I was sold. When I found the Pilot Power 2CT, I knew I had found the perfect performance tire. These tires are fantastic~ whatever bike I put them on~ I feel completely stable. Finally, I have found a tire that I can't outride and have total confidence in. Even under favorable riding conditions, many tires frequently develop a greasy feeling when you make any demands on them. The front end pushes the rear end wiggles, and the twisties (those curvaceous roads all riders seek out) can make you feel like a Weeble Wobble. In contrast, the Pilot Powers rise up to meet, and exceed, almost any challenge the road presents. The harder I push my bike and the hotter the Pilot Powers get, the tighter their grip to the road..I can actually feel the traction increase. From that first set I was hooked on Michelin.
The advantage of the Pilot Power 2CT, which really don't feel much different from the Pilot Power, is the dual compound that provides a firmer center for daily road riding and softer sides for increased traction. The 2CT's provide the best of both worlds. I recommend these tires to anyone who does a lot of road riding and hits the twisties on the weekends.
What converted me to Michelin tires for life was how the rear tire held up when I hit some road debris traveling 65 mph and had the most important passenger sitting behind me, my girlfriend. My rear tire, which had a slit across the entire tread, not only held together, the tire bead held on long enough for me to slow down and get off of the highway. It was one of the scariest times I ever had on a motorcycle. At some point, we've all laid bikes down, cased them landing from jumps, get tapped or outright sideswiped by a car; but really bad things happen when a rear tire goes down on motorcycles. It was no picnic keeping the bike from going sideways, but the Michelin tire did it's job and gave me enough time to get the bike stopped and get off and hug the love of my life. At the time, the tire had around 4,500 miles on it. The front tire wound up lasting a little over 11,000 miles before it needed to be replaced. That's about twice the mileage you'd expect from a sport bike tire, and nothing is harder on tires and batteries than the desert heat of Phoenix, Arizona. I wish Michelin made batteries. About 75% of those miles were riding with a passenger. 11,000 miles from performance sport bike tires, on a 500 pound bike, frequently with an additional 350 pounds of payload, riding in ambient temperatures over 100 degrees, and a rider who pushes his bike hard. The only things the Power Pilots 2CT required of me was to maintain the correct air pressure and to make routine checks for foreign objects that could cause tire failure.
If you've found a tire that can do better under those circumstances, then my friend, you are reading this review far in the future, enjoying some technology or compound that isn't available in 2014. For now, the only tires I'm willing to entrust with the safety of myself and my sweetheart are made by Michelin.
