Best road tires in the world, also best extra gizmo PCIII

I’m happy cause I just put a set of the best tires available on the planet on my bike. I also got a full check up done on the bike a couple of days ago. They found some problems and fixed them…some of the problems were things that were wrong with the bike since before I bought it. So now it’s like having a new bike all over again.

These new tires are great…softest tires in their class (road legal) and they last as long as there harder competitors.

[quote]

I presume you will be buying the new Suzuki GSXR-1000 you complete hooligan! :smiley: ? Have you seen May’s Performance Bikes? Headline: Why This Bike Changes Everything.

Mordeth…so, what was the problems on the bike???..and what size tires did you puit on??..why pay 13,500$nt for pilot powers when you get equal performance from Bridgstone BT-002R for 8,000$NT?..

Well the problems with the bike I at first thought were related to you…but after thinking about it and talking to Kwaker…I realize you probably didn’t know about it either.
The front end (fairing mostly) was missing roughly 80% of the bolts and plugs that should have been holding it together. One of the ram air intakes was hanging so low (because not bolted on) it wasn’t lined up with the air scoop on the front. Even though the bike is “top of the line” it still comes to Taiwan in boxes and gets assembled by kids getting paid minimum wage. So it probably was like that when you bought it new and you never had a reason to fully take apart the front end so you wouldn’t have noticed. Not your fault.

The bike came with 002s when I bought it…and maybe I don’t ride the bike hard enough to get them up to temp…or maybe I’m too ham fisted. But the 002s were sliding all over the place. Sometimes I’d just give it throttle and the back end would kick out sideways. And if I did any hard downshifting I was guaranteed a nice fishtailing session. I switched to Diablo Corsas and never had it fishtail again. I know you swear by RACE tires for the street, but on this we’re going to have to agree to disagree. But I know you rode that bike like a pro with the 002s on it. Mind you, my Corsas didn’t have any chicken strips on them either when I switched them off :smiling_imp: .

P.S. for size I went with stock size… 180/55 and whatever stock is for front.

I’m gonna have to disagree on you about the tires. Don’t get me wrong I think the Pilot Powers are great tires, but they aren’t the best. I have always used race/fast road tires (Rennsports/012SS/Pilot Race), and swear by them. I tried using a sport tire (Pilot Sports) once, I hated them, they made my backend slide everywhere, and didn’t give enough feedback.

bfmmotorcycles.co.uk/catalog … otrace.jsp
(Product of the Year)

[quote=“KawasakiRider”]I’m gonna have to disagree on you about the tires. Don’t get me wrong I think the Pilot Powers are great tires, but they aren’t the best. I have always used race/fast road tires (Rennsports/012SS/Pilot Race), and swear by them. I tried using a sport tire (Pilot Sports) once, I hated them, they made my backend slide everywhere, and didn’t give enough feedback.

bfmmotorcycles.co.uk/catalog … otrace.jsp
(Product of the Year)[/quote]

Hmm, looks to me like Pilot Power are ROAD/race tires and the Pilot Race are RACE/road tires. So maybe my point was that Pilot Power are the best tires in their class. And considering there aren’t any good race tracks in Taiwan…then I’d still have to guess that the Powers are better. Because I’m guessing that you will have the same problem with your tires that others have with the “Race only” tires. And that is long warm up, deformation by bumps (race tires have a hard shell which can be warped by bumps), hardness due to heat cycles (not sure if this one still applys due to new compounds). Well the warm up factor is a big one regardless. It’s physically impossible to reach race temperatures on the street…so while race tires are running cold…street tires are nice and warmed up. I’m guessing that’s the difference between the two…but I don’t know.

I found this page from the link you gave useful: bfmmotorcycles.co.uk/catalog … a5gI3krTs9

Wow, that’s some news…I had noticed once that a fastener had fallen off inside the front fairing…however, I didn’t know they were coming loose!..Didn’t the paint shop remove the front fairing in order to paint the bike?..If they were the last ones to remove it then I would have a word with them about this!..Besides, those fasteners are crap!

As for the tires, It all comes down to what the rider feels through his suspension and the rider’s “style” of riding…for me, the 600RR was a balls to the wall bike that just wanted to carve all corners…so, the bt-002 was just great for this…it would take a few corners to get them up to temp and then it was just a question of keeping them hot to trot!..lets not forget that a properly set-up suspension is a must for proper tire heating and wear!..

So, if you are cool with the pilot powers…then great!..but i’m still wondering why you would spen 13.5$K on the Michelins when the equivalent tire from Bridgstone BT-014 costs 8,500$NT?..I use the BT-014 on the Z1000 and it’s a great tire for street/track use!..

Cheers

Well the comparable Diablo Corsas also run around 15,000 for a pair. And I haven’t heard much about the BT-014s. So I’ve never really considered them. The paint shop took off the side-front fairings…but not the nose…at least I’m pretty sure.

I’m with Sky on this one. The 014 and the O12SS supersports from Bridgestone are probably the best tires for the 600 class, they both go for $8500NT. Only problem with the 012SS is that no matter how far you lean they still leave chicken strips. Just the shape os the tire. So it’s probably better you didn’t get them Mordeth, since you’re still having trouble leaning that bike over. :wink: Just playing with you man.


[quote]Pilot Powers are the latest and greatest craze, Rob from Lithium Motor Sports quoted:

Quote from: LMsports on March 10, 2005, 12:37:00 AM
The Michelins are like no other tire I have ever ridden and well worth your investment to try them. Especially if you can be comfortable on Dunlops, just wait till you try these. Pirelli Diablo Corsa and Bridgestone BT-014’s are excellent street tires but still don’t hold a candle to the new powers.

and:

Quote from: LMsports on February 07, 2005, 06:58:50 PM
Right now there is no comparison to the Michelin Pilot Power. NONE. I rode those tires at race pace for 500 miles at the Freddie Spencer school and they gripped as well as any DOT race tire I have ever run and they still had at least half of thier life left when we were done. I cannot express how impressed I was with these tires. I have never ridden ANYTHING even close.

I trust Rob’s opinion due to he’s tried just about everything in the business and races professionally.

I put the Pilot Powers on my bike before a track weekend a few weeks ago and had absolutely no traction issues…the bike never slipped once, which I’m sure had to do with a lot of other influences, but the tires was definitely one of them [/quote]

This quote isn’t from an advertisement or from a magazine. The guy from LM Sports wrote that on a forum…he’s also a proffesional racer as well as a mechanic. And I could provide hundreds of links with other exceptional reviews like that.

There you have it…the uppers and lowers mount up to the nose piece on the inside of the front wheelwell…so, i’m guessing the paint guys didn’t do a good job of reinstalling the panels!..not surprising for local mechanics though!!

Cheers