dirty trix wrote:Sportmax > Michelin Pilot Power Sport?
I have pilot power road on back but want more front grip, without compromising to a near race compound and profile.
Hi Dirty TRX
I am using the new Michelin Pilot Road 2 with the dual compound front and rear... a big step forward from the original Pilot Roads, a tyre I was reasonably happy with.
I have in the past mixed sport fronts with sport-touring rear tyres, a habit I picked up in pommy-land. It sort of worked OK in that environment with temps 0 to 15deg C for most of the year. Over here in OZ the temps are in the 15 to 40 deg C range so getting enough heat into the tyre to get it to work properly is not an issue.
In fact wear becomes a heat issue with the sport front tyre in hotter climates. The last sport front I had fitted was a Metzler Z1 sporttec with a Z6 roadtec rear. The rear lasted me almost 6000km, the front 4500km. But as you know the way a front wears has a big effect on steering feel so by the time it had reached 2500km the tyre had worn badly enough to feel quite odd. I find with matched sport-touring pairs by the time the rear has worn out ( 8500km with the pilot road rear) the front is only just beginning to feel "off", and as I change tyres as a pair I avoid riding on a stuffed but totally legal front.
But the bottom line is that the tyres are designed to work in pairs, so a sport-touring front is not grip deficient in comparison to its rear sibling.
So if you have no issues with the grip of the rear Pilot Road, then the front will be more than sufficient.
The original Pilot Road was a slow steering bugger however and I will assume that is what you also have fitted to the front of your bike. The new Pilot Road 2 front is a much quicker steering, sporty feeling tyre and after thrashing the Road 2's around the Adelaide Hills for 1500km I can report that grip is not an issue with these tyres.
Hope this helps
DFH
Now with 140,000 on the clocks, X-mas tree didn't kill it & I still love it.
