Best tyres for 2012/13 Speed Triple?

I am going with Michelin Pilot Road 3, they were great on my Multistrada 1200 did over 5000 miles on a rear, great in the wet, duel compound.

 

Mine came new with Metzler K5s
Brilliant on dry warm Tarmac, very skittish in the wet, and lost there heat v quick, would be suited to weekend track rider.
2k per rear and 100 a pop!! Now running Pilot road 3's
All I can say is wow!! I'm no hardcore racer wannabe but I can't feel any loss in the dry warm running at all, in the wet they are fenominal... I have never felt confident in the wet, but with these p3's I wouldn't know of it was raining or bone dry!!
I won't run anything else now. I love the aggresive tread pattern, suits the look of the street fighter.
The K5 rear wore so quick in the summer, you ended up with square shoulders if on the motorway for sixty miles.. First bend after and the bike would drop quick as you rolled on to the edges... The density mix on the P3 is bang on... And turns soo much better...
But that's just me...:upyeah:

 

To me Metzelers verge on dangerous in the wet, they let go without any warning. I loath them! There are people out there who rate 'em, but I've read quite a few reports about their appalling performance once it gets a bit damp. I've got them as oe on my America & can't wear them out, 6.5K miles up there's virtually no wear!

 

Bridgestones or michelins are the preferred options for me, but there's not so much choice on a cruiser, people seem to like Avons-which I always had back in the 70's

 

OK, so mine's an '07 but I love the Pilot Road 3s. I'm a fairly high mileage rider and also love the twisties and the tyres seem to be an excellent combination of grip (both wet and dry) and longevity. If they're as good on the new SIII as they are on the older one I would recommend them all day long. (No 'chicken strips' at all on the rear and only a teeny-weeny baby one on the front shows my confidence in them?) :upyeah:

 

Whilst my Metzler Racetech 5's had no chicken strips on rear but some on front, I've noticed my p3's have about an inch each side on rear but less on front than the Metzler front had??? How's that work?? The rear I put down to the fact I had them fitted at the end of the year and hence haven't given them a full push yet, but you don't have to ride them hard like the metzlers... Hmm I'm sure someone will know why this is...

 

My personal belief is that the chicken strip thing has quite a bit to do with the profile of the tyre - my bike came with Pilot Powers on (excellent boots if money and time in the tyre fitters is no problem). I bought the SIII from Triumphworld in Chesterfield and just bimbling home that first trip the strips had gone - I think due to their flatter profile! However as a fairly high mileage rider they had to go. The Road 3s seem to be more rounded and take a bit more aggression to remove the strips - but I love a challenge!

Screwball, talk to me about big trips. I'm a great believer in buying a bike for what you like best and do most (in our case the twisties) and just make it do the other stuff (touring etc - lets be honest why buy a tourer for a couple of weeks a year).The SIII surprised me in being a really comfortable tourer (pillion discounted). I know it's no world record but when I did 'The Four Corners' for MacMillan I did 1069 miles in a day and was fine. At least with the SIII you can go all the way to places like The Alps in comfort and twat the bejasus out of your mates on 'Busas etc. when you get there! :smile:

 

I feel a new threads coming... Standby by... Will be in the rideouts folder...
And screwball you spelt it wrong lol
Brybem, 1069 wtf were you using performance enhancing drugs??? Jees man that is some going in a day....

 

To be honest we were fine. There were three of us on the charity ride - my other two mates were on Blackbirds (the pussies!). We set off from Land's End at 4:00am, called in at Avimore to book into a hotel, then up to JoG and back to the hotel at Avomore. I'm only a skinny firker so I suppose I don't have too much weight on my arse. I'm going to Italy again myself this year and the plan is to go via the Black Forest. What we tend to do is book a place for a couple of weeks and the blokes ride out and the women fly. That way we can carry so much more luggage, we can play a bit more on route and the women don't get bored/sore and we don't get nagged at! we've booked a place in Verbania on the North side of Lake Maggiore - just into Italy from Switzerland. Fantastic roads down there.

The two pictures here were taken, as you can see, on the same day - one in Land's End and the second in JoG. Actually thinking about it, we did 1,159 miles that day - the 69 stuck in my head as the bike seized on that trip at 3,069 miles!

 

Have a little look at my thread 'Favourite Roads' in the lounge area - the picture is The Grimsel Pass near to where we're going this year. Screwball, if you can, I suggest going up the East side of the Stelvio and down the West (if you're only doing it once :smile. The East side is tighter and more technically challenging, the west is just miles and miles of beautifal Tarmac. The first pick here is the West and the second, the East.

 

Screwball, what made you go for the 350 over using a smart phone mate??

 

I'm not a great lover of chav-navs, preferring maps. I'm lucky to be blessed with a really good sense of direction and feel that gizmos like this can be a bit distracting. When a load of us were in France a couple of years back we found that my SOD was actually more accurate than the said chav-nav and we all started believing in the Bry-Bry over the Tom-Tom. :smile: