Pilot Sport V's D208's

Who here's gone from one of these tyers to the other? Im thinking getting
the pilot sports when the 208's wear out and want info on the real world
difference when it comes to grip and wear.

Cheers

Mick

 

Michelin Pilot Sports are a rather dated tyre by todays standards. Even a
few years makes a difference. What bike are you going to put it on? The
Bridgestone BT012's are fantastic, and I hear they BT012SS's have just had
a compound upgrade or slight remaking, but are *very* good out of the box.
This is from a tyre dealer at race/track days, so no fibbs ere!

Cam
'00 ZX6R

 

VTR1000F. Im very happy with the 208's but id love more life outta them
without sacrificing grip I don't feel I need more grip just not less than
the 208 provide. I figures that there must be a tyre available that provides
at least the same grip as a 208 but with better wear.

 

The Pilots have a round profile and "fall in' to a corner, if that's your
riding style well ok, they harder to get used to and take longer to warm up.
The 208's have a more 'triangular' profile and warm up faster. They just
don't last long enough though. I prefer the 208's by a long shot, I could
never get my times down at PI with the pilots.

 

I did, but not any more though. Too difficult finding tyre fitters in
Melbourne who want to deal with the Bridgestone importers. I have Pirelli
Diablos on the 'bird now. Love 'em. First ride out I was scraping the
fairing and exhaust header around a hairpin right hander on a cold day so I
guess their grip is ok

Nev..
'02 CBR1100XX #2

 

Your definition of the shape is inconsistent with the symptoms you're
ascribing to ithem. A more triangular tyre will "fall" into a corner
more than a rounder profile which will have a slower turn in
characteristic, noting however that as simple a thing as a change in
aspect ratio will also introduce similar changes and if the two brand
of tyres have slightly different rolling diameter against the same
theoretic size (and this is very common) then you get the same impact
as a change in aspect ratio.

Pilot sports seem to have a smaller diameter for the same nominal size
to some other brands - you could see the difference in size on the TRX
when it wore Pilot Sports and it was next to a Rex with Dunlop or the
stock Macadams.

I've got a D208 on the Bandit and am happy with it, I was very happy
with the Pilot Sport on the TRX. The Bandit runs out of ground
clearance before it runs out of tyre, whereas the TRX is the
reverse,the Bandit weighs about 40Kg more and has about 60Hp more so I
can't reasonably compare, however you also need to consider whether
you are road riding or track riding. The way tyres behave under stress
at a track is a lot different to the road.

The BT012SS are indeed supersticky with really short life, I've been
told the diablos are even shorter lived but have never tried them.

JL

 

Got the R6 back yet?

Cam

 

Very true: I'm looking at a new rear BT012ss after about 3000km on the
Fireblade. Mostly hard road riding.
S.

 

They don't last long enough.

 

Ack ... the very reason I haven't stepped up to the 012SS's yet. Just too
soft for my budget. At that kinda life it's almost throwing away your
money. (which I don't have enough of)

Cam
'00 ZX6R

 

Pilot Sports usually get a good rap

Michelins have for a long time had a reputation for sticking well
until you get to the edge of their adhesion and then just letting go.

Dunlops and Bridgestones tend to drift a little before hand to give
you some warning that you are approaching 'the edge'