Good road tyres

[toypro1]

I've really enjoyed my Road 5s. I have the 'Trail' version up front and a normal version on the rear. Rear tire has just over 8,500 miles on it and will be replaced this week as I have a 2-up trip to Arkansas in a couple weeks. I'd push it further locally and would expect to easily get 9,000 miles from it but I'm not going to press my luck on a longer trip w/ the wife...

Current shots:

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Middle has flattened out down to the wear indicators but it still feels good. Speaking of feeling good, last year I abused them in Arkansas on a solo trip... when they get really warmed up they really do stick!

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Front tire has over 9,500 miles on it and looks great. I'm not planning to replace it any time soon.

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I have a pair of Dunlop RS3 to replace these R5 waiting in the garage only because I couldn't resist the rebate Dunlop had going on last month.... we'll see how they compare.

trey

why did you have the 'Trail' version up front and a normal version on the rear ?

 

[EricV]

why did you have the 'Trail' version up front and a normal version on the rear ?

It's fairly common practice to do this. The Trail version doesn't last nearly as long as the std or GT version on the rear. Fronts wear much slower anyway and they don't offer the non-trail version in our front size, (or didn't last I looked).

 

[ballisticexchris]

I had a long conversation with the Michelin rep at the motorcycle show. He ran both the Wild and Road 5 on his own personal bike. I chose the Wild just because I like to explore on fire roads. For a street only tire I would not hesitate to get the road 5 Trail for the Super Tenere. And at around 400.00 a set that is a smoking deal for this kind of rubber.

The Road 5 comes in three different compounds. Trail being the softest and safest with better grip. It also has the lowest speed rating "V" at 149mph. The standard and GT have a hard compound and "W" rating at 168mph. I think any of these are a good tire for the street. What I like about the Road 5 is the fact that it gets better grip in the wet as it wears. Just look at the siping. It gets larger as the tire wears. This is a great wet weather tire for the guys who like to ride in the rain.