Tyres!Tyres!Tyres!
 

Just been reading about Andy`s highside at Rockingham(don`t know him,but I hope he`s ok)l have just sold my 900ss which l tried to trackday as much as l could (4-6 a year),on that l ran bt010`s which were good on the road, ok on the track but would spin in the low gears if cold.l have just purchased a S4 which l intend to continue doing trackdays on,this has got pilot sports fitted as standard.l always thought tyres were a personal thing, if you were happy with them it didn`t matter what make they were.l now have reservations about "track daying" it with these on, as the extra horse power might be my undoing.Any comments would be appreciated.

I would strongly suggest that you carefully remove them and set them on fire while they are hanging from a speed camera. At least that way they will have served some useful purpose. Put some Dunlop 207RR's on and save yourself the grief that loads of us have suffered from crap Michelins.

Sorry, but I have to strongly disagree.

I think the Mich Pilot Sports are a superb tyre, as do some mags that have put these and other tyres to the test. A correctly data logged test, not some highly subjective personal opinions.

Often they have come out top.

I weigh 14st and have now done two track days with Pilot Sports on and they have been confidence inspiring to me, as I have only been riding just over 2-1/2 years. Couldn't have hoped for a better tyre as a beginner where gaining confidence and having confidence in your tyres is very important.

My first track day was at Croft in the dry, and although not able to put them into extreme lean angles, I felt completely safe with less than 5mm before the edge of a 190 section tyre. Same goes for the very wet DSC track day. I thought how the hell am I going to get round in this weather.
As the day progressed so did my confidence as the tyres inspired me to take the bike into further lean angles. If I was not 100% confident I would never have attempted the lean angles as I did.
At the end of the straight, very hard braking before Gerrards the front gripped superbly with no dramas whatsoever.
The tyres felt very grippy in all cases.

So yeah tyres are a personal thing, but I have no problem with Mich Pilot Sports and would recommend them to anybody.

Try them, Ifn your unsure don't take them or yourself to the limit, do it gradually then come out with an opinion.

Enjoy
:sing:

I am fine (as I can be) after my spill thanks sparkin.

Firstly a technical point but a significant one; I was using Pilot Sport Cup tyres as opposed to the Pilot Sports. They were fitted as standard to my bike and I always intended replacing them as soon as they were worn out as I never have liked Michelins. That is just my taste though and should not be enough to put you off.

Bianchis point about confidence is a good one. My tyres inspired huge confidence and were very, very grippy. My problem with them is that they are so grippy that when they let go you are so far past the limit that there is no way back. I still think there were track conditions that contributed to my flying lesson but I state again that I personally would have had expected more warning from the tyres. I prefer a tyre that is not quite so grippy and that complains when you are about to enter the danger zone giving you a chance to do something about it.

On balance I think it entirely depends on how fast you want to go and how near the limits you want to be. If you are not going to be exploring limits the Michelins will give you a lot of confidence and probably never bite back. If you are then I would suggest going for something that talks to you a bit more.

As Bianchi correctly points out this is all subjective opinion but is the only thing that I can contribute I am afraid. I can say however that although I read these magazines I do not pay much attention to the results. They are indeed data-logged tests but still rely heavily on the opinion of the rider for measuring confidence. The actual differences between the tyres on the datalogger in the tests I have seen are so small they would make no difference to me with my riding ability (or lack of it). I would prefer to try (and indeed have tried) many types of tyres and make my own mind up. I think it will be back to Dunlops this time for me though.

[Edited on 28-7-2003 by Andyl]

I have to agree with you on all your points Andy,especially the confidence thing.My 010`s always gave me confidence on road or track and you could always feel when the would start to slide.But as my lap times came down (abeit slowly) I always felt I could go quicker on something like a rennsport.But like most people I want to have my cake and eat it,3000miles and 3 trackdays out of a rear tyre.