Hello! I’m RyanF9 and these are my favourite touring tires.
This video starts in the same place as last year’s, because there is only one place to begin a video on touring tires – with the Michelin Pilot Road 4 .
It’s the best wet-weather motorcycle tire on the market, full stop. Michelin cut narrow sipes that channel water into deeper reservoirs, holding water away from the contact patch so you stick to the pavement rather than hydroplaning.
Speaking of which, the area that sticks to the pavement is larger for the sipes’ narrowness. Plus the rubber compound is 100% silica-charged, which means it has a predominantly polar surface that easily penetrates H2O.
Molecular science aside – this tire wants to pass through water and bite the pavement, and we all know why that’s a good thing.
The Pilot Road 4 isn’t the fastest touring tire, not even in rainy conditions. But it is the safest . Take the front, which looks weird because the grooves are cut perpendicular to the direction of travel. Well this maximizes water siping with the front tire loaded under braking. So you get the most grip when you need it the most – during a rainy panic stop.
Independently tested, the PR4 stops 17% shorter than competitors on wet surfaces. Fact.
But why do I recommend this tire first? After all, most people don’t ride in the rain that often.
Well the weird thing is, this wet-weather tire is also one of the longest lasting. Silica decreases rolling resistance and Michelin exploited that property to the max. Obviously mileage is subjective and a meat-fisted ‘Busa rider can still burn through one of these in 8000 clicks. But 20,000 is more the norm.
Downsides! Michelin made the front profile more angular since the PR3. It results in a featherweight steering feel, which some people enjoy, but my opinion is that this tire falls into corners too easily.
Also dry grip isn’t great. At the very limit it’s less of a problem since the tread pattern vanishes to slick. But in the centre belt , I often break traction under hard acceleration.
And finally, with all these grooves the PR4 “scallops” worse than most tires. Michelin did angle the leading sipe edges since the PR3 to counteract that effect, but the tire still gets bumpy toward the end of its life.
Now, my size in the PR4 costs 230 bucks, but the Bridgestone Battlax T30 EVO will run me just 175.
So what am I losing? There’s still a silica-rich compound here and plenty of grooves. But you can tell right away that the siping is much less technical. No narrow channels, no reservoirs.
So this is a worse rain tire than the Pilot Road 4. But it’s also stickier in the dry, even compared to the BT-023 that it replaces.
Bridgestone’s new theory is that riders are cautious in wet weather, but push faster in good conditions – sounds reasonable. So they moved more grooves into the centre tread, to catch water and channel it outwards, since most riders stay fairly upright when it’s rainy.
Then Bridgestone removed some grooves from the edges. Presuming that if you’re using the tire all the way out here, the road surface is probably dry and you’ll be better off with a slick rubber patch than a tread pattern.
The result is an improvement for most riding situations . BUT, adding grooves here and removing them here also means that you’ll have less straight-line grip in the dry and less cornering grip in the rain.
The latter is no biggie, because no one really goes knee-down in a monsoon. But having a carved out contact patch in the centre is more problematic.
Mainly in terms of squirreliness. When you grab a handful off the line, this centre tread is liable to bend and slip. Bridgestone compensated for that with a harder rubber and shallower edges on each groove – a technique ripped from their RS10 supersport tire that increases block stiffness.
As a result, the T30 EVO does feel solid on the straights. In fact you could even call the ride a bit harsh, or worse yet, plasticky when you dig it into a corner. I know the grip is there, but I have to trust that fact with my head rather than the feedback from my hands.
Last important thing to note: Mileage is weird on the T30 EVO. It wears away quicker than the old BT-023, especially on the front. Some people actually square off their front tire before the rear one, which is both unusual and a bit dangerous, since flattened fronts can cause tank slappers.
So long as you always replace front and rear at the same time, the T30 EVO is a nice money-saving option that is faster than the PR4 and BT-023 in the dry. But if you’re the type of person who likes to keep one front through two rears, forget it.
Now , there’s a much better alternative to the T30 EVO for those willing to spend.
It’s a Metzeler Roadtec 01 – also faster than the PR4 in dry weather. But this time it’s faster in the wet too. And the mileage is way out there … Roadtecs will run almost as far as PR4s, which is to say, almost best-in-class.
So essentially we have a tire that does everything well. Plus it looks like a MotoGP rain tire and that’s sexy.
I’m gonna call it right now – best new tire of 2017. All categories, all manufacturers … the Roadtec 01 makes the biggest splash.
And that could be a splash through potholes, frost heaves, dusty gutters, oil puddles, maple syrup… whatever Montreal can throw at the Roadtec 01. We saw Metzeler do a sport tire for adverse public roads with the M7 RR. They’ve just pulled off the same trick for sport- touring riders with the Roadtec 01.
This tread is tailormade for crappy conditions. The rubber compound is malleable on a micro level, meaning it can bend around the tiny imperfections of city streets and use them to enhance grip.
The groove pattern is also suited to low-grip situations. Long sipes, reservoirs – you know the drill. Metzeler also faded the tread near the edges, so anyone with the balls to ride out near the elephant gets an elephantine amount of grip.
Speaking of which, the Roadtec 01 is an easy tire to lean low. They modulated the belt tension so the tire is tightest at mid-lean, and softest at the very limit. That means you have razor-sharp precision when lining up the apex, and heaps of cushy grip by the time you get there.
Okay okay, but there must be something bad about this tire? Well it has a wide footprint, which is why mileage and grip are so good, but that also means the tire wears more square.
I should also warn you that the Roadtec 01 is not interchangeable with its predecessor. Ze Germans are very logical about naming things, so the “01” bit means that this is a brand new tire, very dissimilar to the Z8 Interact that it replaces.
All in all, amazing tires. Not safer than PR4s in the rain, but definitely faster . They’re also quicker in the dry and more fun in any conditions. And they’re one of the first sport-touring tires to match the Michelin for mileage. If you can afford 250-dollar doughnuts, get Roadtec 01s.
But what if I don’t care about mileage? Maybe I want a tire that’s here for a good time, not a long time.
Well the Roadtec 01 is still hard to beat, but it’s narrowly edged by old faithful – the Pirelli Angel GT .
This is a lightweight tire. That reduces un-sprung mass, meaning it’s quicker to turn in and your suspension will have an easier time keeping it in contact with the ground. Ergo, more grip.
Another thing is the dual-compound. I mean big whoop; touring tires have been bi- or tri-rubbers for ages. But see how the hard mileage belt is thin on the Angel GT? You get ultrasoft cornering grip for most of the cornering surface.
The result is bitter or sweet depending how you ride. Timid motorcyclists will wear away the mid shoulder too soon, since they spend a lot of time cornering here but rarely get down here. That results in a very average-feeling tire that squares off quicker than a tri-compound … Angel GTs aren’t that popular with timid riders.
But if you ride balls to the wall, this is brilliant. It offers maximum grip for most of the spectrum and if you actually use the whole spectrum, you’ll find that the tire maintains performance and profile throughout its lifespan.
We’ve learned to expect this kind of thing from Pirelli. They call it Extended Mileage Sport, which is a cheeky way of saying they just made the sportbike tire they wanted to make, and then beefed it up a bit for touring. The A-Spec version gets a little extra beef, since it’s meant to carry those land-yacht motorcycles.
If you’re a sport rider who goes touring – if you’re an R1 racer with sidecases, a pillion and no fear – then this is the tire for you.
So , safest rain tire and longest lasting. Cheapest option and a decent all-rounder. Most expensive option and the best all-rounder. And a sport tire dressed up as a tourer.
That’s all folks. Thanks for watching.