Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Product Evaluation MichelinP Sport ilot By Pa u l Ca rruthe rs ~ 0' ~ CD . .c E > o Z 28 s Vegas Motor Speed way features tw o ext re mely fas t left-ha nd sweepers, bo th of which lead to straigh taways . Wit hout a doubt, th ey are th e two most im portant corners on the race track. They can also wreak havoc on a rear tire, due mainly to the extre me heat that is generated fr om th e speed an d lean ang le that those two corners bring. If you choose to introduce a new lire to m embers of the m ed ia a t Las Vegas Mot or Speedway, you better ma ke su re th e tire is up to th e ta sk . T h e ne w Michelin Pilot Spo rt is. An d it' s not eve n the race tire. With a go a l o f p ro du cin g a spo rtbik e tir e tha t is "as fast as a ra ce tire and as stable as a road tire," Mich elin has int rod u ced the Pilot Spo rt - the siblin g o f t h e Pil o t Ra ce , a ti r e th a t br ou g h t M ich e li n so me s uccess iii AMA Supersport racing in 1999. Whil e th e Pilot Ra ce w as des igned for th e lik es of Josh Hayes to win rac es like the Daytona 750cc Supersport final, the Pilot Sport is d esign ed for the likes of Joe Canyon Racer to sa fel y a nd co mfortabl y find his way up An y Wind ing Road USA. Like the Pilot Race , th e Pil ot Spo rt us es Michelin' s Radial Delta rear-tire construction . It al s o uses Michelin ' s patented Silicium tr ead compound , a process Mi ch elin claims p romotes exceptional grip, especially on wet and cold roads . It also e xtends tire life , Michelin claims. Wet grip is so meth ing the Pilot Race completely lacks (a s k any Michelinusing racer what it was like to neg oti ate Lag una Seca d uring the wet 600cc Supersport race this yea r). One look at the tw o tire s side by side and yo u can see w hy . Whil e the trea d pat tern on th e Pil ot Race doesn' t co me cl os e to the ed ge of the tire (in an effort to make it as slick-like as possible), th e tread on the Pilot Sport, goes all the way to the si dewall. He nce, better wet-wea ther grip . The Pilot Spo r t, also h eats up q uicker than the sibling Pilot Ra ce , m a k in g it t he be t ter choice fo r th e street rider. But its performance will also fall off when that heat builds in the tir e, at least compared to the Pilot (Above left ) The Michelin Pilot Sport uses Radial Delta technology, combing a radia l cas ing , zero-degree Kevlar belt and tw o cro wn plies angled at 75 degrees. (Left) The belts on the Pilot Sport are ang led at 75 degrees rather than the 45 degrees on the Pilo t Race version. (Above) The tread on the rear Pilot Sport goes all the wa y to th e edge of the ti re, unlike the Pilot Race versi on th at looks more li ke a slic k. The extra grooves give th e Pilot Sport t he ability to perform in wet conditions - an area that lacked in the Pilot Race. Sport, which w ill maintain its co nsisten cy far lon ger , accordi ng to Michelin. Wit h th e Pil ot Ra ce, dura b il ity a nd wet-wea ther gri p was never a p riori ty. It was bu ilt for one reason and one rea so n only - to wi n Superspor t races. WHAT IS SILICIUM? Michelin firs t used silica-b ased rubber compounds in its Grand Prix rain tire s ba ck in 1992. N o w the Pi lot Sport becomes the first street tire to use a Silicium rubber mix. So what is this Siliciurn? According to Michelin, silica is combined with a specifically formulated synthetic elas tomer through the use of a proprietary-bo ndi ng age nt, forming the Silici u m com po u nd . In la ym a n terms, Michelin says it grips better while las ting longer. It' s th e Viagr a of tire compo u nds. AND RADIAL DELTA ? Michelin uses its pat en ted Rad ial Delta structu re exclusively in its Pilot rear tires. The key to the concept, according to Michelin, is its two crown pla tes laid a t o pp os ing angles - a desi gn feature that cam e from Michelin's racing slicks. Th e a ng le d plies help maintain th e tire' s lat eral s ta b ili ty an d 'co n sis te n t g rip , sa ys Mich elin. Also , by ma ni pu lating the belt angle, en gin eers can con trol the tire's lateral rigidity. So for the high- corn ering load s ge ne ra ted by race speeds, the Pilot Race has its belts at a 45-d egr ee angle. The Pilot Sport ha s its belts angled at 75 degrees, thus providing bett er stability for the stree t rider. YOUR MILE AGE MAY DIFFER In order to introduce the lire to the Ll.S, motorcycling press, Michelin invited us to Las Vegas Motor Speedwa y where the Freddie Spencer High Perfo rma nce Ridi ng Schoo l - and Fast Freddie himse lf - playe d host. We had the schoo l's 1999 H ond a C BR600 F4s a t o u r di spo s al , coun tless tire fillers and engineers, plu s the public-relati ons personnel to ensu re th at we a lways knew we were u sing Michelins. Sent ou t in groups of nin e or 10 at a time, we were free to bum rubber, so to speak, wit h reckless abandon . The new Micheli ns were tortured for 20-mi nu te sessions at a time, then sen t out for mor e torture by a group of different "hard working" motojournalists. Du ri ng the lunch break , th ose tires were changed , a nd th e process repeat ed itself in the afternoon. H o w good w ere th e Pilot Spo rts? Prelly damn goo d . The tir es were tortured not on ly by mere mortal motojou rna lis ts , but al so b y ra cers like Thomas Montan o - and they held up. The tires h ad goo d feel , provided exceptional grip and, as sta ted above, the y lasted. Only at the end of the afternoon session wa s there an y noticeable drop in performance, as the rear tire started to feel a bit grea sy. The bes t thing tha t can be said about the new Pilot Sport is that Michelin also had a few of th e school's bikes filled with Pilot Race tires . And they sat there, mostl y unridden. The n ew ti res a re cu rren tly being shi pped to dealers and will carry a suggested retail price of $139.20 to $143.46 for fronts (dependi ng on size) and from $169.93 to $247'.08 for rears (dependi ng on size). Th ey w ill a lso co me as sta nd ard fi tmen t o n A p ri lia 's RSV1000, Du cali ' s 996, Ho nda' s CBR929, th e Kawasaki ZX9R and ZX6R and the MV Agusta F4. CIII