Cycle News

MICHELIN PILOT ROAD 4 TIRES TEST P78 ferent casing (15 percent stiffer) to handle the heavy loads often as- sociated with big tourers. The GT, which is standard fit- ment for 40 percent of the BMW R1200 RT range, also gets a pair of crisscrossed plies (Dual Angle Technology) under the standard belt to give the tire more rigidity. The compound on the Pilot Road 4 has also changed over its predecessor in an effort to widen the operating temperature range. Michelin says the tire now works in temperatures ranging from 23 to 113 degrees, which should cover just about everyone who isn't already thinking about mov- ing residences. As is now the norm, the tires are dual compound with the stan- dard and GT versions featuring the harder rubber in the center (40percent at the front, 20 percent at the back) with the softer stuff on the shoulders (30 percent and 40 percent). The Trail version, which was designed for motorcycles like the Yamaha Super Tenere, gets its own blend (softer) with a wider center compound (60 percent of the hard stuff). The tires also come in 19 differ- ent sizes (front and rear) for the three versions to fit bikes ranging from 600cc up to the big sport-tour- ers. Tell your dealer what you have and Michelin will have the correct Pilot Road 4 for your model. For our test of the new tires, Michelin was hospitable enough to mount up a set on a borrowed BMW R1200RT for our some 300-mile ride from Torrance, Cal- ifornia, up to Big Bear and back (with a night's stay in between). Since Southern California is in the midst of a drought, we weren't able to sample the Pilot Road 4s on wet pavement, but we did en- counter every other sort of road surface you can imagine: Cold, hot, dirt and rocks. Like I said, everything but rain. The R1200RT is a big, heavy motorcycle and – as mentioned previously – I rode the bike in some iffy conditions. I can't tell you that the wet weather performance of the tire is out of this world, but I can tell you that the tire per- formed well in the conditions we rode in. Again, on the second day of our test that means a start in temperatures under 40 degrees on mountain roads and ended in high winds and 90 degrees on Southern California freeways. The tires handled everything the roads could dish out and I never felt un- easy or compromised. And on a ride like this, tires are everything. The pace was brisk for these sorts of bikes, but all was good in the tire department. The front tire felt nicely plant- ed, even under hard braking on a heavy motorcycle and there was no sign of that squishy feel- ing that you sometimes get from the front on a sport-tourer. Trac- tion from the rear was top-notch – even when riders ahead were kicking up rooster-tails from the dirty road surface. Again, with just 300 miles on the tires there's no way of telling you what sort of mileage you can expect from the new Pilot Road 4s, but we can tell you that those miles will be done safely and with the sort of comfort you'd hope for from a sport touring tire. Manufacturer suggested re- tail price on the tires range from $223.95 to $228.95 for the front and $270.95 to $330.95 for the rear. CN The tire comes in three variants: Road 4, Road 4 GT and Road 4 Trail. All feature Michelin X-Sipe Technology – the grooves cut in the tire to improve wet-weather performance.

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