Time for new tires!

[Richard230]

A nail force an early replacement of the rear tire.

Get one of these.

I picked up a screw in my rear Avon maybe 3k in, and rode another good 3k on the plug.  I seriously seem to attract all kinds of stupid road debris to my rear tires very frequently, so I carry that thing on me at all times.  (In addition to these and this)

I have used that tire plugger in the past and it seems to work well.  I have the gun for the garage and carry their little pocket plugger on my bike for use in the field.  It works well too, but it does take a little longer to figure out the instructions.

One tip that I haven't seen anyone do lately is to install a type of "mud flap" attached to the swing arm pivot, engine belly pan, or center stand cross bar, ahead of the rear wheel.  (Unfortunately, such locations are becoming harder and harder to find on modern motorcycles.) The prevailing theory about motorcycles picking up nails in the rear tire is that they get picked up by the front wheel and flipped into the rear wheel tread.  Installing a flap before the rear wheel is supposed to knock the nail aside and prevent it from hitting the rear tire.  I don't think anyone has been able to prove that this works, though.  But it does sound somewhat logical. 

[implovator]

Finally found time the change the tires. It's a bit cold, but I managed to scrub the new Diablo Rosso Corsas in. I'm following Pirelli's recommendation for tire pressure, using the upper end of the range due to the cold and the Empulse's girth. I put in 35/32 and it felt pretty nice once up to temp. When pulling out of the neighborhood, they were still pretty cold and the wheels felt a little "square". The profile of these tires is a little taller than the Avons. This gives them a nice side contact patch, but it means that they want to be all full lean. I'll have to see how they do once it gets a little warmer out, but so far they feel a little loose in the transitions, but they feel great once cranked over.

Couple of tips I picked up:

Even though the forks have holes in the bottom to accept a front stand with studs, you don't want to use them. My cheap front stand uses hex head cap bolts as the studs, and the hole in the right fork leg is so shallow that the stud form the stand hits the axle. This made the axle a pain to get out, and it scored the axle a little. Well that scoring did a number on the inside of the fork as the loose material worked its way through. I managed to clean the burrs out just fine, so no harm done. I ended up ordering a new front stand that lifts under the forks but without studs.

The caliper bolts do not appear to be treated with anything from the factory. I had to break them loose with with some PB Blaster and my big impact wrench. I cleaned the corrosion from the threads on a wire wheel and then used some anti-seize on them. I'm not too worried about them coming loose, but if they do I'll just retorque them and then safety wire them.

[Jeff]

Well, the Pilot Road 3s are finally getting down there, and I thought I'd provide an update.  To tell the truth, I'd sort of forgotten that it had been forever since I changed tires, which when I think about it is a rather nice compliment for a set of rubber.  It's been over 9000 (!!!) miles since I put them on, and (as Brian can attest ) I do not tend to baby my rear tires.

I believe the front has developed a little bit of a flat spot -- one of those things I didn't even think about until I rode another bike and then came back to the Empulse.  On turn-in it feels very subtly like there is a slight . . . edge?  Other than that though, they still feel totally solid.  It's been raining on and off here in SF, and especially with the Empulse's insane power delivery it's really nice to have confidence-inspiring tires in the wet.

The new PR4s are out, and I believe I'll be giving those a try.  Michelin claims even more longevity and better handling.  I wouldn't even care because the PR3s are fantastic, but why not.  Revzilla did a of them.  TLDW: Apparently the 4 has a harder compound in the center of the rear and less siping around the edges for more grip while at lean.  Also it's a bigger number so therefore clearly better.

I'll let you know the result -- and also I'll likely have to take another picture of sending the PR3s out in style, obviously.

[Jeff]

I do not tend to baby my rear tires.

Hahaha and I just realized: In addition to the 9k miles, these tires have both a full trackday at Thunderhill (that I was too lazy to put on slicks for) AND a burnout in the middle of a clean energy convention on them.

Seriously impressed.

[Shinysideup]

I too am running the PR3's and liking them.

The other day in the rain, I needed (wanted) to make a light that was turning yellow so I could get onto the freeway to go home at the end of the day.

I was going about 20 mph, and was in Normal mode, 2nd gear when I pinned the throttle. The rear spun out a bit. Wowza, this thing's got torque! The nice thing is that the throttle gives you instant control: I backed off a bit and the tire locked up into good traction, all in about a half second.

[Gavin]

A little over 8 k and I broke down and got some pilot road 4s for the front and back...took about 10 miles to break them in and I love them...great feel...I should have changed the old ones out sooner

G

[Shinysideup]

There's nothing like the feeling of new (good) tires when you've waited too long to replace the old, squared-off ones!

I think you'll continue to be pleased with the Pilots.

In looking back over this thread, I see I put PR3's on at 5800 miles; I just passed 18K and the front has probably half its tread left and the rear is about 1/2 to 1 mm above the wear bars... very impressive for 12K miles on a bike that has gobs of off-the-line torque. And while the rear is somewhat squared off from my excessive freeway commuting, it's really not very pronounced and handling is still fairly smooth in the transitions.