I had my forst ride on the new Michelin Pilot Street Radial yesterday. The bike felt pretty much the same with just a couple of tiny differences. It was only a short ride of about 20km (12 miles). It seems to turn in slightly more quickly and it seems that at highway speed the sound is different. Perhaps the different tread pattern produces different harmonics. 

http://www.pirelli.com/tyre/ww/en/motorcycle/sheet/diablo_rosso_2.html

What about these? Had these on my last bike, they were just amazing, amazing in the wet too.

Would these work on the GS? I think they look awesome too.

Yep, the 110/70 and 140/70 H rated ones are made for our 3.0 and 3.5" wheels:

http://motoseries.com/articles/2012_pirelli_specs.pdf

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=53366.msg799390#msg799390

Quote from: gsJack on January 28, 2014, 02:59:36 PM
Yep, the 110/70 and 140/70 H rated ones are made for our 3.0 and 3.5" wheels:

http://motoseries.com/articles/2012_pirelli_specs.pdf

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=53366.msg799390#msg799390

Awesome! I absolutely adore these tyres, will most likely definitely get a set for my GS this year!

I may have to get a Pilot street for my bike soon (In South Africa you take what they give you), but the weight thing still bothers me. According to the spec sheet it's weight number is 62 (265kg) for the 130 and 66 (300kg) for the 140. A quick sum puts me and my bike at 280-odd kg's. Unless I am reading things wrong?

Load index is the same for all tires of the same size, 54 and 62 for 110/70 and 130/70 sizes.  Don't forget the front wheel is carrying part of the load, about half for the bike alone and for the max load of about 840# (approx. 380 kg) the GS is rated for they recommend raising the rear tire pressure to carry the extra load.  I've been 235-255# during my almost 15 years of GS riding. 

Ahaa, I hadn't thought about it like that, thanks.

I had my first decent ride on the Pilot Street Radial this morning, 310km. I left home at 5.20am, in the dark, and headed for Mt Baw Baw Village. The road surface varied from warm, dry and smooth to cool, steep, rutted, potholed, leaf covered and damp (from heavy fog). I am happy with the grip and feel. There was no occassion when the tyre made me feel unsure of the amount of grip available. A couple of times on a slight left-right-left wiggle at speed the bike felt like it might have had a deflating tyre, just a kind of unsteady feel. I suspect that it was the road surface as I have had similar feelings with the original tyre in the past. It it now scrubbed in and ready for the track day on the 10th. 
Macka

Would the recommended tire pressure for these tires change since they are more flexible that the bt45?

That is an interesting question. Last night I had my first ride with the new MPSR on the front. As I posted a couple of days ago on the "What have you done for your bike today?" forum, the GS now has MPSR at both ends. First impressions from last night are that the bike definitely feels different. Bear in mind that I had changed the fork oil at the same time and it is noticeably tighter in the front end. It was also a bit windy last night so the GSF was moving around a bit as they do in gusty winds. It feels a bit more responsive or direct in the front end. Possibly as a consequence of the two changes, stiffer forks and softer sidewalls, one strange thing that I noticed last night is that the headlamp pattern on the road did not seem to bounce or jump around as much. Another thing I noticed this morning is that the tread contact area (dust on the tyre) seems to be a lot wider than the BT45 used to be. Perhaps due to the softer sidewalls the tread sits flatter on the road. Presently I am running 34-35psi in the front and 37-38psi in the rear as I always do. I intend to stay with that for now until the tyres have at least a couple of thousand Ks on them and see how they go. If you are intersted to know how the new rear MPSR did on the track on Monday last week, have a look at the other Forum. I was very impressed by the grip and durability on what is a very abrasive track surface. By the way, the World Superbikes are on at the same track, Phillip Island, this weekend. I am going down for a look at practice with a couple of mates on Friday. It is about a 2 1/4 hour drive from home. The forecast is for showers though so speeds may be down a little bit.     

Made it easier to read...

Quote from: prmas on February 18, 2014, 12:07:21 AM
That is an interesting question.

Last night I had my first ride with the new MPSR on the front. As I posted a couple of days ago on the "What have you done for your bike today?" forum, the GS now has MPSR at both ends.

First impressions from last night are that the bike definitely feels different. Bear in mind that I had changed the fork oil at the same time and it is noticeably tighter in the front end. It was also a bit windy last night so the GSF was moving around a bit as they do in gusty winds. It feels a bit more responsive or direct in the front end.

Possibly as a consequence of the two changes, stiffer forks and softer sidewalls, one strange thing that I noticed last night is that the headlamp pattern on the road did not seem to bounce or jump around as much. Another thing I noticed this morning is that the tread contact area (dust on the tyre) seems to be a lot wider than the BT45 used to be. Perhaps due to the softer sidewalls the tread sits flatter on the road.

Presently I am running 34-35psi in the front and 37-38psi in the rear as I always do. I intend to stay with that for now until the tyres have at least a couple of thousand Ks on them and see how they go.

If you are intersted to know how the new rear MPSR did on the track on Monday last week, have a look at the other Forum. I was very impressed by the grip and durability on what is a very abrasive track surface.

By the way, the World Superbikes are on at the same track, Phillip Island, this weekend. I am going down for a look at practice with a couple of mates on Friday. It is about a 2 1/4 hour drive from home. The forecast is for showers though so speeds may be down a little bit.     

Okay, so you made it easier to read! Where is your critique of the content as well as the structure? Tongue firmly planted in cheek!

Any further experience with these tires that would be notable?  How are they wearing vs. whatever you had before?

I now have exactly 2000km on the rear and approx 1400km on the front. Bearing in mind that the rear has done 24 laps of Phillip Island GP track at full bottle (flat out) as well as normal road riding since then, it still looks new but the little moulding "tags" have gone. The front still has the little "tags" and shows NO wear yet.

I was a bit surprised that the rear tyre stepped out a little on a wet bend on last Saturday's ride. The wet grip level seems to be less than I expected. Mind you, it was just a damp bend on a country road and there may have been something else (gravel/mud/cow or sheep manure) on the surface too but I did not notice any. That is the only "wet" experience so far as I don't usually ride in the wet on the GS these days. If I have to ride in the wet I usually use my other bike which has better weather protection for the rider. At this stage I believe that the BT45s have better "wet" grip. I have been surprised previously how fast I could corner in the wet with the Bridgestones.

Dry grip seems to be OK but so far I have not developed the confident feel that I had before with the BT45s. I expected these PSRs to be a long way ahead of the BT45s in feel and feedback as they are New Tech Radials compared to the OLD Tech Bias BT45s but I am not so sure.  More time is needed.

I have Michelin Pilot Active tyres on my other bike which is much heavier and more powerful and they have now done 21,ooo km. The Front has perhaps 2-3ooo km left and the Rear has at about 6-8ooo km left in it. The rear has squared-off quite a bit as most of my riding is Touring but it is not a problem so far. Dry grip is excellent and wet grip is OK although I have had both the front and rear let go on wet leaves or wet bark on country roads. That is to be expected. I have had a few "almost dropped it/heart in mouth" moments in the wet but have had enough grip to recover it and stay upright. I will definitely buy these again. I wanted to put them on the GS as well but could not get the right sizes in Australia. I believe that you can get the right sizes in the US. I cannot say how the MPAs would feel on a GS but they are very satisfactory on my Honda.

Great review, thanks!
I just wish someone could compare them to the Pirelli SD's now...

Quote from: prmas on May 20, 2014, 03:42:06 PM

I was a bit surprised that the rear tyre stepped out a little on a wet bend on last Saturday's ride. The wet grip level seems to be less than I expected.

I've noticed that mine get a little squirmy on the reflective lane markers and tar snakes, these never affected the bt45. The everyday handling is still a great improvement and I am sticking with the michelins.