Pilot Power 3

Ssky0078

Ssky0078

Wizard
Visit site
I just recently re-shoed my Beast with some new rubber. I picked up a nail in my rear and after finding out that it was $50 to get a plug put in I decided to bite the bullet and get the PP3's because the PR2's I had on were at 8,000 miles and the wear bars were starting to show a little down the middle from all the hard acceleration I'm presuming:sinister:.

I took them on a 400 mile ride the day after I bought them. I rode down to Tucson through Superior to Catalina then up Mt. Lemmon. Mt. Lemmon was pretty awesome and allowed for some pretty spirited riding. I found that as I was able to lean the bike in more and more that my confidence went up. A lot of the issues I had with the PR2's was not there. The lean in was very smooth, there wasn't a sudden change in contact point allowing for better control and minor adjustments. As I was getting the bike leaned over I found that I never had that feeling like the bike was just going to wash out on me.

On the super slab ride home along I-10 I found the tire to track very easily and the ride was firm but not as hard as the PR2's. I'm hoping to get about the same amount of miles out of the PP3. I know it won't be as long as a full life PR2 but we shall see.

View attachment 14447View attachment 14446
 
Dude those are my old stomping grounds. I miss the Lemon, must have been fun. I love the PP3's I have just over 1k on them and they really do inspire a lot of confidence. They also translate good feedback on traction. Any pics?
 
I'm seriously considering the PP3's for my next tire. I want them for my trip to the Dragon. I don't know if I'll be able to go this year, but I'm determined to make it with in the next 3 years! I expect over 10K out of my PR3's and I'd be thrilled with 6K on the PP3's, but would expect around 4K.

I'd love to see pictures at different mileage. Enjoy those sticky shoes! :woot: :sport12:
 
Here's at 700 miles.

View attachment 14462View attachment 14463

And the PP3 supposedly has a 20% longer life expectancy. I remember reading reports from people getting 5,000-8,000 miles out of Pilot Power 2CT. So I'm hoping to get 6,000-9,000 miles out of mine.

I really, really, really like the rear tire center patch compound, it is so smooth during lean in. It also has great grip during hard acceleration out of a corner.
 
speeddemon2588 said:
Dude those are my old stomping grounds. I miss the Lemon, must have been fun. I love the PP3's I have just over 1k on them and they really do inspire a lot of confidence. They also translate good feedback on traction. Any pics?
Click to expand...

Just stopped for a pic of the bikes up top at the restaurant by the ski lifts. My Fz1 is in the back and David323's Blue Fz6, and David Sr. Ducati Monster.

View attachment 14464
 
I just took a ride up my local twisty mountain road and I love these tires. I felt the most confidence I ever have on the Fz1. I was actually able to stay in the center of the seat and lean with confidence as opposed to the PR2's that I had to do all kinds of body position management to keep the bike upright as possible to feel like they were sticking. I kept checking the speed because I felt like I was going quicker and on average I was 2 or 3 mph faster around corners than I was before. Can't wait to see the life span on these but I think it will be a great tire.
 
donoharm said:
guess you got some miles on them now, can u compare with the s20's you had on the fz6?
Click to expand...

Uhh I would say that they were very comparable with the S20 for the first 2000 miles. Different bikes but sticky factor in corners was close to equal. Different sized rear so lean in was slightly different. I loved the pilot power 3 for the first 2500 miles. Then slowly I don't know of it was the AZ heat but the rear started to wear really fast. Also began to lose some of the confidence in grip it had at the start. I replaced just the rear before my trip to CO and it felt good again. The chief mechanic said the front was starting to scallop and I couldn't see it and only saw good tread. I didn't replace it but after 400 miles at 85 through the desert the scallop became obvious. I've had to be cautious in the mountain passes because I can feel the front begin to slide. The rear only had 4000 miles on it and the front is at 5000 now. I

In the future I would buy these just before a track day and them use a pilot road 3 or BT-023 for all the commuting I do. I put an average of 2000 miles a month and about 3/4 of that is commute on limited corners.
 
Hmm, interesting how you say they went downhill for you after 2500 miles. I'm currently at just over 2k on my PP3's and I ride them edge to edge at a quick pace. I'll see how they are after some more miles. At the rate they're wearing, I'm expecting to see about 5-6k on them. I ride how I want in the twisties, but outside of that I'm consciously not too hard on the gas on straights for better tire and gas mileage.
 
senallttam said:
Hmm, interesting how you say they went downhill for you after 2500 miles. I'm currently at just over 2k on my PP3's and I ride them edge to edge at a quick pace. I'll see how they are after some more miles. At the rate they're wearing, I'm expecting to see about 5-6k on them. I ride how I want in the twisties, but outside of that I'm consciously not too hard on the gas on straights for better tire and gas mileage.
Click to expand...

I was pretty hard on them riding straights as well. I really think the heat had something to do with it. When the temps in Phoenix got up over 100 and especially over 110 the wear just accelerated twice as fast. I was thinking of getting 6000 out of them as well and replaced the rear with about 1-2 mm before flush with the wear bar
 
So over the last 2 days I have faced my first serious rain storms on the Beast, literally rivers in the road kinda water. The PP3 held up beautifully. In the lighter rain there was no hydroplaning at all and I was able to stay at or above the posted speed. During the river, ok maybe a stream, time it felt pretty good maybe if I got on it a little hard it would feel some hydroplane action, felt like sliding around on dirt. Speaking of which the 15 miles I did coming down Cottonwood Pass was handled well by the PP3. Almost 500 more miles to go and I'll be home
 
Ssky0078 said:
I was pretty hard on them riding straights as well. I really think the heat had something to do with it. When the temps in Phoenix got up over 100 and especially over 110 the wear just accelerated twice as fast. I was thinking of getting 6000 out of them as well and replaced the rear with about 1-2 mm before flush with the wear bar
Click to expand...

Oh ok well that all sounds about right then. The weather here in the summer is usually mid 80's. I noticed that I'm wearing them down at about 1mm every 1000 miles. I also weigh 160 and run them at 34/34. What psi are you using?
 
senallttam said:
Oh ok well that all sounds about right then. The weather here in the summer is usually mid 80's. I noticed that I'm wearing them down at about 1mm every 1000 miles. I also weigh 160 and run them at 34/34. What psi are you using?
Click to expand...

I weigh 235-240 and run them at 36/42. In the last week I put 1850 miles on the new rear and it looks like it's maybe down 30%. However the first one had the same pattern, was pretty good then all of a sudden started to wear really quickly. The original front, finally looks down about 50% from new and the scalloping kind of shaped/wore itself down evenly and the little bit of traction issue I was having seems to have corrected itself, (it has about 6,000 miles on it).
 
3000 mile update

Just passed over 3000 miles on these tires today. I have to say they look great, but recently my rear has started slipping on me just as others have talked about. I've done a few accidental drifts throttling out of corners (dirt experience really helps here). As far as wear goes, I'm expecting to see about 5k to the wear bars on my rear center. Maybe a bit more on the front, but my front sides actually seem to be wearing at the same rate as my rear center.

View attachment 15816 View attachment 15817
Front center 3mm to wear bars
Front sides 1.2 mm to wear bars
Rear Center 2.5 mm to wear bars
Rear sides 3 mm to wear bars
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the update! Will you be going with the Pilot Power 3 again or trying something different like the Bridgestone S20 or Dunlop Q3?
 
I'm thinking about trying the Q3's. if I don't get 3k out of them then ill go back to PP3's and stick with them. It seems like I got all the grip I'd ever need out of the first 3k, plus another 2k or so of bonus mileage. I know the Q3's would have all the grip I ever need as week but if they don't last as long as the PP3, then it seems the Michelins are a better bang for the buck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top