Pirellis have a super soft sidewall compared with the stones.

You wont feel as stable or solid on diablos. If you put on dunlops or michelins it will feel like a smaller quicker bike but at only 2 years riding you may not like the twitchiness.

I run the stones because they are mad stable in the rain which is really when you need it.

 

I still say the best tires for this bike are round, black and have a big hole in the center....

 

Yeah I kinda mis spoke. The 016s were a good tire for grip, but they just wear out quickly. I got about 4k on them. I guess they would be great for just canyon carving only. Thats why I went with the 023gt. Designed for the heavier bikes like ours. I believe its a 3 compound tire with a real hard center for commuting. (thats where my 016 just got killed)
When I still had the 016 on the front it and the 023 rear it was still light feeling and flickable. Now with the 023 front it went straight to heavy.
Ive heard peeps on here say not to run different tires front to rear and I would still be in the same boat as far as tire wear since the front only lasted maybe a 1000 miles more than the rear. I really wore the sides of the front fast with alot of tread on top left. The rear I wore pretty even until a long straight trip in high heat summer flat topped it.
I dunno. Maybe wearing in the 023 front might make it more flickable, or run a 016 front or just face the fact of changing tires after 4k and be done with it....

 

soft grippy tires at best 4000miles, that is with mostly curvy roads and avoid straight roads like it pains you. Yeah i'd like to get 6000+, but that's the price of using the road as a track.

I will never not change the front with the rear again. The front is too important for deep turn braking and mid-corner line adjustments and not worth the low side which trashed my bike and luckily not my life when we went a sliding across in front of oncoming traffic.

I'm approaching the 4000mile mark on 190x55 Q2 on standard size rim and arc of rear is still good and even with the sides. The taller tire gives a little added benefit in terms of less rotations and the Q2 190 is perfect for extra contact patch on the edges.

Wearing the middle of the rear tire prematurely in comparison with the sides(flat middle) can be significantly mitigated by nullifying engine braking with neutral throttle. Engine braking is a huge factor with the torque of the hawk as we all know but many don't correlate this with wearing rear centers prematurely.

I'll be posting some pics when the Q2s are done if I ain't done first. haha........so vtr and hawk get your popcorn ready.

 

Yeah I get you. I just wish they would change the profile of the 023gt front to not make it so heavy feeling. The rear is great. Feels like the 016 but with a harder center compound. Cant have it all.

 

the best matched and the lightest tires i ever had were the michelin power pures. They're an awesome combo. However, I wanted a little more contact patch since i was to the edges, so I went with the 190x55 power pure..........big mistake, wrong profile for a 5.5 rim...too steep. Read....several unannounced pucker slides.

After these experiences, I was getting ready to order another 180 power pure when i installed a 190 Q2 on a friends bike. As soon as I saw the crosstread arc/profile was just like my old 180 and not steep at the sides like other 190s, I ordered the 190 Q2. Never looked back since.

So if you want light steering either standard size pow pures or 190 Q2

 

ever tried the Diablos? I have a friend with a gixxer that like them. Not sure about the feel of them though. He rides fast.
I just missed a sale on the q2s.... bummer.
As far as engine braking. Im honestly not up in the higher rpms alot just because I have a bad back and aggresive riding is in short spurts. When I do though I have to burp the throttle on downshifts to make it smooth or else I have to downshift at low rpms or it will bark the rear at high rpm downshifts.

 

diablos are close to if not on par with Q2s acc to reviews if i recall, but haven't tried them myself because when i priced them they were expensive.

If you have a bad back, it might be wise to get some risers for superbike bars to get your weight off your hands leaned forward, or at least remove the fork clips and lift your clip-ons level with the top of the forks and back a bit.

 

I had 2cts they stuck great, however they wore out fast. I was talked in to the Pirelli Angel ST's by the sales guy at the honda shop... I really like them, I have over 6k on them and i would say they are over 50% remaining. The grip is less than the 2CT's however not much. I will say the 2CT's held the grip alot longer on HOT texas day rides, angels kinda get sloppy towards the end of a twisty ride. Due to how i use my bike it makes sense to sacrifice a bit to get longer life.

 

I grabbed a set of Pilot Powers on sale a couple years back and loved them! Great grip on the twisties, but I did notice that as I did more commuting on the freeway and rode with a passenger that an annoying flat spot in the middle began to develope on the back tire after 1000 miles. Obviously having a passenger accelerated wear, but if you do it alot I would reccommend a more sport-touring tire. It did give me more incentive to ride more twisties solo to "smooth" out the flat spot (flawed logic probably but much more fun!).

 

Hey, you could have been my trainer. Sounds like my game.

 

 

ANGEL ST , Motorcycle Tires - PIRELLI Tires - US

any opinions on these??

 

No personal experience with them,,, yet. I'm going to put a set of them on after my 023's run out. I've read a lot of good things about them but you cant tell how good a tire is by reading about it! Ill do a review once I get some miles on them.

 

I have a rossa diablo II new front tire in the garage that i can replace the front with but i was thinking the angel tire for the rear???

I like the Diablo i have on the back now but it seems like it wore pretty fast.

 

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