Summary
The Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires are the next iteration of a highly regarded product line from Michelin. These tires are competitively priced, features cutting edge tire technology, excellent claimed wear characteristics, and most importantly, delivers rock solid handling.
Intro
The Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires are available in several versions. The standard Pilot Road 4 is meant for most sport touring applications for bikes over 600cc. The Pilot Road 4 GT (Grand Touring) is meant for the heavier sport touring bikes and for riders with a full load of luggage or often carry a passenger, and the Pilot Road 4 Trail is meant for the large adventure bikes that are ONLY used on the street. Even though they have a “trail” version it is still a street tire. The Pilot Power 4 tires will be priced very close to the Pilot Road 3 tires. The standard version is the cheapest running at about $309.00 for a set. The GT version is about $10 more and if you need the trail version it will cost you about $27 more than the standard version for a set. On average they are only about $5-$10 more expensive than the Pilot Road 3 tires for a set.
Construction
These tires are full of technology and they boast a lot of features. Here’s a list of the Michelin technologies in the Pilot Road 4 tires.
- 2CT - When you see this included in a tire from Michelin it means the tires are made up of dual compounds. They have a harder rubber down the center of the tire for increased mileage and it has a softer compound on the sides for increased grip. I haven’t had the time to wear a set of Pilot Road 4 tires out yet, but I can tell you that the 2CT technology is very nice in a tire. I have experienced Michelin’s 2CT technology on their Pilot Power 2CT, Pilot Power 3, and Pilot Road 2 tires. Michelin claims that the new tires will offer up to 20% more wear than the previous Pilot Road 3 tires.
Here’s a chart showing how the compounds are setup in each version of the Pilot Road 4 tires. Notice the GT version has a little bit firmer rubber than the other versions.
- XST+ - This acronym is how Michelin markets their X-Sipe technology. These tires have transverse sipes with integrated water reservoirs. Michelin says that these sipes help break the surface of the water on wet roads and the reservoirs give the water a place to go so your tire can have a better contact patch in wet conditions. In the Pilot Road 4 tires they spread out the horizontal sipes compared to the Pilot Road 3 tires. The “+” designates the fact that the sipes have been chamfered in the Pilot Road 4 tires. Michelin added these chamfers to help the tire wear more evenly along the sipes during hard braking and adverse conditions. I will keep you updated on how the tires wear, and even if I have to plan to ride in the rain I will get you some info on wet weather traction.
- 2AT - This designation stands for “Dual Angle Technology”. This technology is part of the GT version of the Pilot Road 4 tires. If you are familiar with the previous version of the Pilot Road tires you may have noticed that they offered a “B” spec tire. The “B” spec tire offered stiffer sidewalls to help provide a more stable ride when riding with a passenger or loaded down with luggage. The 2AT technology is the upgrade to the “B” spec tire. 2AT technology allows Michelin to build a tire to take advantage of the load bearing capabilities of a bias ply tire while providing the smoothness of a radial tire. All versions of the Pilot Road 4 have a radial ply for smoothness and a belted ply to handle the stresses of high speeds.
- Silica Charged Rubber - These tires also have Michelin’s new rubber that has been charged with silica. Michelin claims that the new rubber offers improved grip on all surfaces, but especially those painted lines and pedestrian crossings. I am personally excited to test these tires on some good ‘ole tar snakes in the hot South Carolina summers.
Final Opinion
This opinion is only final for now. You can tell these tires are top notch tires from the time you have them in your hand. After riding on them for the first ride I am confident they will perform very well on my Yamaha FZ1. They inspire confidence in the curves and even when taking the tires to the edge of the tread they never felt unstable. I did several hard braking tests and the tires perform quite good for quick stops. The previous tires I was using were the Michelin Pilot Power 3 tires. The turn in was a bit quicker on the Pilot Power 3 tires, but the profile of the Pilot Power 3 tires is more egg shaped, while the Pilot Road 4 tires are more rounded. Under hard acceleration the Pilot Road 4 tires never broke loose and just continued to pull. The tires warm up quick and never felt slick even on the first few miles. After my test ride , the Pilot Road 4's felt nice and sticky to the touch.
Obviously, I can't comment on how long they will last, but I will make updates on these tires as I go. I plan to do another update after I get about 1000 miles on them and then a final update when it is time to spoon on a new set.
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions or would like to know anything I may have forgotten to mention please feel free to leave a comment and I will respond as quickly as possible. The opinions in this review are my own. If you found this review helpful, please consider supporting our sponsors with future purchases.
Big thanks to Competition Accessories for submitting these tires for review.