Preliminary Report on Pirelli MT66 ROUTE tires

[tmodel]

The cycle shop put new MT66s on my 05 RSV when I purchased it last May. Friday of last week I was cleaning up the bike getting ready for a trip with my wife to Tybee Island, GA for a couple days during the Memorial Day weekend when I noticed that the rear tire was starting to crack in the grooves between the treads!!! YIPES.... The tires only have 7500 miles on them. The front still looks good.

 

I went back to Cycle Works in Carrollton, GA for a new tire. Unfortunately they did not have any more Avons in stock for the RSV. I have said in past posts on this site that I would not put anymore MT66 tires on my bike. I just don't like the feel on the road. But it was mount an MT66 on the rear or call off our trip on the bike. So I mounted a new MT66 on the rear and we put 800 miles on the scoot over the holidays.

 

At my bike shop the Avons are only about $40 higher than the MT66s. When the front needs to be replaced I will put the Avons on. In the end I just want to feel stable on the road.

 

For the speedo... I have also noticed that actual speed could be 9% off.

[sarges46]

Sure do appreciate the efforts Goose. Good info makes it easier to make descisions. I tow a trailer about twice a year for distance. This will make a differance I am sure.

 

I wonder how much sometimes. We will see. I am mounting the Avons I got from Autopilot this week-end. The metz that came with the bike are near done.

[V7Goose]

As much as I'd like to get the 2nd bike sold, I'm lucky to still have it for comparison, especially with Avon tires on it. Most of us only get to do a tire comparison by going from worn-out and relatively poor handling old tires to new tires that almost always feel good by comparison (just because they have a good rounded profile and excellent tread). Just being able to jump form one bike to the other really provides a different experience (and I'm not worried about babying someone else's bike at the same time).

 

Like I said above, I am still happy with the way the Pirellis handle and feel, and I would never know they weren't as good as the Avons right now if I didn't have the repeated side-by-side comparison.

Goose

[roadwarrior]

Very good post Goose!

[V7Goose]

OK all, I now have about 5,000 miles on the Pirelli MT66 tires. Just looking at the rear tire, I'm pretty sure that it will not last as long as the Avon Venom.

 

Sooo, I think the Pirelli is an average tire. It handles OK, but not as good as the Avon. It is reasonably quiet, but not as quiet as the Avon. It has an acceptable load rating (same as stock), but not as high as the Avon. It is cheaper than the Avon, but won't last as long, so even that is not an advantage. At this point, I see no reason to recommend the Pirelli MT66. I won't recommend against it, like I do the horrible Brickstone, but I cannot see any reason to buy another one either. I'm glad I tried it, but now I know.

 

I guess you can tell I am missing my Avon Venom tires...

Goose

[Bones]

Update:

 

11k and change on the Pirelli66 back tire and it is time for a replacement. It handled well in all situations and proved dependable. I expected a little better mileage from it and it just wasn't there. I have to agree with Goose. Good tire with average mileage.

 

I am replaceing the rear with an EliteIII. We shall see what happens... perhaps there is a BF Goodrich tire in my future...

[Leland]

Thanks for the updates.

[Carbon_One]

Thanks for the updated reports on the Pirelli RT 66 tire. I'll be needing to replace the front tire on my bike before long and have been researching tires. Current tire is the MT90 Avon but I'm now thinking I'll go back to the 150 size since the trikes rear is now higher than the stock set up was. Need the larger tire to bring the bike back to a more level stance. Also considering that the bike weighs more now, it's interesting to see that the Avon tire has a greater load rating too. So while you might save a few bucks and only getting average tire life I think I'll be sticking with Avon's again. Current front tire now has about 12k on it and is starting to show cupping on the sides a bit. It also looks like there still may be another 5-6k left to the wear lines.

Another thought here that applies in my case is other trikers have used a rear tire up front for added wear longevity. Some even go so far as to reverse the tire and run them backwards, citing directional wear with no ill effects to handling or water planing.

Larry

[V7Goose]

Larry, if you are running a trike, I am going to suggest a different approach that will sound VERY sacrilegious to anyone who has followed my views on our Brickstone tires.

 

I think you should go back to running the stock Brickstone up front! And I have plenty of reasons.

 

With a trike, you don't lean the bike, so the horrible tendency for that fat Brickstone to try and force the forks into a full-lock position on slow turns will never apply. More importantly, however, is the dual compound construction of the Brickstone front tire. The center part of the tire is much harder than the sides. On a normal RSV, if this tire is run to end-of-life, the middle will have plenty of tread left while the sides begin to go bald. On a trike, you will never wear out the sides, and the hard center compound will be very good for longer life.

 

Lastly, you should be able to buy all the take-off Brickstones you want for fairly small bucks if you actively look for them on this site. Many people consider just throwing away their Brickstones after changing to a better tire. What is bad for a normal RSV could be just the ticket for you! Good luck,

Goose

[Carbon_One]

Thanks for the imput Goose. Valid points there as you so well put it. My bike came with the Dunlop 404's so I have no personal experince with the "Brickstones". I'm also wanting to be sure whatever tire I use has decent water handling capabilities. I have no complaints with the Avon MT 90 I'm running now with about 12 k on them thou it is showing some wear. 10 k was on two wheels thou. Going and coming home from Skids rally I hit several T-storms and wet riding conditions. The bike felt as solid as a car in the rain with no apparent hydro-planing felt.

Larry

 

 

Larry, if you are running a trike, I am going to suggest a different approach that will sound VERY sacrilegious to anyone who has followed my views on our Brickstone tires.

 

I think you should go back to running the stock Brickstone up front! And I have plenty of reasons.

 

With a trike, you don't lean the bike, so the horrible tendency for that fat Brickstone to try and force the forks into a full-lock position on slow turns will never apply. More importantly, however, is the dual compound construction of the Brickstone front tire. The center part of the tire is much harder than the sides. On a normal RSV, if this tire is run to end-of-life, the middle will have plenty of tread left while the sides begin to go bald. On a trike, you will never wear out the sides, and the hard center compound will be very good for longer life.

 

Lastly, you should be able to buy all the take-off Brickstones you want for fairly small bucks if you actively look for them on this site. Many people consider just throwing away their Brickstones after changing to a better tire. What is bad for a normal RSV could be just the ticket for you! Good luck,

Goose

[Rick Butler]

Heck Larry,

 

I'm not sure what you are running on the rear of your trike, but I'm guessing they would be steel belted radials. So why not run a car radial on the front. Fred Vogt runs a car tire on the front of his 1st gen trike, but he is limited to a 120 profile 17", where you should be able to find good tires in a 150/? 16". Like Kent said, with a trike there is no real reason to run a bike tire on the front.

 

And on this subject Pirellis, I ran them alot on my 86 & 91's. They handled great but they couldn't deal with the Texas heat and didn't get very good mileage.

 

Rick

[Carbon_One]

Heck Larry,

 

I'm not sure what you are running on the rear of your trike, but I'm guessing they would be steel belted radials. So why not run a car radial on the front. Fred Vogt runs a car tire on the front of his 1st gen trike, but he is limited to a 120 profile 17", where you should be able to find good tires in a 150/? 16". Like Kent said, with a trike there is no real reason to run a bike tire on the front.

 

And on this subject Pirellis, I ran them alot on my 86 & 91's. They handled great but they couldn't deal with the Texas heat and didn't get very good mileage.

 

Rick

Thanks Rick. I'll check into that a bit more. My initial seaches didn't turn up any car tires in the 150/?-16's. It's the width of the front rim that seems to be the odd ball for a car tire. And the 16" diameter don't help either.

My rear tires are B.F. Goodrich G-Force Sports 215/55R-16's. They're a directional thread patterened tire and seem to be great so far. Good traction wet or dry.

Larry

Edited July 11, 2008 by Carbon_One

[Gearhead]

Larry,

 

Unless I'm mistaken, the car tire that some 1st genners are running on the REAR of thier bikes is a BF Goodrich 155/80-16. Would that fit the front of your trike?

 

Jeremy

[Carbon_One]

Hmm you may be right there Jeremy I looked thru a BFG site once and didn't see anything. Must of overlooked them. I'll check again. Thanks for the heads up

Larry

 

Larry,

 

Unless I'm mistaken, the car tire that some 1st genners are running on the REAR of thier bikes is a BF Goodrich 155/80-16. Would that fit the front of your trike?

 

Jeremy

[V7Goose]

OK, as promised, I am at end-of-life on the rear MT66 tire, so here is my final report:

 

9,600 miles and it is toast, just about like I predicted 4,000 miles ago. This is only about 2/3 of the typical mileage I get from an Avon Venom on the rear, so it completely wipes out any benefit of the cheaper price up front.

 

The tires handled well throughout their life. Even on wet roads where the rain had just started (not enough to wash all the oil snot off yet), and when the Frog Stranglers were so heavy even the cars were pulling off, I never had any problem just riding in the thick of it. But they never did feel as good as my Avon Venoms.

 

The MT66 tires make more noise than the Venom style tread pattern, even when new. And when they got well into their wear, they began to howl when leaning. Not really bad - never even close to the miserable howl of the stock Brickstones. But my Venoms NEVER howled.

 

The MT66 always showed good traction - I don't think I ever had the tire break loose even one time, even under heavy acceleration and hard shifting in lower gears.

 

When worn out, the rear tire is still showing some rounding in the profile - not worn completely flat like the Brickstones do. This is true even though the majority of my riding over the last 9,000 miles has been high-speed Interstate highway riding (not that common for me). I am sure this is why their handling did not deteriorate a lot near the end like some other tires do.

 

The bottom line for me is that I stick by my earlier predictions and evaluation - these tires are just OK. If I had to buy new tires just to sell a bike, I'd go with the Pirelli MT66 because it is considerably cheaper and will do OK for the new owner. But if I am planning to keep the bike for at least the next 10,000 miles, I'll be sticking with Avon Venoms!

[Ferrantelli]

Well folks I guess I am not going to get my 20K on the original Dunlops D404.:bawling:At 14,300 miles I can see a good ammount of wear. At best I may get another 2 to 4k. Time to look for tires.

Hey, as anyone had any experience with RIDE ON tire protection sealer?

Edited July 19, 2008 by Ferrantelli

[V7Goose]

Hey, as anyone had any experience with RIDE ON tire protection sealer?

Lots of folks here do and like it - I'm sure they will chime in. But not me. Personally, I refuse to put anything in my tires but air.

Goose

[treeman]

GOOSE I GOT TROUBLE WITH SIDE WALL CRACKING ON MY AVONS, ANY THING YOU CAN TELL ME ABOUT IT. UNDER 5000 MILES ON 2ND SET. WHAT PSI DO YOR I AM ABOUT 270 LBS ON 2006 VENTURE rsv I RUN 38 f 42 bACK

 

THANKS

 

 

 

OK, I have close to 1,500 miles on my MT66 tires now, so here is an update on them.

 

First, I had them significantly over inflated for a few hundred miles - not on purpose, just on dumbness! I have always run Avon Venom rear tires at 48 lbs. I tried them at max pressure of 50 lbs once and did not like the way the bike felt - kinda squirrelly and jumpy in rough corners. Dropping them to anything below 48 lbs completely solved that. Well, the MT66 rear tire has a lower load rating than the Venom (74 vs. 81), and when I was setting up the bike after all the repairs this spring, I guess I just automatically set the tires to the same pressure I always use on Venoms. On the way down to the Texas Hill Country last week we had a lot of cross wind, and the bike felt a lot like it had the one time I ran Avon Venoms at max pressure. That should have been a clue for me to check the pressure right then. The next day, after riding the first of the Three Sisters, I was still not very impressed with the handling, and I finally decided to check the pressure when we filled up in Leakey. The pressure was right up where I had set it, but this time I got smart enough to double check the sidewall - Oooops, max pressure on the 150/80-15 74H MT66 tire is only 42 lbs! Once I dropped the rear tire to 42 lbs., the bike handled like a dream again for the rest of the trip.

 

One negative side affect of dropping the pressure was increased road noise from the tires. This noise is not bad, and certainly not related to wear at this point. In fact, I don't hear it at all when running at highway speeds with my visor closed, but it is noticeable at 50 - 60 MPH with the visor open and no music playing. These tires have a fairly aggressive tread, and they do make more noise than Avon Venoms.

 

The MT66 tires are also significantly taller than new Avon Venoms in stock size. I use a maintenance stand when washing my bike, and with the Leveling Links on my bike, new Avon Venoms both just barely touch the driveway - I can easily turn either tire by just lightly lifting up on the fender. Not with the Pirelli MT66s! On the same maintenance stand, both tires are now FIRMLY stuck to the driveway, and lifting up very hard on the fender just barely allows me to turn either tire. This is not a bad thing, of course, just something to be aware of if you happen to be too short for the bike already!

 

Over all, I still like the Pirelli MT66 tires. Of course I have a lot more miles to put on them before I will know how they wear or if they start making noise in corners like Brickstones do. But at this point, considering how much cheaper the MT66 tires are than Avon Venoms, I'd buy them again if I needed to save a few bucks. Only time will tell how long they last, so I'll report back periodically as I wear them down. Ride Safe,

Goose

[BuddyRich]

A lot of us have been having problem with Avon's cracking. I ran them for years but won't anymore. After 2 sets cracking. Put a MT66 on the front and its a great tire. I'll probably put an MT66 on the back after the EII wears out.

[Bummer]

GOOSE I GOT TROUBLE WITH SIDE WALL CRACKING ON MY AVONS, ANY THING YOU CAN TELL ME ABOUT IT. UNDER 5000 MILES ON 2ND SET. WHAT PSI DO YOR I AM ABOUT 270 LBS ON 2006 VENTURE rsv I RUN 38 f 42 bACK

 

THANKS

 

Can you check the build date for us? I'm wondering if the tires you have are from the older batches, or if they're still having problems.

 

There are a number of us who have run Venoms, like them for the handling, but quit using them because of sidewall cracking. There are threads on here about the problem. I'm hoping they'll get past this. I'm running E3s but prefer the handling of the Venom.

 

By the way, take 'em to your nearest Avon dealer and show them the problem. If the dealer doesn't do you right, contact Avon's customer service. In the past Avon has been very good about taking care of folks with this sort of problem.

[Guest scarylarry]

Geez thanks alot Goose I order a set of venom based on your postings.....:rotfl:

[Sleeperhawk]

I went back to the Avons after having the E3 for the last two seasons.

So far no cracking and they stick much better in the curves than the E3.

 

I really didn't think there would be a difference in the ride between E3 and Avon, but after breaking loose a couple of times in curves last season (2 up), I went back to Avons. No breaking loose in the curves with these tires.

 

But again, no cracking yet.

[V7Goose]

Geez thanks alot Goose I order a set of venom based on your postings.....:rotfl:

This very old thread was just the PRELIMINARY report I made on the Pirelli tires. Before you can judge a pirelliu MT66 tire through my eyes, you need to find the final report too.

 

But since someone decided to dig this up, I'll just add a short note here - I don't buy the Pirelli MT66 tires any more. Nothing bad about them, but they weren't especially good, either. They only last about 2/3 as long as an Avon Venom, they do not handle anywhere near as good as the Venom (about the same as a Dunlop D404), and they make moderate noise. The bottom line is that the only really good thing they have going for them is the lower price, but the shorter life totally offsets that. In the end, you do not save a penny, you have to change tires more often, and you never get to ride on really good tires.

 

As for the Venom sidewall cracking - it is almost all just superficial (meaning I do not think any of it is dangerous), but it still should not be happening on tires less than three years old unless they were stored in the sun, anywhere in a smog city like all of Southern California, or near electric motors. I also never had it happen to my Avons. I have been running E3s for the last two years, but now that I have completed my testing of two sets of those, I'm going back to the Venoms next.

Goose