Pirelli MT66

[DaveC]

I am going to spoon on a set of Pirelli MT66 tires.
The bike: 2000 Kawasaki Voyager XII weighing in at 700lbs.
Riding habits: Mostly the daily commute with week end jaunts two up and her luggage. Two up add 350 lbs. Luggage capacity rated to 70lbs for all three bags.

Idealy I would like to have a tread depth gauge.
Pressure well be 34-36 lbs front and 43-48 rear.
I well post start milage after I get them mounted and balanced.

I looked around and for the price of one ME880 I could get a set of Pirelli. So that is my deciding point. Cost.
So every once in a while this well get bumped to the top of the list as I make obsevations and tread wear data.

[dukey33]

I just finished an MT66 on the back of the Vulcan this past May.

I think I got about 8k miles out of it, almost entirely urban usage. What I liked about it most was it did not square off as it wore down. Never took any real road trips with this bike, some rides here and there across town or down to Angleton and Galveston is about it.

I wore it down until thread showed in one spot in the center and swapped it off with a Conti. Even on those last 1000 miles, the MT66 was still gripping fairly well, except in the wet (obviously). When it had tread, it wasn't bad at all in the rain.

Hope you like yours!

[DaveC]

Mounted the front at 32,991 miles
I can not find a tread depth gauge! Until I called one of my favorite auto-parts stores A-Line, $4.50 or there bouts.

Front has 5mm or 7/32 of tread
Rear has 7mm or 9/32 of tread. milage 33.162
For the purpose of this experment I well be checking wear at 1 K mile intervals. 34,00 well be the first check.
Front has 36 lbs
Rear has 46 lbs.
I weight in at 190 (?) add some first aid, tools, gear aproxamate weights of 30lbs.
The bike weights in at 700 lbs dry so thats about 750 to 775 with full fluids. So I am looking at over a thousand pounds easy.

[DaveC]

I measure my tread at 33,000 miles but I don't recall checking the air pressure.:loco: I checked it last night and after looking at the first posting I see it has been over a (2) month(s) since I checked it and almost 2ooo miles. I was 10 lbs down on both tires, extreme conditions from 20's to 80 over the course of the rides. This would explain the poor handling in cross winds and expressway rides.

[DaveC]

Well here it is about 8 months and 7500 miles. The MT66 wears at about 1mm per 1000 miles.
Great wet weather characteristics, smooth and even wearing. They stick when the road cold or hot, a soft compond.
I replaced the tire with 1mm of tread left or a little less than 1/32nd.
What I have found with touring bikes is once the tire wears a flat spot across it it stats following poorly. Crossing the white stripe and tar snakes makes it wiggly as it were. When you get tire grooves (county roads are common places to find them) where the road is sunk from the tracks of the traffic. The flat spotted tire wants to go to the bottom where a fresh tire well stick to the side of the groove. So with that said I like getting 15,000 from a tire I just don't like riding on a flat spot for 5,000 of that. SO price per mile the Pirelli cost just about the same as the Meztlers. They only last half the milage but the end of life wiggles don't last as long. I paid $78 plus frieght for the rear and I just replaced it it cost $78 plus tax ($86) having bought it from CTPS in Georgetown plus the $18 for mounting tire off bike.
BTW I am still tracking wear on the front.
I run 40 to 45 lbs rear and 36 front. This is a Kawi Voyager XII. Not a lite weight bike. A lighter bike well most likely get better wear.

[DaveC]

I just checked the front as it was looking a bit worn. After 17,000 miles it is down to 1/32 tread.
It has been a full year well actualy 358 days since I started the evaluation.
Overall I am happy with the price performance of the MT66.

Granted I got more miles from the Metzler ME880 series but the last half of those miles were less than enjoyable. Once the flat wears across the rear the bike tracks funny when confronted with road conditions. The front developed a cupping wear pattern after 15,000. I did get 2 years from the ME880 but comfort grip and feel all suffered the last year. The front ME880currently cost $98. The Front MT66 $65. You can get an addtional 10K plus miles from the Metzler albit at a reduced performance.
The rear Metzler ME880 currently cost $122 and the Pirelli MT66 cost$73. The ME880 well last 2x as long as the MT66 but I feel handling suffers after the 10,000 mark.
So it would seem the Pirelli cost a bit more per mile. You give up milage for handling, comfort.
The Metzler is a great tire, works well wet and dry last a long time.Ride quality suffers during the last 60% of the life cycle.
The Pirelli is also a great tire, its price per mile is a bit more than the Metzler.
Its life span is shorter but the ride quality remains for the 90% of the life span.

This has been my personnel opinion and experiance. YRMV.