Fitted Motorcycle: Kawasaki Z900 (2019)
Main use: Touring (mainly winding), occasional commuting
A touring tire is a quiet tire. Cornering is not fun. Don't you have that image? But no! Pirelli's touring tires are different from the racing tires, no matter what you make. Even though they are touring tires, they use many technologies from racing tires!
In this article, Ryu, who usually does test-ride reviews of motorcycles for Moto Report, gives his impressions of Pirelli's latest touring tires!
Looks unique and cool!
The first thing you'll notice is the two lines engraved in the center. It looks like a racing rain tire and it's goofy. I looked it up and it seems to be based on the Diablo Rain Tire, which is also a Pirelli racing rain tire.
Pirelli's Angel series of touring tires have been released two generations before the Angel GT II, which we will be reviewing here. First up was the Angel ST, which had the lightest handling of any touring tire at the time. The Angel GT followed, with a particularly improved cornering grip for a sportier ride.
For the Angel GT II review! This tire adds the technology of a racing rain tire to the dry grip that has been cultivated in the Angel series to date, and greatly enhances wet grip. As a touring tire, it can handle a variety of road conditions and is recommended for riders who enjoy "aggressive" riding.
The rear tires are also engraved with the letters GT.
As a passenger, you don't usually see it at all, but isn't it kind of cool? I get excited when I happen to see it when I park the motorcycle.
Quick change!
I changed the tires to say goodbye to the stock tires.
I replaced the Japanese manufacturer's factory-installed tires with the Ange GT II after 6500km. Webike staff often change tires on their own and write articles about it, but I asked a shop to do it for me this time and wrote an article about it (mainly because I simply don't have the skills.)
For more details about the replacement, please read this article, but the store I requested was "Tire Shop Griff" in Yokohama. I was very satisfied with the speedy and courteous service I received from them.
This is the first time I've fitted Pirelli tires, although I've had other foreign manufacturers' tires on my past motorcycles. I was excited to see what kind of performance it would give me.
First Review
Now, let's have a first impression on the way to my house right after I had the tires changed.
My first thought was that the motorcycle behaves lightly! The Z900 I am riding is a relatively light vehicle, but the handling of the tires is different from the tires I had previously installed. I was very surprised by this. Also, because the tip is shaped like it is slightly pointed, it gives the feeling that the ride height is a little higher. This reminded me of the feeling I had right after I put on tires made by another company's overseas manufacturer that I used to wear.
I wanted to ride in a good mood while checking the feel of the tires, which gave me a good first impression, but I had to break them in slowly first, I thought and went home quietly.
Makes the motorcycle lighter! And grips well from the start of the ride!
This is how I began my days testing the performance of my new Angel GT II tire, and I immediately started using it on my commute. The route to work is 20km each way and rides along the national highway at a fast cruising speed, so to be honest, there is no interesting part of riding at all. However, because it is a chance to be able to ride a motorcycle every day even on weekdays, I ran to confirm the feeling of the tire firmly. Again, I felt the lightness of the behavior, and I also felt that it was a very comfortable tire to drive with a very high sense of contact. I was also very happy to be able to ride without any worries in January and February when the track temperature is low.
I tried to travel in the rain
I really don't like to do it, but I dare to ride in the rain to check the wet performance! I wanted to experience the wet performance of this tire in particular, as it has a pattern that looks very high.
In conclusion, it very good in one word. It may sound like an exaggeration, but the stability is so good that you don't even feel you're driving on a wet road. The performance of this tire is the result of feedback from rain tires.
On rainy days, even if it wasn't a manhole, I was always riding with trepidation, but it was so wonderful that it blew away such anxiety, and I thought that driving in the rain wouldn't be so bad. It was a day with a lot of rain, but I was able to ride without any worries or complaints at all except for the dirt on the body. Really awesome. The secret to this stability is the tread design, which looks just like a racing rain tire, and the use of a full silica compound in the front and a high silica compound in the center and full silica compound on the sides in the rear.
Gotta go touring and enjoy the winding!
Just driving down the road is not enough! So, of course, I drove on the winding road. We also used the expressway on the way, so we focused on the two themes of "high speed performance" and "winding".
High-speed performance
First, high-speed performance. My review was that it was very stable and felt very comfortable to ride. The shape of the tire is not that much emphasis on stability. I also had a feeling, but there is no such thing at all, and straight-line stability is high.
Also, small bumps, such as highway joints, were very softly received, and there was almost no push-up to the vehicle or myself.
Winding
I feel like this.
We went for a ride early in the morning, so we started cautiously keeping an eye on the track temperature, but again we could feel the low track temperature dependence. There is a definite grip even though it is 4 degrees Celsius and the road is in the shade. Also, the lightness of the tires really comes into its own here! It is really light and easy to roll over. There's no reason why cornering can't be fun. The reason for the lightness is the carcass structure and the new sidewall design, which is similar to the racing tires used in SBK (Superbike World Championship)! That's Pirelli. Racing touring tire.
This lightness and high grip is sure to be able to handle even if you get a little excited on the winding roads while touring. And I was a little more excited about the longevity of the life when I saw that the surface wasn't rough at all, even though I had a lot of fun with it. I think that it is the tire that matched the Z900 which rides by taking advantage of the lightness of the motorcycle though there might be an affinity with the vehicle.
Durability
We don't know yet because we haven't ridden that long a distance yet, but taking into account the way the tire looks when touring and the new tread design and compound that has been developed to even out the wear, we can expect a lot of life. We look forward to seeing the touring tire come into its own in the future.
Summary
I tried to ride in various scenes, but after all, the touring tire shows its true value only when it goes touring! I thought again. Commuting, city driving, no, you still have to go for a ride to feel the real thing! You can drive it straight down the highway, you can take it for a spin on a winding road, and you can even drive it in the rain. I met a very good tire. I would recommend it to many touring riders. This was my first Pirelli tire personally and I was very impressed. I'm thinking now that I'll go with Pirelli next time too.
- Who wants to be able to drive safely on wet roads.
- Who wants to wear a cool touring tire.
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See Accessories for KAWASAKI Z900
