The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

Had to do my first sudden full on crash stop yesterday. I was sitting behind the usual gargantuan SUV when a rear-ender happened about three cars ahead. My stock standard IRC tyres behaved impeccably and pulled me up with about 150mm (6") to spare. Absolutely no drama apart from the almost soiled underpants.

I would normally prefer a much bigger gap between me and the car in front, but people here will cut across if you leave even one vehicle gap between vehicles.

Felt I had to brag about this seeing I can't buy BLOODY MICHELIN CITY GRIPS here in Oz.

Not that I'm bitter about it.

Well, maybe a little.

If you ride sensibly for the conditions then stock tyres are fine - others like MCG's are better - but Honda would not fit death trap tyres to 100,000's of their bikes if they were 's**t' like many seem to call them. Just take a bit more care from new as new tyres need to bed in a bit.

Over any year in the UK there are lots of bike related accidents and deaths throughout the year - most seem to be motorcycle related and not many scooter accidents - probably young riders or those going too fast and taking chances. There are lots of scooters in major cities such as London and many are Honda - where are all the accidents caused by these s**t tyres?

I was worried when I read what people said about them, but I've now been riding the PCX for almost one and a half years all year round (every day commuting across packed London) in sub-zero and heavy rain conditions and not had a single problem with the stock tyres. Some of my journey involves hills and sharp corners - still no issue.

The OEM IRC tyres are fine nowt wrong with them.

Most of the so called incidents with the stick tyres will be caused by inexperience

you you wrote:Most of the so called incidents with the stick tyres will be caused by inexperience

Yep, get a scare with IRCs then swap them for Michelin, Pirelli etc then ride more carefully and hey presto, IRCs are shite.

Our problems with the IRC tires was in the curves. They didn't seem to grip as well as the Michelin City Grips. From the first day we had the bike we both could feel the rear end slipping when it shouldn't. Even when we were following others who were having no problem negotiating the curves, the rear of our little PCX was slipping. When it was finally time to replace the rear tire we went on this forum to get suggestions. The overwhelming majority suggested Michelin City Grips, so we sent off for them on the web and had our bike shop install them. When I had my Burgman, I installed Michelin City Grips on it. When I got our second PCX, I replaced the new Dunlop rear tire with a Michelin City Grip. When the front tire wore out on my wife's pcx, i installed a Michelin City Grip. Essentially, if the rear end had held securely when we were running the Dragon's Tail, we would have kept the tires the same on our bikes, replacing worn ones with factory suggested ones. But they didn't and so I didn't. Stopping was never the problem.

Mel46 wrote:Stopping was never the problem.

Nor should it be, those treads don't run across the center of the tires.

I don´t consider myself an inexperienced rider and I do not like the IRCs. I understand and feel that they grip better with higher temperatures, such as they exist in South East Asia (and Australia). I had at least three times they did not grip as they should, all at below 20 Celsius.

I am not the only one and there is at least one magazine that tested them on the PCX long term ride that also replaced the IRCs before they were worn. Part of not feeling the difference between grip and no grip maybe that the grey zones in between might not be felt by most, especially new riders. I feel it and mine will be replaced with Heidenau tyres in two weeks.

Again: I am not saying IRCs don´t grip at higher temperatures, nor that they aren´t legal. Its the same as with them mostly Made in China cheap car tyres, legal they are, stop they may, but there are other tyres that can stop you in half the distance...

Hitting the doorknobs again...

Mel46 wrote:Our problems with the IRC tires was in the curves. They didn't seem to grip as well as the Michelin City Grips. From the first day we had the bike we both could feel the rear end slipping when it shouldn't. Even when we were following others who were having no problem negotiating the curves, the rear of our little PCX was slipping. When it was finally time to replace the rear tire we went on this forum to get suggestions. The overwhelming majority suggested Michelin City Grips, so we sent off for them on the web and had our bike shop install them. When I had my Burgman, I installed Michelin City Grips on it. When I got our second PCX, I replaced the new Dunlop rear tire with a Michelin City Grip. When the front tire wore out on my wife's pcx, i installed a Michelin City Grip. Essentially, if the rear end had held securely when we were running the Dragon's Tail, we would have kept the tires the same on our bikes, replacing worn ones with factory suggested ones. But they didn't and so I didn't. Stopping was never the problem.

Sorry, what is your point?

That City Grips are awesome for hardcore leans?

I guess it depends on the rider. I've never had a problem with the stock tires.

Stock tires are good on dry pavement IMO.

tbln930 wrote:Stock tires are good on dry pavement IMO.

We can't ride on the pavement. Hope all the pedestrians are wearing fluorescent otherwise they get everything that comes to them. Irresponsible sh1ts.

The City Grip allows me to feel the road better. But I can not distinguish a performance difference between it and the OEM IRC.

The biggest difference is the City Grip will last much longer.

There is nothing bad about the stock IRC's and there is nothing magic about the Michelins except that they are harder and will last longer. I have had both on the rear of the bike and the cornering grip is nearly the same, wet or dry. The same bad rap is spread about the stock IRC's on the Ninja 250 and CBR250R forums but it is interesting that a recent magazine comparo found the IRC's to perform better than the Michelin Pilot Street's as was linked to in a thread where the rider was reporting sliding out on his Michelins while following his son on an identical CBR250R with the stock IRC RoadWinners which did not have a problem making the corner at the same speed.
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http://www.cbr250.net/forum/cbr250-perf ... pilot.html
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