Having been a long distance despatch rider tyres are always a critical consideration, back in the day when Michelin still made 16" Radials there was nothing else I would consider and clocked up close on 80,000 very hard miles on my first GTR, during which time I had only praise for the tyres.
Sadly Michelin in their infinite wisdom decided that radial 16" tyres were not worth their while to produce, so left anyone riding a 900R, 1000RX, C10, Eliminator, GSX (85-88 some models), Ducati 750 Paso's or 96 900 Fireblade with a serious issue. (and many other high performance bikes).
Thankfully, for those of us who remember such things, back when M59x (rear) and A59x (front) michelins were released, the A59x front had a triangular profile which gave some decidedly disconcerting handling charachteristics, many riders (me included) discovered that the Avon ST23 front was a perfect match for the Michelin rear and gave some awesome handling, stability and wear rates. Michelin realsing (eventually) their error launched the M90x and A90x only a couple of years after the 59's, these new tryes were an excellent improvement on an already good rear tyre and a remarkable turnaround on the front which to all intents and purposes was an almost identical copy to the Avon ST23 front.
Anyways I digress, the point I would like to say is that Avon and Michelin have followed a fairly close path over the years in the profile, compound and charachteristics departments of their tyres.
Currently Avon still make the Azaro Radial in 16", this coupled with a Michelin Pilot Road or Pilot Road2 gives an excellent combination for stability, grip and wear in most weather conditions. The Azaro sometimes being described as a bit hard is a worthy tyre giving around 5500 miles with reasonably spirited riding, the Michelins having a softer compound and give a wonderfully neutral balanced feel to the front end, excellent wet grip and life expectancy in the 7,000 mi + range (10-12k is not unknown even with hard riding). I refrained from using the new Road3 Michelin as I felt the difference in technology between the Azaro and the Road3 is too great to give a comfortable medium, the Road3 having exceptional grip in all conditions, especially the wet.
This is my recommendation for the Moment, I personally will not run anything that's not a radial as I do tend to ride quite hard and fast and don't trust Bias belted tyres at all.
Avon ST Azaro AV46 150/80 ZR16 rear
Michelin Pilot Road2 110/80 ZR18 front