Pirelli Angel Report

[Frontier]

Sunday before last we took off on a spirited ride throught he Ouachita National Foresst here in NW Arkansas. Pre Ride Inpection of the bike and tires didn't show anything unusual. The rear tire did have a pretty center good flat spot after almost exactly 6000 miles of two up riding.
After returning home I spotted a white line down the center of the tire and upon close inspection Yikes! I had cords showing!

I can't complain as we ask an awful lot out of our rear tires on these very powerful and heavy bikes. I think 6000 miles is a fair deal and the Pirelli Angel is a superb tire. Interestingly the front tire hardly shows any wear and has a very slight flat spot. I suppose it will last as long as the new rear tire. I do use the rear brake a lot as it is a lot smoother when riding two up and maybe that accounts for the wear difference.

Since this was the week before the Labor Day Holiday I couldn't wait and order a new Angel on the chance it didn't show up and we'd have to sit home for three days and miss the beautiful riding weather we've had lately. So I called around and no one had any Angel's. After finding out what was available at the various delaerships I decided on the Dunlop SporMAx Q2. The glowing online reviews from the knee draggers and sport riders are excellent. The Q2 a dual compound tire and the load rating is exactly the same as the Angel. I removed the rear wheel and took her down to have the new Dunlop put on. Rear wheel remmoval is ridiculously easy on this bike. 5 minutes.

Of course the new tire feels and handles better than the worn Angel but is comparable to the Angel when it was new. Maybe the Q2's turn is faster and holds a line slightly better but it's hard to say at this point.

Out with the old and in with the new.

[Jeremy Mitchell]

How many miles you expecting to get out of the Q2?

[Frontier]

Since it's a dual compound hopefully better than the original BT021's which lasted about 4000 miles and if the Dunlop get's close to the Angel I'd call it a good deal.

[Pokey]

I love my Angels..........you would have been better off going with the Roadsmarts over the Q's IMHO, I would buy another set in a heartbeat.

[Frontier]

I love my Angels..........you would have been better off going with the Roadsmarts over the Q's IMHO, I would buy another set in a heartbeat.

If Angels were available locally I would have certainly gone with that but I was fighting the clock before the labor day holiday and had to pick up the best available tire. Very impressed with the Q2 over this weekends riding. Outstanding handling tire.
I hit my first road debris yesterday. A 2x4 chunk painted red hiding on a tar snake. I was nearly on it before I spotted it and I'm pretty good at spotting stuff on the road. I hit the splintered end of it and Connie rolled right over it. No tire damage that I can see.

[Canada44]

 I have ran two sets of Angels on my 2010 bike. On the rear tire I just got 4000 miles out of the back tire. On the previous  rear Angel tire I got 5500 miles on the rear. During that time I was able to keep the front for life of both back tires. The front by the time I made the tire switch was completely done. I just made the switch to PR2s. I look forward to comparing the 2 tires.

Paul

[jimmymac]

I've also ran two sets of Angels on my '10. Got about 5,000 out of 'em.
I've got a set of 023s on the way this week. Looking forward to trying them out in Arkansas in the middle of October.
PM me if ya wanna tag along. We always have a blast.

[Jeremy Mitchell]

I've also ran two sets of Angels on my '10. Got about 5,000 out of 'em.
I've got a set of 023s on the way this week. Looking forward to trying them out in Arkansas in the middle of October.
PM me if ya wanna tag along. We always have a blast.

I will be down there on the evening of the 14th (staying in Branson).  We are staying at Jacks the 15th and riding a couple roads with a northernly route to go home on the 16th.  I'll PM you my number and maybe we can get together to ride that weekend.

[jimmymac]

I will be down there on the evening of the 14th (staying in Branson).  We are staying at Jacks the 15th and riding a couple roads with a northernly route to go home on the 16th.  I'll PM you my number and maybe we can get together to ride that weekend.

Sweet!

[chi-gpz1100]

To the OP, how much past the wear indicators was your angel st worn?  Mine is just about at the wear bars (closest to the center).  I don't plan on doing any more long trips, but it is useful know how much tread really remains.

[DenverC-14]

I "corded out" an Angel earlier this year. The last bit of tread goes really fast, imo. I was OK one morning, halfway through a 500+ mile trip I was showing cord. The last bit of that trip was quite slow/cautious.

[jimmymac]

That seems to be the case with any tire I've used. Once it goes "off," traction is low and wear is high.

[Frontier]

To the OP, how much past the wear indicators was your angel st worn?  Mine is just about at the wear bars (closest to the center).  I don't plan on doing any more long trips, but it is useful know how much tread really remains.

Sorry for the late reply GTZ, been busy and haven't checked the forum in a week.
Never did see any wear bars at all on these tires. The Angels looked good before the ride although the rear a pretty good flat spot. Got home and had cords showing.

[Frontier]

The Q2 is now at about 3400 miles. Center is worn flat, side treads are feathered. No cord or wear bars showing yet.. any day now I'm sure..
That front Angel now has 9000+ miles and is still in really good shape.
Time to order a new set of skins. May try PR3's this time, not sure though..

[nxtdoor]

If you ride hard on Arkansas roads you can expect to wear your tires out quickly.
Great roads, but hard on tires.

It will be interesting to see how my PR3's hold up for the week of COG national.

[PH14]

Wow, I have almost 10,000 miles on my front Angel and 8,000 miles on my rear Angel. Of course I got 8,200 miles out of my front original tire on an '09 and almost 10,000 miles out of the rear original. I had a lot of long highway trips but thankfully here in Pennsylvania you can wear the sides as well.

What pressure does the OP run?

I seem to recall something on the old forum that said it was difficult to tell you were close to the cords on this tire and that one day, despite the tire looking good, the cords appear out of nowhere.

[Pokey]

Still really like mine, handle and wear great.

[PH14]

Still really like mine, handle and wear great.

I still like mine as well. They are great tires. My next set will most likely be the PR3s though. Don't ask why, just because.

[Frontier]

Ok- squeezed 4000 miles out of the Dunlop Q2 and it's toast.
The front Angel has 10,000 miles and is still in great shape!
Got a great deal on a ContiMotion $120 installed.
Bike now has 14000 miles and his is the 4th back tire we've put on her.
Let's see what we get out of the Conti..

[chi-gpz1100]

I managed about 8K miles with the st's on the fz1 (120/190 size).  The rear is practically shot now while the front has about 30% remaining.  For the last 2-3K miles, handling has been in the crapper.  Feels like a truck.

Going back to the pr2's.  I ran recommended pressures too (36/42 recommended for the fz1).  Unless I pull the pr2's off early (usually due to a long trip coming up), I can easily get 10-11K out of the set.  The $30 or so dollars saved is not worth it to me.