Tire review: Pirelli Angel ST

[Firehawk068]

So I installed these just before departing for the WCR back in June........As it was, the first miles I put on them was slabbing the 1000 miles or so from Phoenix to Willits with Erich.......All highway....All the way, with hardly any curves to speak of.....
My first impression was that they track very well over cracks, and lane joints.....No wandering at all.

The first really good twisty road I got to take them on was Highway 20, from Willits to Fort bragg..........I did take the first series of corners real easy due to the tires being new and all.......but after that, I felt the grip increase as they build heat fairly quickly. They held really really well, and inspired alot of confidence.........(My worn-out Avons that came on the bike always left me slightly apprehensive)
Halfway through this road, I knew I had made an excellent tire choice.....As I pushed more into the corners, the tires delivered!
Never did I feel any loss of grip, or even a hint of such...

Now, they currently have about 5000 miles on them........and I just recently checked the tread really closely.
The fronts have plenty of tread left on them......No abnormal wear, and no cupping.......I run both the front, and rear tires around 40psi cold. Front is a 120/70-17. Rear is a 180/55-17




The rear tire looks to have about half of it's tread life left........If I got 10,000 miles out of them I would be extremely happy....
It is showing a slight bit of "squaring off" in the center, due to my using the bike to commute to work and back all summer(it's a dry heat )






The rear tire shows just a bit of squirm when cornering on it cold(probably due to it being slightly squared off) but once I have a few miles on it, the grip is right there.
I got to ride the "Devil's Highway " back in August.    90+ miles of corner after corner..........I pushed the Tires, and the FJ really hard ......They gripped so well, I grazed my boots on the pavement a number of times.....Not once did they ever feel like they would lose traction....
I'm not a super aggressive rider(I still have a quarter inch of chicken-strips on either side), but I'm no slowpoke either.....Of the 4 of us who went that day(the others included a '10 BMW K1300S, an '09 FJR1300, and an '09 R6) I could easily out-corner them. There was a couple times I had to pull over while leading to wait for the other 3 to catch up.......Maybe it's the tires. Maybe it's the FJ.....Probably both.........Turns out the "Pokey" one of the group was the kid on the R6....We called him a bit "Corner Shy"

Anyway, I got off topic a bit...........The tires have been great so far. I love them! I would highly recommend them, and when they wear out, I will probably get me another set.

[andyb]

Have a set on my ZX9 with around 1100 miles on them.  When I first put them on, they felt absolutely horrible, and I ended up having to raise the forks 13mm and adjust the damping on the shock, which calmed them down quite a lot.  Stick really well when warm, and warmup doesn't take very long, but had a quite lurid slide the other day (forgot they were cold).

Looks like they're going to wear like nails though, very happy so far (now that the suspension's been tweaked) with them.

[FJ Flyer]

Thanks for the info.  I have a set waiting to go on the FJR.  The PR2s have over 12K miles, and still have a good bit of life left.  Hoping the Angles last as long and have a better feel.

[Ratchet_72]

I've had a set on the Blackbird all summer and can't complain a bit. Great neutral steering on the front and the rear has some of the deepest tread I've seen anywhere but a dirt bike.