I bought my 2014 Fireblade from a dealer second-hand with about 400 miles on the clock. Im soon to embark upon a bit of European touring and have been looking at changing the tyres to a sports tourer like the Michelin Pilot Road 4. Due to this, I looked at the tyres that my bike came with and found them to be Michelin Power Cups. A little research tells me that these are essentially road-legal race tyres! Surely these weren't the default tyre supplied with the Fireblade? If not, it seems that the previous owner must have fitted them, which seems a strange move since the bike was barely used and seemingly never on a track. The handling has always seemed fine, but I've never ridden a Fireblade with different tyres. Do you agree that these Power Cups are not suitable for touring to France? Will I see much difference on UK roads by changing to the Pilot Road 4's? Thanks for all your help guys. Martin
Hi in my limited knowledge they would not be standard it was either Dunlop or mostly Bridgestone S20 and then the evo version on later models a good sports tyre averaging roughly 2k miles , if I was going to tour France I would switch to a Bridgestone T30 or pr4 as you say or if you are not covering mega miles the new S21 looks a great tyre , I have just ordered a set but bike is just a toy.
Just had another look at the Power Cups and the rear is a 190/55 so the previous guy definitely switched them. I know that loads of people rave about the 55 being brilliant, but since this bike is only going to be for road use, I'm going to switch back to the recommended 190/50.
The previous owner probably got them switched when new. I did a deal when I bought my bike and had the standard Dunlops replaced with Supercorsas with a 55 profile rear. Those Michelins are good but not exactly touring tyres and more than likely not great in the wet. Should get a decent price for them if they have only done 400 miles.
Mine had Dunlop Qualifier II fitted as standard - I was interested to see that these OE Dunlops were made in Japan; didn't know they made any Dunlops in Japan, but there you go. Certainly get something with some specific rain capabilities. As an example there is a bit of road out of St Malo, at Chateauneuf I think, where the dual carriageway rises and then falls as it sweeps right. They have reduced the speed limit here, but it is still an interesting sensation in heavy rain, as the road drops below you as you have to sweep right - nice to have a bit of rain shedding ability in your tyres at this moment ! T30 Evos already fitted ready for the season Have a good trip.
Would you agree that if only using the bike on road (too much expensive modification to risk on track), the 190/50 is a better option? Since fitting the Racefit can, the acceleration at low revs has been slightly down, even with the custom PC5 map, so perhaps a smaller radius tyre might remedy this a bit too!
