I know there are quite a few, even recent, threads on tires. What I was most curious about is the Pilot Activ. Michelin states that this is the new version (replacement) of the Macadam.
They've been phasing it in now for about four years. But i still see the Macadam widely available. All the reports I've read about the Pilot Activ are very positive. Michelin claims improved performance and 20 percent better tread wear than the Macadam.
I was hoping that there might be some R65 owners with direct experience.
Another interesting thing I noticed while researching these tires were the observations of three or four riders who went from Metzler to another brand; in these cases Avon, Bridgestone BT45, and Mich Pilot Activ. Seemed to be a bit more than just coincidental comment on the reduction or elimination of widely reported high speed head-shakes or 'wobblies'. A couple of times these shakes seriously scared the $hit out of me on my R65.
Seems like a decade or two ago 98 percent of these bikes were sporting Metzlers. Mine was. I don't think therefore that the tire was looked at very closely as a contributing factor. In fact, it was my experience as well that going to the Macadams nearly eliminated this problem. Mine originally had the Metz ME33 Laser. Maybe there's something to this?
Incidentally, the little bit of instability that still remained after installing the Michelins was taken care of with bar end weighting and installation of a steering stabilizer OEM from Suzuki (28 USD from EBAY). I described all of that in an earlier thread.
