I reallly, really wanted Michelin tyres on the V-Strom, either Pilot Road 2 or 3, having had them on various bikes and knowing they are simply brilliant tyres. But they don't do anything in 19" for the front, so I bought a pair of Dunlop Roadsmarts instead.
Never tried Dunlop, not on a car since the 80's and never on a bike - not heard good things about Dunlop sports tyres but two friends convinced me that with the Roadsmart, Dunlop had tried to copy Michelin and although they do feel different, they are just as good and versatile. I was sceptical but didn't have any choice unless I wanted Bridgestone BT020s again or very old Pilots. One of these friends is a bike instructor and spend most of her time on wet, greasy, oily town roads in London.
Have now done about 1000 miles on them and I'm very pleased with them. I've never liked Bridgestone, they feel too hard to me and the Dunlops are definitely softer, more compliant but not quite as soft as Michelin. In the dry, like most tyres, they grip perfectly well and in the wet they do feel a bit like the Michelins - mainly in that they stay grippy ( they don't get skittish like some tyres) and they don't push sideways on painted lines. Grip seemed fine and they are comfortable and smooth, quite sporty too, but still stable, they don't fall into a corner too fast.
One thing I noticed is that they do warm up very fast, much faster than the Pilot Road 2s and they also seem to get warmer but this might be my imagination.
I'm always wary of changing tyre make - you never know if you'll like them until you've spent the money and then you've got them for 6 months ! But these Dunlops are reasonably good and I'm happy I've got some good tyres that suite me. Am going to the Alps in May and it'll still be icy at the top so that will be a better test, the Pilot Road 2s on the Hayabusa were great in those conditions.
Just thought I'd post this in case anybody else was considering Dunlops.
