GL1500 Tires Michelin GL1500 Pilot GT Gold Wing Motorcycle Tires

Just my two cents here, and let me first caveat, everyone has a different riding style. Mine is extremely aggressive for a "Goldwinger" since I grew up building my "Crotchrockets" and still haven’t left those days behind. Nowadays I just like to ride out those days in luxury now though. So as you can guess tire mileage is something I long ago started to just disregard. I’ve been on this 1500 since '94 and hardly ever got more than 4500 miles for the rear (and I never smoke a tire... I'd rather ride the miles off it!), and 10,000 for a front. My latest experience with these Michelins earlier last spring left me going back to the OEM's in a hurry!
A little background: Japan had so many twisties that it was like riding the world’s greatest roller coaster… but one with brakes you can slam and tuck into corners shift and roll the throttle only to hear the engine doing the screaming on the way out. OH Yeah, I’m gonna miss that place! Any ways back to the point… The slightly larger circumference of these Pilots left my wing a little bit "sluggish" and "heavy" in those corners. Not a real big deal but the handling in the rain was my biggest concern. As many of you can attest the wings "air-sus" is a wonderful thing. It allows one to pack heavy and drive the bike hard. So in those wet colder mountain roads I noticed a huge difference in the Pilots’ traction. I had heard a lot of good about these so I was a little taken back to find out that these tires tend to “float” instead of really gaining traction in the rain. What a drag!
But hey maybe they track really good and get great mileage on an 1800 or 1500 that runs mostly straight roads and warmer temps... Maybe these just weren't the tires for my riding style. I rode them for 3 months with about 3800 miles and then I went back to the Dunlop K’s. When I did the traction went right back up to an acceptable level. No more squirlies in the twisties… So with that being said I’m now in Korea with plenty of twities here too and it’s about 31F and sunny so see ya’ll later… VROOM, VROOM!!!

I love these tires. A previous reviewer said after 10,200 miles his tread was 25% gone. Well if that's bad mileage, what's good. This means that the reviewer would get around 40,000 miles on the rear tire, more if he's not pulling a trailer. I seriously doubt he will get that much. On my 1500 I get around 16,000 miles with this rear tire. I get twice as much with the front. I suppose I could get more if I slowed down a bit! LOL
These tires are far superior in wet traction than the Dunlops. I ride all year so I know what they are like in the real world. Wet or dry, they are great handling tires. I don't know about dunlop, but Michelin tested these tires in the real world in all kinds of weather.

I put new Pilot GT's on my 96-1500 before my June 09 trip from VA to NM to WA and back. We pulled a loaded trailer with 42# in the rear tire. The tires handled great but when we returned after 10,200 miles the rear tire is 25% bald. The front tread is not quite as bad but nearly gone. If this is what they call a "high mileage" tire, I can't agree with their claims.

I was experiencing a bad wobble with Dunlops, the only tire I had used on my '96 GL1500 - tire pressure religiously checked and set to Gold Book spec every day it was ridden. Dunlops had about 10,000 miles on when I switched to the Pilot GT's in 2007 and the bike handled like a totally new machine - much better. No shimmy, no wobble, Pilot GTs also have excellent wet weather performance - important in the Pacific NW.