180/55 R17 Tires

The Maxxis came stock, and I didn't have major issues with them, but the level of confidence and consistency in cornering and grip is better with the Pirelli. I would say especially in wet conditions. My bike, due to its balance and weight (KTM Duke 890 R), doesn't really challenge the tires, I would say. I would love to try them on the track..

Dry Grip - Extremely good, the highlight of these tires. The only drawback is cold grip, below 10 degrees they really fall off and it is impossible to get decent heat in them. But, on a hot day with hard braking, cornering and acceleration, these tires will put up with the abuse no problem.

Wet Grip - Extremely poor, which is to be expected. While it isn't downright dangerous, they don't just suddenly let go without warning, you do need to be cautious of your inputs and corner speed, and pay attention to what your tires are doing to avoid low siding.

Road Feedback - The overall feedback of these tires are amazing in every aspect. Acceleration, cornering and braking, feedback from each is very defined and lets you know exactly what is going on - for as-long as they are warm. The tires from cold feel wooden and offer very little feedback. Once there is some heat in them, no matter the weather, they communicate beautifully exactly what is going on. This is extremely helpful when it rains due to the poor wet weather grip.

Handling - The handling on these again is amazing, Extremely predictable, consistent and allows you to put the bike exactly where you want it. I've never had a moment on these tires where they did something I wasn't expecting. Warm up time as long as the temperature is over 10 degrees Celsius is very fast for this style of tire which I found very impressive. However, flat spots form extremely easy from motorway use, which can make the bike feel extremely sluggish to turn in. Thanks to the soft compound though, a bit of spirited riding can easily scrub off the flat spots ;D

Wear - While I have only given these a 5 (they are soft, supersport tires at the end of the day) an average rating is actually extremely high praise for a tire like this. 4200 miles they are sitting at, and they still have a bit of life left. This is almost entirely spirited, twisty road riding with very little motorway journeys. However, as hinted at previously, flat spots form very easily. I did about 200 miles of motorway riding to Wales and another 200 miles back (which included 400 miles of twisty roads in Wales inbetween) as well as another 200ish mile motorway trip from Devon. By the time I got home from both journeys, they had horrendous flat spots which absolutely ruined the handling, until I wore that flatspots off which took a few 100 miles.

Comfort - Similar to all supersport tires, a stiff carcass but doesn't feel harsh at all when you have your suspension setup right. Far from the plush feeling of a touring tire, but nothing I would ever complain about.

Buy again - These were so close to being a yes but there are a few big reasons why I cannot get another set of these:
1. Wear - yes, they have lasted over 4,000 miles, I have no problem with this. My problem is how quickly a flat spot develops with any prolonged straight line riding, which completely spoils the handling for a few 100 miles every time they come about.
2. Cold grip / feedback - while these tires warm up very quickly for as long as the road has a bit of temperature in it, the grip of the tire from cold is terrible. If the temperature outside is below 10 degrees Celsius, forget having any fun. While I can deal with poor cold weather grip (I'm a fair weather rider after-all) I strongly dislike the feedback from cold. The tires give you very little information until they are on the edge of grip, which isn't the nicest of feelings.
3. Wet grip - while I avoid rain like the plague, I live in the UK. So it is basically impossible to be able to do this.

If I lived in a country like Spain, I probably would happily keep running these tires. However, that isn't the reality for me. I am in the UK where the best roads require travelling, our weather is all over the place and properly hot days are few and far between. So I will likely be getting a set of Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV's next thanks to their much better day to day useability

Closest competition from my experience is the Pirelli Diablo Rosso 4 Corsa, comparabale grip. The TTs might offer better mileage, the profile is more neutral but still very very agile, I prefered this controled dive over the pointier Pirellis. The carcass is stiffer which makes it a bit less comfortable on the road, and the worse part, way more sensible to road imperfections.. where Pirelli Supercorsa or Rosso 4 Corsa, or even Bridgestone S22 and S23 wont feel any diferent, these TTs will start to lose grip and my trust with minimal road imperfections.
Excelent tires overall, if you ride on perfect roads you will struggle to find a better tire.