Pirelli Scorpion Trail II – Review at 16,152km (10,036mi)

And so I swapped out my set of 16,000km or 10,000 miles Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2’s from my BMW R1200GS LC for a new set of…. Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2’s! Yes, I liked the tires enough to want to buy it again! It has exceeded all my expectations on the tires.

In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that my rear tires recently got TWO punctures, and that I’m planning for a major trip soon, I’d probably feel comfortable running the tires for another 4,000km at least. Yes, it IS a heck of a long lasting adventure / sport touring tires!

Brand new set of Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 waiting to go onto my R1200GS LC.
Manufactures in week 19 of 2018…
…and week 11 of 2018 – pretty fresh tires!

German-made tires for a German-made bike!

So here are my thoughts on the tires after travelling some 16,000km with it – GRIPPY! Very grippy! Loved the traction on these bad asses. Throw anything at it – asphalt, gravel, sand, grass, soil, and practically everything else – and it feels absolutely planted to the ground! Though these tires were marketed as an on-road / off-road tires, I’d probably classify them as a mainly-on-road / very-light-off-road set of tires – somewhere 90/10, or so.

For my kind of riding, this suits me perfectly! I’m not quite an off-road kind of rider, as much as I am a tourer. Both straight line and cornering grip on my earlier set of Scorpion Trails left me wondering how it could have managed that kind of longevity. In fact, I was nowhere near the tire tread-wear indicator when I replaced the old set.

The removed rear tire. Still plenty of life left on the old 16,000 Scorpion Trail II – very impressive longevity!!
DEEP treads on the new tire!

And it was only when comparing the 16,000km Scorpion Trail with the brand new one, that I realised how deep the tread was on a brand new set! This probably explains why it performs remarkably well off-road too!

The brand new tires had maximum tread depths of 5.1mm (front) and 9.3mm (rear). For comparison, the used set had about 3mm and 5.1mm remaining depth for front and rear respectively.

Pirelli’s little detail to the tire. I’m sure that little scorpion there gave the bike an added 5 hp boost!
Front wheel off. Tire replacement in progress.
The patched holes – viewed from the inside of the old tire.

Now that I had the chance to ride a set of worn and fresh Scorpion Trail 2’s side by side, I then realised that the worn set of tires felt very “squared”. The fresh set felt a lot more eager to lean into a turn and definitely made the bike significantly more flickable. And oh boy! With a new set of tires, the bike feels “new” again! This makes my wonder if I should have replaced the old tires much earlier!

Can’t wait to take this along on my next long trip!

18 thoughts on “Pirelli Scorpion Trail II – Review at 16,152km (10,036mi)”

  1. Thank you for the review. I’ve made 12.373 km with my first set of Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 (R1200GS 2017). These last years, I was used to change my tires after 7.000-8.000 km, and feel so happy with the longevity of the Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 ! And this tire is a dream on the road… I’ve replaced them yesterday. And guess what I’ve mounted ? 😉

    1. I love these tyres, replaced my first set of tyres at 21000km and second set at 23500km. Only downside I always drop the bike in the mud. No complaints, it is a road tyre after all.
      Being a more road oriented tyre they really make other riders jaw drop when doing outrides. I don’t think I would ever put another tyre on my F800GSA.

  2. Tyreleader in France.

    Competetive pricing and recent (less than a year old) tyres.

    Quick delivery.

  3. Thank you for taking the time to review this. I have bought these tires myself now and am very happy. I had some old Anakee tires on, I’ll never buy that again.

    Regards
    R1200GS-07 from Norway

  4. I put this tires on my GSA 1250 (before had a super tenere with the same tire set), but in the GSA I feel that the bike shakes a lot from 120km/h… on the super Ténéré this not happened…
    I like this tire, but my next set of tires won’t be this…

    1. Have you had your wheel balancing checked post tire installation? What about tire pressures? Also, were there any other physical tire anomalies?

      I’ve run through 2 sets of Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2’s and never had this problem. It could be a bad tire or a bad batch that you picked up.

  5. I just change my tiger 800xcx tyre to scorpion trail 2. And its cause my front to wobble at speed of 70kmh. Just 1 week install and i feel like changin tyre already. Lower the pressure, did rebalancing and still the same.

  6. Over 12,000 km’s on my scorpion trail 2’s, the rear still looks new with hardly any wear.The front is about half worn.I’m putting scorpion 2’s on my Desert Sled again

  7. Put Scorpion II s on my 800R BMW and they are the best !! They are not off road tyres , but will cover that when required .
    Grip anywhere , anytime and 20,000 + mileage .

  8. I have the scorpion trail 2 on my Ducati enduro what a excellent tyre fantastic handling

  9. I have just ordered Scorpion Trail 2 – 150/70-17 to my 2003 Aprilia Caponord 1000.
    Mezeler Tourence has been on in 9 years and run 15000 km.
    That tire is ok, but I want a tire more asphalt oriented.

    1. The last I checked, Lim Ah Boy carries them. But then again, the last I checked was during pre-pandemic times. Alternatively, try enquiring at Unique Motorsports or Motoworld.

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