So I checked my tires this morning and indeed, both come from the factory in Brazil, with the DOT code being XE: GRAVATAI, RIO GRANDE DU SU, BRAZIL
Now the interesting question is, was Ryan F9 right with his claim or not? I have only done 6700 kms on this set of tires. The tires are produced in week 53 of 2017 so they are three years old. There are dry cracks all over the rear tire and part of the front tire. The front tire has two deep cracks. The bike has alwasy been stored properly inside whenever I'm not here, not on the side of the road or in direct sunlight. Compared to a set of other aftermarket pirellis 1,5 yrs, with 15K of wear, the tires on my bike feel rock hard. To compare, I was able to squeeze the aftermarket tires' thread a bit and it had flexible edges. My tires are almost rock solid.
So to be honest, based on these subjective observations I can claim very little. Consumerreports.com published
an article in Sept 2020 and claims that there are no differences in the tires produced from different pirelli plants. They do not talk about the difference in OEM pirelli tires and aftermarket tires so the question is what they have looked at. What I do know is that these tires are perhaps better up for replacement than keeping them. However, since I have to leave in a few weeks for work and I won't be back until June if the situation permits, I might just wait until then and order some tires later.
A bit off topic but...
I am a bit disappointed if it is really true that RE screws over customers with OEM Pirelli tires but then again, hearing the stories from people in India about RE, even today, it can be a lot worse than getting a set of B-grade quality tires on a new bike. It seems that RE Thailand is much more about creating a cool, retro, hipsterish image than really caring about costumer service (praram 5 is much better than Thonglor though). Sales reps know little beyond the brochure info but they seem to have some decent mechanics at work. Aftersale service... I wasn't able to make a claim on my tank because ordering a new tank would take 6 months and I gave up in the end. Then ordering spare parts, I lost a plastic dust cap and time after time I'm told it's arriving within weeks. That's been over a year now. I wasn't able to get stock tires through RE and was told to source them elsewhere. Getting an insurance is a pain and expensive since most companies know spare parts are hard to get and have issues with damage repair and difficult collaboration with Motogroup that owns RE in TH according to an insurance sales agent. There are currently only two companies that do first class insurance for RE. So a first class insurance, which RE made compulsory upon purchase (even when buying it cash like I did), costs around 16K thb for a bike that is only 167K thb. Even normal insurance (3rd class) is around 6-8K thb. I was pissed off then and perhaps should have walked away from it. My full option Honda Civic first class insurance is only a tad bit more and 3rd class insurance even less. I know difference in big bikes in Thailand vs cars is a thing but still.
Will I buy a RE again? Probably not. I like the bikes, they're fun to ride and what you see / pay for is what you get. I have had a lot of fun with this bike so I can't complain about value for money. I have a 25 year old Yamaha Diversion 900 in Europe and it beats any royal enfield hands down in any department but again, different bike /segment so that's comparing rambutans to rose apples.
