The road was completely covered with the stuff. Perhaps they thought the stones would work their way into the pavement somehow during the hot summer? This is not a well-traveled road, and serves only a couple of farms and remote homes, so it's not like there will be a lot of traffic working the stones into the pavement.

I had to take it easy on the bike, because the surface was very loose -- like riding on sand. I eased up on my death grip and let the bike go more or less where it wanted -- fortunately, there were no other cars coming or going. This lasted for about 3 miles, believe it or not -- 3 miles of curvy, hilly loose stone on top of hard pavement. I had a couple of interesting moments, but I just took it easy and came through without a problem.

Now what happened afterwards may be a complete coincidence, or I may be dreaming, but here's what happened: The road finally ended and I turned on to clean pavement, and after about a half-mile or so when the dust finally blew off the tires, the "greasy" feeling of the Michelins that I reported below was gone. The tires all of a sudden seemed to grip like I had hoped and expected they would!

Then as the tires warmed up again and all of the dust and dirt from that back road finally disappeared, the tires definitely felt like they came into their own -- like they had finally become "broken in".

The rest of the ride was amazing -- the bike now feels very confident and controlled in the corners, and I can lean the Multistrada way, way over -- which is a looong way when you're sitting upright on that bike! -- and it feels like there's and enormous amount of grip and confidence and controllability that was never there before, either with the Michelins or certainly with the old Pirellis.

I have since mentioned my experience to a couple of local very experienced long-distance riders who live nearby, and they agreed that it's not uncommon for some brands or a particular manufacturing lot of new tires to take several hundred miles to really "come into their own".

Apparently, my initial impression that this particular set of Michelin Pilot Road 2 tires felt "greasy" was, in fact, due to the mold release, which -- possibly because of the cool and damp spring weather I experienced just after they were installed -- took much more time to wear away than might be expected.

The abrasion caused by riding 3 miles or so on the loose and sharp gravel over the paved road, along with the stone dust (which is also used to absorb oil spills), was, I think, key in removing the last of the mold release, allowing the rubber to finally take over and do its thing.

So now allow me please to completely change my opinion about the Michelin Pilot Road 2 tires! They have indeed transformed the handling on the Multistrada 620, giving it the confidence and smoothness and control that I desired and expected.

One moral to this story then is that motorcycle tire mold release is a curios thing -- be extra careful when you install a new set of tires. And maybe try to find a nice gravelly road to scuff in the tires? ;-)

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