New tires: Bridgestone Battlax 023

[Barbarian]

It comes every time in a rider's life: that first time he needs to buy new tires.

(How'd I manage that? Well, I sold every other bike I owned before it was time to replace the tires).
After 17,800 km the original issue BT-021s were worn out (at least on the front. The rear had a few more months in it) so after a few phone calls I decided to go with the latest rubber from Bridgestone.

I have not done much riding since I got them, but so far the bit seems different. If I was in a generous mood I would say it's more responsive, if not in a generous mood I would say the bike was twitchy.
Basically it seems reluctant to tip over and then woosh there it goes, preferring to hold an angle slightly lower than I am used to in a curve. I'm sure that's normal.

[Jantar]

i have Battleaxes on my GSX1250FA as OEM tyres.  I must say they are the worst tyres I have had on any bike for many years. Certainly since the Dunlops D202s that came standard on the Suzuki GS1200SS 8 years ago.

When new they feel reasonable, but after only a couple of thousand kms they are terrible.  They will not track straight unless the road surface is very smoothe, and that is quite rare here in southern New Zealand.  When cold they feel like they are under inflated, but are much better when warm.  Grip is only average, and I have had them let go under braking (thank you Suzuki for ABS), and I've had the real wheel spin up at only 100 kmh (62 mph) on a cold wet road, when at a steady speed and not under any sort of power other than maintaining a constant speed.

Fortunately They are now so bad at 5100 km that they will be changed at my next service in a couple of weeks.  I'll be consideering either Conti Road Attack 2 GTs or Michelin Pilot Road 3s.

[Barbarian]

It's been a week and the tires have settled back into the old rhythm. I suspect the front tire was tightly wrapped in shipping and that it too a day or three to settle out.

No complaints so far

[stormi]

Hey barbarian,

Tires are very rarely wrapped in shipping, at least to the shops.  When I was working at a local shop here, even when we got a huge shipment for the beginning of the year, most of them were loose, or stacked on a pallet and the whole group lightly wrapped.  (And those shipments usually come in between Jan and March)  Just enough to hold them onto the pallet, and the tires themselves stick together more than they try to roll apart.  That's fun I'll tell ya, getting a shipment of 300+ tires, and not having enough staff to get them dealt with and man the customers.  Ah,.. the memories.

Plus, unless the tires were ordered in for you, they've likely been there for a bit.  The BT-023 is a regular stock tire, they should have been replacing them as they sold them.

The only tires I saw wrapped individually were the OEM tires, I know you're not crazy enough to buy those. (Honda /  Suzuki OEM, not just the oem replacement same model blah blah tires at 3 - 5 times the price.)

I'm glad you're starting to get along better with them.  I know some people swore by them, some people hated them.  I didn't like them.  They never seemed as sticky or to have as nice a profile as some of the others, but they sold fairly well.

I heard one complaint about the Pilot Road 3s, they seemed to wear a lot faster than the PR2... possibly because of the sipes.  They were still too new a tire by the time I left for a lot of feedback.  The guy I talked to said the tire was well past done in 4K kms.  So roughly 2500miles.

It's worth looking into the Pirelli AngelST too.  I find the Pirellis tend to be a few bucks cheaper than the Dunlops / Bridgestones, and I've been getting phenomenal performance out of mine.  I'm at about 10K kms, I removed the BT-020s that were on my bike within 1000kms, and they're just now starting to square a little.  There's barely any wear at all. So, either I have tires for the next 15K, or they're going to self-destruct all at once.  Great wet performance too.  Too good the other half might say, because I'm pushing it a little more than he thinks I should in the wet.

Anyone who took my advice at the shop, usually came back to say they liked the AngelST as well.  Oh!  And Ducati uses them as an OE tire on some of their bikes.

[bullet5]

I've got BT-023's on my B6 and you will not regret putting them on! I've never had her slip in the dry, even when cranked right over, riding on edge of the tyre going across the occasional white line.

Even though they appear rather sparse when it comes to tread, they also preform great in the wet, and I've only had the rear sliding once under load and that was aided with a humpback bridge in the rain.

Mine have over 3k miles on them now and they still look almost brand new... well apart from the burnt rubber at the edges

[rider123]

I have the Shinko Advance sport touring tires and they are the best tires I ever owned. I've been over almost scraping the pegs on my G2 Bandit1200 and they just were awsome. Held the line well. Great neutral handling. The tire when you feel it feels pretty damn sticky and soft for a sport touring compound. I'd say it's more "sport" then touring, the thing will not break loose no matter what I've done to it unlike my Metzelers before which would get twitchy when pushed hard. The tread on it is insane it's like double the thickness of any tire I've seen before. Maybe thats what Shinko did they said "Ok let's give them a wicked sport tire but we'll just put a shitload of rubber on it" Maybe that's why they get good mileage they are just so damn thick it takes you forever to kill them. Best of all they are cheap as hell. And before you think "Hey those tires are just the pride of the proletariat Ho Chi Mihn trail tires, I'd never put those shitty tires on MY BIKE" They are actually Yokohamas which have been winning races. Yokohama sold it's motorcycle tire technology and the machining to make it, so not only are they Yokohama tires they are made on Yokohama hardware as well instead of a steam powered former Soviet style machine. With the price of them so much lower they are worth a shot and may surprise you.

[pmackie]

Shit Barbarian, you and I must ride differently...

After 17,800 km the original issue BT-021s were worn out (at least on the front. The rear had a few more months in it)

I ran 021's on my B6, got about 10,000 kms out of the rear and only 8000 kms out of the front.

And Stormi...I love the Angel ST's as well, I've been using them this past year on my Sprint ST. I love the way they feel on the Triumph

I'm at about 10K kms

I got 8000 kms out of the first rear, and 5600 kms out of the last one...(I may have had a small balance problem on this latest one), however the front I replaced at 16000 kms and it still had nother 1000 kms in it, or more.

I haven't had a rear tire make it over 10,500 kms on either the B6 or the Triumph. (likely can't get close on the Triumph, too much throttle/torque)

I might try some 023s yet, but I have to go through a set of PR2's first.

[stormi]

I ran 021's on my B6, got about 10,000 kms out of the rear and only 8000 kms out of the front.

And Stormi...I love the Angel ST's as well, I've been using them this past year on my Sprint ST. I love the way they feel on the Triumph

It sounds like you and I ride differently too.  ;)  I'm getting barbarian -like mileage off the AngelSTs.  Good thing you've never lead us around when we've come into BC and dropped in on you. I'd have worn my tires out too!   

I got 8000 kms out of the first rear, and 5600 kms out of the last one...(I may have had a small balance problem on this latest one), however the front I replaced at 16000 kms and it still had nother 1000 kms in it, or more.

I haven't had a rear tire make it over 10,500 kms on either the B6 or the Triumph. (likely can't get close on the Triumph, too much throttle/torque)

I might try some 023s yet, but I have to go through a set of PR2's first.

the 023s were fairly popular when I was at the Honda dealer.  I just didn't get along with my 021s, so I didn't really recommend them.  Not really fair, since there were a lot of changes between models, and the tires -were- a couple years old before I even started scrubbing them in. 

Shinkos are not that cheap here in Canada, as a rule, so you might as well just get the BridgeStone / Pirelli / Dunlop / Michelin tires.  It would be better if more than just Fullbore distributed them.  One of the big distributors (Motovan / Parts Canada) would really help drive the cost down a little.   That and the dealers not marking up 100 - 150% would help a lot too.

[Barbarian]

@stormi
My tires were ordered in special for me.
The Suzuki dealer on my side of the city closed, so I end up going to a BMW/Harley shop that's 5 minutes from home for most of my gear.

I'll have to check. Not sure there actually is a Suzuki dealer within the city at all. Several in the burbs, but I live in an inner suburb.

[stormi]

If they were ordered in specially, they likely came from Motovan / Parts Canada / Thibault.  They may have been shrink wrapped, but more than likely they came just with a waybill taped on them.  I did once or twice see them come with those plastic straps you have to cut off.  Those give wicked cuts if you don't respect them.

Likely there are no better deals to be had at the Suzuki dealer, just OEM parts availability would be different.  At the Honda shop I was at, we had lots of regular Suzuki people.  Mostly the gixxer crowd.