Author Topic: Bridgestone BT-021 tire review  (Read 2459 times)

Offline China Greg

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Bridgestone BT-021 tire review
« on: May 09, 2008, 11:39:00 PM »
I'm on my second set of Bridgestone BT-021 tires, and I thought I'd offer some feedback-

The first set kept up pretty well for something like three thousand miles, before becoming  too "squared off". I used them in a variety of conditions ranging from day-to-day local to some fast paced highway runs spanning a few days.

In the end, I took them out on a long southbound trip, knowing they were about half done. I rode hard (75-95 mph) from New York to West Virginia in one day... maybe nine hours on the road.. then used them one more long day over endless, twisty state highways (like Rte 219) in W. Va... then one more long, high-speed, nightime run into Knoxville, TN.

I wandered around Knoxville for half a day trying to find replacements (of any sport-tour kind... please be aware that many shops do NOT stock a lot of sport-tour tires these days, in favor of Sport only).
I finally found one supply shop (Cycle Gear) who had BT-021's in stock, and another shop (Suzuki of Knoxville/Extreme Toys), who mounted & balanced them immediately for me, for about a hundred bucks. All told: a little over $400 complete for tires and mounting.

 After this I headed over to famous Rte 219, the Deal's Gap "Dragon", where I put the new rubbers to good use. They lasted well on a blistering trip back north to NY, about 1000 miles, and have only minor sqauring off right now.

Also, they (the new ones) did very well in a torrential rainstorm going from Atlanta to Hilton Head, S.C., where I was really worried about hydro-planing.

Because the tires have a "dual-compound" (harder in the middle), they wore in kind of an unusual manner: a square "ledge" developed in the center of the front, with the sides (just off that center) wearing faster. Although that looked a little odd and concerting, they worked pretty well even after being pretty well worn. I never really felt any instability... although I was pretty happy to feel the ROUND, new tires underneath me on the Dragon.

Overall, I'd recommend the BT-021 for a good, do-it-all tire, with a fairly good life-span.

Black '98 B12S, JE 1216cc bore kit, port work, Yosh RS3, Ivan jetting, drag bars, modified Corbin Gunfighter, Hyperpro shock, Racetech Gold valve kit, stainless lines, Wave rotors, polished wheels, fender eliminator, bar-end mirrors, NEP throttle lock, Adaptiv TPX radar detector...140K miles