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Bridgestone Battleax Sport Touring T31's


mrzoom

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Here's my opinion of the T31's

After 3200 miles...

 

Good handling tyre with smooth turn in .

Good wear and both front and rear have kept their round profile even with a 1,000 miles

of straight roads on the way home from Torrey. These tyres should give me 6000 + miles.

No cupping of the front tyre. I believe cupping to be produced by tyre construction,

air pressure and shocks.

I have new Tractive ESA's on my 13 RT.

No noise as other brands develop with miles.

Decent "stick", never stepped out on me.

Ride is firm at 38 psi front and 40 psi rear. I didn't try lower pressures.

For the price T 31's work fine.

Since I'm never satisfied with tyres I will fit up some Dunlop Roadsmart III's for my trip to the UN.

Dunlop's are dirt cheap right now so why not??

 

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realshelby

 

Since I'm never satisfied with tyres I will fit up some Dunlop Roadsmart III's for my trip to the UN.

Dunlop's are dirt cheap right now so why not??

 

Sounds like the T-31 is at least as good as the T-30 and T-30 EVO. Do you have the "A-spec" or "GT" heavier sidewall T-31? I have the Roadsmart III, which are not heavy sidewall tires, and the ride is for sure smoother. So, I will likely go with that type tire next.

 

Speaking of Roadsmart III, I am just over 7000 miles on mine. They are almost done. So, about the same mileage as I got on the T-30's. If you do not like a noisy tire, stay away from the RSIII. These things are howling in the turns as bad as any tire I have owned!

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I have the "GT" version.

RS III noisy ?? So were the Metzler's and the Michelin's.

I'll just turn up the XM :rofl:

With the RS III so cheap I wonder if a new version is coming out

to address the noise??

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realshelby

Looks like about all the popular sport touring tires are within about $50 a set now. There are some rebates on a credit card for many brands that help. Sure looks a lot like price fixing to me. Bridgestone T-30 EVO's were $225 per set the last ones I bought, now the T-31 is $312 at the same place. There are rebates on them, but still that is a lot of increase for a tire that even Bridgestone says is not a lot different.

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I agree 100% on what you have said on the T31 at the same mileage. $100 cheaper than the Mich PR ,4 I've been running for years. I run the Mich 2 and 3 for years. As well as the Bridge 20 before that, until the 21's came out and felt like crap.

 

I don't agree with what people are saying about the Roadsmart 3 . I think I got the first version coming back from the In last year in Ohio. At 3k miles one half of the tire was cupped on the left side and it broke free 4 times in the corners. Scary slippery. I took it off when I got home. never again. I know the T31 is good as is the Mich 4's and likely the 5's. Run what you like.........

 

Maybe one should wait until the second year of any new tire production run until they get

Edited by Lester V
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Pricing does seem to be "fixed".

I just ordered the RS III for $289.94 but I had $ 8.17 RD cash and they come with a $75.00 gift card

so total is $214.94 which is what a set from anybody should cost.

My "tyre guy" charges me $30.00 a set to mount and I do my own balancing and I can live with that.

Funny, back in the day I just rode and never paid attention to tyres, round and black was fine.

The hot set up then was Dunlop K81's. You were a go fast guy if you used those. :thumbsup:

But then you needed tubes and had rim locks to deal with. :(

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  • 9 months later...

The T30 for me had a noticeable decrease in tread longevity. The previous 027 tires on the rear lasted on average 12,000 miles. The T30 only went about 9,000 miles. I went through two T30's with same results. Maybe that's why Bridgestone came out with the T31 so much quicker. I don't know how the newer T31's have improved but I decided to go with the Dunlop Road Smart III. I heard and read many good things about this tire. Hopefully I will get over 10,000 miles on the rear.

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RecentConvert

The T31 is a good tire, although not my favorite.  For me, the T31 GT  has lasted somewhat longer than PR4, Roadtec 01, Z8, or RS3.   I currently have Angel GT mounted.   All are GT rated.   The Dunlops are my favorite so far, but all are very competent tires.

 

I just bought a pair of T31's to mount in summer when the Angels will be done.   AmericanMotoTire and Rocky Mountain ATC are currently selling a pair of T31 GT for $228.  Throw in the $60 rebate from Bridgestone and I have a set for $168.   

 

As I said, they aren't my favorite, but for $168 a set, way too good of tire to pass up!

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Yes - the price point and rebate are pretty hard to pass up! I went through 3 sets  (1 x T30 & 2 x T31's) last year. They ride a bit firmer and I think may have a bit harder compound vs some other tires. While the PR's get tippy as they wear, I felt the bridgestone's lost consistency in their last 25% of life. Being a bit stiffer, they do give more road feedback vs PR's and depending on the rider, that's either welcome or not. I ended up running lower pressures in my Bridgestone's vs the PR's in the Spring and Fall temps here in Indiana. Out West in the blistering heat, they were plenty sticky enough at the standard 36/42.

 

All the tires have trade offs. I've still not found my Holy Grail of tires yet.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/8/2019 at 10:29 AM, Indy Dave said:

Yes - the price point and rebate are pretty hard to pass up! I went through 3 sets  (1 x T30 & 2 x T31's) last year. They ride a bit firmer and I think may have a bit harder compound vs some other tires. While the PR's get tippy as they wear, I felt the bridgestone's lost consistency in their last 25% of life. Being a bit stiffer, they do give more road feedback vs PR's and depending on the rider, that's either welcome or not. I ended up running lower pressures in my Bridgestone's vs the PR's in the Spring and Fall temps here in Indiana. Out West in the blistering heat, they were plenty sticky enough at the standard 36/42.

 

All the tires have trade offs. I've still not found my Holy Grail of tires yet.

 

I've been riding my 06 RT with T31's mounted while the 10 RT has been sitting, having suffered the effects of Herr Klausenstien.

 

Let me amend my previous comments. In the last year, I've been through 2 sets of T31's and 2 sets of T30's - all GT's.

 

I struggled with the T30's - but let me unpack this a tiny bit so things are in perspective.

 

With the attractive price point and rebates last year, I bought 2 sets of T31's and 1 set of T30's. After my initial impressions of the T31, I wanted to take advantage of the rebates and ordered 2 more sets of the T31's, but only one set was available before the rebate expired, so I settled for a set of T31's and a set of T30's. I figured why not, could they [the T3-'s] be all that different?! [answer: YES!] :computer:

 

 

1st set of T31 GT's - These were broken in at START in Blowing Rock and I was happy and had no complaints at START and was quite happy. I came home and ordered more! The remaining life of these tires were used up on a trip to CA. They performed well when worn in Colorado - but did not last as long as I'd hoped. Nothing new for me, so I can't really knock the tires. They were also subject to 2 x100 degree days on the way out to CA, and that's hard on any tire - I was fully loaded and didn't spare the horses through Kansas and Eastern Whip Country.  I don't 'recall these being as 'tippy', like the PR 4's. I got 4554 miles on the (rear) - That's about average for me. I bought a get-to-LA rear tire (sport) tire. And changed both tires out in LA.

 

T30 GT's mounted in L.A (tire guy said he coundn't get any T31 GT's) and these performed fine all the way up to Portland and across the SD for the UN. Hot CA and dry weather gave these lots of grip and I had no concerns about that. I began to nurse the tires in the heat on my way to the UN in South Dakota - concerned that they wouldn't make it back to Indiana. In SD in the wet and drying roads, the T30's were squirmy (but well worn) and they lost consistency. I did not have a lot of confidence in them in those conditions. I nursed the tires home - in hindsight I should have at least gotten a new rear when I had the chance in Sturgis. I got 5643 miles on this set of tires - higher than normal for me, but these didn't get flogged at START either.

 

I mounted my other set of T30 GT's when I got home, wanting to save the other set of T31's (with their improved wet performance) for the late Fall/Winter. At FART, I was not comfortable on the T30's in the cool temps and wet conditions. They were squirmy and unpredictable and I was never sure if they were going to bite on moist/wet roads. As soon as I got home, I could not wait to take them off and mounted the T31's I had. I pulled these off at 3373 miles.

 

I've again been happy with the T31GT's. I've been out on them in rain and had no issues and have full confidence in them. They do ride a bit firmer/harsher than some tires. I have less than 2000 miles on this set, and now that I have another RT, I won't have a chance to run these tires out.

 

All that to say, that I've found the T31's to be a significant improvement in the wet over the T30's, and I currently have no reservations about them. However - I've not had the chance to run them in the wet past 50% tread life - where I felt the T30's fell off significantly. The T31's are said to have addressed the T30's weakness in the wet, and for sure they have. I just can't comment of the consistency of the T31's in the wet past 50% wear. I have no reason not to mount a set of T31's in the future, and at the current price point and rebate, I'll be ordering a set to have for later use. I'm currently running a set of Conti Road Attack 3's and can offer no helpful feedback on these at this time.

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

I'm surprised I didn't see this thread before today. I replaced the ContiMotions my dealer installed last year pre-purchase (not a great tire but they did do over 7k miles) with T31's I bought for the rebate deal of $168 net in April and installed in late May. At that price, for a GT-rated tire, that's about as close to a no-brainer as one can get so I jumped on it.

 

I concur with everything you guys say about ride stiffness, grip, and rain performance. I really like these tires. As this is my first ever BMW and it was delivered to me with el-cheapo tires I don't really have a good reference point to compare them to but they are light-years better than what I had. They are very grippy wet or dry and after about 3,500 miles there is no noticeable center-flattening. 

 

In my opinion these are very underrated tires. For 60% of the cost of the other brands (PRs, RAIII, Z1's, etc.) there is just no valid reason not to buy them other than brand-loyalty.

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My current set of T-31 GT's are at 7000+ on the rear and 14,000+ for the front. 

 

Had a quick run to West Virginia and back over the weekend. Got caught in torrential rains through part of Mississippi and Louisiana on the way back. Just under 300 miles in those conditions. I never felt the tires move at all. Even in ponding water on the road. Cars were pulling over to the side. I knew they were good in the rain, but I was even trying to get them to break loose pulling away from lights and hitting just the rear brake at lower speeds. I don't know how you could want more. And this was approaching 7k on the rear and 14K on the front. 

 

BTW, these rears look to be good for 9-10,000 miles if ridden to the wear bars. That is a lot more than I normally get with other brands. 

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