Battlax BT021 ST Tires not so bad

[RAINEY]

I've seen a lot of negative post about the Battlax BT021 ST tires on this forum and some others. However I have seen negative post about almost any tire except the newer ones that haven't been out all that long. I was almost ready to pull my BT021's at 1300 miles due to all the negative responses about "Tar Snakes" and tread life.

 

From talking to many local riders it seems that all tires react terribly to tar snakes. Maybe some seem better based on ambient temp, the size (depth and width) of the tar snake itself.

 

Now tar snakes aside I had a really great experience with the BT021's at a Track Day on Monday. I was riding my 2012 R1200RT which had 1450 miles on it at the start of the day. I dropped my air pressure down to 29/30 to soften them up a little and build more heat for the track. The air temp was 48 degrees when we started the day and the track was cold. After about 1 lap the tires warmed up nicely and the bike handled very well through a series of tight and sweeping turns. There was 1 nice long straightaway but the rest of the track was twisty. They was even an interesting off camber left that was cool to ride through. I used the tires right up to the outside edge of the tire and they hooked up very well. The only time it got a little loose was on the second lap of the day when I got over on the side and onto tire surface that has never touched asphalt. After that I always had a positive feel.

 

This is not a thread jocking the BT021's but to let people know if you have them don't over react like I did thinking their junk tires even when new so you don't waste money buying something else because of what you read on a forum. Remember I was one of those people wanting to get them off. Now I trust my tires and my Rt even more. If you ever get a chance to do a track day I highly recommend it. It is not a race. It is a nice training and good time to learn new riding skills on a safe environment without cars, trees and telephone poles.

 

I have been riding for over 20 years and learned so much by doing the Track Day. I realized that there was a lot oeft of my RT that I wasn't even using.

 

I will try to post a couple pick below

[RAINEY]

Okay. I'm not sure what I can't post pics

[mneblett]

I have the same bike and the same OE tires. While not quite as confidence inspiring as the PR3's I've run, they are certainly not a bad tire. For perspective, even if you considered them mediocre, they're still much better than anything available a decade ago.

 

The primary reason for my post is to say that although I've never read about a complaint with this tire on tar snakes, a week ago I came within an RCH of dropping and sliding the bike when I crossed a tar snake as I was making a gentle turn onto a side street. Flat track-style foot position/plant on the ground to save it.

 

In 30+ years of riding, I've never had a tar snake cause such a pucker moment. I don't know that any other tire would have handled it better, but it didn't enhance my confidence in the 021's. It make be a great tire in a controlled track environment, but for real-world use I'm going to PR3's when the OE 021s wear out.

[Guest Kakugo]

Performance-wise they aren't half bad. Grip and handling were no issue.

The big problem I had with them was at 6000km the front had gone completely bad. I don't mean "in need of change" but "no thread left whatsoever".

Maybe it's me riding like the proverbial buccaneer but I have never seen anything like this in decades of riding. Yes, at 6000km most old school touring tyres were in dire need of change (mostly because they had taken such odd shapes as to affect handling) but such a thing left me baffled, especially when swapping them for PR2's which lasted 10000km with a very even (almost sports tyre like) wear and were just 10€ more expensive.

A Michelin field rep I talked to told me "we know the BT021 very well" and added the wear issues I had were caused by an overtly stiff construction. Bridgestone has always been known for it (and I love the S20's on my big Honda) but here they may have taken things a step or two too far...