| Author | Message | ||
     Rr_eater |
I may babble on about this, so bare with me, as I am not a professional tire reviewer.. Ok, I had installed on my 2004 XB12S a set of BT014s by Cycle Gear on Friday the 9th of September. Road them the 10 miles round trip all the next week to and from work, and a couple trips to town, about 25 miles round trip, so all told, a total of about 125ish miles through 16 September. They tightened up as was expected as the release agent wore off. Some serious broken line slaloming and general hooliganism during this period, but nothing seriously heavy in reguards to heat cycling and scrubbing the tires. Saturday, Sep 17th, took off about 1100 am for a ride that would take me along the routes and road areas where in 2 weeks the Octoberfast gathering would pervay. Overall, enjoyed about 185 miles of SOME of the best, winding roads the eastern side of the California Central valley has to offer. Other then one excercise in extreme fear/pucker factor due to trail braking DEEP into a tight right hander, not noticing the SEVERE undulations in the apex of the corner, while floating the rear tire, the bike hopped up about 2-3 inches before settling into the proper line (have no IDEA how that happened!!), they BT014s took ahold of the road surface, and throttled out of the corner smoothly, per say!! Had to take a few turns a bit slower to peel my backside off the Corbin. I finished off the ride, approximately 95 miles worth of corners and sweepers, and headed home. After retuning home, took a good look over the tires. They appeared to look very good for the hammering they took. I have blistered a set of 208's on the same roads, and these showed no signs of overheating at all. There were no chicken strips left either, and that is a first for me on such a new set of tires. The BT014s were very responsive, carried themselves well with great feedback on the road surface and were very flickable apex to apex. I am no pro rider by any means of the term, but they did inspire confidence to push them hard and deep into corners, as noted once a bit too deep!! Obviously we have many miles to go to see how well they wear, and it will be quite a time, as like I said earlier, my commute daily is only 10 miles round trip. But with the weather cooling down a bit from the 100 plus days, riding will be done more often then before, as riding in a hair dryer gets real old, real quick. But Octoberfast is quickly approaching, and I am sure that will be at least a 500-1000 mile 4 day weekend. That is all for now Bruce (Message edited by rr_eater on September 18, 2005) | ||
| Opto |
They are a pretty good tyre I agree. Running them on a 04 XB12S too, used to run the BT012 but they are getting hard to get (I liked the 012's a bee's dick better). I will replace with same, pretty good wear too. I also like to go hard and deep into corners under brakes and enjoy the bike pitching nose down as it does (esp going downhill), maybe that's why I like the Bridgestones. Ian. | ||
| Rick_a |
I just put 'em on my '96 S1 with PM wheels (5.5" rear). I went with a 190/50 rear (a la Ducati 999) due to issues with rear wheel traction. I was tired of the rear starting to slide just as I was starting to get on the edge of the front. Now I have equal road contact between the front and rear tires. I love these tires. Right off I was able to rip on them without the usual careful break in. My previous tires were a set of Skorpion Syncs. Those tires were great at drifting controllably, but that can get old, and scary. Compared to those the only downside to the Bridgestones IMO is a little less straightline stability hard on the brakes. I'd like to see how they'd do on a track day (the Syncs turned blue and the front sidewalls developed cracks) but I have a set of DOT race for that. | ||
| Rr_eater |
OK, getting ready to swap out tires prior to going to the American Sport Bike BBQ this weekend with new Corsa IIIs. AWESOME TIRES handling wise! The BT014s were predictable, easy to feel on and off the throttle, did nothing unpredictable under braking, generally GREAT tire!! However (there is always a catch), either I am TOO hard on tires, or they wore very fast by design. I say this as I only have 1450 miles on them, and the wear bars are flush in the rear on center of course. I have about 1/16" on the wear bars on the side, but that is about it. The tire has no strips in the rear, never got to the edge up front. I did expect much greater mileage out of these tires. The front is in GREAT condition, easily has 1 maybe 2 more rears worth of mileage left in it. Is not cupping, balling, blistered, looks GREAT. I am going to hold on to it after the change to the C3s, as if they wear fast, I will get another 014 rear and remount the front. All-around AWESOME working tire, just a bit short on mileage in the rear!! Bruce |
