The 016 Pros are stable on any wheel at any one time.....
Hardcore Biker
The 016 Pros are stable on any wheel at any one time.....
Ta
Live in the now man, they are outdated.Originally Posted by mattathm
The 016 Pros are stable on any wheel at any one time.....
Ta
Some might have noticed that I've changed the title of the thread. There is a reason. It sorta qualifies my review of these hoops. I am predominantly a rider of bikes shod with the very stickiest of wraps. I am firmly of the opinion that when one rides quickly most of the time, tyres are cheaper than crash repairs, (although I have spent lots of money on both). Ergo, I shall be writing a lot of my reports as a comparison to what I am familiar with. So here goes.
Today I decided it was warm enough to brave going for a ride, just for the sheer hell of it....And I'm bloody glad I did!
Leaving home through the back streets of Petone, I was literally amazed at how quick the bike tipped in, to rough 90 degree corners. At first I wondered if something wasn't wrong with my bike, the difference to what I'm used to was so huge. Cold 'Racetechs' or 'Supercorsas' are less than compliant, and far from encouraging, the S20s however feel planted from take off.
On the motorway. "Righto, lets see how the RF feels on one wheel now". Answer, stable as a table! No weaving at low speeds as all the previous tyres had done at all. I'm happy! Disclaimer. This was obviously a closed motorway, or a completely hypothetical situation.
I headed up to SH2 to the Rimutaka hill road. Where else would I test anything bike related? Right from the bottom of the hill, the road was cold and covered in damp patches. I am not exaggerating when I say that I cannot remember ever feeling as comfortable to push in those conditions, than I did today! Don't get me wrong, I wasn't screaming up the hill, sparks flying from pegs and knee sliders, with the rev counter buried in the red, like it's rumoured that I have done before, but I was traveling fast enough to know the tyres are well capable.
I felt at ease that after noticing the moisture on the road surface, I needed pay it no more attention and look confidently toward the next turn and carry on. This is well liberating! It's those exact situations that get the sphyncter pre puckered when ya ride on race rubber on a cold day.
After getting to the Wairarapa side I screwed a quick U turn and rode straight back. I prefer that side of the hill to ride up, it's tighter, and switches back and fourth constantly. So while you bare that in mind, take my word that the ease of flicking from side to side is not limited to 30kph round towning. I'm riding bloody near 200kg's of RF900 here, as I would a sports bike, and I'm doing this with the first pair of sport touring tyres I've ever had, and I'm BLOODY LOVING IT! To say that I'm surprised is an understatement.
Not that long ago some of you might recall that budget restrictions forced me to throw a Shinko on the front of my bike, and I raved about how good it was. It obviously didn't have the traction of my usual tyres, but the feedback was sensational and I knew exactly how hard I could go. Well as good as I believe they are, they don't compare to the S20R!
Earlier in the thread I asked about pressures, and Jay kindly provided some numbers. Today I hadn't changed them from the 30psi front and rear that I started with. Not for lack of wanting to, I just don't trust service station gauges and I didn't have my own on me. I figure better 3 or 4 PSI soft, than 10 too high. But it answers the question for me, 30psi is too soft in the rear. Before I ride again I will raise the pressures, because there is clear indication that with the way I ride, it'll get well chewed up at the lip of the tread grooves.
Forum whore
Bloody awesome to hear Drew. We won't be putting you on a set of BT023's (the Bridgestone Sport/Tour tyre, this is what they term their 'hypersport' tyre) any time soon, but I'm gladyou have had a good experience with road biased rubber!
Jay Lawrence #37
Ta
So, this would be the step between what I normally run, and the sport tourer?
Out of interest, what would the recommended retail be for a a set of these in the sizes I run?
Don't read this.....
Jay would these be ok to run at the track? Not racing but just for playing?
Ta
Jimmy rode the gsxr 1000 shod with them at a track day, said they were good.
Tearing Choppa a new A'Hole
No I didn't. I rode a GSXR1000 and GSXR750 fitted with the old OE 016's and said they were bloody good. The fact that Suzuki would hardly chuck worse tyres than previously fitted to a new model (L2 Thou) indicates these (S20s) should be bloody marvelous.
Vote David Bain for MNZ president
Deus ex ukulele
Assuming, of course, that the off-the-rackers are as good as the OEMs (given the previous discussion about that abstruse phenomenum).
"Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]
Forum whore
Phenomenum?
Deus ex ukulele
Good spotting. You pass the Saturday afternoon shiraz test.
"Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]
sem fiddy pilot
I have just had a set put on the other sem fiddy in the household. First time I have seen a set of tyres with neither requiring balance weights. Only been for a short scoot on them.. they felt bloody awesome. Warm up quick, and give nice neutral handling. I'll be fitting them on my bike when it's due for a set of new tyres. No question.
Member, sem fiddy appreciation society
Forum whore
Yes, pretty much. For Bridgestone, their are four levels of road radials for modern bikes. R10 are the DOT race tyre akin to Supercorsa Pro etc, BT003-RS are a 'trackday' tyre, in that they are a full racing carcass (of the older school stiffer carcass) but with a compound that is OK without a tyre warmer but still designed for track use or fast road primarily, S20 which are the 'Hypersports' tyre (sports road and trackday at group 2-ish level) the 'do it all' tyre, and then BT023 for sports touring and BT023GT which is a version with a heavier carcass for bigger bikes like FJR1300's.
Yes Tony, these would be fine for trackdays although if you were going quite quickly or doing more than the occasional one and weren't doing too much commuting etc, BT003RS would probably be better for you.
Jay Lawrence #37
Forum whore
From what I have heard and read so far the version's on the GSX-R1000 L2 and ZX14 Kawasaki are pretty good, however the version spec'd by Honda on the CBR1000RR-ABS have had very poor feedback. It should be noted that the Dunlop's spec'd by Honda for the CBR1000RR (non-ABS) are also getting poor reviews.
BRM had a piece on the Bridgestone S20 a couple of issues back and that had a sub-section talking to one of Bridgestone designers - in this there is a direct quote from him stating the tyres are built to manufacturer spec, not what Bridgestone would ideally want. This was following the poor reviews from the CBR1000RR launch.
Jay Lawrence #37
Que?
How are these tyres going lads?
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