Bridgestone T30R - 5/10

[haydes55]

I replaced PR3S with T30s and the bike handled 10x better in the dry, the tires lasted double as long before wearing out and the only times it let go of grip was caused by gravel. Just slide through, regain traction and carry on as if the gravel wasn't even there. I'm replacing my new bikes tires with T30s when the old ones die.

[James Deuce]

I replaced PR3S with T30s and the bike handled 10x better in the dry, the tires lasted double as long before wearing out and the only times it let go of grip was caused by gravel. Just slide through, regain traction and carry on as if the gravel wasn't even there. I'm replacing my new bikes tires with T30s when the old ones die.

The T30s are actually really good on gravel. The work better on dry gravel than they do in shiny wet tarmac. Thanks to a lack of regualr maintenance and heavy truck traffic about 30% of the roads around here suffer from this with, so you can probably see the issue. I don't think it's acceptable that a Whale (the XJR) on PR2s should cope with the wet so much better than a featherweight on the T30s. Shiny tarmac just wasn't the issue it is with the T30s. By slide I mean no grip until you get to coarse seal. The worst episode I had was on a corner posted at 75kph which doesn't even rate as a corner, you barely lean off centre to go around it at 100kph. This was the first time they let go without warning and I got control back when I ran off the edge of the road into the gravel. I tipped gently into the corner and skated straight ahead. That corner is fun in the wet now because you know it is going to happen so a touch of gas and opposite lock makes the corner, but I'll get it slightly wrong one day and all my internal organs will fall out.

[george formby]

The T30s are actually really good on gravel. The work better on dry gravel than they do in shiny wet tarmac. Thanks to a lack of regualr maintenance and heavy truck traffic about 30% of the roads around here suffer from this with, so you can probably see the issue. I don't think it's acceptable that a Whale (the XJR) on PR2s should cope with the wet so much better than a featherweight on the T30s. Shiny tarmac just wasn't the issue it is with the T30s. By slide I mean no grip until you get to coarse seal. The worst episode I had was on a corner posted at 75kph which doesn't even rate as a corner, you barely lean off centre to go around it at 100kph. This was the first time they let go without warning and I got control back when I ran off the edge of the road into the gravel. I tipped gently into the corner and skated straight ahead. That corner is fun in the wet now because you know it is going to happen so a touch of gas and opposite lock makes the corner, but I'll get it slightly wrong one day and all my internal organs will fall out.

Every cloud has a silver lining.
Speaking of gravel.... I ride on gravel roads, grass and occasionally wet clay on me T30's. They cope well. Wearing well, too. Could be the first tire that I wear out the edges before the middle.

Somebody said a Marmite tire, love or hate. I've yet to understand how tires can create the polar opposite opinions, not just Bridgestones.

[neels]

Replaced the PR3 rear on my ST2 with a T30, dry riding it's been fine, Recently did the first real wet riding off the main roads on the thing and it scared the crap out of me, as above any wet shiny road and it squirmed about like crazy, and the thing was spinning the rear wheel riding uphill several times when there was water running across the road.

Reading the previous comments, I'm glad I've still got the PR2 on the front, at least it kept going where I was pointing it.

Might be time to have a look at a PR4 for the rear, didn't mind the PR2 rear that was on the bike when I bought it, PR3 stuck good but wore very strangely I think in part due to the small size of some of the tread blocks but still did reasonable mileage.

Perhaps my old italian shitter just doesn't make enough hp to get the tyre working properly, anyway as far as the T30 is concerned, disappointing and would not trade again.

[AllanB]

I've yet to understand how tires can create the polar opposite opinions, not just Bridgestones.

Easy - different bikes, different riders, different road conditions, different weather use.

The vast majority of my riding is in the dry - so my references are 90% bias that direction. I ran a set of Pilot Powers on my Hornet 900 after reading a lot of high praise for them on a owners forum. I did not warm (haha) to them - reckon it was the front profile and I sold them off after a thousand kms or so. Does not make them a bad tyre just not one that suited me on that bike.

My Ducati has a odd sized rear - 180/60/17 - (measures more like 190) if I want to keep that size when it wears out (and it won't last long) I have f-all choice in NZ (I see more brands offer this in the USA).

I ran Continental tyres many decades ago when starting motorcycling and like them. Then they went crappy ..... but have come back with some excellent rubber in the past 10 years. I have enjoyed their sport/road attack's in recent years.

Some people swear by a specific brand and don't deviate from that maker - In the past I've tended to get reasonable life out of mine and annual kms are relatively low so there is usually something new on the market at a good price each time I change.

I can't remember consistently bad reports of a main brand tyre maker for a long long time :-) which is all good for us.

[caspernz]

Easy - different bikes, different riders, different road conditions, different weather use.

It's as simple as that really. Over the years have used most of the big brands, with a bit of a preference for Bridgestone and Michelin in the last decade or so.

Going thru the Michelin PR, then PR2, PR3 on three different bikes and having them "feel" quite different from bike to bike is a weird experience. To me the PR2 was a better tyre than the PR3. Now on a PR4 and that does quite nicely on a big heavy bike, roughly doubling the distance to replacement compared to a sports tyre and yet not giving away a great deal in performance at my end of the envelope.

Always amuses me to hear of riders on sporty bikes getting huge claimed distances on sports type tyres, can't help but feel they're either nana-ing the bike or not being upfront about distance run on soft rubber.

[AllanB]

Another thing I've learnt over the years - ignore any USA ramblings about tyres. The road conditions they run on appears so different to NZ's that the rider reports are almost pointless. If they say 10,000 miles expect 7,000 kms!

Shit even between the North and South Islands of NZ you'll find as you head south the road surface is courser - affecting your expensive rubber.

[Ulsterkiwi]

Good. I've been thinking the Pirelli Angels will replace my T30's. A comparison would be lovely.

Having said that, I really like the T30's on my TDM. No issues wet, dry or tar snaky. Oh, melted tar caused a twitch but you would probably need tracks to avoid that.

I did about 250kms yesterday. It was pretty gentle, the wife was with me on her new bike and I was breaking in the new T30s. After 100kms they certainly settled, not because I leaned a lot and "scrubbed" the tyres but because they got a decent bit of heat into them. I have not used the whole tyre yet, that will be an evening later this week when I take a punt around some of the local twisty bits.

Because of my physical size and general ineptitude I have put a bit into getting the suspension on my TNAB sorted. My hope is that will allow me to get the best out of the T30. On the basis of one quite short run then its certainly no worse than than the AngelGT. Shall come back to once I have negotiated a tight turn or two.

Let us know how the GTs go, as I suspect they're a completely different animal.

you are probably quite right. The tyres I got are the EVO version and the GT at that. There was a bit of discussion with the dealer about which to go for. The non-GT probably responds to more spirited riding better, the GT I was told has a stiffer sidewall, aimed at reducing flex on the beastie type bikes (FJR1300 was cited as an example) My TNAB is 260ish kgs but I am not small and often have a pillion so went for the tyre most likely to give me some mileage. I hold my own but would not consider myself fast by any means.

[50Shades]

I have now done 300km on the new T30Rs, feel really good in really hot conditions over the week end, but then any new tyre will feel better than the old ones.
The Metzeler M5 lasted 6000km on the rear, 600cc sports

[KoroJ]

I had a T30 fitted to the rear of the ST last week (front Z8 still has a few thousand km on it). I opted to try the T30 after about 4 sets of Z8's to try something different and cheaper and after thinking the 020's were OK, but the 023 were utter crap (soft sidewalls felt squirmy when pushing it in the curves)

Rode up to Waihi on Friday (644km because I couldn't go straight there), did 1630km around the Nth Island on Saturday and Sunday (on a real mix of roads, temperatures (27 - 8 degrees) and conditions (tar melt to wet slick), then another 260km back to Tokaanu on Sunday and 319km to Welly this morning.

I have no complaints so far.

Just to qualify that though. At 300Kg dry (so about 450Kg fueled, loaded and with me) the ST has a lot of momentum and if a bike is going to move sideways on a marginal surface, the ST is likely to do so. I therefore ride with traction at the top of my priority list and I'm very particular about picking lines, riding the rut if there's grit on the hump (or even if I'm unsure of the surface) or riding the hump if the ruts are slick. There's always moments when one doesn't quite totally avoid the slick patches though with a twitch resulting but I had no moments in the 2800+km.

Observations were that the surface of the tyre looked like it had got pretty hot after Friday's ride, but I was just cruising, so that led me to think that it was probably a soft rubber and I wondered if that was why it felt planted and if I was going to get good life from it?

No complaints so far.

[Ulsterkiwi]

The dual compound rear is prone to revealing its boundaries when put through a proper heat cycle, with the two different compounds being made obvious by them turning different shades of grey. Commute to work and it returns to a consistent colour across the radius of the tyre. ..........

Getting the tyre pressure right for your riding and the combined weight of the bike and rider is vital, as get it wrong and the front and rear seem to fight each other and the superbly neutral steering becomes lardy.......

Agree on all counts. Had a decent run at the weekend where the tyres got some decent heat in them. It was like a white stip in the middle! In to work this morning and normal service has resumed. I guess its a sign the compounds are working as planned.

Let us know how the GTs go, as I suspect they're a completely different animal.

The T30s are shaping up ok. I had a couple of interesting "moments" on them. Coming from Wanganui heading south, overtaking a truck, put some power on and the arse of the bike danced around a bit. Was a shiney bit of tar seal at that point. Same thing happened to the wife as she passed the same truck, ironically she has Angel GTs on her bike, the very tyre I moved from.
2nd incident was coming into a corner, downshift and a bit of heavy braking happening close together. Back end got out of sorts for a short time. I am inclinded to think thats my lack of talent not a fault of the tyre.

It's a bugger when the "rules" change at a dealer, but sometimes we take the special treatment we get for granted. I do understand though.

I went back to the dealership I was miffed with. Had a good chat with the owner. Nothing was promised other than a different approach next time. Thats ok, I wasnt expecting a free bike lol

Good. I've been thinking the Pirelli Angels will replace my T30's. A comparison would be lovely.

Having said that, I really like the T30's on my TDM. No issues wet, dry or tar snaky. Oh, melted tar caused a twitch but you would probably need tracks to avoid that.

I have run a few more kms now including a two up run over the tukas and some twisties on my own. The two up run left the tyre a bit chewed on the outsides. I think thats a preload thing but the tyres worked well and gave good feedback. All in very good conditions mind you but quite happy with the tyres. I was very confident with the Angel GT in the wet, remains to be seen how the T30 goes but looking around there are more positive reports out there than negative. They cannot all be wrong lol

[george formby]

I have run a few more kms now including a two up run over the tukas and some twisties on my own. The two up run left the tyre a bit chewed on the outsides. I think thats a preload thing but the tyres worked well and gave good feedback. All in very good conditions mind you but quite happy with the tyres. I was very confident with the Angel GT in the wet, remains to be seen how the T30 goes but looking around there are more positive reports out there than negative. They cannot all be wrong lol

No doubt about it, the T30's hold no secrets. I think their is a big difference between the compounds. You can feel it when you push your thumb along the tire. Usually the middle of my rear is smooth and light, the sides, dark and chewed up.

Oh, I've been known to get the back wheel a tad sideways braking and changing down into a corner. Clumsy me.

Cheers for the observations.

[Maha]

I'd watched all the discussion on here when the T30s were originally released with some interest. I've had a love/hate relationship with Bridgestone since the early '90s, when their first radial tyres released into the wild were almost, and I'm not entirely sure it wasn't deliberate, actually called "Excrement". Bridgestone spelled it "Excedra", but you know how other cultures sometimes inadvertently use English in odd ways. I spent a couple of weeks swapping ends on my RC30 before the rear mercifully just gave up the ghost and went flat. By then Yokohama had released a range of radials and they were light years ahead of the Bridgestones in terms of gaining and keeping heat and actually gripping.

Since then I've had some very different experiences with Bridgestones. The factory combo on my Z750S was brilliant, but not obtainable once worn out and the BT021s I tried were nasty. The tread blocks moved around when changing direction rapidly, especially flip flopping from decent lean to decent lean and the front tyre made a humming noise when approaching the edge of the tread which was unnerving.

I was a bit surprised to see Maha re-gift his free T30s. A free tyre is a free tyre, but a couple of wet weather scares 2 up were off-putting. I spoke to him at length and he was totally convinced that they weren't for him. It wasn't until the first time I rode the Versys in the wet that I found out what he was talking about. A gentle right instituted a long front end slide followed by a gently fishtailing rear after gathering things together, then it all stopped abruptly when the coarse seal started again and normal service resumed.

Since then I've discovered that in the cold and wet they will simply just stop gripping the moment they hit shiny tarmac. Once you know it's going to happen you can adjust accordingly and be aware of the likely skating about without overreacting and doing something regrettable and you can plot a course that mostly misses the shiny bits. Even in the dry they give up all pretense of grip on tar snakes which is a bit of an arse in spots where they proliferate, such as passing under the Petone Over-bridge, an off-camber right-hand downhill corner when heading North that used to be an easy 100kph (100kph+ actually - tell no official-type people) corner but is now posted at 80kph+poo-in-your-underpants if you have T30Rs attached to your bike.

In the dry and on an easily judged and consistent surface they are fantastic. They steer well without being overly quick with no sensation of either dropping into a turn or pushing back as lean angle increases, both profiles seem to be well matched and braking produces consistent responses at all sorts of lever pressures. They're compliant over bumpy surfaces and they are wearing really well. The dual compound rear is prone to revealing its boundaries when put through a proper heat cycle, with the two different compounds being made obvious by them turning different shades of grey. Commute to work and it returns to a consistent colour across the radius of the tyre.

Getting the tyre pressure right for your riding and the combined weight of the bike and rider is vital, as get it wrong and the front and rear seem to fight each other and the superbly neutral steering becomes lardy. I've settled on 36 front and 38 rear, with rebound set toward the middle and preload maxxed out front and rear. The suspension became compliant and the tyres started working once I made that change. Bear in mind that the Versys has a 160/60 rear so my description of the neutral feel once suspension and pressures are right is probably aided by less effort being needed to steer a smaller rear tyre than the 190 and 200 section behemoths that seem to be standard nowadays (Get Orf My Lawn!).

They were brand new when I bought the bike, so I've gotten used to them as I've gotten used to the Versys. Adequate power, smaller tyres and more torque than one would expect is crammed into the bottom two thirds of the rev range so it's a completely different experience to the XJR, with its excessive weight, flat, monstrous torque "curve" and good handling only limited by a lack of ground clearance. I prefer the Versys to be honest, but I wouldn't buy Bridgestone T30Rs with my own money. I've a couple of months left to wear them out before it starts raining all the time so I can put some Michelin PR4s on it. I understand they deal with a broader range of road conditions. Or so you lot reckon anyway, except that Blackbird fella who reckons the PR3s are better and last longer.

I bought the T30's Jim, was not gifted them. But yes they were not for me, five 'let goes' over two days in both dry and wet conditions, they were coming off.... before I did. I will concede that the one slip in the dry was possibly something on the road.

Sold them to http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/me...p/19728-my_r32

[nzspokes]

I had a T30 fitted to the rear of the ST last week (front Z8 still has a few thousand km on it). I opted to try the T30 after about 4 sets of Z8's to try something different and cheaper and after thinking the 020's were OK, but the 023 were utter crap (soft sidewalls felt squirmy when pushing it in the curves)

Rode up to Waihi on Friday (644km because I couldn't go straight there), did 1630km around the Nth Island on Saturday and Sunday (on a real mix of roads, temperatures (27 - 8 degrees) and conditions (tar melt to wet slick), then another 260km back to Tokaanu on Sunday and 319km to Welly this morning.

I have no complaints so far.

Just to qualify that though. At 300Kg dry (so about 450Kg fueled, loaded and with me) the ST has a lot of momentum and if a bike is going to move sideways on a marginal surface, the ST is likely to do so. I therefore ride with traction at the top of my priority list and I'm very particular about picking lines, riding the rut if there's grit on the hump (or even if I'm unsure of the surface) or riding the hump if the ruts are slick. There's always moments when one doesn't quite totally avoid the slick patches though with a twitch resulting but I had no moments in the 2800+km.

Observations were that the surface of the tyre looked like it had got pretty hot after Friday's ride, but I was just cruising, so that led me to think that it was probably a soft rubber and I wondered if that was why it felt planted and if I was going to get good life from it?

No complaints so far.

I just fitted some Z8s to my bike, what are you thoughts on them?

First ride and Im a little meh on them. At this stage they will come off and go on my Bandit.

[James Deuce]

I bought the T30's Jim, was not gifted them. But yes they were not for me, five 'let goes' over two days in both dry and wet conditions, they were coming off.... before I did. I will concede that the one slip in the dry was possibly something on the road.

Sold them to http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/me...p/19728-my_r32

Ah right - that was around the time there were T30 giveaways going one, so I wrongly assumed you were one of the recipients.