Bridgestone BT002R street compound

[Morepower]

Had one of these on the rear for the Taupo / Frosty trackday held yesterday at Taupo. It replaced a Diablo Corsa (that lasted 3 track days and a couple of Road miles ) and I was still running a Diablo Corsa front. The TL is quite hard on rear Tyres and I was getting some strange wear patterns on the Diablo.
Back to the 002 , it was an excellent tyre on the day with a quick warm up and plenty of grip for me , only had one slight slide through the hairpin when it was getting misty and I got the gas on a bit too early.
Wear so far is even with nothing unusual going on and you cant ask for more than that , seemed to work Ok with the miss matched front as well .
I dont go realy hard but there was enough confidence for me to have to ride with toes on the pegs to help stop wearing through the boots.
Surprisingly they seemed to survive the day better than I think BT014s would have.
Will be interesting how it goes in the wet ( where the Corsas and 014s are great)

Dave

[Toast]

I used a set of 002 Streets at the VMCC Round 2. I went for road tyres 'cos I'd heard about how freezing cold it is down there, and because I couldn't be arsed playing a guessing game with wets, so wanted something I could use with some consistency whatever the weather.

I am so impressed with these tyres.

Life: After 200 laps over the test day and race day at Manfeild, they've held up really well. The right side of the rear looks pretty ragged after the punishment of accelerating over rough tarmac, but there's still a decent amount of tread left, and I'll be using them for the next test day and VMCC round, too.

Performance: On a day when there was a huge number of crashes, I didn't have any undue scares. I had the rear spin up a few times exiting turn 1 on the test day, but when it did, it was very smooth and controlled, and gave great feedback. The front tyre gives especially good feedback, and I had a lot more confidence in the front end than with other tyres I've used. By the end of the weekend's riding, I felt that these tyres had a lot more ultimate grip to give than I was getting out of them.

Warm up time is amazingly quick, and I was confident even on the first warm-up lap after waiting in the pits for someone to pick their bike up. Surprisingly the tyres never seemed to over-heat the whole day, after any number of laps, which is a problem that I've had with other 'fast road tyres' that have quick warm up times.

Presumably due to the steep profile of the front tyre, straight line stability under acceleration is not as good as with some other tyres I've used (especially the Michelin Power Race and Pilot Power). To be fair though, this is compounded by the fact that my race bike doesn't have a steering damper. This is not a characteristic that really worries me though, and I'd rather have the extra side grip afforded by the steep profile. Stability under braking is great.

I was too tired to go out in the wet session at the end of the test day, so can't comment on wet weather performance. I believe that it will be good though, which I base mostly on the good heat retention of this tyre. I have heard from the importer that they're pretty good in the wet, too. Can't wait to try it for myself.

Can't say much more about them: Great feedback, great grip, lasts well, warms up fast, doesn't over-heat. Should be the perfect tyre for anyone wanting to go hard at the track or on their favourite bit of road.