Today was a new tyre day. A slightly different new tyre day, as this latest set – Bridgestone Battlax T30s – were supplied courtesy of Eurotread, New Zealand’s Bridgestone tyre distributor.
The Battlax T30, according to Bridgestone’s web site, is a brand new model that replaces the Battlax 023. The T stands for touring, not to be confused with S for sport and R for race, under Bridgestone’s new naming convention.
I have never ridden the Battlax 023. I have previously ridden on the 020 and 021 models that preceded it and was so completely underwhelmed by those experiences (OEM on a Kawasaki ZRX1200R, Honda ST1300, Yamaha FJR1300 and Suzuki GSX1250FA) that I never purchased a replacement set nor felt any desire to consider any other Bridgestone tyres.
After today’s fitment of a 120/70 front and a 190/50 rear, there was still enough daylight around and near perfect riding conditions to warrant a wee burst somewhere. So that’s what happened.
Tonight’s excursion was down and back on the Wainuiomata Coast Road – one of my favourite stretches of sealed highway anywhere, particularly as the sun is setting in the west. It’s also a great ride to scrub in a set of tyres, particularly on the Wainuiomata Hill Road section with its reasonably quick although desperately awful series of off-camber corners.
A bit of filtering was needed on the motorway too – a good opportunity for the Cats-Eye Test. This involves assessing how well tyres clump over those reflectorised markers. The clumping was pretty good. Somewhere between ‘not too harsh’ and ‘moderately plush’. So far, so good. Motorway filtering was also a chance to get a general feel for the tyres.
They are a quick turning tyre, with the bike falling into the turn and rolling around the tyres’ curvature. That initially surprised me but I soon got the hang of it. In some corners they felt a bit over-steery at first but a bit of adjustment with the throttle hand soon had that sorted.
Then the Coast Road proper appeared. Nice and clean and dry with no traffic at all or wandering stock. A quick trip was had in both directions. Enough said.
The T30s’ ambitions are more sport focused than touring. Why do I say that? Because the way they roll into and bite in corners encouraged me to adjust my riding lines to accentuate that. I started taking the apexes a bit later than I would usually, letting the bike drop into the turn and then punching the gas on the exit. It was great fun.
So after almost 100km I think I’ve got the new tyres largely sorted, certainly in dry weather riding. This weekend may provide some opportunities to see how they behave in less optimum conditions. I’ll also start experimenting with tyre pressures and see where those end up. According to today’s fitment notes they rolled away with 34psi in the front and 38 in the rear. That’s about 2psi less at both ends than I normally run my tyres, but hey, let’s see what happens.
So far, so good.
**Please read post #9 in this thread for a significant status update**
Many thanks to Eurotread for their generosity. I’ll post further reports as my relationship with the T30s evolves.
Requisite photos follow:
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