[Atlas_Aus]

Hi All,


Thought I would share my recent experience with Bridgestone Battlax T32 GT

Firstly, I was on my last day ride before a big trip next week I have planned, and 10 mins from home tried to turn right on a roundabout and the bike wanted to go straight.... Hmmmm

Sure enough, flat rear, I mean FLAT ! My mate helped me put it on the centre stand and I proceeded to hook up the air compressor so I could find the hole and plug it. It would not inflate. Not a good sign. Unhook and spin the wheel.... It's not a hole, it's a Canyon. No fixing that. Fortunately, another mate has a van and 10 mins later it's loaded and on the way home.

Now at this stage I am very annoyed. A few reasons, I knew there was no fixing it, and thought it was a manufacturing fault, and that I had only a few thousand kilometres on it. I would be wrong about 2 of these reasons

After calming down I decided to work out how far I had actually done, as I had only bought them last December.... I conveniently forgot the 2 x 2 week trips I had done.... All 2 up and fully loaded.

In actual fact, I had done 10,300 Kms on them !!! I could not believe it. I was happy with that. On further inspection I don’t think they would have lasted the next trip, so I guess the puncture was a blessing in disguise.

Not sure about where you are, but getting tyres here in Thailand has become harder and harder and brand choice, waiting times really gave me no choice and went again with the Battlax.

OK, my thoughts.

I don’t ride hard, and if for some reason my peg hits the ground it was by accident, not on purpose ! I have always ridden with my panniers and top box and the only difference is when I add the GF. Of course, when we go on trips we take extra stuff. So, at no time would say the bike is running light.

I have found these tires to be really good, compared to my BMW and the Ange GTs, they are like chalk and cheese. Always feel safe, planted and we have some heavy rain here, and never felt unsafe.

Clearly, they have a long life (anything over 7000 KMs is ok by me) and until this event, puncture free.

When I had the tyres changed, we found the cause, a piece of flat metal, how it managed to pierce the tyre I have no clue, amazing. Even after 10,000 Kms they still felt good, hence why I really had no thought to change them before the trip.

I am happy with the choice and hopefully have more good experiences this time around. If you are after some tyres, you could do much worse than these.

 

[sparky80]

Great review on a wonderful tire. I'm not sure why many folks dislike them so much. I'm drinking the Bridgestone kool-aid and run their tires on both my bikes and any bike I own. I'm about 6k miles in on my T32GT's and they're fantastic. Never any issue with them and you'll be VERY hard pressed to find a cheaper tire here in the US, especially with their bi-annual $50 mail-in rebates.

 

[Rumblestrip]

IMO, the negative opinions for B'Stone stems from how bad the OEM tires were that came on the FJR.
So as folks didn't have a good experience with them, their thought process is that ALL 'Stones are poo.
Similar to my dislike of Michelin tires.
I've ran T31 and 32 so far and they are good shoes for the FJR, again IMO.

 

[Dale I]

I'm finishing up a set of T31 GT and have a fresh set of T32 GT ready to on in the next 1000 mile or so. Very impressed with these tires.

 

[mikester]

I'm happy with my T32 GT's so far. I put 190's on the rear. Didn't seem to fix the speedo issue though, still seem to be 7kph over.

 

[JohnC]

Mike, 7 kph over is a bit much to fix with a 190 tire. OTOH, a 190 tire will just about put a US spec FJR spot on. With stock tires, my FJR is about 1 - 2 mph (1.5 to about 3 km) optimistic at 60 mph (100 km) as measured with a GPS.

Apparently, we have less speedo errors built in than you people Up North.

IMO, the negative opinions for B'Stone stems from how bad the OEM tires were that came on the FJR.
So as folks didn't have a good experience with them, their thought process is that ALL 'Stones are poo.
Similar to my dislike of Michelin tires.
I've ran T31 and 32 so far and they are good shoes for the FJR, again IMO.

Agreed. I still had over 50% of tire life left when I changed out the stock BT023s for T30s in 2014. I would characterize the BT023s charitably as a bit better than abysmal.

 

[Damir]

ready for the season

 

[Damir]

If you did 10,300 Kms

I'm guessing this guy I saw, must be pushing 15,300 Km on his Michelin's

 

[Whooshka]

Not sure if he has a death wish or no brain.

 

[Barsinister]

Apparently going around the world to the right.^^

I haven't tried Bridgestones since the ZRX was new and came with them. I hated those tires.

Might have to give them another look when the FJR needs new shoes.

 

[Damir]

Looks like he spends a lot of time on an Oval race track

 

[DMoney]

Hi All - interesting tire info. I have BT45's on my 1982 CB900F super sport which I do like. I also have a set of just purchased Dunlop Roadsmart IV's on my 2009 FJR1300A. I was a Metzler fan for many years on the 900 but had read some great reviews on the BT45's so I bought them. I don't ride it alot but they do seem to hold the road well. I had the Pilot Road 5 on the FJR but they cupped really badly on the front - apparently I ride it too hard? The rear was just beginning to cup but still had good tread depth. I was kinda frustrated with the wear on the Road 5 so I switched. Only got about 5k miles.

I'm going to pay cloaser attention to track total miles on these Dunlops to see how they go but they do seem to be quite sticky. I will say that everyone purshed the 5's because they were GREAT rain tires..........I am not a fan of riding in the rain unless it is necessary so it was probably not the best purchase for me.