Bridgestone Battleax BT-021's anyone?

I noticed at 2700 miles my rear tires is nearing the wear bars. I am going to switch to BT-021's and wondered if anyone else has ran them with good results. I am not a corner carver, I am more concerned with longevity and rain characteristics. I can get them to my door for $244 and will mount them myself.

From now on I plan to use my old tires on my VFR as hand me downs since it's just my commuter now. I run Piliot Powers on it and have well over 2700 miles on the rear and still gobs of tread.

bones said:

I noticed at 2700 miles my rear tires is nearing the wear bars. I am going to switch to BT-021's and wondered if anyone else has ran them with good results. I am not a corner carver, I am more concerned with longevity and rain characteristics. I can get them to my door for $244 and will mount them myself.

From now on I plan to use my old tires on my VFR as hand me downs since it's just my commuter now. I run Piliot Powers on it and have well over 2700 miles on the rear and still gobs of tread.

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I used the BT-056 and got over 5,000 miles on them I to am not a corner carver the BT 014's and he go over 4,500 miles on it I dunno about the 21's but I do like Bridgestone they make good stuff

I don't ride a Bandit but have used Bridgestone tires on several different bikes. The BT-014 is very sticky and was original equipment on my ZX-14. It has a butter soft compond that wears out very quickly, only 2.5K miles for me. The BT-020 (a pretty good compromise between cornering grip and longer treadlife) is more a Sport Touring dual compound tire that lasted me about 7K on an FJR. I also have had good service from Bridgestones G series on my Goldwing. I haven't used the BT-021 but have heard good things about it's longevity, but in my opinion thats usually at the expense of grip. If you do more straight slab running that carving give the BT-021 a try. It might work well for you.

The rear BT 021 is a good tire but from my experience and others on the FJR forum the front is too soft. I went through two fronts to one rear tire.

The BT 021 rear is a dual compound tire but the front is a single soft compound.

I'm movind on to the Pilot road 2s as soon as the come in.

I've always ran BT-020 on my ST1300 and have no complaints. Always get 7500-8000 miles on the rear and little more on the front. I recently bought a set of BT-021 and mounted the front about 2500 miles ago...working great so far. Should mount the rear in ~1000 miles.

The BT-021 rear is a dual compound tire with harder center and softer sides. My expectation is 1000-1500 more miles on the rear than the BT-020???

The BT 21's I used cupped out in the front badly enough that I replaced them before they were actually worn out. They were nice tires and performed well though.

Okay, what other fronts wear well?

My VFR had Conti's (forget which model) on it and they lasted a good while. I was impressed and planned to get them again, but needed a rear ASAP before a ride and ended up with a deal on Pilots at the stealer.

I ran a set on my '04 RT. The ride was very smooth. Quiet. And the front was squirmy to the point I thought maybe something else was wrong! I took it off at 4400 miles and put on a Pirelli Diablo so I could take a long trip. I was afraid it would not last because of the wear patterns. What a difference in the feel of the front, no more squirm. The rear tire was replaced at 6500 miles and would have gone 7500. I had no problems as far as grip or wet traction. I won't be buying any more of them.

I went through three sets of 021's on my ST 1300 and got about 10K+ out of each set. They were noisier than the Storms I'm running now, but they were good in the rain and stuck very well in the twisties.

I was satisfied with the ride of my OEM BT-021s on my Connie 14, but they were at wear bars at 3,000 miles. I am doing a bit better on the Pirelli Stradas I have now, but am putting Avon Storms on this coming weekend (at least the rear as the front has a little life left).

Gapper said:

I was satisfied with the ride of my OEM BT-021s on my Connie 14, but they were at wear bars at 3,000 miles. I am doing a bit better on the Pirelli Stradas I have now, but am putting Avon Storms on this coming weekend (at least the rear as the front has a little life left).

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LOVE the bike choice! I was real close to pulling that trigger, just not in the financial cards for me yet.

I have the BT-020's on my FZ-6 and have been very happy with the handling on dry or wet pavement. Had to replace the rear at about 4000 mi due to a nail but it was far from worn out.

FYI for anybody considering the Storms - check out the Storm thread on the MTF (Motorcycle Tourer's Forum) before you buy. Seems that more than a few riders there are not pleased (bad handling). Bummer, I put a Storm on the front of my Connie (Azario on the rear) but so far I've been pleased.

since many of the comments on this Bridgestone BT-021 thread, are of other tires, with time others may not find it.

suggestion, why not post here, on the tire thread...

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22409

keep in mind, you might simply call your tire by your short nickname,
conti, strom, road, strada, there might be those that have no clue as to what your talking about.

why not post a link to a road test for it, or a manufacturers description,
if i simply said, 'check out the rosso' who would know?
i would think if i added a link http://www.motorcycledaily.com/18december07_pirelli_diablo_rosso.htm then you'd have some idea.

those that add some comment on how they drive, straight freeway touring, track days, canyon carver, help immensely those that are trying to get some impression of your comments "this is a great tire", like great meaning what?

also adding a picture of the tire, when it was at its wear marker limits, speaks volumes.

example, Bridgestone BT-021, 5,300 mi. mostly canyons, no rain use, good sidegrip all the way thru, no cords showing yet.

it may look like i might get a couple hundred more mi out of the michelen pilot road front. it has 3669 mi on it now and has twi showing. current thinking is to replace it with another pilot road, and that should wear out same time as pilot road rear, originally not installed as a set, rear has fewer mi, but looks like it will last longer. maybe then change both to diablo rosso.

Bridgestones are ok, but I'll plug Pirelli's Diablo front and Diablo Strada rear.

They are great tires in the dry. They are great tires in the wet. The Strada rear I just took off my FZ1 lasted 8k. (I normally get about 5k from a Diablo rear.) My Diablo front went 12k. Primarily commuting and trips under 200 miles, but there was one 4k trip in there.

I had Dunlop D218 as original tire...stick very well even cold, never slip the rear but last only 3000 miles.

Changed for the BT-021 front and rear. Front is single and rear dual compound.
What you gain in longevity you lose in traction...for this tire anyway. You need to warm it up a little to get as good traction as the D218. Since in my area there are not too much twisties, i would like a tire that stick right of the first turn like the D218 did. I put 6000 miles on them now and still good for I'd say another 2000 miles on the rear.

Next tire will try the Michelin Pilot Road 2