Bridgestone Battlax BT023

First I will say that motorcycle tyres are a very personal thing. What one rider raves about another will describe as utter rubbish (being polite).

I have had a set of Bridgestone Battlax 023 tyres on an R1200RT and a Triumph T312 Trophy. Neither bike is a fire breathing dragon, sporting 110hp and 105hp respectively. On both bikes the tyres were used until the tread reached the 2mm wear point and then replaced - with another brand.

Grip is good. It has to be said that they grip well in the wet and dry and that I never experienced any unpleasant moments in the time they were fitted to both bikes.

Longevity? Well that's a different story. The BMW lunched its rear 023 in 6000 miles and the Trophy in under 5000 miles. That may be a lot compared to sports bikes but as a somewhat pedestrian rider on two very different tourers it's nothing to write home about. The biggest gripe I had was the speed at which the tyres squared off. It was noticeable by the time the tyres had covered 3000 miles and long before they reached replacement time the effect of falling over the shoulder of the squared off edge was very noticeable. I have generally had better life from other brands of tyre with 8000 miles being the average lifespan on a tourer.

The front did quite well on the BMW RT, lasting some 12000 miles by which time it had very noticeable flat edges that affected the handling quite badly. As a comparison, I have had 14000 miles from a Continental Road Attack ( On a BMW R1150RT ) before it got as bad.

Overall, it's an OK tyre but given they were noticeably more expensive than alternative brands and that the lifespan was less than stellar, I have to say Bridgestone 'could do better'.