Bridgestone Battlax BT45 130/70-18

I acknowledge everyone's different riding style, but I commonly get 10K out of a front tire, almost twice what I get from a rear. I doubt the BT45 could be as sticky in the rain as a Metzler, Conti, or Michelin, Avon, etc. I don't need to save a few $$ on a less sticky tire. I got 8K from my rear Metzler Z6 and thought I'd gone to heaven. Point is, if I even lose one day's pay to a road accident, I've paid for a set of tires. I'll have mine rubber side down, please.

This tire has never had a traction problem, and I ride hard, and in all weather. Even so, I think this is most beneficial to long distance tourers.

Since going to the Darkside, I've saved over $900 in tires in a little over a year, or more than enough to pay for my new Roadcrafter. I've saved almost $300 on front tires this year alone. I'm happy.

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STreaker said:

I doubt the BT45 could be as sticky in the rain as a Metzler, Conti, or Michelin, Avon, etc. I.

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Before purchasing my first ST, I ran BT45's on my Suzuki GS 850 (front and rear). I rode the crap out of that bike in both heat and heavy rain, and the tires never missed a beat.

STreaker said:

I acknowledge everyone's different riding style, but I commonly get 10K out of a front tire, almost twice what I get from a rear. I doubt the BT45 could be as sticky in the rain as a Metzler, Conti, or Michelin, Avon, etc. I don't need to save a few $$ on a less sticky tire. I got 8K from my rear Metzler Z6 and thought I'd gone to heaven. Point is, if I even lose one day's pay to a road accident, I've paid for a set of tires. I'll have mine rubber side down, please.

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The tire doesn't necessarily last more mile because it has harder rubber, it's got deeper tread. Your conclusion might be all wet...

Raymond

MILEAGE UPDATE:

I am about finished riding for the year so I thought I'd update this thread. I currently have 13,505 miles on this front tire. Hard to tell it has any miles on it other than some slight cupping. I have been running 40-42psi in it since it was mounted. I still like it very much. I can't tell that the cupping is there when riding only when I look at it or feel it with my hand. However, if I move it in the garage by walking beside it I can really feel a ripple like driving over a piece of corrugated tin. I'd be afarid to guess how many miles this thing might last me. With 13,000+ on it and still looking new it might dry rot before it wears out.

My BT_45 now has over 15,000 miles on it. The center has a ton of rubber left but the sides are cupped pretty good, still no reason to replace it yet



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You can tell who rides gently and who doesn't. My front looked closer to Mike's. I was very happy with my nearly 23k miles it lasted. I think Dinkie will easily see 30k+ miles.

I am running the BT45 on the front of my wing, same as Jammaman and Bdonald. Have had no traction issues, even dragging the pegs on wet pavement pulling a trailer! Running dark on the rear also. Have about 14K on it so far with a little "feathering" I call it. Running it in the forward rotation. When Bev and I were in Canada with it back in September, we rode in the rain all day between Montreal and Niagara Falls... running around 70mph on the interstate with some tar snakes, raining a moderate amount... not quite a down pour, but not gentle rain either. The front tire held steady when not on the tar snakes. The tire squirmed from lost traction when on the long mostly straight tar snakes, but I just held minor pressure on the front, and the bike did great. Just my two cents worth.

nhdiesel said:

You can tell who rides gently and who doesn't. My front looked closer to Mike's. I was very happy with my nearly 23k miles it lasted. I think Dinkie will easily see 30k+ miles.

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That is what those straight roads will do to your tires!

18,000 out of my BT45 tire. The center had a ton of rubber left but the sides were toast.

Must be all that interstate driving Uncle Larry and me do!

I replaced mine with another BT45 tire.

I'm running a BT-45 rear on the front wheel of lipSTick. It has many miles (14,000 or so) and is showing wear on the left side. I'm running it with the arrow forward, thinking of unmounting and running backwards to even out the wear.

(I expect to hear NOOOoooooooooo from myriad pessimists. )

You won't hear that from me. There's only one way you got as far as you did and it's things like thinking about switching your tire around to get the most out of it. I have 10,500 on my rear front, I'll get a picture here soon.

Ordered a BT45 for the front tonight, would love to get one for the rear but couldn't find one in the right size, any advice?
I've given a lot of thought to the DS option, but I'd like to go through a set of MC tires on this bike before going dark.

It looks like DS will be the only thing that will approach the mileage of the BT45 on front. I don't have a lot of time for maintenance so it would be great if they'd both be at end-of-life at around the same time so I could change them both in the same session.

EA6BMECH said:

o do you all make a call on a tire if it looks good, get great mileage, but now that tire is approaching 4-5yo?

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Not unless it's cracking, but I usually wear out a bike tire ong before either of those two scenarios occur.. Pops has 20yr old tires on his trailer, they still look fine, hold air and a load.

W7AX said:

I have used these tires on the front of my Goldwing trike. They worked well but the tire of choice for the Goldwing trike is the Michelin Activ Pilot mounted backwards rotation. I have 27k on it now and it's about 50% right now. I believe if I were going to go this route on the ST1300 it would likely be the Michelin Pilot Activ. I think you would get some serious mileage out of it.

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Thats the tire I was going to ask about and now will get one for my st1100

LipSTick had an Activ rear on the front when she lost her final battle last year. It was doing great, matched with a correct size Commander II in the rear. Still waiting for someone to try that tire in 160/70_17 size on a 1300.

Mounted the BT45 today, used the zip tie method and a lot of grunting. Have new bearings and seals to install also. Thought I could figure out a way to drive the old bearings out, I was wrong. Ordered a bearing puller kit today... Once I swap out the bearings, will try my hand at balancing. Think I will pay to have this done next time, just wanted to prove I could do it myself once. Took me most of a morning to get the damn bead loose on the old tire, ended up using a small hydraulic jack under the rear axle of my pickup to press the bead loose. Will update once I get it mounted and put a few miles on it.

In this thread The Shadow knows of using a C-clamp and blocks of wood to break the bead. Should you want to prove to yourself that this time wasn't a fluke this might be easier and quicker than using the ol' F-150 or RAM.