Bridgestone Battlax BT45 130/70-18

Actually, if ya place two cards 45? apart on the spokes and keep the wheel revolutions below 3000 RPM, they should sound quite a bit like a Harley. Oh, and tape a megaphone to each of them for that deep rumble.

George said:

Is your bike ABS II? If yes, yur okay with the 130/70. If standard or ABS I, the front rim is a .5" narrower, larger than 110/80 not recommended.

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You know, I did wonder, I have a '91 Standard. I was measuring off of the OE Metzler on each side of tire and the remaining distance wasn't giving enough clearance for a 5" tire near the fender nuts.

George said:

Actually, if ya place two cards 45? apart on the spokes and keep the wheel revolutions below 3000 RPM, they should sound quite a bit like a Harley. Oh, and tape a megaphone to each of them for that deep rumble.

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I prefer to be able to have a normal level conversation next to my bike if it's running.

What kind of tire mileage are any of you guys getting who are running the BT45 on the rear?

I'm now double darkside with gytt and bt45130-70-18--only have about one hundred miles on the bt 45 so far so good---BT 45 was the easiest to mount. SteveR

I just put BT-45's on my KLX. The rear I used was a 140/70 but it looks like a good tire for the front of the ST. So far I like it on the KLX.

I question if the 140/70 would fit under the fender brace on front of our bikes, the 130/70 is a pretty tight fit.

I took a chance last Thursday- my BT45 had almost 16k miles on it, and although lots of tread left, it had some pretty good cupping going on. If it was any other front tire, I wouldn't have taken a chance on a 2700 mile trip since it might start wearing quickly at any time. I crossed my fingers and left for Wisconsin. I checked the tire at every gas stop, wondering whether the cupping would get worse from the hard miles and heat, or if the smooth roads would help smooth it back out. Well by the time I got to Wisconsin some of the cupping had worn out of it, making it smoother than when I left home. Still plenty of tread left, so when I headed home I never gave it a second thought. Well here I am at home, with over 18k miles on the BT45, and looking at it, I know it would hit 25k if I could keep it on decent roads. Now to see how much longer I can get on our local roads.

It WILL get replaced with another BT45 when the time comes.

Edit: Photos of the aprox. 18,300 mile BT45 (with hard abuse):

That's amazing!

It looks like the trip home got rid of the rest of the cupping for you Jim.
We didn't get our picture did we. Your 'crafter is too clean to be seen next to mine any way. :

It could have been a before & after pic...LOL. Mine is getting a nice patina after 2740 miles to break it in.

There is still some cupping left but its much better. I know a bt45 used on decent roads by a less aggressive rider would easily last 30k. I'm planning a bbg and will probably leave it on for that. I bet it sees 25k.

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George said:

I question if the 140/70 would fit under the fender brace on front of our bikes, the 130/70 is a pretty tight fit.

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I geuss my phraseology was off. I meant the tire looks good, just not in that size.

Well just to play it safe I changed out my BT45 Friday evening. I had a new BT45 sitting here for a couple weeks but was trying to get the most out of my old tire, but once I decided to do the BBG this weekend, I wanted a new front tire. I think the old tire would have handled it, but it was getting a bit too much bar buzz due to the cupping, and I would have had a bit more stress from being concerned about the tire. In all the old tire lasted almost 23k miles (over 25k on the bike this season now...need to update my miles!) which more than makes me happy. I still strongly believe this tire, used on better roads and by a less aggressive rider, would have lasted 30k+ miles.

FWIW, just to experiment, I installed the new tire the "correct" direction (last one was mounted backwards). I noticed no difference in how it handled, time will tell how it wears.

That's some good news, Jim. A tire that last 23K is pretty darn good. Thanks for trying the opposite direction. That will give us some idea if we can expect any difference.

I'm running backwards too and it has worked well. Had a slip in a curve in the rain last W.E. but I would have to go back and look at the concrete to see if it were real smooth/polished before I could fault the tire.

Glad I saw this,,, I need to order a set this week and was going to order the 020's OEM front and rear.
But now you have me thinking about this for the front.
Question though,,, with the BT45 being a bias and the 020s being radial,,, does anybody notice anything strange mixing the two types? Or is everybody running something other than the 020 on the back?
Also would be interested in wet handling comments.
Sounds like a helluva tire mileage-wise!
Thanks!

fnmag said:

:ds1:

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EVERYbody???

I have the BT-45 on front, mounted in forward direction,,, paired with the new Michelin Commander in STock size at the rear,,, handles a charm with over 2000 miles on the rear and ~6000 on the front. No problem in the wet, except the rear let go just a little on a damp local street the other day under hard acceleration,,, TCS kicked in a kept it all sane. No limits to the lean angles.

fnmag said:

:ds1:

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Most running the bt45 are. I ran mine in all weather conditions - rain, snow, and dry. I push it in corners (see avatar pic) and never had a problem. My tires see abuse- very rough roads, a fair amount of dirt, and hard riding. I'm sticking to the bt35 because it works well and holds up to the abuse.

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I should add, the first 4000 on my BT-45 were paired with a Federal Formosa car tar thru some of the best twisties available in the North West.