Bridgestone T30 GT's - How do you like them?

I posted earlier that my front tire were cupping. I'm not sure if that was the right terminology. Here is a pic of it with 3500 miles on it. I have been very religious with keeping the pressure at 42-43psi.



You can feel a thumping when rolling the bike in the garage. At speed up to 60mph you don't notice it. Above 60 you start to feel a vibration in the grips and above 80 the vibration is felt everywhere. I had the exact same problem with my last 2 sets of 023F's.

mlheck said:

I posted earlier that my front tire were cupping. I'm not sure if that was the right terminology. Here is a pic of it with 3500 miles on it. I have been very religious with keeping the pressure at 42-43psi.

You can feel a thumping when rolling the bike in the garage. At speed up to 60mph you don't notice it. Above 60 you start to feel a vibration in the grips and above 80 the vibration is felt everywhere.

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Wow. That does not look good for only 3500 miles!

I like the T30 GT rear I've been running with a 023 GT front. I put these as new tires on before my west coast trip and took off a perfectly good 023 GT front with 11,xxx miles on it but I wanted both new tires for the trip. To me these are great tires and I'll buy more when these are done. Light neutral steering with excellent wet and dry grip and feedback. The mileage bodes well and they are a great value. Here are mine tonight with 6700 miles. The rear measures 4/32" and started new at 7/32". The front has lost less than 1/32" of the 5/32" new.

Love the way the 023 gt's feel as well but here is my rear at 3500 miles, pretty sure this isn't going the 8k I was getting from the 020's. Front looks new. 42 front and rear every ride. T30's next maybe

dduelin said:

The mileage bodes well...

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That's good to hear. I'd kind of figured I'd get less out of them since the rubber feels a little stickier than the 020s.

--Mark

Blrfl said:

That's good to hear. I'd kind of figured I'd get less out of them since the rubber feels a little stickier than the 020s.

--Mark

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I know what you mean. The new Bridgestones are really sticky and should wear quickly but I got 8500 with maybe a thousand left out of the last 023GT rear and this T30 is going way longer than that.

Thts good news I only have about 200 miles on my T30's but I am very happy with them they feel really good. Love how they handle.

2 new t30's fitted on friday, weights removed and put on balancer, front perfect, rear 5g. (which i didn't fit. so good to hace rims with no weights on when washing the bike.
just 20 mile so far to home, roads wet after a shower so i was being careful. too early to tell, but they're round and black.

I had a set of the T30 GTs put on Saturday. Took the wheels down to the shop and had the tires put on and mounted the wheels back on myslef. So far I really like them, I've only put about 150 miles on them but they are smooth, grip feels good, and they track straight. No pull with hands off the the bars. These are replacing a set of PR3s. The front PR3 had almost 13K on it and was wearing very evenly all the way down to the wear bars with no cupping. They did get a little noisy the last couple K and required a little more effort to get into the curves. The rear had almost 7 K on it and had some cupping issues, maybe another K left in the tire. The cupping could have been caused since my rear shock was on its way out for most of the life of the last two PR3 rear tires. (7K on each before being replace)
Honda replaced my rear shock under warranty so I'm expecting better results out the rear on the T30GT. So far so good, time will tell how they wear. I'm applying for my $40 rebate today, which makes these tires a great buy if they handle and last as well as the PR3s.

I scrubbed my T-30's in Saturday and so far feel they are OK. Feels much better although the last 020's were worn, especially the rear. It was gettin squared off. But then again, I'm now on my 03 1100P instead of my wrecked 91 so anticipate some difference. Time will tell as I'm heading to Big Bend on Wednesday and will be pulling my Lees-ure Lite camping trailer. But once there, the trailer will be set up and we'll carve some roads, maybe the River Road again. Love that road!

well the wear on them doesn't seem to be what I had hoped for but for the price you still can't beat this tire. I can buy 2 rears for less than the price of a rear PR4

I have mixed feelings about these tires after about 1800 miles. This is after using 3 sets of PR2's and 2 sets of PR3's.

Once your leaned into the corner it takes more lean in once you're already leaned into the corner. Like it wants to stand up. Didn't feel this with the Michelins. Was going down a back road and came in hot to a corner and braked hard before the turn and had the rear break loose for an instant. May have been something on the road but didn't see anything. They just don't feel confidence inspiring to me.

Throttlejockey said:

I have mixed feelings about these tires after about 1800 miles. This is after using 3 sets of PR2's and 2 sets of PR3's.

Once your leaned into the corner it takes more lean in once you're already leaned into the corner. Like it wants to stand up. Didn't feel this with the Michelins. Was going down a back road and came in hot to a corner and braked hard before the turn and had the rear break loose for an instant. May have been something on the road but didn't see anything. They just don't feel confidence inspiring to me.

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I'm just the opposite. While Michelins never want for grip they are vague at tip-in and require subsequent corrections to hold my chosen line. The Bridgestones are lighter steering and while allowing small corrections to line don't require them. The best handling combo I had with Michelins was a 3 front and a 2 rear. When the 2s became hard to find there was no reason to go back to Michelin.

I Have them on for a couple thousand miles now and they really do seem to be a stellar fit for the ST1300. Stiff wall makes the handle bumps better, turn in is so pleasant and confidant inspiring, rode in some good down pours and excellent handling of the rain. I am really aggressive in the twisties and love the way they take them. No head shake at all and quieter then the others. I would say, if not the best , at least one of the best tires out there for the ST. Previous tires, Avons, Michelin P3's, Metzler Z6 and Z6 Interact.

Oh, forgot to mention...Price is GREAT!

Only thing left is to see how they wear over time.

I'm at 10,500 miles on the rear T30 with maybe a 1,000 left in it. It wore very well, stayed in balance, nothing but good. 6500 of these miles were FL to CA and back. The tire didn't even square off with all of those slab miles on it.

I'll probably rotate this T30 mounted wheel for the other one that has a 2,500 mile BT023 on it and wear that one out before buying another T30 set.

Well it looks like next week my T30 will be replaced. I have somewhere north of 12K on it and yes it's down to second layer rubber in the center. Most of my commute is straight. The T30 definitely handles better then the BT 023. Very nice in the corners and wet weather traction was always rock solid. I will say the BT 023 lasted longer so on that note I wish I would have gotten more miles out of it. However looking through the comments I guess getting north of 12K miles on it I should be happy. I will say my last BT 023 lasted many more miles. I got like 20K on the last BT 023. Maybe that was a fluke I don't know, but even with the mileage difference if I could find a 023 I would be torn as to which one to get due to the much better cornering of the T30. All in all the T30 seems like a good tire for the price. The bike is definitely impervious to tar snakes with it on.

I like the T30's but I don't get anywhere near the mileage you guys are getting.

1dragon said:

I got like 20K on the last BT 023

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I don't understand how you can get mileage like that,I got around 7000 from the BT023's, have around 6000 on the T30's now and the rear is almost gone.front is a GT version T30 and will last out another rear tyre.

broc11 said:

I don't understand how you can get mileage like that,I got around 7000 from the BT023's, have around 6000 on the T30's now and the rear is almost gone.front is a GT version T30 and will last out another rear tyre.

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I am in the exact same situation I get twice the wear on the front as the rear using the T30 GT on front and rear got maybe 6-7k outof the rear.

broc11 said:

I don't understand how you can get mileage like that,I got around 7000 from the BT023's, have around 6000 on the T30's now and the rear is almost gone.front is a GT version T30 and will last out another rear tyre.

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They must be easy on the throttle and have nice smooth pavement. My T30 rear tire is shot the sides of the rear tire just shredded off and the center still has a little rubber left. My front looks new. Time for me to head back to the Darkside.