I agree Mark, however Bridgestone should specify the 021 as NOT suitable for the ST1300.
That isn't how it works. Bridgestone (and everybody else who makes tires) has a fitment guide that lists what tires are recommended for what motorcycles.
It's not really that the tire is unsuitable for the 1300 in the sense that it causes a dangerous riding situation, they just don't give the same 10,000+ miles most of us are getting out of our 020Fs.
Mine was fitted by a local mechanic / shop following the "020 update" buzz and an alleged phone call to a Honda dealer. "These are the new 020 replacements", he told me.
Technically, he's right, because the 021 did replace the 020. The OEM tires on the 1300 are the BT020
F, which are still in production and are still the tires Bridgestone recommend. So the bottom line is that your mechanic and/or the Honda dealer didn't check the fitment guide and guessed wrong.
Now, when it comes to the 1100, it gets interesting. For the non-ABS, they list the Exedra G547/G548 (which was the OE tire), but for the ABS they list the BT021. If the 021 wears as poorly on the 1100 as some have reported, then that is Bridgestone's
faux pas. Honestly, though, I think they probably list tires that are safe to use and get
reasonable wear as acceptable. To put this into perspective, a lot of sport bike riders get 5-6K out of a set of tires, which makes Flemming's 8,500 look pretty good. It's just hard to put a tire with a soft, sticky compound on a heavy, powerful bike and expect to get 12K out of it.
--Mark