Friday, March 4, 2011

Dressing new shoes (15300 kms)

Today finally changed the front & back wheels at 15.300 kms. The bike was still on the original Bridgestone Battlewings that came from the factory. For the city and highway speed riding style I normally do, they had a long duration cycle, although the back wheel had already past legal standards. The middle of it was completely slick, still with good grip, but dangerous in a big rain. The front could've lasted a couple of kms more, but just a few.

Back wheel


Front wheel



Impressions: I really don't know how to test tires, so I can only compare them with my sensations on the Honda Transalp which always rode on the now discontinued Michelin TX66. Onroad acceleration and braking is very stable, with the tire always following the line you wish to go on. Believe duration is slightly less as the transalphad 20m kms in-between swaps, however the engine was less powerful the. The BMW. Curving is where I recall feeling more confident with the Michelin, as the battlewings seem to give a couple of scares.

So, after investigating on the Internet, found the following wheels suitable for my bike & use (90 to 95% Tarmac with some non serious off road for the fun of it):

Bridgestone Battlewings
Michelin Anakee
Pirelli scorpion trail
Continental TrailAttack
Dunlop

At the end of the day, Decided the Michelin just because I have good recollection of the tx66s. internet has tons of Magazine & consumer reviews with completely different results and opinions, from stating each tire is crap to the best thing possible. Believe it's pretty difficult to analyze a tire, and more isolating only the effect of the tire vs. Bike and road conditions


Here are the brand new tires already on the bike.









have to test them :-)

Location:Madrid, spain