187132
RAINEY
I've seen a lot of negative post about the Battlax BT021 ST tires on this forum and some others. However I have seen negative post about almost any tire except the newer ones that haven't been out all that long. I was almost ready to pull my BT021's at 1300 miles due to all the negative responses about "Tar Snakes" and tread life.
From talking to many local riders it seems that all tires react terribly to tar snakes. Maybe some seem better based on ambient temp, the size (depth and width) of the tar snake itself.
Now tar snakes aside I had a really great experience with the BT021's at a Track Day on Monday. I was riding my 2012 R1200RT which had 1450 miles on it at the start of the day. I dropped my air pressure down to 29/30 to soften them up a little and build more heat for the track. The air temp was 48 degrees when we started the day and the track was cold. After about 1 lap the tires warmed up nicely and the bike handled very well through a series of tight and sweeping turns. There was 1 nice long straightaway but the rest of the track was twisty. They was even an interesting off camber left that was cool to ride through. I used the tires right up to the outside edge of the tire and they hooked up very well. The only time it got a little loose was on the second lap of the day when I got over on the side and onto tire surface that has never touched asphalt. After that I always had a positive feel.
This is not a thread jocking the BT021's but to let people know if you have them don't over react like I did thinking their junk tires even when new so you don't waste money buying something else because of what you read on a forum. Remember I was one of those people wanting to get them off. Now I trust my tires and my Rt even more. If you ever get a chance to do a track day I highly recommend it. It is not a race. It is a nice training and good time to learn new riding skills on a safe environment without cars, trees and telephone poles.
I have been riding for over 20 years and learned so much by doing the Track Day. I realized that there was a lot oeft of my RT that I wasn't even using.
From talking to many local riders it seems that all tires react terribly to tar snakes. Maybe some seem better based on ambient temp, the size (depth and width) of the tar snake itself.
Now tar snakes aside I had a really great experience with the BT021's at a Track Day on Monday. I was riding my 2012 R1200RT which had 1450 miles on it at the start of the day. I dropped my air pressure down to 29/30 to soften them up a little and build more heat for the track. The air temp was 48 degrees when we started the day and the track was cold. After about 1 lap the tires warmed up nicely and the bike handled very well through a series of tight and sweeping turns. There was 1 nice long straightaway but the rest of the track was twisty. They was even an interesting off camber left that was cool to ride through. I used the tires right up to the outside edge of the tire and they hooked up very well. The only time it got a little loose was on the second lap of the day when I got over on the side and onto tire surface that has never touched asphalt. After that I always had a positive feel.
This is not a thread jocking the BT021's but to let people know if you have them don't over react like I did thinking their junk tires even when new so you don't waste money buying something else because of what you read on a forum. Remember I was one of those people wanting to get them off. Now I trust my tires and my Rt even more. If you ever get a chance to do a track day I highly recommend it. It is not a race. It is a nice training and good time to learn new riding skills on a safe environment without cars, trees and telephone poles.
I have been riding for over 20 years and learned so much by doing the Track Day. I realized that there was a lot oeft of my RT that I wasn't even using.
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