We’ve already given you plenty of detail about the new Bridgestone Battlecruise tyre, aimed at American V-Twin owners.
Reviews are now starting to flood in from the official launch, which recently took place in Florida as journalists from around the world got to put them through their paces on a range of Harley-Davidson and Indian machines.
The popular Bike Social website sent their man Phil West to Orlando to find out:
“Being a larger chap and wanting to sample Bridgestone’s new tyre on a machine resembling the best sellers in the category, I chose the Softail Slim first – effectively a narrow rear-tyred version of the popular, retro-styled Fat Boy. And despite the undramatic nature of the roads I was immediately impressed. Admittedly, in the space of an afternoon’s ride, we were never likely to find out much about the new Bridgestone’s claimed improved durability. But what was conspicuous immediately was its light and precise steering, something you’d never normally associate with a long, low and heavy cruiser.
Better still, once we finally hit a section of sweeping S-bends deep in the mid-Florida Everglades, the newcomers’ impressive grip – well, at least for a cruiser tyre – became apparent as well. The Harley could easily and happily be thrown right on its side, or at least until its footboards touched down, creating a shower or sparks all the way round the turn for as long as you liked. Now, I know this isn’t the usual barometer of a motorcycle tyre’s grip and it’s also true that, with a little bit of bravado, most footboard-equipped Hogs can be persuaded into such antics pretty much whatever tyres they’re wearing (normal H-D OE tyres, by the way, are fairly uninspiring Harley-Davidson-branded Dunlops), but it was startlingly easy on the new Bridgestones – and great fun too!
The same was just as true when I switched to one of the Indian Scouts. Compared to the big Softail, the Scout’s a genuine roadster that bears comparison, in terms of its dynamics and all-round prowess, to not just cruisers but even bikes as sporty as Ducati’s Monster or BMW’s R1200R.
It’s also worth mentioning here that the Scout’s OE tyre is currently a fairly cheap and uninspiring Kendra and is one of the few areas of criticism on the stock machine. So the revelation that the Scout was positively transformed by the new Bridgestones probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. While stability and comfort was barely changed, when manouvring in confined spaces such as a car park it was noticeably more nimble and easier to manage while at speed through the few turns we could find it was at once quick to steer, light on its wheels and lively but at the same time completely reassuring grip-wise. Simply, the new H50s made an already good bike into a far better one.”
You can find out more about the design of the new tyre which will arrive early next year here.
