In an effort to see just how much fun you can have on some of the latest big tourers on the market, Fast Bikes Magazine have teamed up with our friends at Bridgestone to put Kawasaki’s Z1000SX, KTM’s 1290 Super Duke GT and the Ducati Supersport S through their paces on both road and track.
The big Austrian super naked was fitted with a set of Bridgestone’s top line Battlax T30 EVO sport touring tyres ahead of the test, renowned for their superb all-round performance and versatility.
In their July 2017 edition, Fast Bikes had this to say:
“You’d be forgiven for thinking that these T30 EVO sports touring tyres just wouldn’t be able to cut it – especially when they were being caned round Oulton on a 173bhp super naked! In reality they were the revelation of the test. As Gary pointed out, tyre companies are under so much pressure to improve their tyres to meet the demands of ever increasing bike performance and customer preferences, they’ve evolved at a remarkable rate.”
Later they went on to state:
“Only in the afternoon when the temperatures got into the high teens and the KTM had been thrashed in every session, did they tyres begin to drop off slightly. Even then they didn’t slide, but just moved around a little to show you they were getting a tad warm. Even so, you didn’t really need to slacken the pace at all.
What they really impressed us with though, was their ability when conditions weren’t perfect. In the morning at Oulton, when air and track temperatures were in single figures they still felt impressively secure. If I’m honest, I wasn’t too surprised at those grip levels as I’ve been running them on the road for a few years. But I’ve not tried them on such a powerful bike on track when it’s been so chilly before. Even on lap one, they felt like they must have been in the warmers!
Better still, when it rained the day after Oulton, finding the grip limits of the rubber was down to bravery. They’re outstandingly good in the wet, underlining just how versatile their performance is. I know if I had some racier rubber fitted to the GT I would only have been faster in the afternoon at Oulton when the temperatures rose quite a bit. Going as hard on cold, wet roads wouldn’t have felt anywhere near as safe.
Neil summed it up best saying; ‘ before this test I had a very cynical approach to sports-touring tyres, thinking they wouldn’t have had good enough grip to cope with riding on track. I’ve been shown this isn’t the case. I can’t believe what they can do!'”
Pick up the current edition of Fast Bikes for the full article!
Available in a wide variety of sizes you can find out more about the Battlax T30 EVO range here.
