Following our recent trip to Morocco, thanks to the start of the biking season, we’ve had little opportunity to put together an in depth review of the tyres we were lucky enough to test with Bridgestone.
Last week we published Shaun’s review of the new Battlax A41 Adventure.
This week it’s the turn of Operations Manager Owen, who gives his thoughts on the new Battlax T31 sport touring tyres:
“Shaun and I were invited, along with a number of our dealers to join Bridgestone at the launch of their flagship #BattlaxA41 Adventure and #BattlaxT31 Sport-Touring tyres at Ouarzazate in Morocco.
Having spent the Wednesday traveling, Bridgestone presented us with a very informative technical briefing on both products and then assigned us our riding groups.
Thursday saw us out on the A41 adventure tyre and as Shaun as stated in his review, we had the opportunity to put the tyres through their paces on some of the most spectacular roads I’ve ever seen. I must say, as a sport touring bike rider I was very impressed at how these tyres handled.
Friday was time to try the T31 Sport Touring tyre on a 350 kilometre ride. This put me back in my comfort zone with numerous bike options from a Kawasaki Z650, Versys 650 & 1000, BMW S100 XR, MT07, MultiStrada to FJR1300.
I initially chose to take the Z650 out as I ride a Thundercat equipped with one of the T31’s predecessors, and thought it would be a good opportunity to make a fair comparison.
The morning started with all the bikes lined up in the shade outside the hotel. As we made our way through the busy streets in Ouarzazate it became clear very quickly how well these tyres would handle quick, sudden changes in direction as we made our way through the chaotic morning traffic.
Within five miles, we found ourselves leaving the city and heading in to the country. By this time the tyres had well and truly warmed up. The initial 80 kilometres of the day took us out along some very straight roads with huge sweeping bends. The high speed stability and shock absorption of the tyres was impeccable even on the varied road conditions we came across – old and fresh tarmac, concrete and gravelled sections. Even handling the odd side swipe from the powerful, unexpected cross winds.
As the day progressed we climbed further into the mountains and the ride became more and more technical with constant changes in direction and hard acceleration followed by severe braking into miles of switch-backs. At no point throughout this ride did the tyres feel anything less than planted, even when I got off line slightly and hit a big patch of dry, loose sand on fresh tarmac.
I tried out two A41- equipped machines on the Thursday and three bikes fitted with the T31s on the Friday and I can honestly say that I was more than impressed with both tyres. In comparison to my BT-023s, which maybe a little unfair as they are two generations older than the T31, the new tyre felt more stable and gave me greater confidence thanks to their feedback.
The only aspect we couldn’t judge is the claimed increase in wet weather performance, but I for one wasn’t complaining, especially riding in temperatures in excess 25 degrees on spectacular roads with the Atlas Mountains as the back drop.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all everyone at Bridgestone for making this one of the best launches yet, and Cambrian Tyres for letting me out of the office.”
You can find out more about the new Battlax T31 here.
