After attending the recent world launch of the new Battlax T30 EVO in Portugal, Senior Road Tester Michael Neeves of Motorcycle News gave his thoughts on the upgraded Bridgestone sport touring rubber in their May 6th tyre feature:
“Although it was pleasant to ride in dry, warm conditions, we weren’t able to test Bridgestone’s claim of improved wet weather performance, which is the main difference between this and the out-going T30.
But Bridgestone claims the T30 Evo laps their handling track 9% quicker than the T30 and stops 9% sooner from 18mph.
So this is more of a chance to be wowed again by the Bridgestone’s behaviour in the dry. Spending some of my summers instructing at the Honda Ron Haslam Race School, I have a lot of experience with the current T30. They’re used on all the school’s CBR600RRs and Fireblades and on the instructor’s bikes. They’re perfect for the race school environment, as you can use them regardless of whether it’s hot, cold, wet, greasy or dry. Their dry grip on track is impressive for a tyre you can use for touring, as are their sporty steering characteristics.
It’s no surprise that here on the road we don’t have any problems with the new T30 Evos. They warm up faster than a sports tyre, there’s lots of front grip when trailing the brakes into corners, and no complaint from the rear when you’re hard on the throttle either. Stability is excellent, too.
Like most Bridgestones, the T30 Evos don’t feel as ‘dug in’ to the corner as some of its rivals, so you have to trust there’s grip there, rather than feel for it. Ride quality isn’t bad, either, but the tyre construction is relatively stiff, which gives the T30 Evos a harsher feel than a Michelin Pilot Road 4, Pirelli Angel GT or Metzeler Roadtec Z8.
We’ll be fitting a set of T30 Evos to an MCN long term test bike this year to test durability, but we’ve seen the older T30s return 6000 miles from the rear, with the front barely worn.”
Check out the full range of Battlax T30 and Battlax T30 EVO sizes, all available to the UK trade at the best possible prices from Cambrian Tyres!
