My A3's lasted 3,000 miles before they squared off and started to feel squirrely on hard riding. I like them when they are fresh, but I guess I tend to push the bike hard on tarmac. I have never had an issue with the A3's, but the noise - it drove me mad, even with earplugs. I tried the Trailriders on a short 30 min ride on another GS, and they were silent to me. Felt very smooth and had great grip. Did not take it off road.
Then I tried the Rally STR's on another GS. I ended up buying a set of those.
Only done about 500 miles on them so far, but I'm impressed with them at this stage. In the dry, I can throw caution to the wind and lean them over as far as the A3's with no issue. I was scraping my boot at times with the A3's on the mountain roads in Spain, but still had about a cm strip unused on the rear tyre, whereas on the STR's it goes right to the edge as they are obviously not so rounded.
Whilst testing, I even purposely leant over under acceleration over some very broken tarmac, and the front skipped over the holes but instantly grabbed again, so Im fairly confident with their grip.
I took them on some off-road over Salisbury Plain and had no issues, but it was generally dry! I will look for their limits off-road at some stage - but I think I will probably get to my limits first! I've done the BMW off road course on a filthy weekend in Wales and the supplied Karoo 3's were quite impressive in the muck and water, so I will want to see if they match up. I will be pleasantly surprised if they do!
On the road, I find the STR's a little noisy, but bizarelly only at 45mph and 75mph which must be resonant frequencies or something. However, for me, there's no horrible whine like I get with the Anakee 3's so am happy anyway. At speeds below 30mph, the ride isn't as smooth as a 90/10 tyre, but that's to be expected. As an all round tyre, so far, I think it's the best out there for my kind of riding, as I aim to do more and more off-road, but dont want to compromise tarmac ability, as thats where I spend most of my time in reality.
I guess it depends on what you want. If you are restricting yourself to fire-roads and the like, then the Trailriders will be great. If you plan to get a little bit more adventurous off road, then the STR's are better, without really giving anything away on tarmac. (They also look the part on the bike if that sort of thing appeals!)
Just my two pence worth....
