Old Gregg
Guest
Ladies and gents,
despite there being numerous tyre threads on the site I have not seen any which are recent enough to count. The 'What Tyres' sticky is a couple of years out of date unfortunately.
I need new rubber on my 08 1200 GS and I'm not sure which to go for. I never go off road so that capability isn't required.
I had narrowed it down to either Bridgestone BT021 rear and BT020 front, (as they don't yet do a 19" front), or Dunlop Roadsmarts. I am traditionally a Michelin man but they don't do the Pilot Road 2's in the correct size. I would never have considered Dunlops before but these are getting rave reviews all over; especially on their grip levels in the wet.
I spoke to the service manager at Allan Jeffries on Saturday about it and he says that they rarely fit pure road tyres to GS's any more. They won't recommend a particular tyre as it's a personal thing but he said that unless you don't get on with the tyres already on the bike you should stick with them. He reasoned that if you switched to something like the Roadsmart's and found that the bike didn't like them it could ruin the handling and piss you off for the next 4 or 5,000 miles. He also said that they rarely fit tyres like those mentioned above to customer bikes. THe said that a couple of years ago they fitted loads but now most people replace the OE tyres with identical replacements.
I have Battlewings fitted at present and I can scrape toe sliders on the ground, (in the dry), but I'm not blown away by grip levels in the wet. For me all tyres are good in dry conditions but wet grip sorts the men from the boys in tyre terms.
Does anyone have a set of Roadsmarts or BT021/020 combination fitted? If so, how does the bike handle with them on? Any other advice would be warmly welcomed.
despite there being numerous tyre threads on the site I have not seen any which are recent enough to count. The 'What Tyres' sticky is a couple of years out of date unfortunately.
I need new rubber on my 08 1200 GS and I'm not sure which to go for. I never go off road so that capability isn't required.
I had narrowed it down to either Bridgestone BT021 rear and BT020 front, (as they don't yet do a 19" front), or Dunlop Roadsmarts. I am traditionally a Michelin man but they don't do the Pilot Road 2's in the correct size. I would never have considered Dunlops before but these are getting rave reviews all over; especially on their grip levels in the wet.
I spoke to the service manager at Allan Jeffries on Saturday about it and he says that they rarely fit pure road tyres to GS's any more. They won't recommend a particular tyre as it's a personal thing but he said that unless you don't get on with the tyres already on the bike you should stick with them. He reasoned that if you switched to something like the Roadsmart's and found that the bike didn't like them it could ruin the handling and piss you off for the next 4 or 5,000 miles. He also said that they rarely fit tyres like those mentioned above to customer bikes. THe said that a couple of years ago they fitted loads but now most people replace the OE tyres with identical replacements.
I have Battlewings fitted at present and I can scrape toe sliders on the ground, (in the dry), but I'm not blown away by grip levels in the wet. For me all tyres are good in dry conditions but wet grip sorts the men from the boys in tyre terms.
Does anyone have a set of Roadsmarts or BT021/020 combination fitted? If so, how does the bike handle with them on? Any other advice would be warmly welcomed.
look like an "offroad" tyre but are really a road one 
Theres a test you can download off here 
Fantastic levels of grip in the dry and good in the wet. I have had Anakees, Battlewings, Road Attacks on my GS and the Roadsmarts are definately the best yet. 
