Bridgestone BattleAx BT-016

OK, I just had a set of Bridgestone BattleAx BT-016's mounted on my Wife's 01. They have about 265 miles on them so far & here is my review. These tires are pretty darn good. They feature a 3 band construction on the front & 5 band on the rear. That means there are 2 compounds on the front, one in the middle & a separate compound on the outer radius. The rear feature 3 separate compounds, the hard middle, compliant mid & fly paper edge. See the Bridgestone website for a graphical depiction. All comparisons to other tires will be to the DunCrap D204K, Continental Road Attack & Pirelli Diablo Corsa III.

I purchased them from: Motorcycle Tires and Accessories

It is worth mentioning the Bridgestone's are between $50 - $70 cheaper per set than the Pirelli & equal price of the Continental.

Turn In
Turn is is very easy with this tire since on center stability is pretty shaky. While this tire will turn in faster than the Pirelli, I prefer the feel of the Pirelli.

Side To Side (Switchbacks)
Again, easier than the Pirelli. The bike simply reacts to your brain & will change a line in the blink of an eye if you want it too.

Feedback
Feedback is almost shocking. This tire transmits EVERYTHING into the grips. I think I would be able to tell if the valve stem cap fell off just by feel. The Pirelli is good but not as as good as the 016. The Continental Road Attack is a great tire & for a sport touring tire, provides damn good feedback to the rider. The Duncrap D204K? Not so much.

On Center Stability
This tire is too nervous for my liking. I like a tire that will keep the bike stable but at the same time will change direction with ease. The BT-016 is very shaky on center. So nervous on center, I checked the steering bearings when I got home because I thought they might have been loose. It's almost as if the bike WANTS to change direction & not go straight. This is the deal breaker for me.

Grip
Even though the Bridestone (in theory) is supposed to be the equal or better than the Diablo Corsa III, I feel the Pirelli sticks better. The Bridgestone starts complaining as it gets to the edge & then very clearly indicates to you that you have run out of tire. I feel the Pirelli has equal grip all the way to the end of the side wall. My Wife is no match for either tire so I doubt she can even tell the difference.

Mileage
Simply too early to tell.

Water
Haven't had them in the rain yet. The front has normal tread & siping. The rear has even less tread & siping than the Pirelli. I seriously doubt this tire will perform very well in the rain.

Overall, I am happy with the purchase. I could have slapped another set of Pirelli's on her bike & been done with it. I didn't do this since I felt this would be an optimum oppurtunity for some apples to apples comparison. Next time we ride together, my Wife & I are going to take note pads & switch bikes every 25 miles. I do this as a customer service exercise for the VFRWorld community.

Just like the Pirelli's or ANYTHING other than the stock crap Honda spoons onto our bikes, the BT-016 will transform the VFR. You WILL NOT believe it's the same bike if you still have the OEM pieces of crap on. GET RID OF YOUR OEM TIRES NOW!!!

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Thanks for the review I had been thinking about giving those a try after my set of Metzeler M3's wear out.

 

Interesting review - and I like reviews

You may have mispelled DunCrap. Or is that on purpose? That's really funny how you call that new tire you are trying the BattleAxe. Like Kennelworth and Cummings eh! Interesting review so far. A little rough on the Wife I thought, "no match for either tire so I doubt she can even tell the difference". Could that be the reason some use up "the stock crap Honda spoons onto our bikes". Eh! I'd like to hear her thoughts too. Keep up the good work.

 

Good write up. Thanks. So here brings up a question. What are the OEM tires that should come with the VFR? I went to a Honda dealership the other day to put on a Metzeler back tire. They had a VFR on the floor and I noticed that the tires on it wasn't Metzeler. I cant remember what it was. Mine came with Metzeler. I do plan on changing to another tire but I am waiting till I need to change both the front and back. So again what is the tire that is supposed to come with the bike. Now for you first gen people wooden and stone tires still need a brand name (just jokeing 1st gens are sweet)

 

Missed that offer. I just had a set of the Bridgestone Battlax BT-016s delivered to my door for $207.00. I thought that was pretty good, but you did better. Now I'm concerned about KC-10 FE's comment on center stability being not so good.

 

Nice write up... I agree with much of it but I have to disagree with the comments on center stability. I am now on my second set. It was a no brainer for me to order them up. I find the tire very stable on center and even more so at high speeds. I also find them very smooth. More so than Michelin PP2cts which before trying to BT016s I thought were the best tire.

Corner grip is wonderful and the feed back is great. You can almost feel everything.
They warm up quick stick like glue even when the temps dip and roads are cold. I have ridden them from 100 degrees down to 27 degrees. I have ridden in the rain with high standing water and they were stable. 45 MPH in torrential down pour. I cant really say anything bad about the tire.

I would have to recommend them for anyone who is interested in a sport / hypersport tire for the VFR. Mileage will not be high with these but good. If you want mileage get a ST tire.
I got over 4K on last set at that point the tread bars were at the top of the grooves.

 

very nice write up but the running out of grip when it reaches the edge, i have to disagree there i have had no problems with grip on the out side edge could also be do to the bike lighter than yours

 

Ummm... What language is this written in?

All Bridgestone sport tires are called BattleAx & have been for some time.

I spelled it DunCrap on purpose since I am of the belief that Dunlop makes horrible tires. I've ridden a ZX-10 with the Qualifier on it. They sucked large. The owner of the ZX-10 even said the Pirelli's on my bike were far superior. I will never use Duncrap tires again.

Honda should be ashamed of itself for putting the tires it does on the VFR. This is especially true of the tires they used in the late 90's to early 00's. The D204K & MEZ4 are horrendous tires.

I wrote what I did about my Wife since I know for a fact she does not have the riding skill or knowledge of bikes that I do. I know what a tires is supposed to feel like & how a bike should react in turns. She simply is not at that level of experience. All she knows is whether or not the bike feels good when she rides it. She told me the bike felt funny with the D204's on it but couldn't really describe what it was that felt funny.

I'm not certain what tires Honda is using these days since I haven't shopped for a new bike in almost a decade. I would guess the Duncrap 220, The Metzeler MEZ6 or the Bridgestone 21.

I would highly recommend not waiting until your tires wear out. Just replace them now. There are SOOOO many tires that are superior to the MEZ6. Sport, HyperSport, Sport Touring, or what ever, you can find better tires, trust me.

I'm not going to pass judgement on them until I have them fully broken in. The running out of grip may have been due to the molding compound working it's way out of the tire.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

There are three tires Honda will put on.
Metzler, Donlop and Bridgestone. Of the three the only two have tons of complaints. Metzler and Dunlop. The Bridgestone isn't great it just doesn't suck as bad as the others. KC-10 is right! Don't wait for them to wear out. Get new one and start enjoying your bike.

There are plenty to choose from. you can get Pirelli diablo sport tires for less than $200 a set from cycle gear right now on sale. Pirelli Straddas (st tire but good) for about $250 same place, The BT016s sport, Michelin Power pilot or power pilot 2cts or pilot road 2ct, Bridgestone BT021, Continental road attack or sport attack.... All between $200 and $300 a set mist around $250 a set. All will allow you to enoy your bike more.

Good luck.

 

Yeah duncrap is misspelled it should be dunFLOPS haha

 

"Ummm... What language is this written in?

All Bridgestone sport tires are called BattleAx & have been for some time."

That would be English!

Humbly, may I suggest Bridgestone does not have a tire called BattleAx!

 

I believe it's "Battlax", but we all knew which tire you were talking about KC-10 FE.

 

Agree or disagree. Thanks to KC-10 for taking the time to write a review....

 

With the totally horrendous weather NJ has had for the last week, we haven't had a chance to ride together for a couple of days. I would definitely say they are fully broken in so I would like to ride her bike again & beat the snot out of the tires.

I'm teaching a sport bike class on Tuesday & I'm planning on riding her bike.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Sheesh! another tire thread, Gee whats next, an oil thread? Good write up KC..:wink:

 

As stated previously, I taught a sport bike class today. I beat the crap out of the red VFR.

My opinion of the BT-016 stands as previously posted with the following clarification.

Grip
I think the issues I had with the tire complaining at the edge was due to the molding compound. I had no issues today & have pretty much zero chicken strip left. These things got serious grip.

On Center Stability
My opinion stands. I think this tire is way too nervous for my liking. In all other aspect, it is the equal to the Pirelli DCIII. The twitchyness on center drives me nuts. About the only thing I can think to try would be to experiment with tire pressure.

Overall
I think you can't go wrong with these tires. They are nearly $100 cheaper than Michelin Pilot Power 2, $50-$80 cheaper than Pirelli Diablo Corsa III & equal in price to inferior sport-touring tires. You'll get more mileage out of a ST tire but you will NEVER find one that sticks like this. With the single exception of the on center thing, I have no qualms giving this tire :thumbsup: .

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Just put on some bt016's this weekend. I can see where KC-10 gets the 'nervous' comment. Its not enough to bother me. Moving from the Metz mez4 stock tires, these things are just fantastic. Easier to get into/out of a turn. Complete confidence in a corner (where the me4 would slip) and $204 for both front and rear (cyclegear on sale). Thumbs up!

 

thanks for the review i am in need for some tires and have no idea what to get

 

Well, after a few short rides, my friend with the SV-650S was so enthralled with the BT-016 that we just put them on his bike today. We break them in tomorrow & leave for the Dragon on Monday at 0500.

You need to give us some more info on yourself & your riding style before we can give you a recommendation on a tire.

Do you want a:
HyperSport
SuperSport
Sport
Sport Touring
Touring
:unsure:

Do you ride:
Like A Maniac
Aggressively
Spirited
Relaxed
Like A Pussy
:unsure:

What size are you:
Hippo
Wildebeast
Black Lab
Racoon
Kangaroo Rat
:unsure:

We need to know these things before we can give you any insight.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2: