Bridgestone BT-021

Pitternator

Rider Profile 5'10" and 100kgs. Typical use is shortish rides at above legal limit but not stupidly so. Throttle rarely full on , but at least half on acceleration.Typical change up is 6000rpm , shortshifting. Cornering usually fairly hard, lean angle maybe 35 degrees.Tyre worn right to edge.

Wear Rate As this is an abs bike, use of rear brake dont lock up back wheel, so dont think centre tread loss is through poor braking, but indicative of my weight , my riding style, and torque of engine/low gearing. grip levels seem very high in the dry , very good in wet.( though I dont look to ride in th ewet normally on my bike). The different compounds are quite visible, with the side rubber heavily puckered, indicating its working hard . stability is very good, as expected in an ST tyre, but the bike still feels very quick steering.I reckon my part worn front is affecting handling more than this rear tyre.

Performance Well given this is a sports touring tyre, it actually is fantastic what it allows the bike to do on the road. It will outpace sportsbikes in the twisties, there is absolutely no reduction in handling or grip over the 015 OE tyre.If anything the seemingly hard compound front tyre is worryingly NOt wearing at all! ( 4500 miles on , it still has over 3mm of tread left ! - this must be a different compound to the 015 rear ??).This is now my biggest hold up to really pushing the bike even harder. nb my plan is to fit an 016 front very soon to see if it will give the grip levels I want .I am confidant the 021 rear will suit it perfectly.

Overall Well at the risk of seeming biased, I give it 10 out of 10, cos I cant find any fault with it . By contrast I would rate the 015 only 6 because it dont give anymore than the 021 in terms of grip, stability etc, but has less than half the tread life ! ( for the type of use I give it ). Actually maybe 6 is a bit generous !

Hass

Rider Profile Height 176cm, Weight 94kgs (aka fat). Style of riding; Illegal but not lose-your-license illegal. Fast but not knee-scraping fast.

Wear Rate Too early to say.

Performance Ok but not spectacular. Moves around a bit when not warmed up and is quite hard to warm up. Especially in the spring when it was cold outside. It also gives a firmer ride than the BT015 did, had to lower the pressure.

Overall 6/10. A pass but only just. If it was a cheap tyre then I might have given it a 7, but it isn't.