Tyre Suggestions

I'll start off by saying that i prefer the Arrowmax's as they tend to be a little softer compound than the competition (that i've tried / know of), and therefore they tend to get up to operating temp quicker.

The Bridgestone Battleaxe's are ok, considerably harder compound and therefore longer expected life out of them... but i found them alot harder to get up to temperature. During normal commuting they just wouldn't heat up, and it'd require a really hard blat to get them to peel open any decent amount.

There's not many choices for tyres unfortunately as 250's are all considered suitable for touring type tyres; but if you stick with the Arrowmax's as you know, they're a decent tyre.

 

there are supposedly 2 types of bridgestones though with the battlax bt045's being the harder compound and the bt090's being the softer option.

 

I have the bt45's on mine and I can’t say I have had any complaints with them. They are good for commuting as they have a harder compound on the top so they don’t wear out as quickly but a softer one on the sides for when you want to go out for a proper ride on the weekends. The bt090 that you speak of doesn’t come in 130/70/17. If you still would like the softer compound all round you could go for the bt39's but I haven’t heard any first hand into on them, only the stuff off the website.

http://mc.bridgestone.co.jp/en/products/category/onroad.html

 

I used to have the Battleaxe BT045 on my front, and as i said... it was near impossible to get it up to temperature and get some good traction out of it unless i'd spent the last 5 minutes running very hard through the twisties; only then did it feel like it was actually sticking well.

In comparison, the Arrowmax tends to heat up to moderate grippy temperature after a minute or 2, and is completely stuck to the road (and healthily peeling) after 5 minutes of hard twisties.

edit: The BT039's looks like they'd be about on par with the Arrowmax's that i run at the moment, but i've already got the Arrowmax's so i guess i'll stay with them.

 

I ride 45~55 km a day to work so I am reluctant to get a tyre with too soft a compound but if irregular wear wasn’t a problem then I would defiantly give the 39's a crack.

 

I'll just back up what Koma has said and say go with the dunlop arrowmax's. I've done 12000km of pretty much all types of riding (commuting, fanging, wet/dry, track) over the past year and NEVER have i lost confidence in the tyres. The same set still going strong.
I was out on the track yesterday for the first time and had it leaned over as far as the pegs would allow and never felt for a moment the tyres would slip (actually they did in one instance, but entirely my fault with clumsy gear changes). Great allround tyres.

 

I use BT45's for commuting and weekend riding in the twisties. If you do more commuting than twisties the tyres will square off no matter what tyre you have on. I got 12000k's out of my previous set and was up the mountain every Sunday. I ride to work 5 days a week.

The BT45's have dual compound so that commuting doesn't wear down the tyre's too quickly but in the twisties you'll get the nice soft compound.

The BT45's aren't the most sticky tyres you can get, but if you want an all round good tyre, they are your best bet. Having said that, you can certainly get a good lean angle on them. No problems scraping the pegs and getting your knee down on them.

If I can offer you any advice? Do NOT go with arrowmax's. They are the shittiest tyre you can ever get.

 

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Looks like we have a bit of a Mexican stand off.... This reminds me of many a thread on the subject of consumable parts i.e. fuel, oil and now tyres. I guess what it comes down to for many people is what has worked for them in the past, hell I will not stop anyone going for the arrowmax but I don’t see myself changing over anytime soon.

 

Something has obviously happened to you when you've been using Arrowmax tyres... care to explain why your so against them?

I'm actually interested to hear as i can only really go from the experiences that i have with various tyre brands, and the experiences of people i know well and ride with - and i've never heard anything as decidedly against them as your 'shittest tyre you can get' comment.
I have nothing against the Battleaxe BT45's, other than that i said they didn't seem to heat up enough (quickly enough) for my liking. I'd rather spend an extra $50 a year on tyres and know that i have a softer compound that will be at operating temperature quicker, than save $50 and have that slippy slidy feeling.

Funny you should say that; us with small tyre's on our 2fiddy's actually have very little choice when it comes to tyres. Just wait until you get onto a 600cc+ bike with larger tyres, then you literally have 40+ tyre's to choose from. I'd say on our FZR's we have 10 tyres to choose from, and many of them we'd immediately rule out as their just not suited to our riding style.

 

If you have the chance (on a bigger bike) check out Shinko's 005's (replaced by 006's I think now...) and 003's at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://shinkotire.co.kr/product/em_radial.htm">http://shinkotire.co.kr/product/em_radial.htm</a><!-- m -->.

It is a korean brand - about 60% of the cost of other comparable tyres yet works just the same (cost me $375 for a set fitted). Some will say - dealers included - that they can't be good tyres because they are cheap. But if you listen to people who have tried them they are all praising them!

 

Buy the arrowmaxes and then buy the BT45's after. then you'll know the difference and can make your own choice.

I have no problems with the BT45's heating up.

 

Well you still haven't really said what you dislike about them...
Road handling? Grip level? Predictability? Wear pattern? Price? Colour?
Is it simply the Arrowmax's tend to crown quicker due to their single compound?

When you say you have no problems with them heating up, how much pilling do you get on a normal moderate blat? I'm not talking the full throttle blat, no knee down action... just a twisty run. Perhaps the BT45's i used to have were a little on the older side of things... that might explain the overall less predictable traction other than when they were shedding rubber like no tomorrow. Still i remember checking the date on them and they had been ridden since fitted some 8 months prior (if my memory serves me well).

I'm due for another rear some time soon (well about now actually), but am most likely going to just go for another Arrowmax to match the front.

I've heard alot of praise from riders about the Shinko's, and as you said alot of negativity surrounding them from shops. I tend to believe the riders; however have had the occasional comment regarding the Shinko's not liking being pushed as hard as other tyre's.

 

The arrowmaxes squared off heaps, i only got like 10000k's out of them. got 12500k's out of the BT45 (and was riding hard).

Under normal riding conditions they didn't provide the grip that BT45's provided. And since getting rid of the arrows my cornering has felt so much smoother.

Maybe it's just me, but i just dont like them. Although someone on the CBR forum has managed good track times with them

The BT45's will pill enough on a casual blat, but on a heavy fang will pill much better no problems. On the track you wont have a problem. But we'll see on the 3rd @ QLD raceway.

 

My new tyres are dunlop sports, where as my old ones were the arrowmax.

I have to say i much prefer the dunlop sport. I haven't done any serious runs on them yet, but my daily riding (round abouts, etc) they feel so much more predictable.

I got back on a bike today with arrowmax and my gut feeling was that the bike wasn't as solid under me in the corners.

V.happy with the sports.