Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 Autopsy

[bob109]

Just recently removed a Battlax BT-45 Tire after 23K miles of service/wear. My inquisitive mind requires me to take my bolt cutters and razor knife to the casing and dissect it. There's nothing, IMHO, which provides some evidence of the tires construction and what remains of the thread/tread. In the case of this Ax there's 1/2" rubber thickness remaining in the tire center. The original thread/tread depth of the Ax was 9/32" and was 3/32" depth when removed. Thats "one thick" tire

Just a note about the wear of the Ax in comparison to the OEM Stone. The OEM tire displayed more "center wear" (less thread/tread remaining) than the Ax which showed more "off center" wear. The opposite of each other!

Some pics of the severed Ax! The tire was used on the front wheel of my F6B

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[Steve 0080]

Should that not be the other way around??? That doesn't make sense !!!

[bob109]

Should that not be the other way around??? That doesn't make sense !!!

A pic of the OEM Stone (L) and the Ax (R) which clearly shows the OEM with less thread/tread remaining in the tire center as opposed to the Ax which had more center thread/tread remaining. Sorry for the confusion

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[Steve 0080]

Your killin me Bob...I was all hot to try the AX !!!!.....It's OK I'm hot again !!!!!

[bob109]

Your killin me Bob...I was all hot to try the AX !!!!.....It's OK I'm hot again !!!!!

Steve:

IMHO the Ax outshines the OEM Stone in handling, smoothness and longevity! I couldn't be happier with it overall performance. When I first mounted the Ax, I recall you mentioning that if the tire was continually subjected to curvy/twisty roads it would show signs of off center cupping. That's exactly what the Ax did. That said, given a choice, I'll take the Ax over the OEM tire any day

[Steve 0080]

I still want to try it...as you know there are not many curves here !!!

[shooter]

Bob I'm looking at that tire and it is knarly. It had to be rough riding with all those flat spots. For me that wouldn't be a success. Might be OK for you but I had rather buy two tires that stay smooth over one that gets square. We don't have any straight roads around here except interstate highways. That thing would be square in no time here.

[bob109]

Bob I'm looking at that tire and it is knarly. It had to be rough riding with all those flat spots. For me that wouldn't be a success. Might be OK for you but I had rather buy two tires that stay smooth over one that gets square. We don't have any straight roads around here except interstate highways. That thing would be square in no time here.

I live in North Eastern Pa. and, like you, the only straight roads are our interstates and even those are not truly straight. The Pocono Mountains with both its Delaware (315 miles long) and Susquehanna River (444 miles long) Corridors provide some of the best cycling roads in the country IMHO. The famous and much talked about and oft cycle ridden Route 6 is in my back yard, so too speak. That said, the Ax, with its "Knarly Wear", produced a smooth ride. Not sure why but I suspect the "off center" soft rubber compound may have made that possible. Riding twelve months out of the year, six Pa, six Fl., the tire was subjected to numerous road surfaces/conditions. In all my years of riding "Heavy Metric Cruisers", the Ax is the first tire to produce the kind of longevity I was looking for. Everyone has their own opinion on what is right for them. In my case the combination of a General G-Max on the rear and the Ax up front provides me with a "tire set-up" that I'm comfortable with.

Just a sample of what lies in my back yard

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Ride Safe

bob109

[mike neal]

If I could only make ONE change to my F6B it would be to immediately throw away the OEM front and replace it with the BT-45. I put my AX on at 12k miles and it is ready for a new one at 32K miles. The improved handling, stability tire longevity and general feeling of confidence in the front end sticking to the road in tight fast corners is why I can make this statement. Like others with the BT-45 the cupping issue does start show up after about 15k miles but this is a direct result hard front braking. The harder center and progressively softer rubber to each side of this tire makes me wonder WHY other tires do not perform like the BT-45.

As a side note....I also run the Yokohama on the rear and based on current wear - should get 35k miles out of this tire. This rear is a bit shorter and has less roll out than some others which put me about 250 RPM higher is 5th gear but the improved throttle response between gears and that sweet spot in 3rd and 4th on challenging back county roads of Tennessee is incredible.

Every discussion that I have been engaged in about the BT-45 and the Darkside has always been prefaced by "buy and ride whatever product you are comfortable with" After all this is supposed to be ENJOYABLE.

Take care my friends
Michael Neal
riding the hills of Texas and Tennessee

Current Upgrades
ECB front pad on the LEFT front....OEM pad right front - you will know why if you use the front brakes hard enough to know the difference
Custom paint job with Mango Tango Dodge orange
BT-45 front
Yokohama rear
Seth Lamm seat
Kury LED lights on rear
Honda luggage rack
TomTom GPS

[bob109]

[QUOTE.
Current Upgrades
ECB front pad on the LEFT front....OEM pad right front - you will know why if you use the front brakes hard enough to know the difference
[/QUOTE]

Mike: Just having changed my front pads and I found the left inside pad to have considerably more wear than the left outside pad and right side pads. That linked braking system sure put some additional wear to the inside left front pad! I stayed with the OEM pads and discovered that they are in fact sintered (lots of copper)! So much so that you can read continuity with a OHM Meter. With the OEM 's delivering 39+K miles of service, with minimum wear to the rotors, the choice was easy