Originally Posted By: Smoky14
O2SE: When you say "tried" are you talking test ride or a few thousand miles? I appreciate the link and their comments.
For what ever reason, not many people run Bridgestones and I ran them out of my shop with great success, but that was before radials were popular.
Smoky
More of a test-ride. A friend of mine is a tire dealer at a racetrack. When the T30 evo was being released, a Bridgestone Rep was there, and I was able to try both versions on the same model bike. Tire size and air pressures were the same, the bike's suspensions were set-up the same, the variable was the old T30 and new T30 evo.
So my experience with them was on a roadracing track, pushing them harder than I likely ever would on a public road. It really is surprising how far so-called 'Touring' tires have come.
Back in the early to mid-2000's, I wasn't a fan of Bridgestone either. Then in the late 2000's, my tire dealer friend suggested I try a then-new Bridgestone model. He claimed they had improved dramatically since they had become the MotoGP tire supplier. So I tried them, and came away impressed.
I've been fortunate to try a wide range of makes and models of tires, through that tire dealer friend, and through helping another friend teach his advanced riding and racing classes.
I've tried the current offerings from all of the major manufacturers, and some not-so-major manufacturers.
With Michelin now the official MotoGP supplier, maybe their consumer offerings will show the improvement that Bridgestone did. I did recently try Michelin's latest sport tire, the Power RS. It's an improvement over their previous sport tire.
Honestly, It's hard to find a truly bad tire these days. If a touring tire meets your needs, the T30 evo is a great choice, IMO. A Michelin Pilot Road 4 in comparison has about the same wet grip, maybe longer tire life, but less dry grip. But the Michelin also generally costs much more.
FWIW, I'm currently running Bridgestone RS-10's on both of my street sport bikes.