Bridgestone BT023 problems Front tyre

[Dennis]

Hai,

my front tyre Bridgestonde BT023 was 3 months old, drove about 2000km through holland.

A member of the dutch forum opened  topic about abnormal wear of his front tyre. The middle of the tyre showed a flat wear.
He just asked who else had these kind of problems.
Just to be sure, I  checked mine, without thinking there would be something wrong.....and yes, my tyre within 3 months, abnormal wear.

I went to me tyre specialist who checked my bike, didn't find anything abnormal about my bike. But I brought 2 of my mates with me, with exactly the same problems. Here are the pictures.
anybody recognize the same problems?
I have already found the same problems in america, canada, belgium, south africa.
People who ride bikes with lesser weight, dont have this problem. The bikes, like bmw, that have the GT of the bt023...alsno no complains.

Already many people have checked their front tyre and came to the conclusion that this was the reason that the bike felt different.

http://share.pho.to/4PaLq

regards
Dennis

[Biggles]

I have not seen it talked about on Australian forums.
However, there is a strong preference here for Pirelli and Michelin tyres on our STs.

[Panman50]

Looking at picture#5 my first instinct would be to look at tyre pressures.
I many years back I had a front tyre on my GPZ do a similar thing and it turned out to be due to tyre pressure being wrong.

Regards, Tom.

[alans1100]

I'd say it's normal wear especially where riding on straight roads is the norm.

The 23 is a dual compound tyre and the centre tread won't wear as quick as the sides.

The GT spec tyres on mine after 3,000 kms and the first time I've used them and I wanted to know how much difference in mileage compared to the standard 23. I run at Hondas 36/42 tyre pressures and they are checked every two weeks or whenever I go on a longer ride.

It's more noticeable on the rear as it does more work than the front. This a 1300 rear as the 1100 tyre wasn't/isn't available



It's just starting to show up on the front. Even with this type of wear I was still getting 8-10,000 on the rear and 10-12,000 on the front.

[Grumpy]

To me it also looks like tyre pressurestoo low. They can be very touchy to minor variations in pressure. They will lose pressure slowly over time as the alloys are porous. I run 42 psi front and rear and get great ride and wear.

[STeveo]

I have the same 'flat line' on my Dunlop's after a long freeway ride. Get off into the mountains and they soon disappear. I run 40psi in front, 45 psi rear.

 

[grantie]

I have the BT023 on the front of my 1100 and have found the same problem. with 4000k the front tyre has gone quite flat in the middle section. i ride 120 kms a day to/from work on a secondary rural road so the is plenty of cornering. 40 psi in front checked weekly. I had similar issues with the bt 021 but the bt 022 was fine. i have no answers just observations.

[ruSTyEB]

I have  this too.  My local Honda dealer said they are getting  a lot of this from all tyre brands and bikes  because of the bad roads after floods etc.

[Dennis]

What's new........they changed the pressure from 2.5 bar to 2.7 bar.
(36.2595 PSI to 39.16026 PSI)
Story is that they want to avoid claims from customers. Sorry? Claims regarding what?
Only thing I am aware off, is that my kind of topic can cause

Will call my tyre guy tomorrow. I am glad that the law has changed in Holland. If Bridgestone says that it is my fault, they need to proof it.
I hope that i can have a conversation about this. 50/50 for the new T30....even though I have the tyres now for 4/5 months now.

http://www.bridgestone.eu/press/press-releases/2012/Bridgestone+launches+BATTLAX+SPORT+TOURING+T30+motorcycle+tyre

[Rodd]

I had a set of Bridgestone BT023's on my ST1100. I ordered them from the U.S. because they were much cheaper than here. I felt really confident on them even in the wet.. but damn they wore out quickly (for me).

[Dennis]

Hai,

it has got nothing to do with tyre pressure in Holland. Pressure is between 2,5 bar en 2.7 bar.
Everywhere in the world people are having the same problems with the BT023.

But they now have the T30. They have improved the compound, cause the BT023......oh, they did not finish the sentence.

Even the dealer said that the tyre wore out, and that he could not find any reason. I did nothing strange with my bike.

Will keep you up to date!

regards
Dennis

[harieg]

i only just found this post, have BT's on my ST1100, done 5000 Ks on them so far, no sign of wear, no sign of flat spots.     From mick at mbct, it WOULD be tyre pressure's
my 2 bobs worth

[harieg]

oh an add on, i run 42lb in the rear, 40lb in the front,  it is 330 Kilo's wet dont forget, plus rider, plus gear

[alans1100]

Thanks Harieg, I knew I posted my 23 GT's for wear somewhere and I couldn't find it. At least on mine the T30 GT seems a little better with 500k more than the 23's I posted earlier in this topic.

T30 link http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=447.msg95157#msg95157

[Bikebear]

BT023 on the rear of my '99 has gone past 10000ks and still going well. Did the run to and from Yeppoon, roughly 1200kms and I towed the trailer on the Southern Cross Run, over nearly 6000kms plus other riding around here. The rear has slight flattening in the middle but are still working well. Tyre pressures front 40 and rear 42. T30 on the front looks good for the same mileage only some minor wear on the RHS. I'll be using the same again as I have a brand new rear sitting in the shed ready to go on thanks to a good deal from one of our members who sold me the tyres cheap.

[harieg]

an update to this post, since Nov. (now feb.), i have added an extra 4000 plus K's,
just replaced the rear with another BT30, the front will get replaced in 2 weeks time.

[Biggles]

Welcome back to earth, harieg!

So you're getting around 9000 km out of the Bridgestone tyres, I deduce.

[harieg]

Welcome back to earth, harieg!

So you're getting around 9000 km out of the Bridgestone tyres, I deduce.

i cant remeber EXACTLY when they went on, but about that or maybe 10K's

[Wombat]

I got 18000 kms out of my rear tyre to the steel belt. Front is still going. 7500 of that was to Ballarat from Perth and return with a very wide flat spot showing. I have also done two border runs at about 3300kms each. The front is nearly down to minimum groove depth. The pressure I run is 42psi both ends. The max rating pressure on that tyre is 42 cold so be careful. I estimate that I should still get a couple of thousand on the front before it becomes critical. 

 

[alans1100]

The T30 GT on mine has done 8000 km with about 50 percent hauling the trailer and about 80 per cent riding two up.....I doubt if the rear will make 9000km which makes it on par with the BT23's I've used before so no great improvement in mileage. The front looks like it'll do another 4,000 km and again on par with the 23's and I run the standard 36F/42R pressures.

[Bluey]

BT023's on my '99 1100 did the same thing. I now run 42psi front and rear and wear appears to be normal. I reckon it is under inflation combined with the dual compound that causes it. Best I have got out of BT023 is around 18,000 km. Now running T30's. All good.

[Me_3]

I'm running the same tyres, and see it a little bit due to a lot of straight line riding, but my tyres are now just under 18,000km and the rear is now worn out (but shows the same style wear fairly bad), and the front has another 5-8000k left in it at a guess...

I wouldn't be concerned about it.. although I would raise the pressure a bit.. remember that your gauge might not be calibrated. (Mine is, so I know they are right)

My tyres got broken in the worst way possible.. brand new then a 8000km trip to last years national rally. I'm shopping around for another rear now, just in case I manage this years rally :)

[harieg]

Welcome back to earth, harieg!

So you're getting around 9000 km out of the Bridgestone tyres, I deduce.

gday bill,
now i am not sure, ?, the bike was off the road for almost 12months, starting the weekend of the biloela weekend, i got it back about 3 weeks before the year was up,  purchased the bike at the 1st rally at blackheath, it had 147000 plus K's on it then, new tyres were fitted while it was in the MBCT's workshop, now has 176000 plus ks, so that seems to me to be around 17 or 18 Thousand K's ???

[Flash]

I just put a set of BT023's on my YZF1000R the other day. The softer sports bike tyres were wearing out way to quick. Hopefully being a lighter bike i wont have this issue!

[saaz]

A lot of riders are using sport touring rubber these days, as the grip is great and life  a lot longer than pure sports rubber, at least for road use.