Okay, I've read (most of) the tire thread, and now I need some advice.
My 996 currently has Bridgestone Battlax BT-002's on it, front and rear. The front is fine, but the rear is pretty much shagged.
I've no idea what kind of mileage the BT-002's give, since I've had the bike about 150 miles. [laugh]
I'm about to embark on a 3000-3500 mile trip. (On the 996. Ridiculous? Yes.)
What sort of skin can I throw on the back that has decent grip, a similar warm up time, shape, etc. to the BT-002 front, and won't flatspot on me after a drive down the block?
Pilot Road 2
[thumbsup]
Pilot Road 2 = best tires I have ever owned.
I'll agree that the Road 2 is probably the best choice for the street for longevity...and decent performance
but owning a 996...
I'd pick the Powers if you don't mind 3500 +/- miles out of a rear.
A corsa 3 rear will last ~8K of multi duty if maintained @ 36psi.
Q
Quote from: zarn02 on July 21, 2009, 06:42:40 PM
I've no idea what kind of mileage the BT-002's give, since I've had the bike about 150 miles.
The BT-002 is a supersoft tire and boogers up really easily. I had one on my ST2 and it was to the wear bars in about 1200-1400 miles. It has been bald for a while and I squeezed about 2200 miles total out of it. It's soft enough that spirited mountain rides have the thing boogering up quite easily....
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d32/Kramer_Krazy/bt_002_front.jpg)
Quote from: Qfactor on July 22, 2009, 10:01:19 AM
A corsa 3 rear will last ~8K of multi duty if maintained @ 36psi.
If there is much super-slabbing to be done, I would NOT use a Corsa III. My wife had a Corsa III on the back of her R1 when we did a SaddleSore 1000 (definitely the WRONG tire for the job), and the middle would booger up at steady speeds over 70 mph for any length of time on an 85+ degree day.
A good match for the BT-002 front would be a BT-021 rear tire. The BT-021 lasts a decent amount and I have run the BT-002/BT-021 combination on my ST2 just recently. You may wind up changing out the front tire before you get home, though. That may be a lot of miles for that tire for that trip, but the BT-021 won't have a problem lasting that long. I got about 2700 out of my BT-021 rear tire (to the cords), and that was with about 1500 miles of wet/rainy roads. The rest of the time, the BT-021 was screaming for it's life....
BT-021 on the rear of the ST2...
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d32/Kramer_Krazy/bridgestone_boogers.jpg)
Me and the bike with the BT-002/BT-021 combination....
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d32/Kramer_Krazy/Terry_178.jpg)
BTW - I actually prefer Pirelli tires.