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- Joined
- 27 Dec 2002
- Posts
- 1,704
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- In ** bottom drawer...
Hello!
Thought id share my thoughts and experience with the new boots on the GSXR 750 2002 as of yesterday...
I hadnt planned to put new boots on till mid feb or later and keep using my GT550 as a daily rider but a long list of forks seals, sump plug, gear selector shaft all leaking oil plus a front lhs rh brake pad crumbling to bits put paid to that idea as of Monday when the front brake pad went.
So off to FWR tyres in Kennington on Tuesday morning. FWR are pretty good, cheaper than most places for tyres fitted and they seem to know there way around a lot of of bikes and tyres, ive used them for tyres on my CBR600F before so trust them.
I had a quick look at the Avon and Dunlop near equivilents of the BT023s but couldnt find decent reviews of them on a GSXR.
I read numerous reviews of the bridgestones and coupled with the new 3 or 5(cant recall sorry!) compound rear and a suggested 30% increase in life span and lots of kudos from real world riders I bit the bullet - 249 quids worth!
The old gixxer tyres were ropey - front had a plug in and approx 3mm tread tops in a few places and the rear was under 2mm in places - in dry I had enough grip but the time i rode it before xmas it was sketchy as hell on the funky roads around city of london and SE13(Lewisham!) and whilst braking in a straight line was ok, corners were getting a bit iffy.
So tyres on and scrub in ride to North Acton from Kennington yesterday...
Amazing, even before they are scrubbed in they grip fantastically well, it was wet yesterday so no fast runs just sensible commute speeds.
The bike holds lines very very well even on uneven surfaces where as the previous BT016s were way twitchy even when they had loads of tread.
Braking was very confidence inspiring, again even on uneven surfaces.
I did notice however, that the slow speed turn in is a tad slower than before but Im putting this down to the uber grip they offer plus the % of rubber on the ground vs tread grooves is 90/10% in favour of the rubber
.
So from Acton last night out to Egham, Surrey on the A4 then via Heathrow, Staines and Egham - dry out this way last night so I did some braking on the private road out of the estate where i was working - stoppies wont be a problem(unless they go wrong!) with these tyres. At a qtr lever pressure you feel the tyres bite and start to slow you down - more pressure and wow, you can stop very quickly and confidently with these 023's!
The roads from the A4 to heathrow and beyond are all roundabout/dual carriage way/bus lane rinse and repeat so lots of changing road surfaces.
Again, the grip is brilliant, nice lean into the roadabout to set the bikes line, smooth and assured and off you go, throttle open and blat off roundabout bearing left with no twitches or minor jiggles as the bike follows the road camber and other road detritus, very smooth and assured riding.
Today I came in from Surrey to Acton, this time going A30/M25/M4/A4 for a faster inbound commute.
Did I mention it was minus two where my mum lives? Frost everywhere and thick on the orads where she lives.
I went off quite tentatively but soon felt the frost wasnt ice that id slide on that easily so made normal progress to the A30.
On a faster run today I appreciated the smoothness hugely not to mention the sheer grip under acceleration - the bike definitely feels very very planted with the BT023's and at speed over 25/30mph it handles like before so the slow speed I mentioned above not applicable.
The bike still feels way chuckable if need be and I reckon it would take a lot to slide these tyres in the dry and a fair bit in the wet.
On the M/way I could quite happily pootle along at 60 with one hand on the bar and the bikes tracking dead straight with no issues or wobbles or twitches, a muppet decides he wants to be in my lane without seeing me, quick tug on the brakes and im 10ft behind him so he play at being an arse on his own, thanks Mr grippy front BT023!
So to recap my ramblings!
Excellent wet grip.
Amazing dry grip.
Excellent cornering in the wet, very confidence inspiring.
Good in the dry cornering but havnt pushed it yet but still, brilliant.
Great feel at speed under braking, acceleration and corners.
Alleged increase in wear as the rear has harder center band with softer shoulders, front remains single compound.
Slow speed feel is a bit blunted but meh, I can so live with that.
Im doing at least one track day in April or May coupled with a run to Glasgow on June and a trip to Berlin in the next few months so ill report back once they have 1k on them.
Cheers!
Thought id share my thoughts and experience with the new boots on the GSXR 750 2002 as of yesterday...
I hadnt planned to put new boots on till mid feb or later and keep using my GT550 as a daily rider but a long list of forks seals, sump plug, gear selector shaft all leaking oil plus a front lhs rh brake pad crumbling to bits put paid to that idea as of Monday when the front brake pad went.
So off to FWR tyres in Kennington on Tuesday morning. FWR are pretty good, cheaper than most places for tyres fitted and they seem to know there way around a lot of of bikes and tyres, ive used them for tyres on my CBR600F before so trust them.
I had a quick look at the Avon and Dunlop near equivilents of the BT023s but couldnt find decent reviews of them on a GSXR.
I read numerous reviews of the bridgestones and coupled with the new 3 or 5(cant recall sorry!) compound rear and a suggested 30% increase in life span and lots of kudos from real world riders I bit the bullet - 249 quids worth!
The old gixxer tyres were ropey - front had a plug in and approx 3mm tread tops in a few places and the rear was under 2mm in places - in dry I had enough grip but the time i rode it before xmas it was sketchy as hell on the funky roads around city of london and SE13(Lewisham!) and whilst braking in a straight line was ok, corners were getting a bit iffy.
So tyres on and scrub in ride to North Acton from Kennington yesterday...
Amazing, even before they are scrubbed in they grip fantastically well, it was wet yesterday so no fast runs just sensible commute speeds.
The bike holds lines very very well even on uneven surfaces where as the previous BT016s were way twitchy even when they had loads of tread.
Braking was very confidence inspiring, again even on uneven surfaces.
I did notice however, that the slow speed turn in is a tad slower than before but Im putting this down to the uber grip they offer plus the % of rubber on the ground vs tread grooves is 90/10% in favour of the rubber
.So from Acton last night out to Egham, Surrey on the A4 then via Heathrow, Staines and Egham - dry out this way last night so I did some braking on the private road out of the estate where i was working - stoppies wont be a problem(unless they go wrong!) with these tyres. At a qtr lever pressure you feel the tyres bite and start to slow you down - more pressure and wow, you can stop very quickly and confidently with these 023's!
The roads from the A4 to heathrow and beyond are all roundabout/dual carriage way/bus lane rinse and repeat so lots of changing road surfaces.
Again, the grip is brilliant, nice lean into the roadabout to set the bikes line, smooth and assured and off you go, throttle open and blat off roundabout bearing left with no twitches or minor jiggles as the bike follows the road camber and other road detritus, very smooth and assured riding.
Today I came in from Surrey to Acton, this time going A30/M25/M4/A4 for a faster inbound commute.
Did I mention it was minus two where my mum lives? Frost everywhere and thick on the orads where she lives.
I went off quite tentatively but soon felt the frost wasnt ice that id slide on that easily so made normal progress to the A30.
On a faster run today I appreciated the smoothness hugely not to mention the sheer grip under acceleration - the bike definitely feels very very planted with the BT023's and at speed over 25/30mph it handles like before so the slow speed I mentioned above not applicable.
The bike still feels way chuckable if need be and I reckon it would take a lot to slide these tyres in the dry and a fair bit in the wet.
On the M/way I could quite happily pootle along at 60 with one hand on the bar and the bikes tracking dead straight with no issues or wobbles or twitches, a muppet decides he wants to be in my lane without seeing me, quick tug on the brakes and im 10ft behind him so he play at being an arse on his own, thanks Mr grippy front BT023!
So to recap my ramblings!
Excellent wet grip.
Amazing dry grip.
Excellent cornering in the wet, very confidence inspiring.
Good in the dry cornering but havnt pushed it yet but still, brilliant.
Great feel at speed under braking, acceleration and corners.
Alleged increase in wear as the rear has harder center band with softer shoulders, front remains single compound.
Slow speed feel is a bit blunted but meh, I can so live with that.
Im doing at least one track day in April or May coupled with a run to Glasgow on June and a trip to Berlin in the next few months so ill report back once they have 1k on them.
Cheers!
