Given
37%
while driving a
Yamaha R1
(225/45 R17) on
a combination of roads
for 2,000
spirited miles
Worst expirience with tires ever on my Yamaha R1. Just got it back from repairs and the new tires were fitted(Bridgestone front and rear). It took me a while to switch from my Yamaha R6 to the good old R1 and initially I thought this was the issue. Nop. 3500km later I have to admit it actually IS the tires, especially the rear one.
Warm up time? What? 2-3 minutes of normal driving?!? Or 1 minute of brake-accelerate and left-right sweeping? And guess - you have to do it every time. When you forget to do it, they feel like a plastic, slipping you on the road like you are some kind of a noobie.
Fast turns. What? You don`t like living any more? Try it with this tires. Especially trail braking tech. Slips you gently when you open the throttle on the exit of the turn.
Slow turns. You want to go 50-60kph and drop a knee? Yeah, sure, good luck. At 40 deg lean you have a 50/50 chance that the rear tire will slide for a nanosecond, then find grip again and try to highside you. On my favourite 28km route(mountain climb) I got at least 10 of those situations, even thou I am expecting such bullsh*t from the rear tire.
Highway? Ooooh, you gotta be joking. Pure unstability at 280+. Okey, they are rated for up to 270. Well, guess what, other brands rated for up to 270 don`t have problems at 270, 280, 290 or 300. But this one has. After 130km of highway riding(avg, 200+km/h, ranging 160-300)? Center of the tire was eaten up.
Mileage. Oh, yeah. This brings us to the mileage. At 1000km the wear started to feel. At 2000km it was already clear that this tire was a goner. And I was still wondering if there was something wrong with the bike, or it was the tires.
Feedback? None. You can never tell what the hell is happening and get any idea what to do until it is too late and:
- Option A, rear slips
- Option B, you feel f*cked, that you could go faster on the corner
Dudes, getting owned by a Yamaha VMAX in a 28km chase(by 10 seconds ahead) should give you an indication what tires are these! We should just say that he was not a Bridgestone fan and I was giving it everything I had(which may seem as little, but... no, I never got passed by a VMAX before in my life).
Now I switched to another brand. And the bike stays... how to say it - it never felt better in my hands.
I have to admit one thing - for such a terrible tire it was performing unexpetedly well in wet. Having in mind that it was probably a bad tire choice I did not push the bike over 11 000rpm at any gear during light rains or wet conditions. Barely had a slip, all under control.
Thanks for not killing me, Bridgestone. Thanks for ruining my summer for the R1. Thanks for giving me a horrible 3000-3500km ride expirience - now I know what a tire should NOT do.