Bridgestone B21 tires and concerns

[nubfjr]

so i take it the consensus is that most owners are going with the Michelin Pilot Road 2's right? ok, sounds good. i have them on there now, there's a big flat spot on my rear but i have to see how the mileage is on these (bike is stored at a distant location will check tomorrow). I was going to go with the bridgestone BT021's but since they're wearing kind of weird, i'll stay away from them. Also what about the Metzeler Z6's? they are very high in price (my dealer just quote about 450 bucks installed and the owner said you'll only get 5 or 6k miles with the rear tire so i'm kind of on the edge about that.

thanks,

Rich

 

[GalaxyBlue]

These were taken off 3 weeks ago with 7000 miles on them...

While the front did suck, It still had some life left in it.

 

[sullivan]

Lost a day of riding at CFR due to the same wear pattern and "spirited" riding on Cape Breton Island. Had to change it. Shop sold me a Conti Road Attack. Happy with it, especially with Hannah rain on roads at 75 - 80 m/h

 

[wingnuut]

Same problem, I measured the tread depth on my 2nd front with 1000 miles on it and we should be calling this an eruption not a wear problem the depth was the same across the tire. It becomes a wear problem as time goes on because your riding on this eruption Yamaha is not interested in wear problems But if you say bubbling or eruption then they listen

 

[wildman]

Can't add anything that hasn't already been said. I Liked the original 020s that came on my '06, got 9kmiles, even wear, np. the 21s look like the photos above with 5k miles. I haven't been on the forum for awhile, glad I stopped by. I can say the only thing I did like about the 21s is they held air. I had to add poundage to the 20s 2-3 times week. The 21s, maybe once every 2 weeks. (40/42#)

 

[wingnuut]

Bridgestone has specifick article numbers for the fjr 127135 and the new concours 105653 appears that they know something about these 2 bikes with their tires

 

[fjrgoodie]

I have an '06 and OEM BT 020's that now have 9400 miles on them and are just now in immediate need of replacing. The milage wear is one reason and I got my first flat on my rear tire. We did a 220 mile run on Labor Day. Parked the bike outside to cool down, came back 2 hours later and the rear was flat. Must have gotten pierced just as I came back into town cause the bike handled beautifully all day. I am in the process of ordering new tires and am really concerned about the wear pattern on the BT 021's and all the other complaints about practically every brand of tire. I have decided to go with the basic single compound Michelin Pilot Road tires. I figure that they are as close to the composition of the OEM BT 020's as I can get. If I got over 9000 miles out of them I willing to stay with the same type tire.

 

[wingnuut]

Italked to Yamaha customer service yesterday again they now think it is a suspension adjustment this came from an agent that did't know what a thread depth measuring tool was

 

[FJRDAY]

Same story here. 2274 miles on my '08 and the front is SHOT! I'm gonna go with a Pirelli D/S and ride the rear BT-021 out. I'll figure it out after that. I was figuring on 2 rears for every front like on my '04 but these sucky Stones are messing up the plan.

David

 

[wfooshee]

So, why would the sides wear out so much more quickly than the center patch if they aren't all dual compound?

Conjecture, but my thinking is that except for braking, the front tire gets very little stress on the center. It just rolls along happy with its position in life. You get some force on the tire as you lean for your turns, and since most of your riding just around town is at fairly shallow lean angles, you get that indentation just off the center of the tire, where all your cornering force eats into the rubber.

Obviously different from the rear, where there is a steady traction force on the center as the bike powers its way through wind resistance.

Strangely enough, I am on the combination Jeff stated in his post. My bike had a nearly new Diablo Strada on the front when I bought it, and a nearly worn Dunlop on the back. I replaced the rear with a BT-021, and I've gotten 11,000 with it, have cord showing now, and another BT-021 on order. When the front came due last April, I'd seen this crud about the 021 front, so I got another Strada. I'm not the tire expert, or the rider, that Jeff is, but I couldn't be happier with the combination.

 

[bramfrank]

Duster 19,Rides Alone here. I got a similar wear pattern on my Pirelli Diablo Stradas. My dealer is quite concerned and seems to blame it on improper air pressure. I usually run 40/42 pounds.

As I said earlier in the thread, it is the same deal for me with my Stradas - the official word I got back was that is was tire pressure and that you must run the manufacturer's pressures . . . which of course changed between the Gen-1 and Gen-2 bikes.

In any case I am religious about tire pressure and the last 2 Strada fronts did the same thing - dealer told em that when they complained to the manufacturer, they said it was 'tire pressure'.

But they wouldn't say whether it was too much or too little. which is how we know they are full of it.

Same story here. 2274 miles on my '08 and the front is SHOT! I'm gonna go with a Pirelli D/S and ride the rear BT-021 out. I'll figure it out after that. I was figuring on 2 rears for every front like on my '04 but these sucky Stones are messing up the plan.
David

Since the Pirellis do it too, . . . well you know what I'm saying.

 

[BrunDog]

Wore the POS BT-021 front out in about 2k. Had to change it on a trip to the twisties this past week mid way through my trip. Sides worn down past bars - had to fight to keep it down in turns and started to get a headshake on decel. Ripped that crap off ASAP and put on a M3 front to get me by, as the shop had no ST tires in stock.

-BD

 

[okmac]

I have an '06 and OEM BT 020's that now have 9400 miles on them and are just now in immediate need of replacing. The milage wear is one reason and I got my first flat on my rear tire. We did a 220 mile run on Labor Day. Parked the bike outside to cool down, came back 2 hours later and the rear was flat. Must have gotten pierced just as I came back into town cause the bike handled beautifully all day. I am in the process of ordering new tires and am really concerned about the wear pattern on the BT 021's and all the other complaints about practically every brand of tire. I have decided to go with the basic single compound Michelin Pilot Road tires. I figure that they are as close to the composition of the OEM BT 020's as I can get. If I got over 9000 miles out of them I willing to stay with the same type tire.

Why not put BT 020's back on if you like them. They are still available. Like you I got over 9K miles on the 020's and no problems. Then I decided I would try the 021"s . I have gotten good milage with them ,8K so far, but I don't like the wear pattern. I have a set of 020"s waiting to replace them.

Mac

 

[Road Runner III]

I have had the same problem, I went to the dealer to have a check up and rolled 4000 miles on her on the way. When the Yamaha Tech was done and we were talking he said I needed new tires. I could not believe it and when I looked a them they look just like all the ones I have seen in the pic's in this thread. I got the dealer to warranty me a front tire all I need to do now is go get it installed. Figure this will hold me over until I decide what to use as a replacement, always ran Dunlops on my other bikes after the factory ones wore out but this time I really need to research my replacement tires. Thanks for all the good info.

Steve

Roadrunner III

 

[blakebird]

I hadn't noticed this thread before....

I bought my '07 July 5th, 2008 with 1,100 miles on it, mint, perfect.

The BT-020's, as old a tire as they are....were excellent on this bike and lasted 7800 miles. No weird wear, just ready for replacement.

I replaced them with Roadsmarts, have been fastidious about pressure....and the front started the flat ridge dealio at around 4k miles. They have 7k on them now (bike has 15,000 as of this last road trip Oct 25 weekend).

The front is damn close to the wear bar, the rear has lots of life left.

I will likely go back to the Avon Storm, after a few sets of them treated me so well on the ZX-14. The Roadsmart feels ok, but isn't as good in that respect as the oem BT-020, IMO. I get a good price on the Dunlops....so it was worth a try, and I liked the Qualifier on my last sportbike.

The Roadsmart is ok, but not good enough to justify doing twice.

I was a bit surprised to see the exact same issue with the BT-021, but the FJR is not what I'd call light on it's front feet.

It is nice to know it's not a freak occurrence anyway. If the Avon doesn't pass muster on this bike, I'll go with the PR2 - they've been a good tire for me too.

 

[CAFJRider]

Just turned over 3k on my 08 FJR. Bike came with the B21s and I just noticed the same funky wear pattern on the front as well. Most of my riding has been slab-not much for twisties around here, and I've been keeping pressures (checked before every ride) according to the sticker on the bike as recommended by the Yamaha tech where I bought it: 39 front and 42 rear. Sounds like I need to have a chat with the dealer too.

 

[Warchild]

Interesting thread.

Has anyone noticed that many FJRs - both Gen I and Gen II - report this unfortunate funky-ass front tread wear pattern? What's more interesting is that some have seen this on several different tires... BT-021, the OEM BT'020s, Pirelli Strada, Dunlop Roadsmarts..... perhaps the possibility exists that we're chasing the wrong problem, and it's the suspension characteristics of the bike that causes *some* tires to wear in this manner.

I don't seem to hear these types of reports on the Storms or original Pilot Roads... tires with a distinctly different tread pattern than the RoadSmarts, Stradas and BT-021.

 

[BrunDog]

I hear ya, Dale. But for me, the 020 went ~5k, the 021 barely 2. No suspension changes = shitty tire design.

Middle was fine but sides plum wore out after some twisty work. WTF?

-BD

 

[Slardy]

Folks, I had the exact same wear pattern on my first replacement front tire on my 2007 FJR. The bike started to handle poorly in turns and I played with tire pressures to no avail. Then I noticed the strange triangular wear pattern.

This is my second FJR. I had a 2004 on which I had a Metzler and a Road Pilot up front. Both wore evenly across the tire and I got very good mileage out of both of them, ~ 8000 miles. The 2007 OEM BT020 or 021, I can't remember which, wore evenly, BUT I only got ~5500 miles wear. I put a Dunlop RS on the front (April 2008) and had to take it off at UNDER 4000 miles!. Got that tire replaced by Dunlop for free (September 2008). With ~ 3000 miles on the replacement RS, it looks very good. I believe I can detect a small amount of a triangular wear pattern, but this may be my imagination.

All of these tires performed well. I am not a 9/10ths rider: probably a 6/10ths, so I found the grip warm, cold or wet to be fine. I have no complaints there. But something is changing to cause this unusual wear pattern and low wear mileage. I only saw it on the first RS which is, of course, dual compound.

I am fastidious about tire pressure and check pressure often so I don't buy the "tire pressure" argument. I think the tire manufactures are having problems sorting out their new dual compound tires. Time will tell.

Slardy
Edited to add avatar

 

[El Cajone]

so i take it the consensus is that most owners are going with the Michelin Pilot Road 2's right? ok, sounds good. i have them on there now, there's a big flat spot on my rear but i have to see how the mileage is on these (bike is stored at a distant location will check tomorrow). I was going to go with the bridgestone BT021's but since they're wearing kind of weird, i'll stay away from them. Also what about the Metzeler Z6's? they are very high in price (my dealer just quote about 450 bucks installed and the owner said you'll only get 5 or 6k miles with the rear tire so i'm kind of on the edge about that.
thanks,

Rich

My new '07 Canadian FJR came with the Metzler Z6s as the stock tire. I just put the bike away for winter with about 11,800 miles on these tires. I'll replace them for next season but they're still in relatively good shape for the distance travelled. The tread is pretty much worn off the middle 1/3 of the front tire but the carcass is still intact and there are no strange wear patterns. The rear is in better shape; it has the usual flat spot wear pattern in the centre and I'd probably do a few more miles with it if I wasn't worried about riding in the rain.

I'm very impressed with the Z6s not only because of the great mileage I've gotten but also because of their excellent performance in all kinds of conditions. Come spring time, I'll be parting with some $$$ to buy some new Metzlers.