Long Way Up - Tyre advice

Going to this summer (not that exact route though). That is, unless the forecast is really awful Still, we have to count in some cold and wet weather and it is a REALLY long trip (wear), around 5.000km So makes sense going for a sport touring tyre rather than a sports tyre. From what I read sports touring tyres are much better than they used to be conserning grip anyway (probaly close to sports tyres just a few years back).

Anyway done some reasearch so would appreciate some advice. Picked out these tyres:




Bridgestone Battlax BT-023: http://www.bridgestone.eu/press/press-r ... -bt-023-a-“full-spec”-sport-touring-tyre (copy in link, the "" f**ked it up)

Some of these are brand new so a bit hard to evaluate...but gut feel based is OK General experience with grip for these tyres (on road not track)

Dunlop Qualifiers or the new Q2.

I'll vote for the Pirelli Scorpion Sync.
You cant' beat this tyre in cold, wet, greasy an other bad conditions.
Normal lifespan (rear) about 8.000 km if you don't do burn outs but ride lake hell.

The California Highway patrol has been using Dunlop Roadsmarts with good results. ( BMW R1200 R-TP ) Grip is good wet and dry and the wear is said to be great. The only bad comment I've heard, is, when fitted on smaller bikes the hard rear tyre is locks-up easily on hard braking. This shouldn't be a problem on a loaded Superduke.

Tour Safe , Kuerbis

Of the tyres listed I've only run the pilot road 2 . The rear has held up fine on the 1K Strom . The Vstrom only has a 4.5" rim= 150tire I've put 1200 commuting on it and its' still got tread to pass Inspection. Should hold up for your trip!
Jeff[/u]

Looked in a 2008 Motorrad magazine tyre test. The Pilot Road 2 2CT wins the sport touring test killing the rest in the wet beating second best by 1.6s

But this was a 2 part test and the Pilot Power 2CT beats the PR by 2.3s on wet track And another 2 sports tyres also beats the PR. So my assumption that sport touring tyres are better in wet seems to be wrong

And also on dry roads and track the PP (obviously) wins over the PR. Actually, out of 15 criterias PR is equal only on 2 points, the PP beats the PR on the rest. So looks like sports tyres is still better than sport touring tyres even for less than ideal conditions

So maybe getting brand new Pilot Power 2CTs before my trip is best (always willing to sacrifice a bit of milage for better grip) Assuming that good grip on wet roads means good grip when cold