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I plan to use this post for a long term review of the BridgeStone DriveGuard 195/55RV16 RFT on my wing. As I ride this in different conditions I will add reply's to this post.
The tire was fairly cheap at $132 out the door. I bought mine at Discount Tire. They said they would match out the door pricing but as it turned out they were the cheapest.
My initial impression was kinda boring as this tire has a typical CT tread pattern. But the initial measurement of 13/32 showed that there is alot of tread there. Mounting was a chore as that sidewall is very stiff. But we did get it on and the balance dot is very close. I reused the 3oz of Dyna Beads from the old tire. It did take more pressure to seat and as such I rode it home (3 miles) with 55lbs of pressure.
After getting it home I set the pressure at 30lbs and I plan to keep it there for the life of the tire. As I have the OEM TPMS, the light come on solid when cold, takes about 10 minutes to start blinking, and about 30 to 40 minutes to turn off as the pressure rises due to heat. I do have the TPMS registered in reverse so the bike thinks the back tire is the front. And the tire is never very hot. I can touch it with a bare hand after riding for hours in 80+ weather.
So far I have about 500 miles on it on a wide variety of roads from city streets, interstate and mountain twisties. I have crawled around parking lots and had it significantly above the $1 mark.
With only 500 miles there is no measurable tread wear but the little nubbies are gone.
All I can say is wow, its glass smooth, sticks exactly where you put it, and handles emergency stopping very very well (my shorts on the other hand
). Comparing it to the Potenza RE960, it takes alot less input when turning and likes the parking lot speeds better. It also handling hard fast corners better (and I really like the RE960!) So far all my riding has been in good and fairly warm weather.
Here are the two side by side.
...gene
The tire was fairly cheap at $132 out the door. I bought mine at Discount Tire. They said they would match out the door pricing but as it turned out they were the cheapest.
My initial impression was kinda boring as this tire has a typical CT tread pattern. But the initial measurement of 13/32 showed that there is alot of tread there. Mounting was a chore as that sidewall is very stiff. But we did get it on and the balance dot is very close. I reused the 3oz of Dyna Beads from the old tire. It did take more pressure to seat and as such I rode it home (3 miles) with 55lbs of pressure.
After getting it home I set the pressure at 30lbs and I plan to keep it there for the life of the tire. As I have the OEM TPMS, the light come on solid when cold, takes about 10 minutes to start blinking, and about 30 to 40 minutes to turn off as the pressure rises due to heat. I do have the TPMS registered in reverse so the bike thinks the back tire is the front. And the tire is never very hot. I can touch it with a bare hand after riding for hours in 80+ weather.
So far I have about 500 miles on it on a wide variety of roads from city streets, interstate and mountain twisties. I have crawled around parking lots and had it significantly above the $1 mark.
With only 500 miles there is no measurable tread wear but the little nubbies are gone.
All I can say is wow, its glass smooth, sticks exactly where you put it, and handles emergency stopping very very well (my shorts on the other hand
). Comparing it to the Potenza RE960, it takes alot less input when turning and likes the parking lot speeds better. It also handling hard fast corners better (and I really like the RE960!) So far all my riding has been in good and fairly warm weather. Here are the two side by side.
...gene
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