OEM BATTLEWINGS

[Scott Williams]

Am replacing them soon, with over 16,000 KM on them (10,000 mi.). Could possibly get 17,000, but won't push it.. I know they are not for everyone, but I just wanted to commend Yamaha for using this tire OEM. It was good in the wet, and superb on pavement.....even though every type of pavement here in HN is in various states of (dis) repair. (Then there are the many potholes). The BW's have survived it all. 95% of my riding is 2-up for 6-10 day mountain trips at an average of 65 mph. I may go back to them at some point, but my next pair will be a TKC80 front and a Mitas E07 3 ply rear. Why? When you pull off the paved main roads here the loose stone and loose gravel begins. Fuel stops, restaurants, the pharmacy, our B&B destination, dirt detours, etc., etc. That is where the BW's did not inspire confidence.....feeling as though riding on marbles. Loose stuff. I have ridden pavement only for all my life- until I retired here, so this is my first experience with offroad conditions. I must say, it gets my attention.

Most of the big BMW's down here run K60's, as they last. I am doing a similar thing, but with a bit more grip. Even though they are 50/50's, they should be decent enough on dry pavement....like the 60's. I now put the bike away for the 3+ month rainy season. It can pour for three straight days and get pretty messy. At nearly 74, I need the best equipment I can buy to get there and home without incident.....even though my riding conditions are 80 % pavement, 20 % loose dry stuff. JMHO.
Cheers.

 

[TimLaw]

I have about 5k on my '14. Guessing here, but at least 1k of that is off road....still on the stock tires. In dry conditions, I have taken the bike were many wouldn't on a smaller bike. The bike did fine, almost lost it on a few occasions but never dropped it. The worse material to run these tires on is silt. Other than that, no problem when it's dry out. On the hwy, they are perfect.

 

[scott123007]

The Trailwings were scary, the Battlewings are first rate.

 

[barts]

I just replaced the front BW w/ 11k+ miles; I'm using Anakee 3 now. The stock rear BW is good for another couple of months. I commute here in the SF Bay Area - just haven't had a lot of time for fun trips. The stock BW have been reat on the street - the Anakee feels even more rock solid and planted. With any luck, we'll get some rain soon and I'll get to try out the wet weather performance.

 

[iClint]

You won't be disappointed with the Tkc80's I run them front and back. my rear is just about gone with about 5000km but the front is probably good for another 5000 or more. The rear might have gone further but I have fun turning off the traction control and fish tailing and spinning up the rear in the dirt.

Personally I ride around on the tkc80's as hard as I do on the Rosso II's on my MT09, while not the worlds best road tyre the Tkc80's have ample grip on pavement. In the wet they do pretty good also. I've had them up to 200km/h with no issues.

Off road these tyres come into their own cornering at speed, traction on any surface.

The negatives are they are a little noisy on pavement but on long distances I wear earplugs so not a problem. If you intend to use them off road more than not I highly recommend them

 

[RCinNC]

I like my Battlewings, enough that I'm on my third set since I got the bike. I do a lot of two up loaded touring, so I'm lucky to get 6000 miles out of a rear tire (wear bars aren't showing at that point, but they're damn close). I always seem to catch them on special at Motorcycle Superstore too.

 

[Xt1200zsupertenere]

Try the Metzeler Tourance ::008:: ::008::

 

[TXTenere]

Try the Metzeler Tourance ::008:: ::008::

I have a Tourance Next rear tire installed, and 250 miles in so far, the back of the bike likes to wander around a lot. Surprised about that, and hoping it goes away with a few more miles.

My bike came with Tourance's installed when I bought it... Seems most got the Battle Wings.

 

[Dogdaze]

I do believe the OP is correct in his choice for his road conditions, I would love to go 50/50 or 80/20, but alas, here, you had better not be off the pavement unless you have broken down or stopped, otherwise pull out your wallet. So I chose the Pilot Road 4 Trail, and so far extremely happy with the bike 'rolls' from side to side when cornering. So if anybody needs a review of the PR4 Trails let me know.

 

[shrekonwheels]

I agree, the BW are a VG tire, I am not getting the wear out of mine that others are, but they do good job on pavement, dirt and gravel.

 

[cakeboy]

had tourance "next" on my v strom ..they turned a good handling bike into a horrible sliding mess . then i found they were made under licence in china ?

 

[Stridey]

If you think the original OEM fit Battlewings are good then you wanna try the new A40 version! Very grippy in wet and should last longer! The word on the street is they are a brilliant replacement as a road tyre with some minimum off road use (hard stuff only).

 

[Skyler76]

8K and mine are done (probably were 1K ago). I do ride fairly hard though, and I mean done in the sense that they're out of where I'd consider them safe for riding. Probably have 2K left on them for commuting though.

I'm throwing some K60s on the bike for a little more off road use. The BW's are obviously not an off-road tire and can be fairly scary off-road.

 

[JRE]

I was surprised how well the OEM tires performed. I was just in TN/NC and hit The Dragon while it was raining (not hard, but steady) and I had zero issues with grip though I was much less aggressive than I would've been in the dry. A few days later I hit it again on the way home, this time in the dry and I was scraping peg everywhere and the tires gripped like champs. I can see where I ran them up until about just over 1/8" to the edge so I used just about every bit of them.

I also hit some epic rainfall on the interstate. Cars were pulling off the side of the road it was so bad. I kept on at 55mph (limit was 70) and sliced right through it.

I'd surely buy these again. If the new version referenced above is even better, I'm sold.