was consigned to last year’ s news. The new Bridgestone Battlax T33 had already ticked off my main bugbear and I was only just starting my ride home in a thunderstorm – and I like riding in a good storm.
NOT EVERYTHING SHINY IS GOOD Taking a circuitous route home, as you do, involved heading to my favourite piece of utterly rubbish road surface, as in shiny patches. Slicker than The Fonz’ s hair, it has remained utter rubbish for long enough for me to have ridden it in its current form( surely it cannot remain like this forever …) on a bunch of different tyres with TC in the‘ off’ setting. This setting is really where I learn what level of confidence I will carry when riding on varied surfaces in adverse conditions. I want to know how easily traction is lost, whether it is sudden and total, or some warning given and an ability to regain that which I require above all else – grip. And that ability has to be on New Zealand roads as our surface is, for better or worse, not the same as other countries, particularly those shiny bits.
THE RESULT So, how did they go? Very, very well. No doubt helped by the newfound suppleness in the carcass, the new compounds are a big step up in‘ shit surface ability’, or SSA as I shall refer to it as. It means I will have to keep on top of what else comes to market as far as tyres go but the new offering from Bridgestone doesn’ t lurk in the midfield, far from it. I am more than a wee bit impressed. What will take longer to confirm or deny is the claim of 47 percent better mileage. For me, mileage can vary, depending on what is happening at the track as I go past but I do take that into account. That quoted quantum leap in tyre life is teasing my inner sceptic but, hey, so far I have been happy to chew and digest my opinion of the T-series, so I am not expecting to be disappointed and, here’ s the kicker … even if there was no such claim of serious improvements to tyre life, I would still be impressed with the T33.
SPORT OR TOUR The new tyres have improved dry performance
KIWI RIDER 27