Bridgestone BT45 Review

Overall Rating

Great grip, wet or dry.
Progressive breakaway, not snappy, therefore great on 'real' roads.

Can take a little while to warm up.
Still expensive considering usual fitment to commuters.

Used BT45s on my Kawasaki ER5 for a while.

But don't get me wrong, they havn't been subjected to the daily commute alone.

Though for that matter they have served me very well on the commute, the grip is fine for stop/start riding and they seem to give good mpg figures.

However, they can take a while to warm up, which sometimes doesn't happen on the shortest commutes (sub- 10 minute.)

The reason for this seems to be the surprising grip they provide, considering the modest dimensions which the come in.

This has told during numerous weekend blasts, which have varied from fast A-roads to twisty B-roads to the tightest unclassified lanes, all of which have been gripped well.

On tighter stuff and gravel-strewn roads, any tyre will oneday lose grip, but this is where the BT45's other bonus kicks in: progressiveness. They have no snappy breakaway like some stickier rubber, so you can not only catch slides, but even play with them if you so desire.

They give plenty of mileage too, so long as you keep them pumped to the correct pressures: I think neglect of this has worn mine a touch quicker than expected.

Fine solo or 2-up. Mine did the 135 mile trek to the NEC bike show 2-up in '04, no problem. And back 135 miles too. At higher speeds it was evident that they didn't have endless grip, but there was always plenty of feel to tell you which way the rear end wanted to go.

They seem to grip well in the wet too, although other bikes would probably be a better judge of this, knowing the ER5's tendency to slither the rear a bit in the wet. Characterful fun, I call it.

One drawback is the price: they are a good tyre and now utilise Bridgestones firm centre/ soft edge technology, but many owners of the commuter bikes which they are intended to fit wouldn't consider spending that much on tyres.

But you get what you pay for, and in my experience they're worth the cash.

Their latest competitor seems to be the new Michelin Pilot Activ, which according to the short snippets of review I have found, appears fractionally better than the BT45 in all areas.

However, the BT45 still triumphs over the original Michelin Macadam and other competitors (dunlop d103 and conti avenue.)

If they were cheaper and warmed up quicker, I would give the BT45 10/10. As such, they only get 8.