Lots of youtube reviews out there, often they do not provide the full picture of a tires performance. Here is my experience with the Bridgestone AX41 in the fitment size of 150/70/17-110/80/19 and the information I would like to have seen on a review before I chose these. These lived on my KTM 390 adventure however, not the GS. I suspect the concerns noted on the 390 would be amplified considerably with the heavier more powerful GS.
2400 miles, that’s it and the rear should have been replaced around 2k miles but I was being cheap and noted a near light switch of drive traction once worn to 3-4/32 on the center knobs. For a $150ish tire, in bias construction, stacked against the competition on the market this tire lasted half the miles it was expected to and what some of its competitors yield in my experience. The front is still in use and while suffering from the below noted limitations I will run the life out of it before replacement.
New and old the tires street performance dry was very solid. Not particularly noisy, good solid transitions, roll over nicely in the corners with no notable squirm. Braking was predictable and consistent and no real knob vibration noted at any speed although there was a point about mid life of the tire that they started making a bit more noise at town speeds and you could feel the knobs thunk/thunk/thunk when coming to a stop below 10ish mph. That exists to this day still in the front. Wet performance was ok, wet tar snakes will challenge any knobby and these were no different. I rode them in the rain with reserved confidence.
New off road performance, fantastic straight drive traction, no noted lateral grip! These things would skate on any unimproved surface outside of rock and hardpack. They bite well in a drift and the rear actually feels more secure under power in a drift, they indeed seem to tighten up with a when in doubt power out mentality and the rear end would come back under the bike quite often in gravel if you twisted it up. I didn’t care for this as the traction was not consistent, back off the throttle and trail brake the rear going into a loose corner and the rear would wander around and look for the cliff, see the exit of the corner, power on and they would straighten up and drive to your target. Great if I knew every corner, real mental workout riding briskly on unknown roads. Wet off road, same story, until the knubs are worn to 3-4/32” they will straight line grip in deep mud, clear nicely and chunk a nice rooster tail. They track well in mud when working them off camber as I expect the same notes of dry leaned traction are applied in the goop.
Greasy clay, forget about it, the straight drive performance is as good as anything DOT legal pretty much but the near entire lack of lateral traction negates any drive traction as any appreciable wheel spin gets the tire out of sorts and the rear end wishing desperately to swap positions with the front.
Bottom line, this tire is too expensive for its street life and too poor a performer off road to justify its cost per mile.
The rear tire was replaced with a Tusk 2 track 150/70/17, 10-15% lower price point than the AX-41 and my first outing included some nasty mud, single track, rooted hill climbs, rock stream crossings, nasty rock double track with a decent amount of 30-50mph canyon carving mountain asphalt. It has its limits which I may review in another post, my initial reaction is it is a much more capable tire than the AX-41as an all arounder.
2400 miles, that’s it and the rear should have been replaced around 2k miles but I was being cheap and noted a near light switch of drive traction once worn to 3-4/32 on the center knobs. For a $150ish tire, in bias construction, stacked against the competition on the market this tire lasted half the miles it was expected to and what some of its competitors yield in my experience. The front is still in use and while suffering from the below noted limitations I will run the life out of it before replacement.
New and old the tires street performance dry was very solid. Not particularly noisy, good solid transitions, roll over nicely in the corners with no notable squirm. Braking was predictable and consistent and no real knob vibration noted at any speed although there was a point about mid life of the tire that they started making a bit more noise at town speeds and you could feel the knobs thunk/thunk/thunk when coming to a stop below 10ish mph. That exists to this day still in the front. Wet performance was ok, wet tar snakes will challenge any knobby and these were no different. I rode them in the rain with reserved confidence.
New off road performance, fantastic straight drive traction, no noted lateral grip! These things would skate on any unimproved surface outside of rock and hardpack. They bite well in a drift and the rear actually feels more secure under power in a drift, they indeed seem to tighten up with a when in doubt power out mentality and the rear end would come back under the bike quite often in gravel if you twisted it up. I didn’t care for this as the traction was not consistent, back off the throttle and trail brake the rear going into a loose corner and the rear would wander around and look for the cliff, see the exit of the corner, power on and they would straighten up and drive to your target. Great if I knew every corner, real mental workout riding briskly on unknown roads. Wet off road, same story, until the knubs are worn to 3-4/32” they will straight line grip in deep mud, clear nicely and chunk a nice rooster tail. They track well in mud when working them off camber as I expect the same notes of dry leaned traction are applied in the goop.
Greasy clay, forget about it, the straight drive performance is as good as anything DOT legal pretty much but the near entire lack of lateral traction negates any drive traction as any appreciable wheel spin gets the tire out of sorts and the rear end wishing desperately to swap positions with the front.
Bottom line, this tire is too expensive for its street life and too poor a performer off road to justify its cost per mile.
The rear tire was replaced with a Tusk 2 track 150/70/17, 10-15% lower price point than the AX-41 and my first outing included some nasty mud, single track, rooted hill climbs, rock stream crossings, nasty rock double track with a decent amount of 30-50mph canyon carving mountain asphalt. It has its limits which I may review in another post, my initial reaction is it is a much more capable tire than the AX-41as an all arounder.
