Update: Last week, I had some essential work completed at Kaohsiung’s excellent Kawasaki dealership on Jiuru 1st Road. First off, a new RK chain and sprocket, which has made gearchanges much slicker and smoother. Also, after 11,000km, my Sava/Bridgestone tire combo was due for replacement. Getting new tires was rather more difficult than I had anticipated - basically, it turned out that most of my first choices were unavailable, especially for the rear (Bridgestone BT016, Bridgestone S20, Michelin Pilot Sport). I guess that Ninja 250-sized rims are rare in Taiwan, or at least in Kaohsiung, and tire supply is accordingly limited.
The choices I was offered were:
Bridgestone BT003RS, 110/70 front, 140/70 rear. Sticky tires, great grip in the dry, not ideal for commuting as relatively short-lived (4,000 - 5,000km).
Bridgestone S20 110/70 front, Bridgestone BT39 150/70 rear. I didn’t like the fact that this combined a radial front tire and a bias ply rear - everything I had read online advised against doing this.
My third option were some crappy Dunlop tires, cruiser rather than sport style.
… and that was all. So not a lot of choice. I opted for the BT003’s. I tested them out on a 300km ride through the twisties on Sunday, from Kaohsiung north along the 21 then the 3 to Yujing, and followed the 3 around Tsengwen reservoir before taking the 172 then the 175 south, looping around the reservoir and re-emerging onto the 3 at Nanxi. It’s no exaggeration to say they have completely transformed the handling of my bike. The grip is amazing, turning in to bends is a lot easier (the old tires were very flattened off), basically they inspire a lot of confidence while riding hard. It didn’t rain so they haven’t had a wet-weather test yet, but there’s not a lot of tread on them so I’m not expecting miracles.
They are likely to be relatively short-lived compared to my old tires, but they’re so enjoyable that I think it will be worth it.
