I was in Kent Motorcycles yesterday gettign a SH-300 for my wife now she has passed her test and the guy there was trying to recommend some BT-45's for my Tenere as he said I'd get much better milage on it than my current Sirac's based on their experience of police bikes with dual-sports tyres.

I've yet to do any green laning (though I'd like to try when its less wet) and I do 100 miles a day on the motorway for my commute. My Siracs look like they should last until my next service (12k miles) so I'm sure what do do when the time comes (probaly in may).

Presumably the BT-045's would give me more grip on the road, and a smoother ride at the expense of loosing any off-road potential.

They are the tyre of choice for RDs giving the best wear/grip having the dual compound, harder in the middle. They do odd sizez so might get some that would fit, be much better on the road.

Off road, all depends on the ground in mud,bogs, wet grass you be spinnin up going nowhere. Anything else you have a fighting chance.

TTR with a BT090 on the back

I used them for years on road bikes, never had any complaints.

More recently I used Avon Storms which were excellent.

Would you leave the Sirac on the front or is the BT45 now available in a 21" ?

The guy at the dealership was pretty confident he could get a 90/90 21 front for the Ten which is why I'm even looking at the option.

I've not had any complaints from the Sirac's they seem ok as far as I can tell but it might be good to try a different tyre just so I can experience the difference even if I don't like them, they'll only be on for 6 months max before I need a new set anyway.

I suppose I really ought to contact the TRF and see if I can go on an easy ride with them while I still hae the curent siracs on to get a feel of how likly I really am to go offroad with it (and where I can locally!)

Skunkmoto, thanks for the pic, gives me some confidence that I'm not totally loosing any off road potential. Just wish I had some tracks like that I could legally follow near here.

Did a quick search and they do a 21 90/90 �60-�70 and a few 17" �80ish, options for the rear, so you can get them to fit the Z.

You got me thinking now, they'd be a good choice for the Z if you're not doing any serious off-roading and lots of road work. Be interesting to see how they compare with the 'dual tyres' for wear and price.

Might get a set when the tyres that came free with the bike wear out.

On the subject of tyre swapping about, I'd be interested in finding out if I could fit the XT-X wheels into the tenere...I reckon that'd make it pretty much spot on for weekend blasts. I'm finding that on the fast road stuff the Sirac's are pushing out and squirming a bit now.

The idea of xtx 17" wheels I also thought about, would lower the front also putting the weight forward a bit more and shoudl help with agility with the smaller rims. As my current mechanical knowledgejust about gets me as far as adjusting the chain however I'll wait for someoen else to try before I do

I asked at my Yam dealer yesterday about the BT045's and they said they would be about �20 ish more for a set than the Siracs would cost. He was a bit more reluctant to say they'd give more tyre life than the chap at Honda, but I certainly don't doubt they make the ride better and give more grip.

I probaly will give these a go when the time comes. I'd stick with the siracs but then It'd do be good to see what difference changing a tyre does to the handling.
Plus I took a spill on on some mud on a roadside verge while doign a u-turn yesterday with the siracs so I don't currently feel they owe me anything

If ya doin 100 miles a day, could be here by tuesday, easy.

Got the BT45's fitted yesterday along with my 12k mile service.

Cost was �65 front and �70 rear plus fitting.

First impressions are pretty reasonable. Small but not massive difference in noise or smoothness to the siracs. The main thing that did suprise me is that they handle cat-eyes and poor road surfaces and overbanding much better than the siracs. The siracs seemed get really unstale if there was anything at an angle it could grip (edge of a speed hump, overbanding, cat-eye, camber/troughs in the road) wheras the BT45 seems quite at home in those conditions. Might not sound like much but it give much more confidence when filtering between lanes on the motorway. I used to be have to be very wary of the overbanding and cat-eyes on the siracs as i got kicked sideways by the tyres, now i'm just aware i've gone over a bump
Also took some more back roads home from the dealers and feel much more confident on roads with lots of patchwork roadworks and cambers that can't make their mind up which way their going.

Hard to comment much more that that as the siracs were fairly square and I was a very new rider when they were still round. It still feels like the BT45's give more confidence than I had before and seem to turn in a little bit more readily.

Should help with my confidence levels as I try to improve my road riding with the IAM. Once these are worn I might try the tourances a go and then the siracs again afterwards to give me a good idea of what each one is like before settling on one type. If the others last as long as the siracs do however it'll be 2010 before I've tried them all!

Attached Images

	P1000111s.jpg (174.9 KB, 59 views)
	P1000112s.jpg (168.9 KB, 50 views)
	P1000107s.jpg (164.8 KB, 73 views)

I got a set of Pirelli Scorpion Trail tyres fitted in friday to replace the worn Tourances (rear only lasted 3200 miles to the legal limit).

99% of my riding is on the road so we'll see how they perform.

Al.