RUST magazine: RUST #44

LATEST GEAR
Stuff
BRIDGESTONE AX-41
Contact: www.bridgestone.com
RRP: check with local supplier
Bridgestone are definitely a premium
tyre manufacturer, but they’ve
wanted for a defining full-on
adventure tyre. Their Battle Wing tyre
has been something of a 90/10 (road/
dirt) offering, pretty much like a Metzeler
Tourance. Their Trail Wing we’d call a
70/30 at best, but still not a proper town
and country. But now they have the new
AX-41 – the Battlax Adventurecross and at
last we have a real 50/50, perfect for superadv
riders wanting to go proper off-road
(but still ride there on the highway). As
such it goes head-to-head with the likes of
Metzeler’s Karoo 3, Pirelli’s Scorpion Rally
and Michelin’s Anakee Wild – pretty tough
oppo’.
The AX-41s are pleasingly chunky, but
still with a profile of limited height as tall
knobs really don’t suit the heavyweights.
Bridgestone have done their research and
come up with a technology they call A-IW
(that’s Anti-Irregular Wear) that limits the
movement of the blocks and so reduces
wear on the leading and trailing edges,
so extending tyre life and improving the
performance (particularly on road). They’ve
also worked hard to create a block pattern
that maximizes off-road traction with
plenty of leading edges to cut into the dirt
while leaving enough of a footprint to
ensure good grip on road – always a tricky
trade-off. While the first tyres out of the
moulds have been for super-advs there’ll
be smaller sizes arriving in early 2020 for
lighter adventure bikes.
THE TEST
We fitted a set to our KTM 1290 Super
Adventure R long termer– a stern test
given its fair weight and 160hp power
output. Coming from a 90/10 (road/dirt)
OEM tyre there was an initial readjustment
needed. The road tyres generally grip the
road well and the only time they move is
that millisecond before the traction control
or ABS kick-in (on the road this is). You
fit a 50/50 tyre like the AX-41 and straight
away you’ll feel the tyres moving on the
blocks. It’s every so slightly off-putting at
first, but with the Bridgestones (as with
other premium brands) you do get a decent
compound, and I have to say the AX-41s
ultimately stick well on-road, to the point I
could ignore that mini-squirm and in fact
reached maximum confidence in them to
the extent I felt I rode on-road the same on
these as I had with the road tyres.
Riding in the Isle of Man a fair few strops
along the TT course certainly tested the
high end on-road performance of these
tyres, and while I wouldn’t say I was riding
with ten-tenths attack I was tramping into
some of the TT’s iconic corners at a fair lick
and committing bike and tyres to some
sportbike style pressure. For the tyres – not
an issue.
On the trails, well, I’ve ridden the 1290
and the AX-41s both in Wales and the Isle
of Man and the tyres impressed in both
environments. Off-road there is a limit to
just how much I like to push a super-adv,
but I have to say the AX-41s performed
on a par with their competition. In all but
the slickest grassy conditions I could ride
with a fair amount of confidence. Like
other adv tyres their limitations come in
slick condition (where they just can’t cutthrough
– they’re too wide, too shallow)
and in the amount (or rather lack) of side
grip you can expect – again adv tyres lack
the edge of the sidewall knobs you’ll find on
an enduro/mx tyre.
By the way, in Wales on Bridgestone’s
advice we settled on 25/25psi (that’s about
1.8bar) for best grip off-road, but in the Isle
of Man, with lots of sharp rock to contend
with I couldn’t face the prospect of a pinch
98
www.rustsports.com