BT 021's, Bad Idea!

[HarvRead]

I just tried a set of BT 021 radials on my 2000. The front has the same load rating as the ME880 front, the rear is "only" rated at 805 lbs, plenty for my solo riding. The front was down to 2/32" in just 5,000 miles. The rear was wearing well and would have gone 10,000, But it got a serious vibration the last 1,000 miles (4,000 to 5,000 miles) which started after hitting a moderate pothole. The tire was out of round on the left side, maybe de-laminating or otherwise broken internaly! in 50 years / 800,000 miles I've never had a tire do that before. So, given the short life of the front and the questionable integrity of the Rear, I went back to the ME880's.
I did like the 021's in the rain, though.

[Silverhair]

I've had great luck with Bridgestone Battlax radial tires on my Kawasaki Z750S - 12k miles on the front & 15k on the rear. And since I resolved to pay more attention in the last year to tire pressure, it seems this set is wearing even better. Haven't seen much, if any positive feedback with Bridgestones on the K1200LT.

But on these LTs, it seems the tried & true consensus is a set of Metzler 880s. I have 7k miles on my present set, and the rear is only showing slight evidence of wear. When these are done, I'll but another set for sure.

[Steve_R]

Bridgestone made a radial that was load rated for the LT but it was a BT020. They quit because of the rear delaminating and the belt slipping and bulging out the side of the tire. Since the BT021 is not load rated for the LT, it sounds like the delamination problem happened to you. In my opinion, I would never put a tire that is not load rated for the LT on the bike even if I am riding only one up.