We all know that, if you ride a performance bike like a BMW S1000RR, KTM 1290 Superduke R or Triumph Speed Triple R, you need the sportiest tyres.
Right?
Not always.
While the segment ‘Sports Touring’ conjures up images of old boys with flip-front helmets, riding a weird old BMWs, with hi-viz stickers on the panniers. But the world has moved on. And so should you!
Gone are the days where a Sports tyre = Optimum grip and a Sports Touring tyre = Less grip but increased longevity.
Yes that tug-of-war between the two exists and it pretty much always will but of all the tyre segments, it’s the Sports Touring motorcycle tyres that have moved on the most.
We’d argue that the improved capability of Sports Touring tyres makes them a very attractive option for most UK performance bike riders.
The end of the Sports Touring segment
Just to confuse things a touch, most tyre manufacturers have moved away from using the ‘Sports Touring’ motorcycle tyre category. This makes things even more confusing for the average road rider because there aren’t many bikers out there who would consider putting a ‘Touring’ tyre on their Fireblade or GSX-R1000. Most manufacturers now have these main categories: Track, Sports, Touring and Adventure.
However we firmly believe there are clear Sports Touring tyres out there and we’re here to make the arguement that for most bikers, a Sports Touring tyre is a very good option for their performance bike.
How we define Touring versus Sports Touring
We wanted to paint a picture of the type of biker that we think fits into these segments:
We define a Touring biker as someone on a bike like a BMW R1200RS or K1600GT, a KTM Superduke GT, a Kawasaki H2SX, a Yamaha Tracer 900 GT or FJR1300. They’re usually two up with luggage or loaded up with somewhere to go. A touring bike usually has hard panniers factory fitted or available as an optional extra and usually they have a centre stand. The rider’s usually wearing textile kit, potentially a flip-up lid and comfortable boots.
They’re doing big distances and want more than 5,000 miles from a pair of tyres. So that’s our definition of a Tourer.
We define a Sports Touring biker as someone on a bike with a wider set of parameters. They’re usually riding solo, with a minimal amount of luggage, like a Kriega tailpack and a tank bag. They could be on anything from a Kawasaki ZX-10R to a Multistrada 950, a Honda VFR800F to a Suzuki GSX-S1000F. The rider’s probably wearing a textile jacket and leather trousers, sometimes with sliders or a two-piece leather suit. They have a race lid and race boots.
They are happy with 3,000+ miles from a pair of tyres, whatever they need to zap around the B-roads of France on a week off with their mates. For us it’s intent as much as the bike that defines Sports Touring.
Sports vs Sports Touring tyres
Yes, the Sports Touring segment is pretty much no longer used but there are sporty Touring tyres and more road-focused Sports tyres out there. For example the Pirelli Angel GT2 is a sporty Touring tyre and the Dunlop RoadSmart 4 is mileage and weather focused Sports tyre. You could fit either tyre on a BMW R1200RS or a BMW S1000RR, depending on how you’re going to use them.
For us, that means the Sports Touring segment is still very much alive.
The modern Sports Touring tyre offers a near-perfect blend of grip, all weather performance, fast warm-up, good handling and longevity.
The compound of a Sports tyre is aimed towards optimum grip but it requires conditions that meet the following: a warm tyre, grippy surface and no surface water. And mileage isn’t a high priority for Sports tyre development teams, they’ve got one eye on the lap timer and they’re not that fussed about your bank balance.
The issue with a Sports tyre for pure road riders is that those moments where the three key factors are honed in are few and far between and even then, you need to find a stretch of road where a Sports tyre’s increased grip would give you an advantage over a Touring tyre. I can’t think of many roads I’ve ridden around the UK where I can push a Sports tyre to its limits.
Why Touring isn’t Boring
A Touring tyre is a much more sensible option for UK riders, even fast road riders. Yes, sensible isn’t a word that gets the juices flowing and a Touring tyre isn’t going to look like you’ve just pipped Jonathan Rea to pole position – but stick with me on this one.
A sporty Touring tyre’s only downside over a Sports tyre is that its profile will not be as sharp. This means it won’t quite have the same tip-in responsiveness of a Sports Tyre. However, there are Sports tyres with a softer profile and Touring tyres with a more aggressive profile, so don’t write off Touring tyres just yet.
A Touring tyre trumps a Sports tyre for road riders in many other ways.
First of all, the warm up time of a Touring tyre is second to none. With it comes to road riding, you’re not always flat out from the word go. You’re crusing through villages, respecting the 20mph limit. Sat in traffic or stuck behind a caravan doing 40mph regardless of the speed limits. A Touring tyre is going to stay warm and offer grip, even when not being pushed.
Then there’s feel. The compound of a Sports Touring tyre is designed to warm up faster and so it’ll offer better grip over a Sports tyre, especially when conditions aren’t perfect. That’s a spot of rain, a mainhole cover, over-banding, a change in road surface, white lines and the like. The Sports Touring tyre is going to deal with those far better than a Sports tyre.
Now onto Grip. Let’s take a hypotetical corner and it requires 100% grip to get around it. Any less than 100% and you won’t make the corner. Any more than 100% won’t make a difference; you’ll still get around.
A modern Sports tyre might offer 200% of the grip you need, while a Sports Touring tyre might offer 180% of the grip. In both cases you have grip overkill but the Sports tyres will wear out faster. Simple.
Then there’s all weather performance. Sure you might only ride on sunny days but the road temperatures can be sub-par or there can be a spot of drizzle or worse, flash downpour. A Sports tyre’s compound won’t stay in the zone as well as a Sports Touring tyre would. Then there’s the fact the tread pattern on a Sports Touring or Touring tyre is designed to shift water and deal with grit without losing traction. Sports tyres are virtually slick in some parts of the tyre, and a cold Sports tyre and wet road do not make for an enjoyable ride.
Finally there’s longevity. Even if you ride on the twistiest roads, you’ll spend a majority of your bike upright. Yes lots of Sports tyres now have a dual compound with a harder central section but it’ll still wear out faster than a Sports Touring tyre will. A Sports tyre will square off faster than a Sports Touring tyre in most cases, meaning you’ve then got a bike that doesn’t handle as well as it could when you’re just off upright as the flat spot creates a profile that means you have to work harder to get onto the edge of the tyre.
Examples of great Sports Touring tyres
The S22 is classed as a Sports tyre by Bridgestone however they also make the Bridgestone RS11, a sticky road tyre and the Bridgestone R11, a track-focused road legal tyre. So we rate the S22 as Bridgestone’s option for fast road riders, with the Bridgestone T32 as their pure Touring tyre.
The M9RR is a brilliant Sports Touring tyre that’s more than capable of fast group trackday pace but also blasting to the Ardennes in all conditions. The Sportier tyres in Metzeler’s range are the Racetec RR K3 and the more track focused Racetec RR K1 and K2. Going the other way, there’s the Z8 Interact which is a great all-rounder and the brilliant Metzeler Roadtec 01 SE is Metzeler’s Touring option. If you ride a super sharp litre-class Sportsbike, you might feel the 01 SE softens off your handling and that’s fair, so go for the Z8 or M9RR instead. However the 01 SE is a brilliant fast road tyre for pretty much any other performance bike.
Examples of great Touring Tyres
Michelin Road 5
Metzeler Roadtec 01
My tire changing mechanic who seems to think he knows everything and is certainly willing to share describes my battle-axe t31 as a stiff Tire. I know the term sport touring tire is maybe not used as much but I do not consider this a touring Tire as I get less than six thousand miles out of it and I do ride in a sport touring fashion. Sometimes heavily loaded with camping gear taking all the twisty roads to the site or sometimes Canyon carving on a day ride. What I see is that the s32 is bridgestone’s touring Tire. Where am I going wrong here?