The ongoing battle for motorcycle sport touring tire supremacy

Bridgestone’s new for 2025 T33 Battlax is here to take on Dunlop’s Roadsmart IV for bragging rights as King of Sport Touring Motorcycle Tires.  It is a big task.  Nothing so far has been able to unseat the Dunlop as the best all around sport touring tire on the market.  Some have come close.  Some not so much.

Bridgestone redesigned the T33 Battlax with claims of improved mileage and handling, boasting a new compound for the center section of the tire and a new tread pattern.  To test these claims, we spooned on new sets of T33s and Roadsmart IVs on our pair of VFR800 tire munching mules and took to the Pacific Northwest mountains.

Mountainous terrain in the upper left gives an abundance of twisty tarmac that starts from my driveway, literally.  However, some road surfaces survive the harsh winters better than others.  We chose two testing environments, one with perfect pavement and one not so perfect, as in tar snake infested, gravely and marked with potholes because these are the roads these tires may see during their sport touring lifetime.  Not every road in life is perfect, not all pavement can be Laguna Seca, so we aim to test tires where you would use them and how you would use them.

Both tires were mounted on a pair of Honda’s legendary 5th generation VFR800 and put to the test.  Pacific Northwest mountains are a nice office for the day.

However this time, the other VFR800 usually piloted by guest tire tester Dave Wensveen will be piloted by Matt Edwards, my son.  He acquired the 5th gen VFR last fall from Dave Wensveen when Shinko’s Verge 2X destroyed themselves after 3,200 miles.  Disgusted with the tires, Dave sold the bike.  Don’t ask.

Watching Matt ride is watching myself ride.  I had him on a Yamaha PW80 in elementary school when he could barely spell Yamaha, and he has been riding with me on dirt and tarmac since.  He did his first three day, 1,000 mile Canadian tour a month after turning sixteen and has even discipled other riders into motorcycling with his sport riding technical understanding.  And he is finicky about tires.  Relentlessly finicky.  I hear it all the time.  Fresh rubber mounted, tire pressures checked and gas tanks topped off, we took to the hills.

Notice the center chip seal, gravel and tar snakes.  Real world testing.

First we jumped on the bike shod with Bridgestone’s new T33.  First impression is that on center, the Bridgestone is more stable than the Dunlop, less racehorse twitchy, less razor sharp, more planted.  Instead of the super light feeling of the Roadsmart IV, the T33s give a more relaxed ride.  You can take your hands off the handlebars on a new T33.

When asked to perform, a light countersteer touch is all it takes to get the T33 to tip in.  While not as effortless as the Roadsmart IVs, it still responds with a relatively deft touch, about the same as Michelin’s Road 6 but much easier to pivot than both Pirelli’s Angel GT and Shinko’s Verge 2X.

A nice view from the office. Matt at the helm.

Matt and I also observed that the more the T33s were laid on edge, the more planted they felt.  Bridgestone has done an excellent job building a tire that inspires confidence at all lean angles.  At one point in our testing during a long high speed sweeper, I could easily remove my inside hand off the handlebar and drag a finger.  Confidence inspiring competency seems to be the calling card of the T33.

“I have never felt so immediately comfortable on a new tire,” Matt said.  “I got on them and instantly felt like I could push hard.  An eight-tenths effort pace on other tires (he was previously running Pirellis) felt like only a six-tenths effort pace on the Bridgestones.  Incredibly smooth.”

A combined mileage of over 225,000 miles tells you how many tires these bikes have gone through, much of them in the name of testing tires.

Then we switched to the Dunlops.  Initial handling impressions of the Dunlop are well documented by now; this tire handles like a razor.  It is sharp with an ever so slight hint of on-center lightness, as if the tire is nervously waiting to turn, anxiously anticipating your input.  It just can’t wait for turns.  This is not an imbalance or twitchiness, but a certain amount of impatience with being perfectly upright.  If the Roadsmart IV had a voice it would say being upright is boring, so very boring, a waste of its design which is to turn like a whip.

Give it the slightest, ever so slightest breath of bar or body language inputs, just a hair touch of countersteer, or a shift in body weight and the RSIV responds immediately, like right the heck now.  It is Mr. Snappy.  Superior handling is the dominant trait of the Dunlop, it’s claim to fame, turning so quickly and effortlessly that it will initially catch you off guard.  When new, I always have to recalibrate my turn-in point with the Dunlops, pushing my turning point later in the curve because if I don’t, these tires turn with such immediacy that I get pointed to the apex too soon, ruining my line.  I brake later, turn in later and quicker because I can pivot the Dunlop so much faster than any other tire I have ridden.

Bridgestone Battlax T33 front & rear (first two photos) and Dunlop Roadsmart IV front & rear (last two photos).

Dave once said, “This is an expert level tire.  It turns so quickly that it might catch a less skilled rider off guard.”  But for those of us who love how a good handling tire transforms our bike, Dunlop has produced the best handling tire I have ever ridden.

“The Dunlops are easier to countersteer and get into the corner.” Matt wrote in his testing notes.  “When I got on the Dunlop bike, it just wanted to dip over so fast, which is not for me.  A lot of people might like that.  I don’t want the bike to do anything I don’t want it to.  I want it to do exactly what I tell it to and not overcompensate.  Even though the Bridgestones are a tad harder to get into the corner, it’s not uncomfortably so.  However, once you are into the corner, the Bridgestones are locked in there.”

Not everyone needs, or wants, their bike to be sharp edged all the time.  Some riders make their purchasing decisions based on handling, others on grip.  As for grip, you will not exceed the grip of either of these tires on the street unless you are in an emergency situation or committing acts of jailable hooliganism (no, don’t ask).  Both tires have enough front end grip to take full force braking on the nose, with the Dunlop having perhaps a bit better feel at the limit before giving in, but I might be biased because I have more experience on the RSIV than the T33.

Some gravel miles were thrown in, just for fun.

With either tire, load the front tire, apply properly increasing modulated lever pressure and both tires will stop you faster than you think possible.  Rear grip is equally good on both, with levels that would be unwise to exceed on the street.  Even for full-on sport bikes, most of which will never see the racetrack, either of these tires would be all you ever need.  If I was doing a beginner level track day on a moderately powered bike, I would run either of these tires.

Bridgestone’s T33 is a confidence inspiring tire.  Great stability, a magically planted feel on edge and it does whatever you ask.  Increasing lean angles feel increasingly comfortable, as if the T33s have outriggers.  Turn-in is easy, line changes are easy, everything is easy, and nothing ever goes awry.  No alarms and no surprises.

Yet, given the choice, I personally would purchase the Roadsmart IVs over the T33s.  Dunlop is the tire provider for MotoAmerica and spooning on a set of RSIVs gives your bike a hint of that race DNA.  You can feel it sprinkled into every hard braking before a corner, every effortless tip-in and every stupid easy, drama free mid-corner line change.  It is just built that way.  While this feeling does wear away as the tires pack on the miles, our testing has shown it takes about 2,000 miles for the RSIVs to wear to the point that they feel like a fresh set of T33s.

Not every road is perfect. We test there too. Avoiding tar snakes and gravel around hairpins (see video short below) is a good test of how a sport touring tire can hold a line, or change it quickly when asked. Above- Mission Ridge Road outside Wenatchee, WA.

“It’s weird,” Matt observed. “The T33s feel exactly like the Dunlops with a couple thousand miles on them. The Bridgestones require a tad more input, but I don’t mind that.” They were Matt’s preferred tires.

At this point in the series, four years, tens of thousands of sport miles and hundreds of coffee stops into testing every significant tire we can think of all across most states in the west, we are down to splitting hairs between two absolutely great tires.  Bridgestone has created a fantastic sport touring tire in the T33.

But the Roadsmart IV tires are still better.  Scary quick, ridiculously light steering, and grip for days, the Dunlops are shockingly good.  Many riders in our circle have purchased Dunlops just from riding with us during testing and no one has any regrets about buying them.  All of my personal bikes, street or track focused, now run Dunlops.

If you want confidence-inspiring competency, solid stability, smooth, predictable turn-in, and seriously planted feel on edge, the Bridgestone Battlax T33 is a fine choice for sport touring. Zero complaints so far. But if you value razor-like handling on your motorcycle of any size or power, and want it to feel like a MotoAmerica track refugee, quit reading these stupid tire reviews and just get Dunlop’s Roadsmart IV.  As of this mid-season assessment, they are still the King of Motorcycle Sport Touring Tires.

Ted Edwards

*Chime in below in our comments section with your thoughts, observations, arguments, and/or questions. Let’s talk!