Bridgestone Battlax BT46 Tire Test: First 500 Miles

Gary Ilminen

October 9, 2026

Bridgestone Battlax BT46 Tire Test: First 500 Miles

The Bridgestone Battlax BT46 replaces the BT45, Bridgestone’s vintage-style bias-ply tubeless sport-touring tire. A new silica-heavy rear compound targets wet grip, and Bridgestone says it gives up nothing in tread life to the BT45. The tire’s RC Polymer Technology optimizes the silica distribution in the compound to improve tread flexibility. This provides greater pavement contact area at all ambient temperatures. It also reduces molecular friction, resulting in less rolling resistance for better fuel economy. I have a feel for several of these features after the first 500 miles of my Bridgestone Battlax BT46 tire test.

Here are some basic data points on the review:

Test bike: 2015 Triumph Bonneville T214 SE

Sizes: Front: 100/90-19 MC 57V; Rear: 130/80-17 MC 65H

Mount/balance: Vetesnik Power Sports, Richland Center, Wisconsin

Start mileage: 12,489

Wet and Dry Traction

On the first day, I got to test the Bridgestones’ street cred in the wet when heavy rain caught me on a road trip. In the corners and during one hard braking event, the BT46s held my line. Even though the T214 lacks ABS, there was no hint of loss of grip or skidding. The extensive rain groove system on the BT46s has sipes that angle toward the shoulder of the tire, effectively displacing water away from the contact patch.

A few days later, the results were the same. I rode stretches of wet pavement in shaded areas, mixed with dry pavement in open areas, on township and county roads heading south to Yellowstone Lake State Park in southern Wisconsin. I faced corners in valleys with old, hot-patched, tar-jointed blacktop that was also wet, then transitioned to bone-dry blacktop on downhill straights. The roadholding was as good on that cold-to-cool day as it was in the warm, humid conditions on the very first day.

Fuel Economy and the Long-Term Plan

Fuel economy on the BT46 tires is about the same as on the stock Metzelers and the Pirelli Sport Demon tires that preceded the BT46s. On my initial rides with the Bridgestones, the T214 averaged about 56 mpg. That should yield a range of about 230 miles on a full 4.2-gallon tank. In my story about my first ten years on the Triumph Bonneville T214, the bike averaged 53-56 mpg.

I haven’t tackled interstate highways yet; that will change. I’ve only encountered brief stretches of gravel road. Most of this long-term review will be on my local Wisconsin roads. The review will include no track days, stunting, burnouts, heavy luggage loads, or two-up riding.

This isn’t the end of my Bridgestone Battlax BT46 testing. Once I’ve worn the tires out, I’ll report back with the full long-term results. If you have a guess at how many miles I’ll get out of the BT46s, put it in the comments.