Best sports-touring tyres – tested

Just like a sports-touring motorcycle can satisfy almost all of the requirements of a bike for many riders, so will a set of good sports-touring tyres. The bike should be comfortable to ride for long distances yet offer a riding position that puts the rider at the heart of the action; over the front of the bike and keyed-in to its movements.

It should have an engine that is happy to hold a constant speed on dual carriageways or motorways yet give the rider the responsiveness and performance to enjoy challenging roads when they reach their destination – or, indeed, en route.

The suspension should be able to give the rider the best combination of grip and handling on those challenging roads yet also provide comfort and support for faster roads, potentially carrying a pillion passenger or luggage for a multi-day tour.

It sounds like an impossible combination of mutually-exclusive characteristics but there are numerous motorcycles by various manufacturers that achieve this with varying degrees of success.

Related: Best adventure-sports tyres

A good sports-touring bike can be perfected or ruined by the choice of tyre. While all manufacturers will have their preferred supplier who will develop tyres specifically for that model, things can often be improved in certain areas by changing for a tyre with a slight bias in one direction or another. And for many, that direction is the one towards a little more performance.

MCN tested six of the key replacement sports-touring tyres on a BMW R1250RS sports tourer, one of the main bikes in this sector of the market. Using the latest version of the company’s flat-twin 1254cc engine, the model tested uses active suspension to offer a perfect compromise between the needs of a long-distance tour and a blast across twisty roads and was the ideal bike to test these tyres on.