I just finished an 11-day, 4000 mile tour on the Battlax A41s. I like these tires. They provide an excellent ride, great grip, and are confidence inspiring in nearly all conditions. I stayed off the slab as much as possible and rode on just about every kind of pavement, wet and dry, packed dirt, loose gravel, rocky trails, grass. and even deep sand. From whipping it up like a sport bike on Push Mtn Rd, Hwy 16, and the Pig Trail in the Ozarks in Arkansas to Colorado's Million Dollar Hwy, and the Devil's Hwy in Arizona, to forest roads, to White Sands New Mexico, the only surface that was pucker inducing was in deepish sand (6+ inches) on a Jeep trail in Utah near the 4 Corners area. In fact, I dumped the bike twice, 15 min apart, in that sand, but I'm sure major contributors were the 100lbs of luggage on the back and my inexperience and lack of skill in the sand. I didn't ride in any mud or water crossings so I can't comment how they'd perform there. I did ride in heavy rain and on wet pavement and didn't notice any lack of grip even riding aggressively. Because Western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and much of eastern New Mexico is flat and straight (maybe 1500 out of the 4000 miles), I am starting to notice some minor squaring off of the rear and a bit of trapezoidal shape developing on the profile of the front tire. And while I didn't measure the tread depth when new, I estimate there is well more than 50%-60% tread depth remaining, maybe a bit more.
The other thing I'll mention is the sidewalls of the rear tire are quite stiff, making them difficult to mount, even using my powered tire machine (and after warming up in the sun and using plenty of lube), but if you're not mounting these yourself, it's not really much to worry about. If you have to do it roadside by yourself, you'd probably choose prostate surgery without anesthesia first.
Overall, I think these are great tires and I would buy them again. But for the really off-road stuff and deep sand, I'll probably stay with my TKC80's.
Some pics of the various surfaces I rode with these tires:
The Super Tenere is out standing in its field :
...
Whooping it up with my buddy on his Hayabusa in the Ozarks...
Stopping to don the rain gear...
This is the only kind of stuff I would not ride on again with these tires and without more practice in the sand...
