saceur

IIRC, tread patterns are for water dispersal in the rain, not for traction. Kind of how slicks are pretty grippy, yet have no tread patterns. Tread also serves to see how much material is left on the tire. When your tread is gone, that means there's not much material left before you get to metal. I meant traction in the rain. I ride year round and the little rain we get here will test the new pattern.

Ran the BT21 on my 06 and loved the miles I got out of them. Replaced the rear after about 10k and still had another 1200 on them. 06 got stolen and I just got the BT23 for the rear on my 07 & so far so good. They changed the tread pattern on the side and I can only guess it was for better traction in the corners.

Don't know what your budget is but I've had my O'Neal Fastrack for over a year & it has served me well in all your requirements with only a few issues. The music & GPS part of it is great. I linked it to my Bberry, iPhone & Garmin with no problem. GPS is great cuz the little voice talks OVER the music just like if you were in a car so no interupting my tunes. Music bumps loud & clear until I hit 85. I can still hear it but now that I have a Givi windscreen all the air get redirected from my chest to my head & it is a little hard to hear all the words. Phone calls are ok as long as you're doing less the 50mph, after 55mph you can forget about being clearing heard but I didnt get it for calls so that's cool. Although both sides of the helmet have speakers & one can be removed for "legal" reasons, if they were a little better quality, I'm sure every word would come through crystal clear regardless of speed. My biggest issue is with the padding. The button is easy to use even with my big ole thick winter gloves. I talked to the guys at O'neal and according to him, they spent all last year reading reviews from people who have the Fastrack and worked very hard to improve what everydody complained about. The new Tirade Bluetooth Helmet dropped last week and is said to be a drastic improvement for group rides with 450 meter helmet-to-helmet intercom. I'm getting mine on July 9th & will let you guys know how it is. With a new helmet I'll be able to go to Radio Shack and experiment on changing out & improving the speakers just in case the new one suck.

I'm 6'3 & I have a Givi windscreen & love it because I leave work after midnight & it keeps the cold air off my chest. However I have noticed it directs the air flow directly at my helmet which makes me have to turn the volume way up in my helmet so I can hear the music. I do switch back to stock for weekend rides though.

I'm sure there was a lesson to be learned but while watching this video, there was only one thing on my mind. I read the captions at the end of the clip & figured I must have missed something so I watched it again and the same damn thing happened. My thought process continued down the same path on my 3rd viewing and although I tried my darnedest to focus on the point you were trying to make, all I could think about was "WOW, that video is really REALLY clear. I wonder what type of camera he was using" Sorry :laughing6-hehe: