Recently had the same experience with my gs 500. It came with bridgestone battleax bt54. As it was my first bigger bike, aside the grooves, I thought the rubber is supposed to be that hard. There was no feed-back from rear or front tyre. Even locking out rear would'nt be felt untill the tailed slided outward. I used to avoid painted surfaces on road. Fortunately, coming back form faisalabad my front tyre developed a bubble and I had to replace. Only when I got my hands on brand new timsun, I realized tyres are supposed to be soft and sticky even to touch. End result, much more confident on hard braking.
Front Timsun: 120/70/17
Since my only reason for keeping gs-500 was to be intermediate bike and learn riding for bigger displacement. I would like wider tyres.
For rear tyre, I opted for Shinko 011, 160/70/17. 
Grip: I can think, there are better tyre in the world but I was just amazed by the amount of grip the bike now has in corners. I have the confident to hard brake, in midst of corner and committing. Shinko made the most difference especially from rear feed back, and you can actually judge the surface even while not looking at it.
Wet weather: Haven't tried in wets but shinko 011 has no middle grooves to dissipate the water. This where front timsun comes for heavy lifting.
Final thoughts, if given the choice. I would stick with shinko and not with timsun. Timsun although has good grip but there is slight stiffness in outward walls. It doesn't wants to lean, it pushes back until you are well within a lean. Feel is like you are front tyre is stuck between two walls. I will try some lower pressure to check the difference.
PS the guy I bought bike from, said tyres are very good. Genuine condition. He said the same about bike, but that is another story. My rear bridestone tyre was from year 2001.
