stick like the proverbial when they get nice and hot.
For the rear tyre, the centre band is 75% silica
and 25% carbon black, then a 100% silica band sits
either side of that, and on the edge of the tyre
the compound is 100% carbon black. The 100%
silica shoulders should grip well when cold, great
for part lean in the cold or wet, while the centre
band has silica for good warm up and wet grip,
but has some carbon black added so it can take
the heat of acceleration, and increase mileage.
So, on the surface at least, Pirelli’s claims of great
grip AND great mileage seem to bear out.
ON THE ROAD
A good road tyre should be able to suck up bad
surfaces, cope with changing surfaces and shrug
off all weather conditions, something we often get
all at the same time here in NZ. The roads used for
our test loop covered some 140km and included
everything from smooth tar-seal to pot holes,
and sections where farm machinery had spread
dirt for several kilometres. And then there are the
left-field conditions... we even had to contend with
one stretch of road which was covered in spilled
macadamia nuts. There were some journalists on
this tyre test criticising the route selection, saying
they could have ridden faster on better roads,
but I think they were missing the point... if a tyre
can deal with all of that then they can deal with
pretty much anything. And isn’t that the point?
And it wasn’t like we were going slow either.
The first bike I tested with the new tyres was
Ducati’s Monster 1200S. This motor produces
a huge amount of easily accessible torque at
TM
KIWI RIDER 25