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| Pirelli brings a new enduro tires. Fits of gravel to the highway and from Africa Twin to BMW GS. 1000PS testing in Sicily |
Oh Yes, We Are In The Tire Test
The real purpose of the trip, a tire test, was at that time long ago faded into the background. All of our bikes were equipped with the new Scorpion Trail. The new tires for touring bikes made by Pirelli. In athletic tires Pirelli Diablo takes the line has a leading position, while touring tire rather the subsidiary Metzeler has a nose ahead. With the new product, the Italians also want the enduro range leave their mark. The huge serpentine route between Francavilla Di Sicilia and Rodi Milici was serious. The two guides at the front as well. Was maintained only at intersections and who were here in the mountains, very rare. The guides know this corner of Sicily as their hand and I follow their brake lights with great ambition. Without their brake lights I'd be lost and the Spaniard in front of me can not quite keep her pace.
Narrow Lanes, Gravel And Hard Curves Now
The tires have at this time already have a lot to go through. Equal to the start we were on different bikes in the narrow streets of Taormina on the road. Then a small but cool liner followed on loose ground and now we blow on pristine asphalt to attack. On the eve of the Pirelli technicians reported together with marketing gurus and test pilots of new tires. The big challenge was to a different application of the new tire - from the highway to a dirt road, and on the other the completely different motorcycles that there are now in the genus of enduros.
A Tire That Various Motorcycles
The Pirelli engineers have developed and the Pirelli test crew checked the tires on the classic BMW R 1200 GS, Honda Varadero, Suzuki V-Strom. Even in these seemingly similar motorcycles had to rely on technicians to completely different requirements consideration. BMW works known to a Telelever at the front and burdened with the tires different from other motorcycles. Then we still have the almost the naked bikes belonging motorcycles like a Benelli Tre K or a Ducati Multistrada. Finally, did we mention those enduros to which the word "enduro" really deserve. So a KTM Adventure or BMW F 800 GS.
Do not forget this time was even on older motorcycles such as the Africa Twin. Here, too, has been tested and optimized. Test chief Salvo Pennisi, "We want the new Pirelli Scoprion Trail also owners of older bikes the opportunity to significantly improve their motorcycle by a comparatively low investment in new tires!"
Since Nothing Can Go Wrong: Much Grip And Traction Control
So far, I could not share the euphoria of the Pirelli crew fully. On the narrow and blind corners around the city of Tyre enthusiastic on the GS with easy and predictable handling. The motorcycles (I tested a 650 GS, a Benelli and a Transalp) articulated one afloat but always linear and very controllable. In my duel with the Spanish colleagues, however, other benefits of the new tires were needed. The thermometer at the GS shows 35 degrees. The asphalt is very grippy and last stop when the tires were so hot you could barely touch it. Nevertheless, they offered the right amount of grip designs accelerating.
At the 1200 GS I could first try the traction control ASC. As a lover and supporter of new technology to I trusted blindly and turn the throttle at a very early stage. I know what is actually possible, because on clean asphalt I reached the control range only very rarely. Despite the scorching heat, the weight and the high torque of the rear tires do not let me down.
Under braking, I thought again of the euphoric Pirelli technicians. The 0 degree steel belt which forms the carcass of the tire is made of a wound in the direction of steel wire. This belt spans the entire tire and used in conjunction with the rubber as a damping element. Sounds simple and logical, is the complex structure but quite difficult for the technician. Because the gaps between the turns of wire are not constant across the entire tread. Together with the built-profile tricky thus result for the technicians endless possibilities to influence the properties of the tire.
The Test Team To Report Much
I could flip the GS braking hard and yet very precise and nimble. The track was to hold in spite of energetic gait always easy. Some tight corners had to be even slowed down at a quick change curve and here I had no brakes on the front lines but only in varying skew. Such good properties under braking we owe loud Pirelli crew primarily the 0 degree steel belt construction. By the variable structure, the deformation of the tire is precisely controlled. The tire in practice feels like the technicians that would like to have, is probably also due to the strong role of the Test Department in the Group. Normally press only shows the people from marketing and then swing to the conclusion as a technician big speeches. Here, however, the Pirelli test chief Salvo had a surprisingly long time to speak. The technician looked up to him, listened to his words and felt in every room the respect and recognition that flows towards the sympathetic Sicilians.
3 Years Of Testing And Development Phase
For three years, was tested in parallel with development and improvement. First, in the lab, where test pilots go through special routes covered with frosted glass. One floor below the technicians observe the drainage effect of the profile. That on a travel enduro like the Scorpion Trail grip grip on wet surfaces is a very important part in the development.
A technician in Smalltalk. "The first big hurdle for a new profile of the test on wet roads Provides is bringing a profile good wet running properties without adverse effects on dry pavement to day we are very far but then the profile must have the. marketing department and it is difficult properly. During the previous tires MT90 as the profile looked rather boring. new Scorpion When we want to bring a bit more athleticism in the world of bikes. "
Actually, I had already managed to pass much sooner, but the presentation is not a race and a hard Ausbremserei makes me equally unsympathetic still act on the Spaniard. So I waited for the switchbacks where the 1200 GS is an unbeatable weapon. On the GS inspired me most of the tires, because combined with the really good gear, you can reap the benefits of rubber even more. The machine glided effortlessly through the tight chicanes and accelerated rapidly on the uphill straight to the next curve. This sleek spectacle was repeated countless times on one side of the mountain, and was completed when going downhill on the other side.
A Name For Various Tires
Difficult in a modern tire, no matter which manufacturer's logo emblazoned on discovering real weaknesses. Sometimes permit strategists punished a conceptual error that is then supported to the finished product and then market it with ignorance. But the Scorpion was positioned correctly in my view. An excellent road tire of exactly the right dose of adventure in the terrain permits we need. Exactly the right compromise between highway and gravel turn for a variety of different bikes. In this development were the cost calculator few broadsides donated. Because of the structure of the tire is in the different dimensions in part completely different. The 19 "front wheels, for example, a 0 degree steel belt, for example, while the 21" versions have a conventional configuration with a diagonal carcass. So all tire dimensions precisely those qualities that you have on the respective motorcycles also need.
Hard Finals
The lively bustle of the street was a very fitting end. With a brilliant (after) lunch in Rodi Milici in Villa Laura. When after several antipasti, pasta and salad all pilots satisfied in the armchairs refused and waited for the cafe, the waiter moved with half a pig pen on the plates. Who had the waistband adjustment was happy the rest button and zipper opening. Nobody was in the mood for revenge, all rolled hanging motionless on the bikes back on the highway to the hotel. The only thing we could hear was still impressive running and stability - and that was a good thing. Would have been good shame about the food.
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