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FIRST RIDE: Pirelli Diablo Rosso
We take Pirelli's newest tire, the Diablo Rosso on a challenging 120-mile street ride from historic Santa Paula, California, to the Streets of Willow in Rosamond, California....
Adam Waheed  | http://www.motorcycle-usa.com  |  Posted January 06, 2008   Medford, OR
For its Diablo Rosso tires, Pirelli spent fours years in research and design to find the happy medium between street durability and track-inspired performance.

Tires are the intermediary between a fastest lap and a trip to the gravel pit. And with Japan, Italy, England, Germany and now even the U.S. producing 1000cc-plus motorcycles that crank out upwards of 130 horses to the rear wheel, the time has come for a new generation street tire that can handle those mega-power outputs and the associated loads that accompany putting that much power to the pavement.

Tire development is all about compromise. Make a tire too sticky and we'll burn them up in a few hundred miles. Make a tire too hard and we'll get the mileage we desire but sacrifice grip and warm-time. Integrate numerous tread cuts and it displaces water but compromises our coveted contact patch. We could continue or dissertation on compromise, but Pirelli believes that it's found the right middle ground with a tire that can meet the needs of both 21st century man and machine.

Pirelli World Superbike engineers have been hard at work for the last four years developing a race rubber that can handle the 200-plus horsepower loads over 90-km race distances. This race track R&D trickles down to the street riding enthusiast in the form of the all-new Pirelli Diablo Rosso tire.

The Diablo Rosso is the street-oriented sibling in Pirelli's Diablo tire line up. But just because it was developed for the streets doesn't mean that it can't be used on the track. To prove this, the Pirelli crew invited us out to sample its newest tire on a challenging 120-mile street ride that originated in historic Santa Paula, California, and ended at the Streets of Willow in Rosamond, California.

In the fashion of Pirelli's World Superbike tires, the Diablo Rosso features a naked shoulder on both sides of the tire. This allows the tire to maintain a complete contact patch with the tarmac when it's rolling at maximum lean angles. Between those tread-less sections lays a new tread pattern that utilizes Pirelli's "Functional Groove Design," that concentrates tread grooves in the middle of the tire where they are needed the most.

Within that cool-looking tread pattern is a new compound that has been specifically engineered for passionate street-riding enthusiasts. Fast warm-up times, consistent levels of grip regardless of weather conditions or road surface, and exceptional tire life are a few of Pirelli's claims that we sought to test during the intro.

Street riders have enough to worry about while navigating the world's mean streets. Pirelli doesn't want you distracted by traction issues so you can concentrate fully on the road. The Diablo Rosso is designed to help riders remain focused with its ability to maintain control even in the most adverse conditions, continuously maximizing the contact patch via its unique tire profile that incorporates Pirelli's patented "Zero Degree" belt design. What is "Zero Degree" belt technology all about? The term refers to the carcass design in which steel belts are laid in the same direction as the rotating tire. This helps prevent the tire from growing or flexing too much when it's being subjected to a hard load.
The high points we found with the Pirelli Diablo Rosso tires are its neutral steering, quick warm-up times, phenomenal levels of adhesion, and its overall stability.

The Pirelli squad mounted up a set of Diablo Rosso tires (120/70-ZR17 front and 180/55-ZR17 rear) on our 2007 Honda CBR600RR. With the tire pressure set (36 psi front, 42 psi rear), we hit the streets of Ventura County. Once under way, it became immediately clear that the tires do not offer the greatest feel. Throughout the street ride we felt disconnected from the road below. However, steering was extremely neutral and side-to-side direction changes were no better or worse than the OEM Bridgestones that were previously fitted.

The lack of feel from the rubber made it difficult for us to really push hard through the curvy, mountain route that Pirelli had laid out for us. The few times we were able to man up and actually work the tires, they performed flawlessly without a hint of instability or lack of traction. In fact, adhesion levels felt very consistent. During our photo shoot, a few times we locked up the rear wheel to speed up the turn-around process, sliding the bike around 180-degrees. The rear rubber consistently slid, making us look like we actually knew what we were doing.



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Adam Waheed

Motorcycle-USA.com

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