Dunlop’s SportSmart: “Reinventing” the Sports Motorcycle Tyre

A motorcycle tyre that combines race-quality grip in the dry, total confidence in the wet and wear rates that never compromise sporting satisfaction is said to have been an elusive wish for street and occasional track day riders. That is, according to Dunlop, until now. The company claims to have realised these qualities in its new SportSmart, a tyre it describes as creating a “new benchmark of handling and confidence, irrespective of road conditions – dry racetrack or wet country lane.” Dunlop adds the SportSmart is designed to deliver its highest levels of performance while putting in the hard touring miles and riders can thus expect to achieve noticeably more mileage from SportsSmart than they would with other hypersport tyres; indeed, during testing performed by Dekra in January 2010, using a 2009 model Suzuki GSX-R 1000 fitted with 120/70ZR17 and 190/50ZR17 tyres, the SportSmart reportedly delivered 20 per cent better mileage compared to Michelin’s Power Pure, 30 per cent better mileage than the Pirelli Diablo Rosso and 40 per cent better mileage than Bridgestone’s Battlax BT-016.

How has Dunlop managed to combine these qualities within the SportSmart? The tyre maker says this was possible through the “intelligent application of three ground-breaking Dunlop technologies”: MultiTread compound design, Jointless Belt construction, and the race-bred NTEC pressure-adjust system.

Developed from Dunlop’s D211 GP race tyre, MultiTread blends durable rubber in the centre of the tread with a softer, more ‘grippy’ compound on the tyre shoulders for flowing, consistent cornering even at extreme lean angles. A tread pattern with deeper central grooves is designed to improve performance in the wet; Dunlop says it gives the SportSmart outstanding straight-line traction and consistently excellent all-weather handling characteristics. MultiTread, the manufacturer adds, gives riders the “confidence to enjoy high-level sports motorcycling on all roads and across a wide spectrum of climatic conditions.”

The SportSmart’s JointLess Belt construction, explains Dunlop, uses cord density engineering techniques to deliver more linear steering properties, richer feedback and top-class high-speed stability. Additional reported benefits include supple shock absorption for enhanced riding comfort on longer rides.

NTEC provides a degree of ‘tuneability’ that Dunlop believes both regular road and track day riders will find pleasing. As Dunlop explains, NTEC technology enables a rider to optimise the tyre by adjusting tyre inflation pressure. Simply by altering pressures within a specified range, Dunlop says SportSmart riders can maximise the available grip on road or track without compromising the tyre’s all-important stiffness. For dry track days, Dunlop recommends deflating the NTEC tyre for predictable and tenacious handling on the limit, while back on the road, reinflating to the manufacturer’s recommended pressures should maximise grip and performance. The manufacturer states that regardless of whether the bike is flowing through a corner under a steady load or powering out of its exit, SportSmart’s cornering stability at high speeds is measurably superior to that of non-NTEC tyres.

By putting all these technologies together in the SportSmart, Dunlop is confident of having produced an “ideal rider’s package” of strong grip, reassuring stability and precise feedback, along with the valuable bonus of slow wear rates. “We believe that if riders had the technology, experience and resources to design and build their own ideal sports tyre, the SportSmart is the tyre they would end up creating,” said Sharon Antonaros, Dunlop Europe’s marketing director. “It’s an excellent combination of all the attributes an enthusiast would want in a tyre – strong grip in all conditions, very predictable handling characteristics and sensible wear rates.

“We’re very proud of our engineers’ achievement with SportSmart. Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in 1888. In the SportSmart I think our team might well have reinvented the sports motorcycle tyre,” Antonaros concluded. The new tyre is available in the front wheel sizes 120/70 ZR17 and 120/60 ZR17, and sizes 160/70 ZR17, 180/55 ZR17, 190/55 ZR17 and 190/50 ZR17 for the rear.