Pirelli Diablo Rosso III, born from the track and perfect for the road – 2016 test

Pirelli Diablo Rosso III – We should have tested them on the track, but the rain gave us a different opportunity, with the test of the more specific Diablo Rain, the same tires used by the Superbikes in the World Championship (here is the link to the article). Actually that day we could have easily run with the new Diablo Rosso III, precisely because Pirelli's latest generation super sports bikes have been developed to guarantee adequate grip even on wet asphalt. The Massimo Roccoli, in the briefing in which he illustrated the track conditions at that moment, told us that he had ridden with both options that day, without ever having had any difficulties. It's obvious that wet tires are something crazy on a damp track, but it's equally true that when it dries out, even partially, they are no longer usable. While this may be inconvenient on the track, requiring you to change tyres, on the road it would be even more complicated.

Obviously the Diablo Rains are not approved for circulation and therefore the problem does not arise, but the gist of this introductory parenthesis is that the new Diablo Rosso III are a product that offers an increasingly interesting compromise, which makes them perfect for riding your sports and supersport motorbike from the track to the road, on dry or wet asphalt, with always very high grip. We anticipated the arrival of the third generation of this product a few months ago (here is the link to the article), now we have finally tried it on the new MV Agusta Brutale 800 in our test ride (here is the link to the article). The Italian motorbike is in fact the first to mount them as initial equipment and even wanted to celebrate the union with a special edition of its motorbike (here is the link to the article).

The new Diablo Rosso III

The development of tires in recent years has undergone a fair acceleration, even if giant strides had already been made compared to the past, thanks to new methodologies in the method used. Empirical experimentation has gradually been replaced by information technology and mathematical models, capable of telling us a priori whether an innovation is advantageous or not. Added to this in the case of Pirelli is the transfer of the experience gained in the race, with the participation in the Superbike World Championship as sole supplier for the last 12 years. In recent years there has also been an increase in the performance of sports motorcycles, combined with a generous injection of electronics, which determines a different use of tires, as has been highlighted in the world of racing. Diablo Rosso III was therefore an evolution eagerly awaited by enthusiasts and it does not disappoint expectations. Latest addition to the tire family born way back in 2002 and which then even gave life to 16 models, it promises to be an important step upwards in many directions. In comparison with the second generation the parameters in which it improves are many and some in some ways are even in conflict with each other. We are talking about grip on dry and wet asphalt, but also about durability, uniform tread wear, lean angle and easy handling when driving. The Diablo Rosso III improves significantly in each of these factors, without sacrificing anything compared to the performance of the previous product. All this thanks to factors such as new profile, derived from competitions, the tread pattern, which evolves the one already seen on the Diablo Supercorsa track riders, in addition to theuse of different percentages of silica in the two areas of the dual-compound rear, so you can achieve better performance and at the same time a longer life. The distribution involves 80% use of the softer compound (40% per side), with only a central 20% reserved for the compound which guarantees significant mileage. By doing this, the bike has optimal grip as soon as the bend begins, with the support of a harder lower layer, in order to have greater precision and stability when cornering. This is precisely the same compound present in the central 45 mm of the tread. Although dual-compound solutions have also been experimented with on the front in the past, the conclusion was then reached that the use of just one, obviously the soft one of the two, is the only way to guarantee adequate performance and feeling. Specifically, with current bikes, it is the central portion of the rear tire that is most stressed and the first to wear out, so with the front you can focus more on performance and grip.

Our first impressions

For now our experience, as anticipated, is limited to the road test of the new Brutale 800, a nice test bed given that, even if partially tamed, the MV Agusta naked still has a great character. What we noticed right away is the propensity of the new Diablo Rossos to digest the most heterogeneous conditions and uses. Whether the asphalt temperature is over 30 degrees with the sun beating down or below 10 on a gray day with overcast skies, we have never found ourselves having to manage a loss of grip due to cold or too hot tyres. Furthermore, we often drove without traction control, in Sport mode and, when we put the electronics back in place, interventions, even when opening with the bike folded, were rather rare. The multi-spoke development of the front profile guarantees surprising handling to the Diablo Rosso III.

Here the merits of the Brutale 800 MY 2016 are more marked, but we will also verify this characteristic with the Honda Hornet 600 on which we are starting our durability test. A test that will give us interesting results, precisely because it was carried out with a motorbike that is no longer current and substantially devoid of all the electronics that we now find on almost all sports bikes, whether dressed or undressed, but not only. With the powers achieved, the Diablo Rosso III is in fact a rubber that It pairs well not only with supersport bikes and naked bikes, but also with the nastiest tourers, thanks also to the promise of a duration similar to a more touristy coverage. The rear also has a similar geometry to the front, allowing uniform behavior of the bike. The modifications then bring the significant advantage of guaranteeing a lean angle that rises from 45 to a full 52 degrees, ever closer to those achieved in the world of competitions and which a few years ago seemed to be beyond the limits of physics! There maximization of water drainage capacity leads to astonishing performance for a tire that allows you to easily indulge in a session on the track with your motorbike, without having the hassle of a more extreme specific tire or even having to transport it on a trolley in order to use tires not approved for the 'road use. In the Imola test, even if we report the words of Massimo Roccoli, who was using them while we were riding with Diablo Rain, the new Diablo Rosso III gives a feeling of stability even at speeds of around 250 km/h, without aquaplaning and moreover in one of the worst contexts one could choose. In fact, the Enzo and Dino Ferrari racetrack has sections of more recent and draining asphalt and others where streams of water form, also due to the inclinations of the track, which is almost never flat. According to the Italian pilot, with the BMW S1000RR even when braking hard before entering the corner, the astonishing thing is the limited intervention of the ABS, testifying to the excellent grip of this tyre.

Thanks Moro Gomme for allowing us to take the photos during the assembly of the Pirelli Diablo Rosso III on the Honda Hornet with which we now begin our long test.

The photographs in this test were taken with a Sony A7S II Full-Frame Mirrorless camera with Vario-Tessar T FE 24-70 mm F4 ZA OSS lens

There are three sizes available for the front:
110/70 ZR 17 M/C 54 W TL
120/60 ZR 17 M/C (55 W) TL
120/70 ZR 17 M/C (58 W) TL

Seven for the rear instead:
150/60 ZR 17 M/C 66 W TL
160/60 ZR 17 M/C (69 W) TL
180/55 ZR 17 M/C (73 W) TL
180/60 ZR 17 M/C (75 W) TL
190/50 ZR 17 M/C (73 W) TL
190/55 ZR 17 M/C (75 W) TL
200/55 ZR 17 M/C (78 W) TL

Here you can see instead the presentation video of the new Pirelli Diablo Rosso III, with the official Kawasaki Superbike riders, Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes, both world champions,