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Pirelli Night Dragon tire

Posted by Kenn Stamp
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Page 1 of 2 Words by Kenn Stamp Photos by Tom Riles and Catherine Wedmore Tires are difficult to review. You can post up all the neat graphics and pictures of the tires in question, and then give your impression of how the tire "feels", but therein lies the problem. What one person "feels" can be, and usually is, completely different from what another person feels. So how do you really do a good tire review? Well it starts by the manufacturer putting you up in a very nice beach side hotel and feeding you a delicious dinner and a good breakfast. Alright that really has nothing to do with how to do a good tire review but it is nice nonetheless. Pirelli looked around and realized that there are a lot of cruisers sold in the USA so they decided to get into the cruiser tire market. Not just get into it, but to fill a performance void within the market. Pirelli took notice of the fact that cruisers were growing in horsepower and capabilities and cruiser spec tires, for all intents and purposes, weren't keeping up. Oh sure, other manufacturers make tires for the high-performance cruiser crowd, but they are basically just standard model cruiser tires adjusted for a bigger size rim. Pirelli decided to take an entirely new direction and build a performance tire specifically designed for V-twins, cruisers and customs. When this tire is released in June of 2008 it will be targeted directly at the cruiser customer that wants high performance when the bike is moving and good looks when it's sitting still. Initially, the tire will be released in limited sizes to fit some Harley Davidson models with a wider range of sizes/applications to follow. The reasoning behind releasing the tire to the Harley market first is simple; there are a lot more of them than any other brand and the people that ride them want the best "stuff" for their bikes. The secret to the Night Dragon’s performance is in the exclusive design of its contact patch. It’s a new shape and has a larger footprint (10%) allowing for new compounds of increased durability and traction. It's new structure also provides optimum pressure distribution and unmatched riding comfort. As you can see from the chart, Pirelli's goals of better grip and style didn't come with a huge mileage decrease over their competition. This is always important as heavyweight cruisers and V-twin touring bikes do take their toll on rear tires. Pirelli laid out the route that we were to take on the ride the next day which led us from South Daytona to the Kennedy Space Center and then back to South Daytona. They apologized for the lack of twisty roads on the route. Oh well. We were riding various models of Harleys so the lack of twisty roads wasn't too critical but a few would have been nice. Since we were allowed to choose which bike we wanted to ride all day on a first come first served basis, I got my butt down to the sign-up sheet nice and early. I was so early that I actually got there before the sign-up sheet. Obviously my finely tuned sense of timing needs a little work. When the sign-up sheet did arrive I was the first in line and got to choose from every bike they had. What to pick, what to pick..... Sportster? No. Superglide? Nope. Heritage Softail Classic? Only if they want a bike back with no floorboards or exhaust. Roadking? Maybe...... Electraglide? Bingo! Not only would I be comfortable but I would be entertained as well by tunes wafting past my helmet from the radio and speakers. It's good to be early. Choosing to ride the 'Glide was actually due to a more important reason; I dislike them. Remember what I said earlier about tires being hard to review because they are subjective? Well, I dislike the Electraglides due to one very quantitative reason; at speeds over 50mph the wind hitting the fork mounted fairing causes an oscillation through the bars that drives me nuts. I figured I'd see how much these tires impressed me by how much oscillation came through the bars at speed. << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

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