Speed is reporting that Motorcyclist has selected Dunlop’s Qualifier “Q” Sportbike tires as their product of the year. This is a really big deal since that award usually goes to a bike of some sort.
I talked with my friend at Dunlop who does most of their testing after he got back from a week of testing in Japan where it rained the whole time and jokingly asked him about how the Q’s are in the rain. Here is what he told me-
As for the ‘Q’ in the wet. They are suprisingly very good. The limited pattern (land to sea ratio) does not look like it would work but it does.
The new compounds and constructions are just amazing and other than just the shear effect of channeling a lot standing water the ‘wet asphalt’ grip on most of the new stuff is very high. Technology is so (much) better than what it use to be in the old days.
We just did a big comparison study on competitors tires as well as our own.
The theory is that most people on newer sport bikes don’t ride in the rain anyway. Unless they get caught out by mistake or something. Guys with older sport bikes generally don’t have a second means of transportation and this theory doesn’t necessarily apply. But most of the newer tires are not geared towards the older smaller sizes. We are working on some stuff for those bikes right now that will up the level of performance for them as well…
We will have some good stuff from Dunlop’s Proving Grounds in a few weeks as well as a great give-a-way from Dunlop. Stay tuned.
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