Pirelli launched their latest addition to the highly renowned Diablo family tyres, the Diablo Rosso™ III at Sepang International Circuit Kuala Lumpur on May 15th – 16th 2016.
The DIABLO™ brand has always represented Pirelli’s excellence in the world of ‘sporty’ tyres for motorcycles. After its introduction in 2002 in the supersport segment, the DIABLO™
family rapidly evolved until it was present in many other market segments through as many
as 16 tyre models, from Racing to Supersport. The DIABLO™ brand can boast almost fifteen
years of experience, technology and wins in the comparative tyre tests from the most
authoritative specialist magazines and in races of international value. For more than a
decade the most important motorcycle manufacturers have been choosing tyres from the
DIABLO™ range as original equipment while the international press considers DIABLO™
products a reference point. Within the DIABLO™ range the DIABLO ROSSO™ brand
identifies products dedicated to sporty use on roads and the new DIABLO ROSSO™ III
comes out of this important background to continue the story of this successful brand.
DIABLO ROSSO™ III is the direct successor of DIABLO ROSSO™ II but raises the bar of
sport riding even higher. It extends the qualities of its predecessor, strengthening its features
in terms of handling and grip, with long lasting performance.
Designed and developed with a view to equip the latest generation of powerful road bikes
characterised by significant technological equipment and electronic control systems, DIABLO ROSSO™ III is a tyre born from the racetrack for the road because it takes advantage of all the research and know-how acquired by Pirelli in the FIM Superbike World
Championship, in the last twelve years of participation in its capacity as Official Tyre Supplier.
DIABLO ROSSO™ III is the next step in the evolution of DIABLO ROSSO™ II, which
combines all the latest technologies, the most revolutionary materials and the most innovative processes together with the know-how acquired by Pirelli in the Superbike World
Championship in these last few years. Pirelli’s engineers have further strengthened all of these elements to provide an unprecedented level of performance for a supersport tyre.
DIABLO ROSSO™ III greatly improves handling, absolute grip and performance in the wet,
to guarantee lasting and consistent performance for the whole lifecycle of the tyre.
DIABLO ROSSO™ III presents new profiles, materials of the latest generation, an
innovative structure, new compounds and a tread pattern that is derived directly from that of
the DIABLO™ Supercorsa.
The main technical characteristics of the DIABLO ROSSO™ III are:
- The twin-compound rear tyre with high percentages of silica which provides grip in all
conditions giving mileage of reference in the supersport tyre segment. - The Racing-derived profiles.
- The tread which presents a pattern that is an evolution of the flash symbol already present on the DIABLO™ Supercorsa.
As can easily be seen, the tread pattern of the new DIABLO ROSSO™ III derives directly
from that of the well-known and highly regarded competition tyre DIABLO™ Supercorsa,
suitable for road use.
The Pirelli engineers considered it important to maintain the grooves with the typical and
distinctive “flash” pattern on the tread because it is recognised as an expression of
competitiveness and aggressiveness. The set of grooves represents the best solution possible for obtaining compactness of the tread strip, a good balance between full and
empty spaces, and excellent drainage of water.
The orientation of the grooves follows the waves of wear, interrupting the forces that
cause it, favouring more uniform consumption and a reduction of the stress to which the compound is subjected. The orientation is also effective from the point of view of dispersal of
water which makes the DIABLO ROSSO™ III an extremely safe and high performing tyre
also in the wet.
In keeping with the DNA of the DIABLO ROSSO™ II and of all the most recent products
introduced on the market by Pirelli, on the shoulder of the tread we can recognise the name of the product alongside which is the “flash” symbol typical of the tread pattern, to reaffirm
the family feeling of the latest generation of the DIABLO™ family. As a further link with other
Pirelli products, the new DIABLO ROSSO™ III is marked with the “D” of DIABLO™ 0.3 millimetres deep positioned in the centre of the rear tyre.
The rear tyre is dual compound with a large side strip of high-grip compound and a central
strip which guarantees the mileage. More specifically the profile is divided in a proportion of 40-20-40 where the side compound, more high performing, covers a total of 80% of the
entire tread while the remaining 20% in the central section is made up of a compound
functional to stability and mileage.
With this arrangement, the side compound that guarantees the grip comes into play as soon
as the leaning phase begins, ensuring excellent adherence and offering the motorcyclist great confidence while leaning into bends. This is made possible by the fact that the
compound used on the side has a 100% silica formulation and provides all the grip necessary on both dry and wet roads. The side compound is supported in the substratum by
a harder compound which gives the tyre characteristics such as stability and precision in
maintaining the trajectory in bends.
The same compound which in the side strips is present only in the substratum emerges
instead in the central part covering a width of approximately 45 millimetres of the tread. This
compound also has a high percentage of silica (although less than 100%) and has the purpose of ensuring stability at high speeds together with mileage of reference for the
supersport tyre segment.
The front tyre is a single compound with a silica content of 100%. The decision not to
apply also to the front the dual-compound solution is based on studies and on the direct
experience of the Pirelli engineers who arrived at the conclusion that the single-compound
solution on the front is the best choice, as it is the only one capable of offering the motorcyclist good quality feedback together with a high level of stability.
Compared with that of the DIABLO ROSSO™ II, the profile is higher in the central part and
wider at the sides to provide a larger contact area and a more stable lean.
At the same time the height of the sidewall has been increased by about 3 millimetres to
favour greater flexibility of the sidewall in acceleration out of bends, with a great benefit in terms of traction.
The rear tyre follows the same scheme and geometry similar to that of the front, ensuring
perfectly balanced and synchronised behaviour of the pair.
The radial casing of the new DIABLO ROSSO™ III is very rigid to maintain the profile and
enables the compound to grip the asphalt. Very similar to that used in the DIABLO™ Supercorsa, it is made of a high-performance Rayon, capable of conserving its shape during
high stress forces generated by acceleration and load.
The density of the belt has also been adjusted to balance rigidity with the absorption
properties of the roughness of asphalt, providing a better feeling of contact and reliability.
The new DIABLO ROSSO™ III are available at the international sales network in the
following sizes:
FRONT
110/70 ZR 17 M/C 54W TL
120/60 ZR 17 M/C (55W) TL
120/70 ZR 17 M/C (58W) TL
REAR
150/60 ZR 17 M/C 66W TL
160/60 ZR 17 M/C (69W) TL
180/55 ZR 17 M/C (73W) TL
180/60 ZR 17 M/C (75W) TL
190/50 ZR 17 M/C (73W) TL
190/55 ZR 17 M/C (75W) TL
200/55 ZR 17 M/C (78W) TL
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Credits : Photos and content courtesy of Pirelli Asia Pte Ltd