[libranof1987]

Eurogrip Tyres recently organized Tread Talks - a MasterClass focussed on how tyres are tested in the real-world, and how the feedback from their testing makes its way to tyre development.



The event was led by V Sivaramakrishnan, the CTO at Eurogrip, Renato Zilli, Eurogrip Milan, and expert riders / test experts - Toshihiro Wakayama from Japan, and Vittorio Iannuzzo from Italy:


A bit about the company: Eurogrip Tyres is a part of the Manufacturing Mobility Products vertical of TVS Mobility. They have R&D and production facilities in India, a product development coordination team based in Italy, along with testing facilities in India, Italy and Japan. The Eurogrip brand sells in about 90 countries.

The Eurogrip catalogue is split into three distinct usage patterns / requirements:

A) Track and Sport

1) Track Racing: These tyres are developed with maximum focus on grip, handling, and feedback with the main usage expected to be on tracks and circuits. Their typical application would be on sport / supersport or naked / sport commuter bikes.

2) Sport: These tyres offer excellent grip, good handling and are better equipped to be used in wet conditions compared the Track tyres. They are used for both, the road and the track.

You'd typically find them on sport / supersport, naked / sport commuter and even adventure or sport tourer bikes.

3) Sport Touring: These are all-round tyres that can be used on highways or country roads and offer a good balance of grip in both wet and dry conditions and durability with as much focus on comfort and stability.

You could fit these tyres on any of the type of bikes they support, and in addition, even Cruisers and Tourers.

B) Trail and Off-road:

1) Trail road: They are similar to the sport touring tyres, but come with a tread design that allows light off-roading. They are typically at a 90/10 or 80/20 (on/off-road focussed).

2) Trail on/off: They offer better performance off-road, at the expense of comfort and grip on-road. They are around 70/30 or 40/60 (off/on-road focussed).

3) Off-road: Knobby tyres which are predominantly for off-road surfaces.

C) Commuting and Scooter: These are tyres for commuter two-wheelers and scooters that are tailor-made for specific conditions such city riding, frequent stop-and-go, sudden manoeuvres or braking in traffic and so on.

1) Commute Urban Sport
2) Commute Urban Street
3) Commute Urban Mixed

[libranof1987]

With the introduction on the range of Eurogrip Tyres done, the discussion progressed toward the technicalities and technology behind the tyres that we were about to test.

On the international range, Eurogrip offers the Protorq Extreme, Roadhound tyres under the Sport category, Climber XC / XC-R / MX Junior for Off-road, Trailhound SCR and STR for Trail roads, and a variety of Bee-series products for Scooters.

For India, the Protorq Extreme, Roadhound, Beamer YS+, Beamer HS+, Duratrail EB+ and Terrabite DB+ form the range. Through the course of the day, we were to test the Protorq Extreme, Roundhound, Beamer HS+ and Terrabite DB+.

Mr. Sivaramakrishnan and Renato then walked us through the tyre development and manufacturing process at Eurogrip.



One area of focus has been the tyre's contact patch. Through they use Variable Radius Profile technology, Eurogrip claims that the tyre's cap contour with variable degrees of steepness enables an optimal contact patch shape and size according to the motorcycle position. Sidewall geometry is taken into account so that the plyline conformation is optimized to sustain load and forces.

On certain rear tyres such as the Roadhound, Eurogrip has introduced the Quadrazone multi-compound technology, which essentially entails the use of four compounds in the making of the tyre.



- Central cap compound focusses on increasing mileage and stability by enhancing resistance to consumption and wearing
- Shoulders cap compound with fillers to provide high grip while leaning
- Lateral wings to provide heating control and improve the sturdiness for the tyre
- Base, a middle-layer compound in between the tread and inner structure to enhance the overall stability

We were told that the this technology ensures that minimal heat is transferred from the sidewall onto the tread of the tyre, enabling better performance.

The Protorq Extreme range have a radial carcass with ply cords angled at ~90 degrees with the circumference of the tyre. One / two layers of these cords are used in conjunction with a 0" steel belt laid perpendicular to the cords to stabilize the structure.

We then moved to the testing of these tyres.

Eurogrip has independent testers based in India, Japan and Europe who carry out performance and durability testing on the tyre range. Testing is carried out separately in Japan and Europe given the distinct nature of requirements in these markets. The products are benchmarked against the best in the competition such as Pirelli, Michelin and so on.

With this, it was time to hear from the two expert riders on the parameters that they evaluate the tyres on.



The experts told us that they essentially test the tyre on three main functional aspects:

1) Handing: Factors that matter are lightness (fast flip flop with a robust front), neutrality (linear cambering speed from straight to maximum angle), precision (bike riding exactly on the line that the rider intends), easiness (effortless and easy lane change) and ability in keeping the trajectory in-turn and during acceleration (front that allows the rider to hit the apex, with a rear that doesn't slip while accelerating).

2) Grip: Comes into play during braking (maximum grip and smooth interaction with ABS), leaning (maximum lateral thrust of the tyre), acceleration (maximum acceleration and smooth interaction with the electronics of the bike), grip loss controllability (smooth loss of grip, in the eventuality of one, which can be predicted and controlled), overall grip.

3) Stability: Performance during wave, wobble on straight, snaking in the lean.



The session ended with a discussion on how feedback from the expert riders makes its way to the R&D team and further development and refinement of the tyre technology takes place.

[libranof1987]

With the theoretical discussions done, we headed to Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore. We'd be riding several motorcycles, across styles such as cruiser, street naked and superbikes, fit with the an assortment of Eurogrip tyres.





The session began with instructions from Kari officials as well as the test riders on how we can implement our discussion points from the classroom onto the track.



Europgrip Tyres had a diverse set of bikes for testing and each of them was shod with a different set of tyres. Some bikes even had a mixed set, with the front and rear getting a different product.

Here's a closer look at the tyres and their profiles:

The Apache 310RR and Duke 390 came with the Protorq Extreme on front and rear:








The Kawasaki Ninja 650 and the Versys 650 were shod with the RoadHound:








The TVS Ronin had the Beamer HS+ on the front, and the Protorq Extreme at the rear:




while the Classic 350 got the Terrabite DB+:




Riding at Kari

We got five laps each with each bike, and could really put the bikes and the tyres through the paces.

The Protorq Extreme tyres on the Duke 390 offered terrific grip and held on the track on high-speed turns just as effortlessly as they did on the long straights, with marginal curves, which required a momentary shift of weight. There was absolutely no tentativeness as I hit the apex and then accelerated out of the turn:


The RoadHound on the Kawasakis felt just at home on the race track and offered a firm grip, be it on the Ninja or the Versys 650.

The combination on Beamer HS+ on the front, and Protorq Extreme on the rear on the Ronin seemed like an interesting experiment, and didn't disappoint:


Towards the end, we also tested the turning ease / manoeuvrability of the tyres at low speed:


As the expert riders said, the capability of the tyres should exceed that of the rider. And while I am quite the novice when it comes to the race track, the expert riders put the tyres to test to their potential, and came out steady through the corners:


Disclaimer: Eurogrip Tyres invited Team-BHP for this MasterClass and riding event. They covered all the expenses for this trip.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[100Kmphormore]

The RoadHounds on the Versys seem to have taken quite a beating leaning to the left especially the front. Great riders, but the tyres take the cake for gripping so well on a bike that screams "you better take it easy" due to the top heavy nature. I hope they have these tyres for the size of Himalayan 450/390 ADV.

[Mu009]

Wish they would offer Protorq Extremes or Road hounds for the GT650 already! Any chance one of the mods who attended the event could ask someone from TVS if that's likely?

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

I hope they have these tyres for the size of Himalayan 450/390 ADV.

Originally Posted by Mu009

Wish they would offer Protorq Extremes or Road hounds for the GT650 already! Any chance one of the mods who attended the event could ask someone from TVS if that's likely?

Here are the hand-outs we received for the tyres (except Roadhound). Doesn't look like the Protorq Extreme comes in the size for GT650, but the Roadhound seem to.

https://eurogriptyres.com/tyre/roadhound/

[Mu009]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Here are the hand-outs we received for the tyres (except Roadhound). Doesn't look like the Protorq Extreme comes in the size for GT650, but the Roadhound seem to.

Thank you so much! When I used the Eurogrip website's "find a tyre", I struck out both by make and tyre size, hence my confusion.

Having experienced the much-vaunted Protorq Extremes on a friend's Ninja, I can't wait to try out the Roadhounds. Pretty happy with my current Vredesteins, but then that's not saying much considering I came from the atrocious Ceats