What makes a good sports touring tire? Is it stability, dry grip, wet grip, tread life? The answer of course is all of the above, and it's what Dunlop have aimed to achieve with the new Dunlop Roadsmart II.
Considered the rebirth of Dunlop motorcycle tires, the original Roadsmart was the turning point for many riders perception of Dunlop tires. Previously most peoples experience with Dunlop tires were as OEM fitment on bikes, which might not have been the best experience for everyone. The Dunlop Roadsmart was extremely well received winning a number of awards and brought Dunlops motorcycle profile firmly up there with Michelin, Bridgestone and Pirelli.
What's new in the Roadsmart 2?
Built on the original Roadsmart, the Roadsmart II incorporates many of Dunlops newest technologies to give the tire excellent all round performance. Jointless belt technology improves mileage, feel, feedback and comfort, a multi tread compound gives the centre of the tire excellent tread life while remaining grippy on the shoulders, and improved silica dispersion gives improved wet grip.The biggest question is how do these new technologies translate to the road? To demonstrate the Dunlop Roadsmart IIs performance Dunlop provided a number of workshops designed to test the tires to the limit in both the dry and the wet. Each workshop had a number of identical bikes, some fitted with the Dunlop RoadSmart II, some with the well regarded Bridgestone BT023, and some with the new Michelin Pilot Road 3. We were then left to make up our own mind with some back to back riding.
The Wet Performance?
The Michelin Pilot Road 3 is a tire designed for wet riding, and with its aggressive siping and soft compound it looks almost like a wet race tire - in short it would be difficult to beat in the wet. Compared to the Michelin, which was extremely strong on the wet circuit, the Bridgestone, while stable in the corners struggled with traction and braking leaving you nervous to turn in or get on the power early out of the corners. The Dunlop was extremely comparable to the Michelin, perhaps giving slightly less confidence under braking but otherwise almost identical grip levels, with the rounder profile of the Dunlop giving a nice turn in and inspiring more mid corner confidence when compared to the Bridgestone.
Michelin: 10
Dunlop: 9.5
Bridgestone: 7
The Dry Performance?
This time when comparing the Michelin and Bridgestone in the on track in the dry, the tables were turned. Where the Michelin was so strong in the wet, it struggled in the dry, feeling sluggish, struggling to put the power down mid corner and giving a vague steering feel during turn in leaving you often missing the apex. In comparison, the Bridgestones dry performance was remarkable, giving excellent stability in both the slow and fast corners, with excellent traction under hard acceleration and braking. Considering the "sports touring" nature of the tire, it stood up to serious abuse on a hot track on a powerful GSXR 750. Where the Dunlop matched the Michelin in the wet, it matched, and bettered the Bridgestone in the dry. With a comparable amount of raw grip, again the Dunlop profile allowed the tire to flow better, and felt more stable in the high speed corners.
Dunlop: 10
Bridgestone: 9.5
Michelin: 7
Overall
The brilliance of the Dunlop RoadSmart 2 isn't that it betters a particular tire in a particular area, the real strength of the RoadSmart 2 is the fact is does everything well.Overall Dunlop has produced an excellent all round sports touring tire. It blends the Michelins excellent wet weather performance with the Bridgestones dry grip, and adds a little more stability and linearity to cornering. It works well on a wide range of bikes, from nimble street fighters like the Triumph Street Triple to heavy tourers such as the BMW K1200.
Every day riders want a tire that can do everything, and of the big three tested it's currently the Dunlop RoadSmart 2 that does this best.
Damn... And I was already immediately in love with the half-worn-out Michelin PR2 tires I got on my '94 CBR1000F when I bought it this year. The Continentals I got from the bike shop as replacement utterly, UTTERLY disappointed, so I am now going for new ones. They were sold to me as good all-weather tires. I'll be damned if I ever again let others choose my tires without proper prior googling. Now changing them, after like 700 miles, I hoped I just had to get used to them, but especially after I had a slip-crash on them on a piece of city road I have never had any trouble with ever before with any other bike or tire, well... The only thing those seem to do well is last forever, since they lose zero rubber because they have zero grip :(
Reading everything, I am going for the Roadsmart2's now. Seen how much I loved the PR2's, I can't wait to see what these feel like :) I'm an all-year, all-weather commuting and touring rider (as long as it isn't snowing). Not a wild one, but still a demanding one. Since we have pretty much all kinds of weather pretty much every day in Holland, I just want the best all-purpose tires.
Thanks for the very clear review!
How does this perform as a winter tire?
They warm up from cold ok, unless you mean freezing, snow and ice performance then no bike tire will be any good!
I had the Roadsmart 2s on my nippy CBR6FW throughout Britain's harsh winters for 2 years, and I wouldn't choose any other tire. I had one slip on it, after 10,000 miles of use, going into an icy car park, but it is by far the most stable, reliable, cost effective tire I've ever put on it, withstanding country roads at -15C. Even now, at 14,000 miles on the current pair, they're still more than capable of handling rough roads and heavy rain. Patchy ice will be a different matter, but they definitely warm up very quickly. Pilot Road 2s and 3s don't really match this tire at all. Unlike the Pilot Roads, these tires end up paying for themselves, even if you rag the bike.
have bmw listed the roadsmart II for the k1200gt yet?
We can find out - what sizes?
The 'looking to buy' box redirects to a site that does not even appear to supply motorbike tires ????
http://lovetires.com/tire/D... :)