Do you dream of taking your big, sturdy adventure bike to the track? I mean, they do say that a good track day is more about the rider than the machine. After all, you’re going to have more fun honing your skills and goofing off with your friends on anything with two wheels if you don’t take yourself or your machine too seriously. That’s probably true of most things in life, though.

  
By the way, I certainly don’t mean to suggest that you can’t be competitive in such a scenario. If anything, that’s what Dunlop’s new SportSmart TT Trail tire (or tyre, if you like) is aimed at doing. Like the Trailmax Mission we covered in October, 2019, this tire is cut out to fit a selection of modern ADV bikes. Since your ADV can go anywhere, though, the SportSmart TT Trail asks why you can’t take it straight from the road to the track? 

It features Dunlop’s proprietary Speed Vent tread, which the tire maker says opens and closes strategically as the tire turns. Aside from that description sounding a bit like the name of a moto-themed soap opera, there’s a practical advantage to that tread, as well. Getting tires up to temperature is good, but like most things in life, you don’t want it getting past a certain point. According to Dunlop, these vents help with heat dissipation, to keep your tires at their most optimal temp without overheating. 

Gallery: Dunlop SportSmart TT Trail tires

 “Dunlop has brought something completely new to the market with SportSmart TT Trail. Today’s advanced adventure bikes are the Swiss army knife of motorcycles. Our four new tyres allow riders to maximise the performance of their machines, whether they get their adrenaline pumping from track days, touring or attacking the toughest terrain,” Dunlop product manager Dmitri Talboom said in a statement. 

 
ADV bike sales have been strong and healthy for the past few years, so it’s unsurprising that Dunlop would want to offer plenty of options for riders to choose from in this category. While not a dedicated track day tire, there are plenty of track day enthusiasts who ride their bikes straight from home to a track day event, and that’s exactly who these tires are for. How they’ll fare out in the wild is, of course, a thing that remains to be seen. 


Source: Goodyear 

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