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It's interesting to me how Dunlop dominates in the US and Pirelli seemingly dominates in Europe. It does seem like Pirelli is gaining a little more traction (see what I did there?) in the US the past few years. I need a new set of sneakers and Dunlop has always been what I've purchased but I think I might give the Pirelli's a go.
Any of you fellas make the switch and if so what are your thoughts?
Any of you fellas make the switch and if so what are your thoughts?
Personally I like the new Michelin star cross tires.
The Shop
-they are softer, so they’ll (especially the front tire) feel low and more likely to chunk knobs with 12psi but awesome at 14. The softer carcass makes it feel like going a few clicks softer on square edge bumps without giving up anything on other parts of the track.
-the sensation you get before you lose traction is different. The Dunlop’s felt like they hooked up, until they didn’t and you had that cartoon banana peel moment. With the Pirelli’s, I would feel a gradual “smear” rather than the sudden wash out. Once I got used to that I found myself staying on the throttle more on corner exits, trusting the front end especially.
Bonus round: if you like the Dunlop carcass and traction feel, but want a really long lasting tire, buy the mx-xtra by pirelli. I mounted a set on a practice set of wheels and really liked them. Only tires that I’ve tried that lasted as long were Kenda tires, and I’d rather ride a bald tire of any other brand than them again.
Side note: the Pirelli is not the choice, at least for us, for bikes under 125cc. On the smaller bikes it seems like the knobs are really low. We still run Dunlop on the 50-85’s.
If Cheng Shin tyres put all their product on the big team bikes and sent trucks to the races, guess which brand would be on the tip of everyone's tongue..?
Dunlop do it in the US, Pirelli do it in Europe. Its very simple.
Let’s suppose you can turn a 1m30 lap time on a starcross and a 1m30.5minute on a Pirelli and a 1m31 lap time on a Dunlop.
You score three 2nd places instead of three 3rd places. Your plastic trophy is 1.5cm bigger than your Kenda riding friend, who, just like you is driving his truck home with a beaming smile on his face.
Does it REALLY make a difference?? REALLY..?
PC, Factory Kawi, Star Yamaha, Factory Honda, KTM/Husqvarna/GasGas (among others not listed) all use Dunlop tires, so most of the big teams in the US are running Dunlop. I believe this is largely due to the capabilities they have in the US with development and production to support the race teams. Dunlop nearly has a stranglehold in the US in terms of Pro offroad racing, so Pirelli is left to focus on supporting many of the satellite teams (FXR/Chap Honda, BarX Suzuki, Club MX, TPJ, JMC, PR-MX) and then they have a really good rider support program for privateers. Pirelli has in fact stepped up their US rider support programs over the last few years and they have been successful in gaining some of the market share. Michelin and Bridgestone used to be big players in AMA pro racing (offroad) but they have mostly been phased out leaving predominately just Dunlop and Pirelli.
Dunlop also has an amateur and privateer support program, but not as big as what Pirelli offers.
With Pirelli, all of their tire testing is done in Sicily, Italy and their production centers are also based in Italy. So from a logistical perspective, it's natural that Pirelli is #1 in Europe and the GPs. All of the tires used in the US for offroad racing have to be imported from Italy.
One thing I do like about Pirelli is that with the Scorpion tire, you are essentially buying what they race at the professional level so the consumer can more or less run a "race-spec" tire. They are big believers in "racing what we sell and selling what we race." With Dunlop, the factory teams are typically running special compounds, prototype designs, etc. so the production tire you are buying is slightly different than what we see on the track in the pro ranks.
In the end it's a tough decision, but in my opinion, both tires are more than adequate for the amateur rider/racer, so the tie breaker for me would be buying Dunlop to support US manufacturing/jobs.
I think the main thing for people is the feel not the times. If your bike feels planted you’ll have much more fun then if you’re constantly waiting for the bike to slide out
Don’t flatter yourself- us amateurs really cannot tell the difference between any of them.
How many times have you looked down to see if you’ve got a flat tyre, only to find you haven’t? I’ve done that many times! ive had heroic rides on the same tyres that I’ve had shocking rides on!
I’ve felt super confident on the same tyres as I’ve been super cautious of too..
For us amateurs there are too many variables to having a good ride to worry about tyre brand.
If someone has a difference of opinion we say “dude just shut up”
This place would be a whole lot quieter if everyone who had a different opinion just shut up..
Pit Row
For me, having tried both multiple times. Pirellis MX32 mid-soft is the best with the intermediate rear. Dunlop last a little longer but don’t have the bite in early morning conditions.
Choose whichever you get the best deal on. My buddy raced SX so I would get Dunlop’s through him cheap. While the last set I purchased regular retail were Pirelli
Edit: Maybe it’s Indonesia. I can’t remember.
Now more OT, like some already mentioned. The Pirellis require a bit more air in them otherwise you'll chunk the knobs very quick. And even if you do run the proper pressure, they wont last quite as well as Dunlops. But the performance is in my opinion better.
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