Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/653298
VOL. 53 ISSUE 10 MARCH 15, 2016 P93 DOES IT ALL WORK? For the answer to that, Bridgestone sent the as- sembled American press corps over to the extrava- gant paradise that is the Yas Marina Formula One complex in the desert of Abu Dhabi. This place really is something else: designed purely for being the most spectacular facility of its kind anywhere in the world (which, for my money, it is), this 21-turn behemoth is a car racing venue and there's a few little intrica- cies that aren't easily seen at first glance. There's lots of heavy high-speed braking and in some corners the track designers have raised the crown with the aim of slow- ing the cars down. On a bike this means the corner essentially has two cambers (entry is on camber, exit is off camber), which can make for some interesting moments when it comes time to accelerate. But enough of that. The standout feature for me is front tire stability under brakes. It had been three years since I last rode on the S20 and although I don't remember that tire being in any way a bad tire, this S21 certainly feels a step forward. Under braking the front has a really nice, progres- sive feel to it—there's no sudden drop from upright to full lean that can come from a tire with too tall a crown—and full lean grip and feel is also very impressive. There's that nice tangible feel of when the carcass folds under braking, giving the rider the confidence to know exactly when the grip comes in. This is still a street tire, mind you, and isn't going to give the racetrack perfor- mance of the RS10, so you have to bear that in mind when taking edge grip. Those hairpin corners with rising and falling cam- bers caught me out a few times, and although the front would push a touch through turns 7, 14, 18 and occasion- ally 19, that progressive feel and good edge grip meant there weren't too many scary moments. During the fast sweep- ing right of turn three the track rises sharply before falling away downhill (al- most like an elongated ver- sion of the hairpins), and with the gas on I never had any movement from the front, which considering the extremely slippery na- ture of the desert racetrack was very impressive. The rear tire was simi- larly impressive with great edge grip and feel while leaned over under accel- eration. I did start to have a couple of slides from the rear, but thankfully the Bridgestone crew has en- gineered that same level of progressive feel that gave me so much confidence with the front. I was lucky enough to get a slow-speed tutelage from former 250GP and Mo- toGP rider, Spanish legend Jose Luis Cardoso, who's now a Bridgestone tester. He seemed to have grip issues with the rear as well, although this was not the tire's fault—more him lighting up the back end of whatever bike he was riding and laying massive black lines that show just the utter dearth of skill between him and me. I'd ridden a bunch of different bikes over the night—Yamaha YZF-R1M, Honda CBR1000RR, Suzuki GSX-R1000 and BMW S 1000 RR, but the most fun I had and where the rear tire felt superb was on the Triumph Daytona 675R. The reduced horsepower of the supersport bike over the superbikes, even right at the end of the night, showed the tire in a very good light. Aside from the Triumph being utterly gorgeous to ride at any time, the rear S21 gave me all the grip I'd really need before I started playing around with suspension in an effort to try and go faster. The big bikes gave the rear a pretty hard time but you can see by the end of the night, the front and rear of the R1M were still in great condition after 10 sessions of a track with extremely low grip levels, and lots of different riding styles, speeds and rider weights, proving this new S21 is indeed a very nice tire to have on your bike.