We have here Dunlop motorcycle tires a new Sport Max Q5 Tire. This is an ultra high-performance sport bike tire for all Vue hardcore sport bike and track day Riders we fitted these Sport Max Q5 tires on this 2023 Yamaha xsr 900 they replaced the OE-fitted Bridgestone batlax S22 Tire which is also a very nice Tire now the Sport Max Q5 are the fifth iteration in Dunlop motorcycle tires now ultra high-performance sport bike tire lineup the original qualifier it debuted right around the 2006 calendar year so 2006 calendar year was when Dunlop really put emphasis on making an a generational high-performance street bike tire it wasn’t until around 2010 though when Dunlop unveiled its Sport Max Q2 where they really upshifted into the next gear.
These Sport Max Q5s are really descendants of that Sport Max Q2 from 2010 that’s when Dunlop really got rolling with the ultra-high performance tire at a very affordable price now the Sport Max Q5 effectively replaces the Sport Max Q4 which debuted for the 2018 calendar year I believe now looking at the tire they look awfully similar but Dunlop’s done some careful updates to this Q5 we still have that cocentric tread pattern that’s a signature tread pattern that Dunlop likes to use on its road racing tires and now the new Sport Max Tires which had on the Q4 and now the Q5 but if you look at Dunlop Sport Max Tires they’ve always been oversized so even though the manufacturer will call for a certain fitment 120 70 17 the 120 70 17s always look meatier than other manufacturers.
Is Dunlop Sportmax Q5 big?
Dunlop continues the trend with this front tire look how big that thing is this thing’s actually a little bit taller in the center than the outgoing Q4 it’s also a little bit more narrow which makes it even taller and Dunlop did that because they wanted to increase the contact patch and optimize the contact patch at extreme lean angles and when we say extreme lean angles we’re saying upwards of 45 degrees and if you’re a motorcycle rider who’s leaning your motorcycle over to upwards of 45 degrees you are getting some so realistically this tire is for high-end sport bike riders and high-end track day.
For riders who really know what they’re doing on the motorcycle now Dunlop also tweaked its carcass it continues to use its jlb construction which is basically a continuously wound belt so the tire can never separate or have any problems like that and what Dunlop’s done is they’ve increased the lateral rigidity so lateral in this access they also increased the long longitudinal rigidity so that’s when you’re breaking and they also reduced the sidewall stiffness so when it goes over bumps on the track or on the street the tire is a little bit more forgiving really nice that Dunlop’s paying attention to the details and really trying to tweak this Tire now.
Why Dunlop focused so much on the front tire?
The reason why Dunlop focused so much on the front tire it says is because nowadays you know for 2023 model your bikes a lot of them have traction control a lot of them have Rider AIDS they almost mitigate the control the rider has to a certain extent of the rear tire that’s why Dunlop says it front focused on the front tire because aside from cornering ABS there’s really no input from the machine and cornering ABS you have to be breaking at such an extreme level that it really doesn’t even engage until you’re really wailing on the track so that’s why Dunlop focused on this front tire they also introduced a new size so for the longest time all the ninja 400 Riders and all the small bar small bike riders they didn’t have a 110 Tire they could mount on their bike now Dunlop offers a 110 front tire so all you small displacement sport Riders out there now you have ultra high performance Tire offering from Dunlop let’s look at the rear tire here is the Sport Max Q5 with the cocentric tread pattern again now this particular Tire this is a 180 60.
So Dunlop also expanded the tire range size of the rear tire too so now they have 140 rears and they have 260 rears so they have really big tire sizes for all you Panigale V4 folks and people like that the retype rear tire the shape of it is changed too it’s a little bit taller it’s not quite isn’t it’s not more narrow like the front tire but it’s certainly taller Dunlop also invested resources in re-engineering the compounds both front and rear this tire benefits from a revised molecular construction a lot of carbon block black not a lot of silica these tires don’t use a lot of silica usually is it’s a sand-like material which helps boost warm-up time and it also helps boost performance in the wet weather these aren’t really wet weather tires you certainly ride in the wet or on a wet track with these tires but that’s not really what they’re designed for now.
Where are these tires manufactured?
It’s worth noting that these tires are manufactured in the United States out of Dunlop’s Buffalo New York Tire Factory it’s the same Tire Factory that manufactures all of its road racing tires all right folks that is a quick rundown of Dunlops Sport Max Q5 Tire the successor to the Q4 we are going to review these tires for you in a live format we’re going to do a part two review where we operate this vehicle on the street than in a few months we are going to fit these tires on a high-performance leader class Superbike and report to you in live POV format from the racing circuit it’s also worth noting that Dunlop has in all new Sport Max Q5 s now
Will Q5 Tire replaces others?
The Q5s replaces Dunlops previous Sport Max Q3 and Q3 plus tire so the last generation of Tires when Dunlop went to the Sport Max Q4 it separate it separated its line so for the longest time Dunlop had just one tire the Sport Max Q3 it would do Street and track in the wet do everything but the competition was starting to separate that class into a super high-performance track Day Tire not a racing tire but a high performance tracked attire and the high-performance street bike tire so Dunlop did the same when they unveiled the Sport Max Q4 a few years ago so now the Sport Max q5s replaces the Q3 Q three plus this tire while you can totally do track days on it and totally wail on it it has a little bit more tread and has some other changes that make it more Optimum for street bike use.
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