Pirelli Angel ST - Sport-Touring Tires for your Bike

The Pirelli Angel ST Sport-Touring tire, an average sport-touring tire used to be a lot more touring than sport, a sort of rolling compromise that didn't make anybody happy. Here's the problem: Generate enough grip for the supersport set and your tires don't last, but bump up the kilometer-wear and grip evaporates. Not anymore. Since the global tire giants started pumping in more research and development money over the last couple of years, high-end sport-touring radials such Pirelli's Angel ST tires come closer to doing it all than anything else on your dealer's rack.

Modern sport-touring covers just about any sort of riding you can do on public roads, which means sport-touring tires have to do the same.

The Pirelli Angel ST tires are designed to replace the familiar Diablo Stradas. They use an evolutionary version of the zero-degree steel-belted radial construction Pirelli developed in the mid-90s to soak up bumps in the road and distribute weight evenly across both contact patches. Everything else is new, starting with a tread pattern that puts more rubber on the ground at any lean angle, pumps water away from the contact patch more efficiently, delivers more stability on the gas as well as under braking – and even doubles as a logo.

The new profile is designed to optimize the amount of rubber on the ground from the entry of a corner to the apex, Pirelli's latest mix of resin, carbon black and high-density silica allegedly lets the rubber itself adapt to conditions: fast, slow, wet, dry and the various permutations in between.

Packing all that into one reasonably priced, long-lasting set of tires is a seriously tall order, but after two days cruising around North Thailand's beautiful mountainous region – first impressions are encouraging. Scattered rain showers made dry pavement scarce, but after a half-dozen bends it was clear these Pirelli Angel ST tires are your friends. Mounted up to a Triumph Tiger for the occasion, Pirelli's latest turn in easily and stay neutral all the way around, even when a, wet, Thai small bike rider does amazing strange things, the Triumph Tiger chosen trajectory. Excellent feedback inspires enough confidence to deal with standing water a various forms of rural Thai wildlife, at least two of whom were driving a Toyota VIGO Pickup truck. Even in the wet, the Pirelli Angel ST tires generate enough grip to do things you shouldn't, like wheelying over speed bumps.

The Pirelli Angel ST tire is not only a excellent wet weather tire, it also works perfect on dry pavement...