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At long last, guest riders who took part in Track Attack 3 at Donington Park during March, can view their photographs on our website www.worldofbiketyres.com.
We're sorry for the delay, as explained previously we couldn't identify all of our riders, so the pictures are up on the site for guests to download individually.
Please go www.worldofbikestyres.com, "News" and "Track Attack with Bridgestone, March 2008".
Track Event 4 - Friday 6th June, at Oulton Park, with Avon.
28 days to go until the Oulton event, our first outing at the Cheshire circuit and also the first major customer event we have shared with Avon.
Everything is arranged and customers will soon be prepping their bikes. Much as we love "Doni", it will be refreshing to try a different racetrack.
Please speak to Event Co-ordinator, Becca, on freephone 0800 281 413 with any queries concerning Track Event 4.
Price increase alert! The Market Leader's two-wheel tyre prices increase by an average of 3.5% on 1st July 2008. A new Price List will be available in June.
Price increase alert! Also reacting to unavoidable cost increases, not least exchange rate fluctuations, Dunlop have been forced to pass on a part of their additional burden and two wheel product prices are to be raised by 6% "across all designs" on 1st June.
As we suggested in earlier Newsletters, unless international exchange rates normalise in the near future, expect further price increases from all of the major players.
It was a painful way to establish his credentials as 100% biker, but we're pleased to report that popular Michelin Key Account Manager Jonathan Brett, who fell victim to a patch of diesel whilst riding in France, and collected a badly broken wrist as a result, is on the mend and working as hard as a right handed person with no right hand function is able to!
In just twelve months after passing his bike test, and that within a few weeks of joining Michelin Two Wheel, Jonathan has ridden at both Donington Park and the fabulous Losail circuit in Qatar, following the MotoGP championship round there.
Our sales of Michelin product are hugely increased this year, thanks in no small measure to the efforts of Jonathan and the other members of the Moto team working for Commercial Director Olivier Gros.
ANOTHER ARTICLE FOR WORLD OF BIKE TYRES READERS BY, WELL KNOWN MOTORCYCLE JOURNO, CHRIS MOSS:-
MOSSY ON: As Time Goes By
Time is the enemy of everything but antiques and wine. When it comes to motorcycle tyres, ageing is definitely an enemy. As the years roll by, the standard of a tyre’s performance effectively begins to drop off.
Development is so fast in the bike tyre world that you’re only usually king for a few years before rivals catch up and unseat you. That’s been the case with Bridgestone’s BT-014 best-selling and award-winning sports tyre which in recent times has been relegated from its position of dominance in the class.
But its replacement, the BT-016 could well see Bridgestone leading the way once again. Called a ‘Hypersport’ tyre, the BT-016 has been built for fast road-riding and trackdays. It is not a race tyre. I tried it at the GP track, Jerez in Spain and was impressed with the way it performed.
On a variety of bikes including an 848, 1098S, GSX-R750, GSX-R1000, CBR600RR and ZX-6R the grip, turn in speed, and stability were all excellent. Better still, when the rear tyre eventually let go, it did so in a safe and predictable manner allowing you to correct it quickly.
Faster men than me were also impressed. Former GP rider Jeremy McWilliams said he thought the BT-016s were extremely good and very hard to fault. He thought the front was especially grippy and stable under braking.
Another rapid rider, Ron Haslam, liked the manners of the tyres. He thought they were significantly better than the BT-014s they replace, a tyre which he has much experience of on his race school bikes. He liked the feel and feedback of the BT-016s, and said they were easier to manage once they reached the limit of their grip.
MotoGP champion Bridgestone is claiming the multi-compounds the tyres feature will help both grip and wear. The rear has 5LC (five layer compound) which is actually just three different compounds, and the front a 3LC (actually just two).
Mono Spiral Belt construction, featuring HTSPCC (High Tensile Super Penetrated Cord) gives the BT-016s trustworthy stability at all speeds (especially round Jerez’s super fast corners), and the new pattern is said to reduce noise and add further grip.
After I’d tried the BT-016s on several bikes, I then tried the rubber they replace, the BT-014s on a GSX-R1000. To be honest I was quite surprised by how good they were. But the real difference between the two started to show after just four laps. Where the newer tyre’s performance would stay consistent for the whole ten laps, the BT-014s would start to go off and slide a little. In a race between the two I’m sure the difference in lap times wouldn’t be huge to begin with, but the BT-016s would start to be faster and increase that advantage each time.
I’ll be fitting a pair of the new Bridgestones to test on the road soon and will let you know about wet weather grip and wear rates in a few weeks.
Dealers who were open on Bank Holiday Monday were able to cope with the rush of bikers lured out by a sunny weekend and keen to buy that summer rubber, with the aid of "YOUR Online Warehouse", if they had already registered for this invaluable service from Bike Tyrestore.
Able to interrogate for stock availability and their own unique cost prices, then order product without having to wait until we were back to answer the phones, Online Warehouse Dealers can continue to trade, even 24/7, and not have to defer enquiries until another day, or do that tedious call-back.
This online facility is available, free of charge, to anyone who has an account with us and is very easy to use. To register, please go to www.worldofbiketyres.com > YOUR Online Warehouse and follow the contact procedure.
One other point! With prices changing almost monthly this year, any price catalogue or "book" will be out of date and unreliable within days of being printed. YOUR Online Warehouse is a live information resource where "what you see is what you get" and we guarantee its total reliability! Peace of mind.
Any doubts as to the new combination of Bridgestone and Valentino Rossi were soundly dispelled at last Sunday's race in Shanghai when the Italian stormed home ahead of Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.
Possibly the greatest achievement in China, however, was Lorenzo's fourth place, which the rookie MotoGP rider clinched despite being hardly able to walk, following his major highside during Practice!
Next stop: May 18th and the Alice Grand Prix de France at Le Mans.
0800 281 413
It's a fact, not all "freephone" numbers are "free" and "low cost" numbers can attract hidden charges. But our customer freephone number 0800 281 413 is a completely no-cost service when dialled from a landline, (some mobile service providers do charge for calls to a freephone service but there's nothing we can do about that).
Avoid mobile phone charges by calling us from your landline. An extra bonus in doing this is that we will then recognise your incoming number, so will be able to go straight to your account invoice screen, saving you even more time and money!
Customer loyalty rewards with a host of attractions (and, shortly, Michelin "Moto" clothing) ranging from "Fun Days Out" to money off holiday cottages and even cruises!
With Sports Touring tyres accounting for 47% of our total two wheel tyre sales, this is a huge sector of the market place and Bike magazine has been putting eight of the leading contenders for "Best S/T Rubber" through their paces, judging Pirelli's Diablo Strada and Dunlop's RoadSmart equal first!
Given that the Strada has been around since 2005 and that Bike's test riders concluded "You can ride much harder, if you choose to, than any of the other tyres allow", this is some result for Pirelli, being up against much more recent designs like Avon's Storm ST, Bridgestone's BT-021 and Pilot Road 2CT from Michelin.
Also in competition were Continental's Road Attack, Metzeler's Roadtec Z6 and Supermaxx M6029 by Maxxis.
Strada and RoadSmart scored five each, with most of the other brands coming back with fours. Only Road Attack scored a three, but was judged "still fine for normal riding".
Carried out at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, the judgements reached after the back-to-back assessment focus heavily on the tyres' sports performance, and of course that's only part of the equation for S/T rubber. Now evaluating tyre life, the other side of the coin, on their long-term fleet, Bike will be reporting back on longevity and user-friendliness, out there on the Queen's highway, at a later stage, when they expect that a clear overall winner will emerge!
On Tuesday this week, we experienced our busiest day ever to date and, of course, a generally sunny Bank Holiday and the optimism only good weather brings to the Trade, were responsible. So far, the rest of the week continues to be a record breaker.
Incredibly, you still hear people, who should know better, comment that the motorcycle industry isn't at the mercy of the weather!! We won't name names but "Get real!"
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