Dunlop US and UK

Working on it. Hang tough it's beer thirty at my house in 3 minutes

 

Conti what? m/c tires? I'm not surprised as we tried to rent the track many times but they always shut us down. We used the Chrysler and or Volvo AZ test tracks when I was doing that stuff

 

I stand corrected. Thanks.

I always thought Perelli made Metzeler's, so they were thus in my mind Italian.

 

Interesting that you spelled Metzeler correctly but you missed on the other one. Pirelli purchased Metzeler GMBH back in 1987 and there's is a very small development/prototyping factory on the Milano campus but no production is done. Road race tires are produced in Germany with many other radial products. The other m/c, scooter, moped factories are in Brazil, China, and Indonesia

 

4 posts later and we still don't have an answer. You're killin me smalls

 

I'm cooking dinner here on the east coast

 

Yes, all m/c tires, race and street as well as the car and truck tires. They also have a new giant dumptruck? tire testing unit, one of 2? in the world, that they built away from everything just in case a tire explodes. If it does it is supposed to be a huge explosion.

I believe Dunlop rents the place for some type of testing on occasion as well.

 

I would be surprised because when we asked the answer was always no, hell no.

 

Weird, maybe it is just for Auto tires. They weren't specific when we were out there for Conti m/c stuff. It was just a mention when talking about the other testing areas. That place is amazing.

 

Naw, I'm sure Conti would rent the track to Harley or Indian, or Honda. But if Hankook or Pirelli wanted to rent for any reason (car or bike) the answer will remain no.

 

OK here we go.

Dunlop closed their old UK factory about 8 to 10 years ago. And I believe it was closed because of a land dispute but remember the facility was very old. I was never inside but I know someone that worked there and he said it really pretty bad.

Tire building is very sensitive to the machinery (type & age), and the weather to an extent. But as mentioned elsewhere sourcing the local materials/compounds/chemicals also has a large effect on how the tire is made and how it performs. It’s important to note the making of the carcass and tread compounds is a bit of an inexact science and things have to be changed when you go to a new factory. It’s kind of like trying to cook in a new cast iron flying pan, it works OK but the pan needs to be seasoned (used) to get the best results. The manufacturing engineers work with new equipment and they have to adjust/develop/change the recipes until they get what the designers (and you) want. And that takes time and with something like an ultra-high-performance racing tire it is even tougher than you would think.

I believe that Dunlop (Sumitomo) has m/c factories in Buffalo, Spain, Indonesia, Japan, and maybe Germany. I have seen recently some rains that have come from Japan and MX stuff is coming from Indonesia. And, I’m pretty sure the Moto 2 & 3 product is from Spain. And we do know the US race tires are being used here, Canada, and Australia.

So, maybe when the UK factory closed, they saw the best option to build tires in the US? For me it would make since to move some tire building here after the economy tanked and Buffalo wasn’t building as many Harley tires? Or maybe the Spanish factory doesn’t have the option to add more capacity? And then there’s the exchange rate for the dollar to the Pound or Euro to consider? So, it makes sense (logistics and money wise) to develop and produce tires locally for the local markets?

 

I'm curious, do you still feel that the current offerings from Dunlop are inferior to the UK Dunlops of 6 or 7 years ago? Even the new compounds that they started offering last summer? If you can push the new Dunlops to their limit you should be racing PRO FO SHO!

The tires have improved every season consistently, I think they passed up the old UK tires years ago.

One of the reasons most people didn't care for the US tire when the UK was available is that the size was slightly different- different profiles.

 

Just didnt like the new 200/60 on the current gen ZX10r. Never said I was a pro or that I was out riding the tire.......... just remember the UK stuff back then being very good is all. Have I done a back to back test... nope. Just going off memory the main question was why does one manufacturer make different size and different types of tires when they are just across the pod....when none of the other big 3 do this....
and why isnt the data shared..... or how do other manufactures get their tires here so cheap so we dont have to pay 550 bucks for a set of UK dunlops. Just things I always wondered about and never knew why.

 

Haven't we established that UK Dunlops don't exist anymore?

 

I would think it's because the development team is here in the US focusing on SBK, 1000SS, 600 etc. Where the European development team is focusing on Moto 2 & 3 first?

 

Yes sorry just got use to using UK as the Reference .

 

Ok makes sense. I guess they are just different the way they do business but there is kp rule book to this so it is t wrong just different which is all good. But I didnt know if it was black and white written somewhere as to why they do that.... but from what I see it is just the way the business has grown and it works for them and they do what works for them.

 

With all due respect to all I have to point out this. Racers can be superstitious and somewhat fickle at times when it's time to change stuff. Why change something if I'm fast with my current set-up?
Two events, both at Daytona stand out. We had a rider that was stuck in the 52s or what ever a good time was. The other guys were doing pretty easy 51s, and said rider was bugging me for something different tire wise. I asked where are you at with set-up, psi, etc. "I'm perfect" he said, "the bike is fine." Finally he changed the rear spring and wheelbase as suggested by me and many others, and he got into the low 51s next time out.

The next time was a West Coast Daytona newbie was doing laps and getting up to speed and as I walked by I see the fork o-ring is almost at the bottom. I suggest to his suspension guy to at least put some pre-load in the bike soon. They didn't, he goes out, goes faster, then tucks the front because he was on the bump stop.