Pirelli Sport Dragon Vs Rosso 2 Tire for Dtracker 250

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Hey all, im looking at putting some street oriented tires on my dtracker 250.

The 2 im looking at look very similar

Pirelli Sport Dragons (3,900 baht for front and back)

Pirelli Sport Rosso 2 (8,000 baht for front and back)

There are loads of reviews about Rosso 2 online and they look good but there are no reviews about the sport dragons.

Apparently the Rosso2 are radial and have a different material in construction whereas the dragons are a cheaper compound. - however at half the price, can the Sport Dragons do as well and grip as good in dry and wet...?

The price is a big difference but im willing to spend the extra if the grip is better - since i'd rather be 4 grand down and not be smeared across the tarmac.

Anyone have any experience on this... ?

 

[Joelthailand]

I got Pirelli Diablo Rosso 2 tires on mine & extremely impressed with them even in the wet. I got a 140 on the back btw which really suits the dtracker on the road. You got to be a seriously fast rider to even come close to the edge grip limits of Rosso 2's tires, so the Dragons are sure to be okay for normal/fast riding imo.

I have heard good things about the Pirelli Sport Dragons which I think are made in Brazil but not 100% sure about that fact! The original irc road winners are terrible. 3900 is great price for the Pirelli Sport Dragons and got to be worth a try for a decent Pirelli tire over those awful irc's. :thumbup:

 

[imagex]

Hey joel. Cheers for the feedback very useful information. I have only heard good things about the rosso 2... But right now the stock sizes were unavailable Plus they sports dragon were half the price. So I put the sport dragons on yesterday. Will give some more feedback when I have used them a bit. They look pretty awesome though, def don't come across looking like a low priced product

 

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See a pic of the new sport dragons on my bike :

 

[KZ25]

I wouldn't say the stock IRC are terrible, actually they were better than I expected. As long as you don't push them too hard they're fine, IMHO.
The Dunlop GT 501s were definitely worse!
Still I replaced mine after only 2,000 km with Michelin Pilot Street Radials (6,500 baht/set) which are better and last amazingly well.
I put around 20,000 km on them and they look as if they're only half gone!
I'm interested in the Sport Dragons for only 3,900 baht, that's quite a good deal and only a bit more than I was quoted for the stock IRC tires at Honda.

Edit: I came across this site: http://29tire.tarad.com/product-en-1049773-5917899-Pirelli+++Sport+Dragon+rims+17+inches.html

Those prices are almost too good - how good can the tires be for that kind of money?!

Quoted prices are for tubeless tires.

 

[KZ25]

According to this site the Sport Dragon comes even in a small 80/90/17F size - that's for a Honda Wave!

https://sydneymotorcycleaccessories.com.au/pirelli-sport-dragon-front-8090-17-44s-tl-new

 

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here are the sport dragons on my bike.

Ok some feedback... they feel pretty nice, very responsive (i was coming from dual sport tires). the grip seemed very good - until i was pushing it further and further and faster and leaning more and they slid away from under me at about 85kmph in a corner. Had all the gear on and was fine, bike also totally fine...

It is probably due to my lack of skill or rather than the tires being no good, so its hard to say now...

 

[KZ25]

Maybe the tires are too new? I'm always very careful for the first 100km or so.

It looks like they are available for spoked rims, too, using tubes.

How much better than the stock IRCs are they in your opinion?

Let us know how they hold up, I'm very interested!

 

[Ian Bungy]

The Sport Dragon are the Cheapest Tyre Pirelli make for these Bikes! You will never get the Grip like a Rosso 2 or similar. As such they lack feed back and when they let go You end up on Your ****! I still prefer a Dirt Tyre Feel compared to Motard? The Tyre moves around a lot more but You can feel it and control it easier? But that is just My View? For Touring and Long Life the Sport Dragon would be OK but if you want to go Faster and have more Grip You will have to Buy Better?

 

[KZ25]

Of course you can't expect a tire from the same company to be as good as a tire costing twice as much.
That Pirelli even sells a tire that costs only a bit more than an IRC is reason enough to try one out.
I'm happy with my Michelins but top tires for 8,000 baht or more would probably be a waste for my style of riding.
I will give the Sport Dragons a try if the Michelins will ever wear out. If they are available.