I'm looking at getting new front and back tyres for my Monster 1000. I don't use on track it's just for sport/fun on the road. Should I go Pirelli Diablo Corsa or Rosso? Looks to me like the Rosso is the right choice as it's more road orientated with longer life.
Mrs M runs Rosso's in her M796 and they suit the bike well, plenty of grip and last well too... I also run Rosso Ii's on the 1198 last year and loved them, same story again... Bags of grip and good feedback both front/rear, mileage from the rear was also much better (used to get around 1k out of a rear when running supercorsa's) Did 1500 miles on the rear thats in and its probably still got another 300+ left in it... So it could be worth checking if the Rosso II's and III's are available in your desired size too.
My Supersport came with Rosso IIIs on it last year and loved them. The wife collected her new Monster 821 this year and it was delivered with the same tyres, her riding is much more confident with them. I will definitely put the same tyres on both bikes next time. The wet weather grip is amazing.
Choose the ones that last longest as most folk are just not good enough to get the best from the other any way, and certainly not on the road. Unless you "push on" everywhere, why not choose a tyre for max life like the Roadtec's, T30's, Angels or Continentals etc etc?? It's not like your putting a million bhp through them eh...... Food for thought perhaps?
If you are happy with that way of thinking then that is fine. The other way of thinking is that if you choose hard long lasting tyres and get to somewhere with open and empty roads at some stage, the grip will never be as good as decent tyres. Then it might bucket down and you could regret buying the long lasting, not as grippy tyres. There was a guy who came down here on his Triumph last year, he had bought some tyres that were £15 cheaper each. The only trouble is that it rained for 2 days and he would not go out on the bike. Yes he saves £30 on a pair of tyres, and got an extra 2000 miles out of them, but what was the point.
I have Rossos on my S2R1000 and they seem a great fit. Plenty of grip and feel for me and wearing well too.
Rosso III if not going on track IMO. Pirelli will probably be doing a deal soon for £30 cash back if you get them fitted to the bike, they do most years, as does Michellin and a few others....
The Rosso is definitely a road tyre so I guess if the bike did go on track it would be easy to find the limit of them and they would probably feel vague and like there is too much movement with them if you were a fast rider. For the road I think they are the better choice. I never had an issue though with Corsa's for all conditions though also, just don't think they last well.
It's horses for courses Bob, but about 20 years ago, a chap told me, if you want to know what tyres to use on ya bike, phone a race school and ask what they use. Ever since then I have always phoned Ron Haslam's race school as they say they want both longevity and grip so they are not replacing tyres every couple of days. The last tyre his school used was T30's and he's just switched to Roadsmart 3's. So, just before myself and some of these fine forum boys popped off to Spain, I put new T30's on the multi, hammered around for 1700 miles on all road surfaces through a range of temperatures and conditions, and at no point did the lads on their sports tyres brake later than me or have better corner exit than me. My traction control light only came on twice in nine days (may have been anti wheelie light, as I wasn't paying much attention ??) while hammering out of tight 1st gear corners and yet they only look about half worn now home. The front has some mild brake blistering on the shoulders and the rear some hard accelerating witness marks, also on the shoulders but at no point did they let go or feel like they were going to. The T30's came up to temperature quickly and feel very sticky once there. So, unless folk ride like MM and co, I put it to you that most of us, and I include a bloke on a sub 100BHP Multi, would not be able to exploit the tiniest grip differences you refer to. As for the bloke who came to see you ?? Was he on classic Avon Speedmasters, cause if he was on anything modern and was not confident to ride in the wet, then it is not the tyres, but the rider. All the mags and tyre dealers I have ever spoken to say a modern sports touring tyre is plenty enough for road use, and I genuinely believe it is mere pub bragging rights to ride with anything that costs a fortune and wears out in very low mileages.
I would not bother asking a race school as I don't race my bike. I have the money to buy the best tyres though. If I wanted longer lasting tyres, then they would save money, but if I wanted to save money I would have bought a couple of cheap second hand Hondas for the wife and I instead of two new Ducatis.
The Rosso and Rosso Corsa are not that great when it's cold or wet. I am a long-term Pirelli fan but lately have experimented and have found the Michelin Pilot Road / Road series to be very good wet or dry. Bridgestone Battlax BT016Pro and S21 are not bad either.
