For the first time in seven years, Bridgestone have given us a brand new road

legal track-attacker. It’s been dubbed a new era for the grooved racing tyre segment, but are the brand’s MotoGP derived hoops worth the wait?

WORDS: CARL ‘ PRET TY BOY’ STEVENS PICS: BRIDGESTONE

Pretty Boy wasn’t short of options to test the new R11s on.

Taking the fight straight to the opposition, Bridgestone have pulled out all the stops in order to replace the much loved (but aged) R10 hypersports product. Since its introduction in 2010, following which it benefited from a minor update in 2014, the R10 road tyre has proven to be a popular and dependable choice for fast road riders, trackday addicts and racers alike. And it’s also made for the perfect sparring partner in the world’s toughest sportsbike shootout; our very own Sports Bike of the Year (SBOTY).

Its durability, predictability and outright performance has kept us coming back for more for seven years on the trot, over which time we at Fast Bikes have become nothing short of smitten with the R10. But that relationship’s now ended as next year we’ll be putting its successor, the R11, to test. For this reason above all else, we were absolutely gagging to see how the all new tyre cut it on a sun drenched, and frankly too hot, Monteblanco race circuit in southern Spain.

Tech central

Having sat through a techno-crammed presentation there was absolutely nothing left to question about the orientation and target focus of these new tyres. Street legal they may well be, but behind the camouflage of a legislative stamp, the R11s are very much purebred race tyres that have been homologated to race in FIM championships, and will need the usual warmers and heat priming treatment (85˚C, just in case you were wondering about the optimum working temp) to achieve the best grip.