Hello and welcome to PowerDrift.
Today we're going to talk about the problems of big bike ownership in India and we're not
talking about the fuel prices.
You see, India changed the way you import tyres into India, you need licences now and
Michelin and Pirelli who used to enjoy this part of the game have not really gotten back
into it, tyres are difficult to find, there's a premium you have to pay, but today, just maybe
thanks to Vredestein, a European brand, a really old 110 year old European brand, which
Apollo tyres now owns, there might be a solution.
So that obviously is the Buddh International Circuit in greater Noida, outside Delhi, we
are here to test out the new Vredestein line of motorcycle tyres, they're called Centauro,
there's the ST, which is the sport touring tyre and the NS, which is the sportier tyre.
I'm going to be riding two motorcycles, one might look slightly familiar to you, this
is a 2016 1200S Multistrada running the ST tyre, the sport touring tyre and next after this,
I have an R1 running the NS and the idea is to figure out at least in terms of initial
impressions, what these tyres are like, and should you be thinking about these as the
replacement when you run out of tyres next, are you ready?
Let's take this bike out on the track first.
The Centauro ST is a zero-degree steel belted radial tyre, which uses a two radius profile
for great grip in the corners, has a tread pattern that promises good wet road performance
and it's meant to be benchmarked against the Pirelli Angel GT, a rather good Italian tyre.
It comes in two front and six rear sizes, and a heavy duty version for the rear for
larger, heavier motorcycles is in the works.
Now I do understand that there is the apprehension that we've used big brand European tyres for
our motorcycles for a long time, how does it feel to switch to something like this?
Well, initial impressions, 15 minutes of fairly hard riding on this bike out there and I can
tell you that we can calm down because initially, I think my previous tyres had a more aggressive
profile than these, these are a flatter profile, so I thought that entering the corners, especially
at slow speeds took a lot more effort, but once you got over the feeling change, after
that I had like total trust in this tyre and I think this is maybe the third or the fourth
time I've got my knee down on the Multistrada, so from that perspective, the amount of grip
it had, the amount of confidence it gave me, how natural it felt to ride, on all of these
parameters, I think the Centauro STs are doing fine.
In fact, now I'm excited to ride the Centauro NS and really push the performance up a notch
and see what happens, ready?
The NS is the sporty tyre, think Pirelli Rosso 3 as the benchmark.
That implies excellent grip on the straight, as well as in turns, decent to good wet weather
performance, a softer compound than the ST and that means obviously slightly less life
than the ST as well.
This is what you would use on a fast road bike and not totally be out of place at a racetrack.
It comes in one front and three rear sizes and the rear is a dual compound tyre with
a hard centre strip for longer life.
Okay, so the idea that I have to ride an unfamiliar R1 and I have not ridden this generation R1
at all, on those tyres at the track, I was a little bit scared, but, as soon as we got
out of pit lane, the R1's frame, the feedback from the tyres, it just comes together, knee
down on lap one to me is a huge vote of confidence.
I'm also happy that despite as hard as we could push the R1 and remember, we're not
trying track pace here, we're trying something lower than that, there was no movement from
the tyre, no unexpected traction control lights flashing at you or anything and to me, we're
off to a great start.
Both the tyres that we've tested today have performed at a level where I'd say yes, I
want to see more of these tyres in more situations to tell you whether they're good or not.
Vredestein and Apollo are off to a good start, I would say, we can't yet comment on how long
they last or how they will feel in dirtier, more realistic Indian conditions but Apollo
says Indian conditions have been accounted for and the tyres did not put a foot wrong
at the BIC.
What do we know so far?
These tyres, these Vredestein Centauros are made at the Gujarat plant that Apollo owns,
they will be available in India through the Apollo network, I'm not sure if Vredestein
branded, a second network will be created or not, these tyres will also be exported,
I understand both of them are roughly the same price around Rs. 30,000 for a set, which
makes them I'm going to say about 10% to 15% less than the equivalent Pirelli or Michelin tyre.
What?
Sorry?
Really?
Alright, so what I'm hearing is that initial impression says you should be fine, but that's
Feroci, of course my Multistrada and these tyres are supposed to remain on the Multistrada
as it goes home and therefore in a month, month and a half from now, I should have a
much more detailed breakdown on what the Centauro STs feel like.
Until then, thank you so much for watching, this is PowerDrift, there's four buttons we
love you to hit and if you like this video, thumbs up and do share this video with your
friends especially if they have big bikes because I think the options on what they can
use on their motorcycles just opened up.