Tyre Tech Talk – March 2020 Dirt and Trail Magazine
by Bruce de Kock, Owner of Bike Tyre Warehouse
Original article published by Dirt and Trail Magazine, March 2020 Issue
So it’s March already and most of us are broke after Valentine’s Day and the longest January in history. With this in mind, I’ve decided to look at a well-priced tyre that has been around in the dualie market for years now. It rose to fame as the OEM fitment tyre for the KTM 990 Adventure when it was launched and has remained a popular choice ever since, even though the dualie tyre market has quadrupled in size.
Meet the Pirelli Scorpion MT90 A/T
The MT90 is a 70/30 road-biased adventure tyre, commonly used in OE applications and is the KTM 990 Adventure faithful in the 90/90-21 and 150/70-18 applications.
Its’ key selling points are:
- An ideal multi-purpose tyre for the touring fan
- Performs well in various weather conditions
- Great mileage
- Can manage heavy loads
Intended for all-purpose use… The design of this tyre and its high silica compound mix provide you with strong grip for moderate/light off-road use. The tread pattern offers plenty of grip on tar roads, with good water dispersal which enhances safety, especially on tar surfaces.
The knobby blocks are arranged in a V pattern to allow better traction and enhanced braking, in both wet and dry weather conditions. In fact, the front and rear tyres in this range use slightly different compounds to create as much grip as possible.
Durability… Even the biggest fan of knobby tyres gets fed up of having to replace them after just a couple of thousand kilometres, especially if they’ve been used on actual roads as opposed to gravel or dirt tracks.
The silica-rich compound in the Pirelli MT90 gives great durability. The tyre also features a steel belt radial design, so it’s more than happy sitting underneath some of the biggest enduro bikes out there, with and without a passenger.
