Batajutsu from the large displacement road radar tire for road sports “VATRAX Hypersport S22 (Esunie)” as well as “VATRAX ADVENTURE CROSS AX41 (AE YOUN YI CHI)” specialized for off-road driving by large displacement adventure cars “Was announced. Both will report two new tires, which are planned to be released next February.
S22 pursuing “How to win S21”
S22 is a sports radial tire for large displacement vehicles that also supports circuit running, mainly for sports driving in winding. It was launched in ’16 and becomes the successor model of ‘S21’ which has numerous recruiting results not only as aftermarket but also as a new car mounted tire. In this highly anticipated previous work “How to win?” Is the theme of S22 development theme, while inheriting the beauty of S21 such as high grip power, abrasion resistance, neutral maneuverability, while increasing the light feeling It is a feature of S22 that it increased the strength, furthermore despite the sports tires, the challenge of improving the wet performance has also been reached.
Bridgestone V Trax Hypersport S22
S22’s predecessor model · VATRAX Hypersport S21.
That kimo is a newly designed tread pattern. Increasing the area of grooves carved in the shoulder part than S21 improves wet performance while the front tire has high rigidity of the tread by tuning such as shortening the length of the groove of the center part. It improves initial response and improves lightness. The profile of the tire (= sectional shape) follows S21, but with these tunings, S22 realizes a balanced handling such that the front and rear wheels simultaneously bank.
Increase the groove area of the shoulder portion compared to the previous model S21. Although it is obvious even if you compare it, you can see that the ratio of shallow bank angle grooves also increases in the graph, and the ratio decreases in the center of the front.
The compound is also a new work. The point is that the affinity with water is high, and silica which is a material directly linked to improvement of wet performance is made into “fine particle size silica” which is smaller than before. Since it is possible to disperse the silica in the compound more finely and uniformly, it is a beauty point that the total area of the silica present on the tire surface can be increased. As a result, the ground contact area of silica and road surface is increased by 25% in S21 ratio, contributing greatly to improvement of wet performance. Compounds containing this finely divided silica are used in the rear center, but a new compound optimizing the material is also used for other parts, and improvement of dry grip is aimed at.
Compound using “fine particle diameter silica” is adopted as center rubber of rear tire divided into 5. By making the silica smaller and evenly mixed, the contact area of the road surface and silica is greatly increased. Thereby improving wet performance.
Due to the synergistic effect of this new tread & new compound etc., the cornering speed at the circuit is increased by up to 15% by S21 ratio, and the lap time at wet is also reduced by about 5%. It is said that it gained the performance which exceeds S21 overall. It is also a topic that is adopted as a new model for ’19 model Kawasaki · Ninja ZX – 6R.
Performance graph by Bridgestone. Both dry and wet overall exceeds the previous S21.
It is the same as S21 in that a thin shallow groove callThe company already has a tire for big adventure “VATRAX ADVENTURE A41”, which is a product focusing mainly on touring on-road. Although it can be clearly seen in the comparison graph below, even if AX 41 gives dry stability and grip power to A41, the point is that it is clearly specialized in off-road performance. “decoration groove” is carved in the tread. It is aimed at the impact and personality on appearance rather than performance, the motif is Japanese sword as well as S21.
Set front 1 size / rear 5 size. Many of the tires have open prices, but the manufacturer’s suggested retail price is also set for S22.
BS’s first off-tire for big bike · AX 41
It corresponds to BMW’s GS system and Honda · Africa twin, AX41 to correspond to a large displacement adventure car. As can be seen from the gutter block pattern, it is the biggest feature that full-scale off-road performance is incorporated. Off-road tires for big adventure have traditionally been the dominant market of European makers such as Michelin and Metzler, and will be the first challenge genre as Bridgestone.
Bridgestone V – Trax / Adventure Cross AX 41
The company already has a tire for big adventure “VATRAX ADVENTURE A41”, which is a product focusing mainly on touring on-road. Although it can be clearly seen in the comparison graph below, even if AX 41 gives dry stability and grip power to A41, the point is that it is clearly specialized in off-road performance.
Performance comparison graph of AX 41, which was considered to be off-road closer to A 41. It can be said that it is a product for users who enjoy the forest road with Big Offroader.
Here is the BS Big Adventure tire “VATRAX Adventure A 41”. It’s mainly for users who use big adventure cars on paved roads.
However, since the big adventure often travels on the highway, the AX41 adopts the “high toughness compound” which is difficult to break the block even under high load, and incorporates ingenuity to suppress uneven wear in the block shape There. On top of that, by enlarging the outer circumference length by increasing the diameter of the tire, arranging the block more and at a shorter pitch, the company is pouring the know-how cultivated in all Japan Motocross and so on, It is said to be realized.
Increase the cross-sectional area of the block by about 30% in A41 ratio, take a larger outside diameter, and also reduce the pitch of the block, so that more blocks are arranged around the circumference. It is enhancing off-road grip.
In order to suppress uneven wear, design the block in a shape that anticipates deformation. Suppress block flying and chipping on the kick out side.
A logo is engraved at the bottom of the tread groove. Like decoration grooves and the like, it contributes to individual appearance.
Line-up of all nine sizes. Although it is compatible with all types of tubeless, “UM” can be mounted on the tube wheel using a tube.
Bridgestone has been doing model change three times in four years with S20 sports tire for large displacement, ’20 Evo in ’14, ‘S21 in 16’, and this time S22, but the enduro released in early November We are actively developing new products to genres that are not in existing lineups such as “Battle Cross E 50” for racing and AX 41 this time. ‘Bathrax’ born in ’83 seems to be positioned as a brand symbolizing Bridgestone’s “new challenge”, and it seems that we will be entertaining users in various ways in the future as well.
Mr. Junichi Takahashi, Mr. Tatsuya Uchida (right), Bridgestone’s MC tire business manager, and development of S22 / AX41.
Original Source[ Young Machine ] (*Japanese)
