Almost one year ago I put a Strada on the rear of my R6 and a regular Diablo on the front. I have been starting to wonder if the Strada would ever wear out, then, during a recent tyre check, imagine my rude surprise (and horror) to suddenly discover this (pic 1). When the steel belt starts to show I'd say that the tyre has done its chips - almost 15,000 km in this case!
I think the Strada is an excellent tyre. I'd have to say that just for the durability! Grip is really good in the dry - I'm too much of a nana in the wet to comment there except it seems no different from most others I've had (except for the Pirelli Dragon SuperCorsas that were on the R6 when I bought it. Reeal scary in the wet .)
Sometimes the Strada would slide but only when cold, perhaps on smooth city asphalt or when aggressively powering out of a corner. Similar to many other tyres I think and never sphincter pucker stuff. However, for this reason I replaced it with a regular Diablo which I already feel does have more stick and feels more planted on the road. Never-the-less, I suspect I may be disappointed with compromise on wear and may yet go back to a Strada.
I will comment that the Strada tread pattern makes it difficult to judge wear. Even new there is no tread through the centre of the tyre (pic 2) and since the side grooves chamfer up and become more shallow as they near the centre of the tyre there is no easy reference as to how much of the centre rubber has gone. Some feather cracks did begin to appear (pic 3) which in hind sight was the only warning the tyre was done for. The dual compound construction worked really well and right to the end the profile remained reasonably rounded - not squared off as many tyres get, especially on the straight Canterbury roads I usually ride.
I replaced the front Diablo just today - just over 15,000 km from that one.
All good
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