The Pirelli Diablo Superbike SCX Super Soft Compound is the official tire of the WorldSBK Championship and is Pirelli’s sportiest racing tire that is not legal for use on public roads. Pirelli claims the “compounds and materials of the carcass are the result of innovative technological solutions developed on the most demanding racetracks in the world…profile designed to ensure incomparable handling and maximum support at high lean angles…excellent traction and stability at high speeds, with high and constant performance lap after lap.”
LOWDOWN | Pirelli Diablo Superbike SCX Super Soft Compound Tires
Standout Feature: Incredible grip levels for qualifying runs
Price: Starting at $275
Huge grip right away
Developed in WorldSSP
Surprisingly long-lasting
Susceptible to track temp variations
Require a lot of heat from the warmer to get in the right zone
Rider Analysis | Pirelli Diablo Superbike SCX Super Soft Compound Tire
Pirelli has been the WorldSBK control tire supplier since 2003, which has proven a great thing for its consumers as the tires raced on in the world championship are the same tires you and I can buy.
Pirellis are characterized by a softer carcass regardless of which compound you choose in comparison to a Bridgestone or Dunlop tire, for example. As such, there’s more of a squishy feel at the handlebars that some love; others, who grew up on harder compound rubber and require the firmness from the front under braking, not so much.
For me, as someone who grew up racing on ultra-soft Metzeler Supermoto slicks, I love the feeling a soft Pirelli gives.
While Dunlop is the mainstay in North American professional racing as the control supplier for MotoAmerica and until last year, the Canadian Superbike Championship, however, much of Pirelli’s bottom line from this part of the world stems from club racers.
Pirelli’s Diablo Superbike slick compound range starts at the hardest setting of SC2, down to the medium SC1, soft SC0 and super-soft SCX. Lately, WorldSBK teams have been able to make an SCX last a full race distance, although this is not the type of environment Pirelli is marketing the SCX at.
These are essentially qualifying tires, ones that you bolt on, get mega-hot, pin it for two or, if you’re lucky, three laps before the grip is gone and so are your lap times.
I took a few sets of SCXs with me to Laguna Seca recently to see if I could do a full race distance on the beautiful Kramer GP2 890 RR.
You gotta be careful when reviewing racetrack tires, as their performance is inexorably tied to the machine’s setup, as proven by the wizards in WorldSBK who can make an SCX rear tire last 25 furious laps.
At Laguna Seca, fitted with an SC1 front and SCX rear, I qualified on a 1:33.877, although the cooler conditions of Saturday morning were not the best for getting the maximum out of the SCX.
Also, the Kramer, with its 139hp twin-cylinder KTM 890 Duke motor, is so light (313 pounds ready to race) I started to wonder if I was putting enough force through the rubber to actually make it work.
The cooler conditions didn’t get much better that afternoon and so I decided to throw on two sets of SC1s on for the afternoon’s races, picking up two third places and nearly a win, except for the fact I completely messed up my braking and almost took out my friend Troy Siahaan in the process.
The good news was the speed was coming, now down to a 31.4, and with warmer weather scheduled for Sunday, that would be the time to give the SCXs their best shot.
With some new SCXs bolted on, it was yet another third place but the bike felt quite different. We’d swapped the rear from a 180/60R17 to the wider 190 that’s commonly used in WorldSBK, and as such the turn-in speed wasn’t as quick as on the 180. The flip side of that was better edge grip under acceleration, and as long as I had the confidence to really mash the Kramer’s ride-by-wire throttle, the SCX proved to be the correct choice.
We swapped out the rear SCXs for a freshy for race two and kept the same SC1 at the front, and the result was as hoped. A win and a drop into the 1:30s (just) was a nice way to end the weekend, but the good news was the SCX’s grip level never faded over the six laps of Laguna Seca, with my fastest lap coming on my last.
The SCXs offer absolutely blistering grip but only in the right conditions. If you run them when the ambient temp is not hot enough or track temps drop a little too much, they won’t come into their working zone and they’ll start sliding around, just like I experienced in qualifying.
Also, they need heat. Lots of heat. Hence the reason why we’d put them on the warmers early and leave them there until the wheel rim got mega hot. You can’t do that with Dunlops or Bridgestones, which have their own warm-up formulas you need to follow. I am yet to try the equivalent Dunlop super-soft slicks, which would make for a good comparison as Dunlop has so much data in American racing.
For short club races here in America, the Pirelli Diablo Superbike SCXs should hold you in good stead so long as your bike is set up correctly. Get ’em hot and hold on!CN
Website: https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/motorcycle/catalog/product/diablo-superbike
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Click here to read the Pirelli Diablo Superbike SCX Super Soft Compound Tire Review in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
