Gallery: The Intense Tech That Turns Motorcycles Into Superbikes
John Pangilinan01JP--3723
Massive effort goes into fine-tuning Superbike motorcycles to be more powerful, better handling, and stronger stopping.
John Pangilinan02JP--4772
The effort focuses on three areas: Collecting huge amounts of data, developing tires to perfectly suit race conditions, and equipping the bikes with enough electronics to light up most of North Korea.
John Pangilinan03JP--3592
Over a World Superbike race weekend, gigabytes of data are downloaded from nearly 400 channels on each competing motorcycle.
John Pangilinan04JP--3690
At last year’s race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca alone, Pirelli provided 1,939 tires.
John Pangilinan05JP--4478
For the 2014 season, that meant developing 10 compounds designed for varied track conditions including ambient temperature, surface quality, and circuit layout.
John Pangilinan06JP--5007
Technological aids also fuel development of road bikes, which supports manufacturer’s efforts both on and off the track.
John Pangilinan07JP--4280
Electronics have played a considerably bigger role within the last five years.
John Pangilinan08JP--4303
A lot of that technology makes its way into consumer bikes.
John Pangilinan09JP--4767
Same for tires: New compounds benefit from the lessons learned on the track, leading to grippier, more adaptable—and ultimately, safer rubber for the road.
