Bridgestone Launches Battlax Hyper Sport S20 Motorcycle Tire at Portimão International Riding Event Premium Sport Tire Inspired by Bridgestone’s MotoGP Technology PORTIMAO, Portugal (March 21, 2012) Bridgestone has launched its premium Battlax Hyper Sport S20 tire at a major press test event at the Portimão circuit in Portugal. At the event, which ran from March 14 through March 20, more than 100 journalists from the European and international motorcycle press attended a presentation of the new Hyper Sport tire. They then tested it for themselves in groups on the challenging 2.9-mile Autódromo Internacional do Algarve circuit, which hosts the FIM Superbike World Championship and FIA Formula One testing. On the second day, journalists took a road tour on the S20 around the Algarve. Later in the week, Bridgestone invited customers from across Europe to a similar presentation and test ride at Portimão. “We wanted the press to experience the MotoGP technology in the new Battlax S20 first-hand,” said Bob Graham, BATO’s senior product manager for motorcycle tires. Designed with Bridgestone MotoGP technology Using the “S” (Sport) symbol for the first time on a Battlax tire, the premium S20 completes Bridgestone’s Hyper Sport product line-up that includes the Battlax BT-016 PRO and BT-016, among other sport specialists for road and track. The development target for the S20 was to meet the demands of sport riders of high-powered machines from 600 to 1300cc for the highest handling performance in dry and wet on all types of roads and riding conditions: highway touring, winding country roads, city streets and track circuits. Bridgestone engineers turned to their MotoGP experience for the answers. “Test results of the new S20 show that Bridgestone can take MotoGP technology and apply it to a road tire. To date, the S20 is the closest production tire to MotoGP and thus benefits more than any other Bridgestone motorcycle tire from Bridgestone’s MotoGP successes,” said Graham. Larger contact area at all angles Compared to the BT-016 PRO the S20 has superior handling on wet and dry, while maintaining excellent wear life performance. Bridgestone’s proven construction with Mono-Spiral Belt (MSB) and High Tensile Super Penetrated Cord (HTSPC) has been optimized to produce a larger ground contact patch at all riding angles, providing more grip in all conditions. At lower camber angles, this larger contact area improves the contact feel and adds ride comfort; at medium and higher angles, riders enjoy more cornering stability. The S20 tread pattern is designed with grooves that straighten out in the centre of the tread, improving cornering performance when the angle is low, particularly at turn-in. On the front, the side grooves run up to the shoulder, providing better contact feels at high angles and stronger grip on wet and dry. On the rear, the wider grooves give confident grip in the wet. “The S20’s large contact area and grip level are derived from technology developed for MotoGP. Sporty riders can tackle the angles with full confidence,” Graham added. Immediate grip The new compound with Silica Rich and Bridgestone’s proprietary NanoPro-TechTM polymer, which reduces heat build-up during tire rotation, provides improved grip in the wet and at low temperatures. This also gives confident grip right from the start during warm-up, without sacrificing mileage performance on front or rear. The dual compound (3LC) with an optimized segmentation of soft and harder compound has been applied on front and rear, improving dry grip as well as giving high stability in cornering and good mileage. New wet grip benchmark Test results versus Bridgestone’s BT-016 PRO tire show that the new S20 delivers improved grip on dry roads, giving more confidence for cornering, and high-level sporty handling. On the track, riders can expect high cornering stability and faster lap times through better and more balanced grip on front and rear. Bridgestone tests show that the S20 wet grip is even better than the BT-016 PRO already the established standard in the wet. Results also show the high stability that comes from improved grip, with easy control in heavy rain conditions. This high-level grip has been achieved without sacrificing mileage performance. Bridgestone tests confirm that compared to the BT-016, the new S20 compound has excellent wear resistance, providing high mileage on front and rear tires. The new premium Battlax Hyper Sport S20 will be available in North America in early April, 2012 in 4 front sizes and 7 rear sizes.