This season, WorldTour team Lidl-Trek has been seen using Pirelli Prototype road tyres, which have now been officially unveiled as the P Zero Race TLR RS (racing speed) tyres. Claiming a 16% increase in rolling speed and an 8% reduction in weight, what’s new on Pirelli’s latest flagship road race tyre?
With a heritage in motorsport, Pirelli is no stranger to making race tyres for cars and bicycles. Now made in Pirelli’s Italian factory after moving manufacturing back from Romania, the P Zero Race TLR RS is the brand’s flagship tyre, sitting above the current Pirelli P Zero Race TLR for pure speed and performance. It promises to be Pirelli’s fastest tyre yet for road racing.
Pirelli claims a 16% improvement in the P Zero Race TLR RS’s rolling resistance compared to the P Zero Race TLR, a tyre renowned for its performance. According to Bicycle Rolling Resistance, the previous version was as fast as Continental’s GP500 All-Season TR tyre, to give a comparison with a highly-rated tyre from another brand.
The P Zero Race TLR RS tyre maintains a similar tread pattern to the TLR, but the differences lie in an updated rubber compound claiming to improve performance.
Using expertise from Pirelli’s background in motorsport, the SmartEVO compound has undergone improvements in speed and grip, so we’re told. Additionally, the new SpeedCORE technology has enabled Pirelli to reduce the weight of the tyre by 8%.
Pirelli explains that by incorporating “a thin air-tight layer of rubber compound infused with aramid particles”, they were able to lighten up the casing structure and overall thickness, decreasing the weight as well as further reducing the rolling resistance.
Sponsored by Pirelli, Mads Pedersen and Lidl-Trek have been using these tyres for a while, with ‘Prototype’ marked on them. However, Lidl-Trek will transition to using the fully badged up P Zero Rate TLR RS tyres starting from today’s stage at the Giro d’Italia.
As the name suggests, the P Zero Race TLR RS are tubeless-ready, featuring an improved tyre bead to offer maximum compatibility with hooked and hookless wheels, according to Pirelli.
> In conversation with Zipp about hookless rims
They are available in widths of 26, 28, 30 and 32mm. Widths of 28mm and above are hookless compatible.
The P Zero Race TLR RS is available to purchase now for a price of £84.99 and the P Zero Range of tubeless tyres is now as follows:
- P Zero Race TLR RS – racing performance
- P Zero Race TLR – all-round performance
- P Zero Race TLR 4S – all-weather performance
6 thoughts on “Pirelli introduces “fastest and most performing” P Zero Race TLR RS with improved grip and hookless compatibility”
£85 for a tyre. Jesus wept.
£85 for a tyre. Jesus wept.
Sure, they’re expensive
Sure, they’re expensive (although in line with other similar tyres). But I do think that tyres are one of the best value for money upgrades you can do (if you’re coming from the stock tyres that come on many bikes). Even if you buy a pair of these at full price, I struggle to think of many other places you could spend £170 and get the same level of benefit to both comfort and speed. (I also can’t remember the last time I paid RRP for bicycle tyres from any brand).
You could spend a little more
You could spend half that and get a decent upgrade from stock/cheap tyres. But Pirelli don’t do ‘cheap’ tyres.
But the blurb says they are the fastest and it’s so good that pro teams use them, so I expect some people will pay £85 for a tyre that doesn’t last very long and looks good on instagram.
Some people will spend that much on a night out or £170 to get drunk in a field with thousands of other people and loud music playing all night.
If you click through to the P
If you click through to the P Zero Race TLR review, the sole con is “nearly eighty quid a tyre”.
“a thing air-tight layer of
“a thing air-tight layer of rubber compound infused with aramid particles”
Presumably ‘thin’ but who knows with marketing speel.
I’m still waiting for the
I’m still waiting for the normal TLR to be released in the 40mm version that Pirelli claim exists.