Italian tyre giant Pirelli has lifted the lid on a tyre developed specifically for one electric bike.
Spotted at Eurobike 2017, the Pirelli Cycl-e tyre has been developed in collaboration with Swiss brand Stromer and is the first of Pirelli’s new tyres to adopt the company’s ‘tailor-made’ strategy, whereby it works with a manufacturer to develop a tyre specifically for a specific bike range or model.
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This approach emulates what Pirelli already does with certain car brands by working closely with manufacturers to produce a tyre specifically to match the dynamics and peculiarities of specific vehicles. This strategy has seen Pirelli produce more than 1,800 unique original equipment tyres to date, and is something the firm told BikeRadar it was pursuing back at the launch of its PZero Velo range of tyres earlier this year.
Details are still very scarce on the tyre itself, but we do know the 650b-sized Cycl-e tyre offers what Pirellii is calling “maximum puncture resistance, a young and trendy look and feel, and the handling and the reliability of a motorcycle tire." Given that Pirelli outsources production of its entire PZero Velo range, it's also likely that this tyre is also not manufactured by the Italian firm.
Right now, this tyre can be found only on the Stromer ST5 but we are expecting to see a similar version to be available as an aftermarket item before the end of the year.
