Pirelli Scorpion Rally tyres - alternative to Mich Deserts?
 

The KTM team in this years Dakar were using some new Pirelli Scorpion Rally tyres rather than the usual Michelin deserts.

The lead riders on the Scorpion tyres seemed to have both tyre and mousse problems in the first few stages of the rally, and in the end seemed to go back to using tubes. Not sure if this was due to the robustness of the tyre or whether the mousse wasn't sufficently strong on some of the faster South American stages.

Does anyone know if these are on sale yet to the general public? If so, has anyone used them yet, and are they a valid alternative to Michelin Deserts or Pirelli MT21s for desert use?

cheers

I'm fairly certain they've been out a while now and are available to joe public. However, whats wrong with the tried and tested, and undoubtedly brilliant dunlop d208rr rears with 206rr fronts?

Excellent combo.

It was a matter of speed...
 

Hi Matt,
I did talk to some Rallye officials and participants of this years DAKAR, it was a pure matter of the high speed they went. I mean think of an avg of 130 kmh, Tops in the 160 s, minimum... Thats nuts with Mousse... And no wounder you got extreme temperatures on the Mousse. Once on slower stages the Michelin combi went well they said.
So, I will continue to use that pair as the tire extremely durable and almost runflat in the sand (if your tube fails...).
What a lot of riders start to do is to buy the much cheaper Pirelli Mousse (half the price) and run it in the Desert tyre.
We will see in 2 weeks in Marocco.
Cheers
Rasmus

The Mousse problem is old. The first big bikes that got big problems with the Mousse in Paris Dakar were the 900RR nine years ago. Before that other had sporadically problems.

As you say the Pirelli Mousse is cheaper, but it starts to get a bad reputation (at least around here).
I wouldn’t use Mousse for traveling, it’s a nightmare to work with, the “air-pressure” is to low, the tires wear fast and Mousse don’t last long.

The pirelli tyres are quite well rated by my racing friends, I had to settle for the dunlops as I couldn't get hold of the pirelli's (at my dealer), though they are on general sale. I don't think for most of us there is much difference between michellin, pirelli or dunlop other than wear rates, but that is dictated by where you ride.

High speed, mooses and a fully loaded bike.... you're stuffed.. ultra HD tubes double skinned would be a better bet IMO.

RTS

I think the only valid comparison is to the Michelin Deserts. I havent tried the Scorpion Rallys yet, but speaking to a guy who has, they are very comparable for their main purpose, with the newer Pirelli maybe shading it a touch on asphalt stretches as a sidenote.

Both last a lot longer than MT21s, and are a lot tougher ... so I think thats out of the comparison.

I dont know if they are for sale to the public yet or not, but I do know they seem very hard to get hold of ... whether thats policy or not I dont know. I had always just assumed they werent yet for sale to the general public.