V Sivaramakrishnan, Chief Technology Officer, TVS Srichakra Limited, talked to us about the latest and upcoming tyres from TVS Eurogrip.
With every increasing demand in performance improvements, do you also develop new polymers?
Yes, We closely work with our Supplier partners in developing tailor made polymers and additives which are used in our compounds. We work on six to seven such projects every year.
After your success with Aprilia specifically for the Indian market, are you looking at becoming an OEM supplier for other manufacturers as well?
OE customers are very important and invest considerable R&D resources in parterning with our OE customers to develop new tyres for newer models. We have ongoing developments with our customers viz. Bajaj, Hero, Honda, TVS Motors and Yamaha. We are also in the advanced stages of developing tyres for global suppliers to Piaggio. So a lot of work is going on in premium models, yes.
When developing a tyre, how does its weight factor in?
When it comes to agility of a motorcycle, weight has an important role to play, both from the agility of the bike and from a sustainability and efficacy standpoint. Designers work on striking the right balance of keeping the weight of the tyres at a level which achieves target performance and yet is efficient in the use of materials. The goal is to reinforce the tyre where it is required. For example, in extreme on-off tyres, the tread will be lighter but the sidewalls will be heavier. By doing this, when the tyre hits a stone, you protect it from a concussion.
Is there anything that you would like to share with our readers?
We launched the Protorq Extreme, the Roadhounds, the Bee Connect and the Climber. The super-high-performance adventure segment product line which is called the Trailhound will be launched next year. Every year you will see something new from Eurogrip stable.
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