t’s all about fast tires for fast bikes. Avon’s top-of-the-line Vipers are supersport tires for supersport riders, the ones you’ll want to show to all those performance riders demanding the best. They won’t be disappointed with a Viper, either–any one of them, and there are a few to choose from.
     The Vipers are all about performance. The Viper Supersport is an ultra high-performance street tire that can make a turn off the highway right onto the track and do it without skipping a beat. Then there’s the Viper Sport, designed to give you great handling while at the same time turn in great mileage during everyday use.      And the Viper Xtreme, well, that one is Avon’s super-serious track-day tire. Its D.O.T. rated compound is specially formulated for racing. All three of these Vipers were originally released to rave reviews in the European market where supersport street riding is a way of life. They’ve been no less successful on this side of the Atlantic.
     Avon designed the Vipers to be the best-performing radials they’ve ever put on the market. They’ve delivered. The Vipers lack nothing. They all feature a brand-new profile Avon calls the Advanced Tread Arc Combination (ATAC). It’s a profile that varies across the tread surface to maximize the contact patch at all lean angles. ATAC significantly increases stability under heavy braking, too. And the Vipers all have Avon’s Enhanced Stability System (ES-System), a design that integrates the tire carcass, its sidewalls and its tread to reduce localized flexing and further improve high-speed stability. And that’s just the beginning…
As expected, the tread compounds here are all about traction and performance. It’s a “High Dispersibility” Silica formulation that mixes the Silica evenly throughout the compound. The Vipers warm up fast and they work a lot better in the wet. The Supersport model uses Avon’s “Race-C” compound, a softer formulation that was developed, tested and refined on racetracks worldwide. And kept properly inflated those Supersports can deliver some reasonable road mileage. It’s the best of both worlds–a soft compound that lasts. The Viper’s tread patterns are pretty special, too. Designed for maximum grip, they incorporate the Enhanced Aqua Flow (EAF) design to clear away water so they’re great in the wet. There’s also the Advanced Variable Belt Density (A-VBD) feature, a jointless belt of Aramid fibers. At the center of the tread those fibers are closely wound for stability and wear resistance, closer to the edge they’re further apart. The result is a broadened footprint when the tire is loaded and leaned over.
     And the Viper Xtreme takes all this one giant step further. Without mincing words it’s safe to say this is a race tire that just happens to be DOT approved and street legal. If the rubber compound on that Supersport is sticky, and it is, the Xtreme’s compound is positively adhesive. There’s a real sense of control here, in all conditions.      The Xtreme features a special front-tread pattern, too. Steering response is beautiful and predictable. And speaking of tread, there’s not much of it. The Viper Xtreme is a true track tire in every sense of the word. It’s not far removed from a full-on racing slick.
     All three Vipers, the Sport, Supersport and Xtreme, are available in all the sizes to fit all the popular sportbikes. Parts Unlimited has them, in-stock and ready to grip and rip.