Pirelli Sport Demon Street Tires: Long-Term Review Begins

Pirelli Sport Demon Street Tire Test

The Metzeler Lasertec tires that arrived as standard equipment on my 2015 Triumph T214 Bonneville had served me well. But, with 7,012 miles on them, it’s time for an update.

Next up is a set of Pirelli Sport Demons. After the tires arrived, there was a long pause due to business closures forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but recently, I was able to get them professionally mounted at Triumph of Sauk County.

The Sport Demon model is described as an “X-ply tire for touring motorcycles.” They feature a multi-radius profile that Pirelli says promotes excellent traction in wet or dry road surfaces and long mileage wear.

Pirelli Sport Demon Street Tires: Long-Term Review Begins

The tread pattern on both front and rear feature a chicane-style rain groove that has the benefit of channeling water away from the mid-line contact patch, while increasing the amount of tread in the mid-line contact patch, which should enhance both tread life and traction in the wet.

After the first 200 miles or so, I am able to speak to the ride and handling on a first impression basis. On a day-long road trip on state highways, county trunks and township blacktop roads ranging from super-smooth recently paved surfaces, and stretches of chip-sealed pea gravel, to battered, hot-patched, rough town roads on a hot, dry day, the grip and ride were excellent.

The only wet pavement was encountered at brief stretches where irrigation systems were blasting water over the road, so no real input available on that count as yet. As to braking, I did a few deliberate, planned fairly hard stops on smooth, new blacktop and even with my non-ABS brakes, tracking stayed straight and no tendency toward skidding.

One non-planned hard braking situation occurred on a section of rough, hot-patched blacktop on a town road when whitetail deer decided to cross the road to see what’s on the other side—right in front of me. I had room to slow down for that adult doe, but this time of year tends to find does traveling with their new fawns close behind so I clamped down hard to bring my speed down to a walk. Again, no loss of traction.

Pirelli Sport Demon Street Tire Test

Over time, we’ll keep you in the loop as to tread wear and more details on how the Pirelli Sport Demons hold up in routine use. We’ll update this blog with fresh content as we put the miles on these demons.

To learn more about motorcycle tires, see:

Size availability data (as of date of publication)

Front:

  • 16”: 100/90 – 16 M/C 54H TL, 110/70 – 16 M/C 52P TL, 110/90 – 16 M/C 59V TL, 120/70 – 16 M/C 57P TL, 120/80 V 16 M/C (60V) TL
  • 17”: 100/80 – 17 M/C 52H TL, 110/70 – 17 M/C 54H TL, 110/80 – 17 M/C 57H TL, 120/70 – 17 M/C 58H TL
  • 18”: 100/90 – 18 M/C 56H TL, 110/80 – 18 M/C 58V TL, 110/90 – 18 M/C 61V TL
  • 19”: 100/90 – 19 M/C 57V TL

Rear:

  • 15”: 140/70 – 15 M/C 69P REINFTL
  • 16”: 130/70 – 16 M/C 61P TL, 130/90 – 16 M/C 67V TL, 150/70 – 16 M/C 68S TL, 150/80 V 16 M/C (71V) TL
  • 17”: 110/80 – 17 M/C 57P TL, 130/70 – 17 M/C 62H TL, 130/80 – 17 M/C 65H TL, 130/90 – 17 M/C 68V TL,
  • 140/70 – 17 M/C 66H TL, 140/80 VB 17 M/C (69V) TL, 150/70 – 17 M/C 69H TL
  • 18”: 110/90 – 18 M/C 61H TL, 120/80 – 18 M/C 62H TL, 120/90 – 18 M/C 65V TL, 130/70 – 18 M/C 63H TL,
  • 130/80 – 18 M/C 66V TL, 140/70 – 18 M/C 67V TL

Pricing will vary depending on size and vendor/tax, etc.

For more information, visit Pirelli Sport Demon tires.