Dunlop’s presence in the Moto2 World Championship and MotoAmerica series rewards the tire manufacturer with unrivaled data. The firm isn’t wasting any of that input either, drawing on its MotoAmerica learnings and independent tests to deliver the all-new Dunlop Sportmax Q5 and Sportmax Q5S tires.
The new high-performance, street-legal lineup required four years of development but benefits from shared technology with MotoAmerica road race tires. To ensure that the new rubber meets the needs of today’s street and track riders, the brand tirelessly tested the range at its Huntsville Proving Grounds (HPG) in Alabama. Additional testing took place at the Virginia International Raceway, California’s Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, and Georgia’s Roebling Road Raceway.
The standard Q5 builds upon the ever-popular Sportmax Q4 model while the Q5S succeeds the Sportmax Q3+ platform. According to Dunlop, both the Q5 and Q5S tout improved constructions, profiles, compounds, and tread patterns, but the S trim favors street riding with extra grip in dry and wet conditions. The company utilizes both racing-type fine carbon and what it calls an intuitive response profile to provide even more road and track performance.
As Dunlop’s diagrams suggest, the new, rounder profile yields even nimbler handling without sacrificing stability. The Sportmax Q5 also caters to more riders with five additional tire sizes (110/70ZR17, 140/70ZR17, 150/60ZR17, 160/60ZR17, and 200/60ZR17). Dunlop markets the Q5 as its user-friendly variant due to quicker warm-up times, even without the use of track-day tire warmers.
Dunlop manufactures the Q5 and Q5S at its Buffalo, New York, production facility. The new Sportmax line doesn’t just draw from the brand’s racing products but also shares the same equipment with its closed-course counterparts. Dunlop may construct tires for race series around the world, but the brand brings all that know-how to the consumer market with the street-legal Sportmax Q5 and Q5S tires.
