• Continental implements a steel belt for excellent stability at high speeds

In our last core technology post we talked about the MultiGrip technology. Now we are going to check out another technological treasure of the Continental Motorcycle Tire department: the “ZeroDegree” steel belt.

This steel belt is part of the carcass of the tire. The carcass can be thought of as the skeleton of the tire’s rubber, which provides the tire its structure and strength.

Before and after the ZeroDegree belt

Before Radial tires were developed, all tires were bias ply. Bias ply used to be the most advanced tires. In order to prevent flat tires and provide strength, manufacturers needed to apply a lot of plies. Adding many plies was the only solution to sustain heavy loads. Bzerodegreeack then, more weight meant reinforcement (more plies). For this reason, tires were very heavy. High speeds were not possible because the weight of the plies created friction and riding at high speeds would increase the temperature. This could disintegrate the tire over time.

Through the years, lighter new bias ply tires were developed; until the rise of radial technology. This type of carcass was stronger and lighter, leading manufactures to develop lower profile tires. Today, motorcycles use both kinds of tires depending of how the rider is going to use his or her motorcycle.

Read more about these different tire constructions here: What is the difference between a Radial and a Bias-Ply tire?

We can easily explain the ZeroDegree technology by saying that it’s a steel belt made with a long and continuous steel belt cord (wire) spiraled above the radial carcass circumference. It’s called zero degree due to the orientation of the weft. It has the same degree as the riding direction.

What advantages does the ZeroDegree technology provide?

Simply put: Stability! Since there’s less material in the carcass and less plies, we obtain a stronger and lighter structure. A lighter structure provides precision and accuracy when riding.

Since we don’t need to add so many plies for strength, there’s less friction, which means the temperature will be lower, the tires will last longer and will have constant performance while riding.

As we said before, we obtain a stronger structure, which provides us with precision and stability while riding.

zerodegree

What are the Continental Motorcycle tires that have ZeroDegree technology?

As you can see from the list above, we added the Zero Degree to many of our tires, so you can ride at your best.

Until the next post!