RAYONG, Thailand (BRAIN) — Vittoria's manufacturing company, Lion Tyres Thailand, has opened a bicycle tire and wheel test center at its rubber compound factory and R&D complex at Rayong Industrial Estate in Thailand.
"After 2 1/2 years of preparations and work, the major capital investment creates a one-of-a-kind scientific test laboratory for bicycle tires as well as wheels and has started its operations. Traditionally, test riders play a big part in product development and testing. Although these contributions are valuable, the results are hard to quantify with required precision and are not always consistent. The Vittoria bicycle tire/wheel test center offers 100 percent precise and comparable tests from perfectly calibrated computer-controlled equipment, which will significantly increase the product development speed as well as its accuracy," the company said in a press release.
In recent years the company has begun using Graphene in its tires and has developed the ability to extrude as many as four rubber compounds into one tread, a technology it calls 4C.
The upgraded and expanded test facility allows Vittoria to simulate precise conditions related to all climate and weather conditions, to test the soundness of the construction and durability, wet and dry grip, as well as extreme forced failure scenarios, the company said.
The company said the facility will aide the development of Vittoria's Perfect Match (wheel and tire bead optimization), while rolling resistance and grip test machinery will help the company understand the relationship between rolling resistance and temperatures and fine-tune tire compounds to reach optimal rolling resistance at the desired speed in the climate of a targeted region.
"In short, the ability to develop compounds and products with such measurable precision has not been seen before in the cycling industry," the company said.
