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South Africa is an amazing country, and well worth the visit for the wildlife alone (mind the Hippos though, they’re faster than they look).

But for two-wheeled fans, we cannot recommend enough visiting the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and spinning a few laps. It’s divine, and one of motorsports best-kept secrets.

A beautiful sweeping track that flows with elevation, Kyalami is in my Top 5 tracks to ride around the world, and it should be on your bucket list as well. It’s certainly a circuit we don’t talk about enough.

Part of the reason for that is because it has been a long time since Kyalami has seen international motorcycle racing on its apexes.

Interestingly enough though, with the African track getting updates in 2015, the new layout technically doesn’t have an established lap record. That’s where Brad Binder and Red Bull come into the equation.

When I was a new rider, I cut my teeth on Pirelli Corsa tires (and later on the Pirelli Corsa III), and as I got into doing track days, the Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa became my tire of choice, both as a track tire and also as a street tire.

Almost as grippy as “the good stuff” and considerably cheaper than track-focused tires of the time, the Diablo Rosso Corsa hit that sweet spot of performance and price that my relatively unexperienced two-wheeled-self required.

Best of all, after a few track days, I could swap-out the rubber on my track bike for road duty, and thus had a nice supply of new rubber for my street biking needs.

As Asphalt & Rubber became a larger part of my life, this tire strategy had to give way to trying other brands and other tires, but I was recently intrigued when Pirelli told me that they were updating this stalwart in their sport bike tire lineup, as there isn’t a lineage of tire that I am more familiar with on the market.

Creating the Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corse II tire for the 2018 model year, the Italian brand first invited A&R out to South Africa to see if this new incarnation of the Corsa lived up to the high-water mark its predecessor left behind. In short, it did.

But, only a couple days with a new tire can be tough to use to form an opinion. Not content to be so easily swayed, I have since spent a considerable amount of time on this new Pirelli.

Riding three more trackdays (on three different tracks), trying six bikes in total, and plowing down a thousand street miles later, I can honestly say that the Pirelli Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corse II might be the best sport bike tire on the market. Let me explain.

Episode 76 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is finally out, and in it we talk about Jensen’s recent trip to Africa. Well actually, it’s two trips to Africa.

First we talk about going to South Africa with Pirelli, riding on the new Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa II tire, which we got to test at the recently renovated Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, outside of Johannesburg.

Next up we head to Morocco, where we rode on two new tires from Bridgestone – the Battlax A41 adventure-touring tire, and the Battlax T31 sport-touring tire – riding in the desert region of Ouarzazate.

Three tires to test means a bevy of bikes were ridden too, which also means plenty of rabbit holes for us to jump down. As such, this show is a tad on the long side. Set aside a couple hours in your day, and enjoy.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

Another day, another trip to Africa – the Asphalt & Rubber frequent flyer miles account is strong this year. As such, we are coming to you from South Africa, were we will be among the first to ride the new Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa II tire – the Italian company’s new high-performance street/track tire.

Replacing the original Diablo Rosso Corsa tire that debuted in 2010, the DRCII is a tire that is designed for modern high-performance motorcycles, many of which have advanced technologies like cornering ABS and IMU-powered traction control.

Pirelli says that the DRCII is the first multi-zone compound tire for the Italian brand, with two compounds and three zones on the front tire, and 3 compounds and five zones on the rear tire.

To take these tires for a spin (pardon the pun), Pirelli has two rides planned for us. For our street ride, we will be riding the roads near Kruger National Park (including the famous “Road 22”), which is the largest game reserve in Africa, and features perhaps the best riding in the country.

For the track portion, we will head to the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, which once was a stop on the World Superbike calendar. Recently renovated, riding this famous track should be a real treat, and a great place to showcase the Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa II tires.

So with that said, feel free to pick my brain about the new Pirelli tires, the bikes I’ll be riding (check posts on social media), and what it is like to visit South Africa, Kruger National Park, and the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit.

As always, you can follow our thoughts on the tires via FacebookTwitter, and Instagram, and you can see what our colleagues are posting on social media by looking for the hashtags #PirelliNation, #PirelliMoto, #PirelliDiabloRossoCorsaII, & #RossoCorsa2.

The loss of the South African round of World Superbikes, when the safety improvements to the Welkom circuit could not be completed in time for homologation, meant that the WSBK calendar had lost two rounds from its 2014 calendar, with both South Africa and the Moscow Raceway event having been scrapped.

Two rounds meant the loss of two World Supersport races and four World Superbike races, a total of 50 points for WSS and 100 points for WSBK.

The loss of those points left both championships much closer to being decided. Tom Sykes leads the World Superbike championship by 44 points with 150 points still at stake, while Michael van der Mark is even closer to the World Supersport championship, leading Jules Cluzel by 53 points with just 75 points left.

The teams, but most especially the riders, felt that they had had a chance to try to reopen the championship races taken away from them.

The 2014 World Superbike calendar has been updated once again. The South African round of WSBK has been canceled, after the Phakisa Freeway track failed homologation. Work was being carried out on the circuit to allow it to meet requirements, but the work will not be finished on time.

Dorna and the FIM are looking at finding a replacement for the dropped South African round, but at such short notice, and with attendance at WSBK events being disappointing, that will be difficult.

While the South African round was canceled, the Qatar race was confirmed. The racing at Qatar is to be held at night under the floodlights, just as MotoGP is.

After a three-year hiatus, the World Superbike Championship is returning to South Africa for the 2014 season. Welkom’s Phakisa Freeway is currently slotted on the provisional calendar to host WSBK on October 19th, assuming the track can pass FIM homologation, and the event organizers, GAS Sports, can secure the necessary finances.

Set to host both the Superbike and Supersport classes, South Africa will be the penultimate round in the 2014 World Superbike Championship. A venue that has provided close racing in the past, Phakisa Freeway is a welcomed addition to WSBK, and helps bring the series out of its European-centric stupor.

It is with a very heavy heart that we report the passing of famed moto-journalist Kevin Ash, who died of injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash today. Riding north of Cape Town, South Africa, Kevin was taking part in the press launch of the 2013 BMW R1200GS adventure-touring motorcycle, with the launch now being cancelled after this tragic news.

A legend in the industry, Kevin’s work could be found in a countless number of publications, including MCN and the Daily Telegraph, not to mention his own blog Ash on Bikes. Known for his technical knowledge, clear writing, and honest reviews, Kevin’s work was seen by many in the industry as the gold standard of motorcycle reviews.

Proper trials riding might be one of the most impressive feats a performed on a motorcycle. Seemingly able to conquer any obstacle, over any terrain, trials riders problem-solve some of the most difficult challenges motorcycling can throw at them, and they make it look easy. Not exactly the most popular sport worldwide, especially here in the United States, there’s a growing desire to put trials competitions more on the map, so to speak. Accordingly, Brian Capper was commissioned to tackle one of man’s more prominent architectural feats, the Moses Mabhida Stadium, with a feat of his own.

On his home turf of Durban, South Africa, Capper took to the Moses Mabhida Stadium’s centerpiece archway. 348 (106 meters) feet above the field below, pedestrians routinely walk up the double-arch, though few run the risk of clearing the sides of the arch, should they fall over. Riding up the arch with an unimpeded view of the stadium below, Capper says his biggest concern wasn’t the ascent, but instead his brakes over-heating on the way back down. Already steeply pitched downward on the stairs of the Moses Mabhida Stadium arch, Capper had to occasionally endo his trials bike to cool the rear brake.

It would take us years to describe those kind of cojones.

Kyalami Grand Prix circuit is likely to host its last World Superbike race for a while this season. Located in Gauteng, South Africa, the Gauteng provincial government has bought out the track’s remaining contract with WSBK in an effort to “re-prioritize” the local government’s budget of local programs. Kyalami was set to host WSBK through 2013, but instead it looks like this will be the South African’s track last season until the Gauteng government becomes financially stable again.