Sports tyres are going through quite the metamorphous these days. Yes, they are still black and round and sticky, for the most part, but they are no longer allowed to be good at only one thing.
If you've ever ridden on slick tyres at a racetrack, you'll know the riding is only part of the endeavour. There are stands, tyre warmers, generators and probably a bunch of other stuff in there I'm forgetting you need to worry about… and you still need to ride fast enough to get the tyres into a working window where their grip can be properly exploited. Ride below that threshold and they won't retain the heat required to make them work, and then they can become downright dangerous.
As such, the market for a tyre that can fulfil a bunch of different needs is becoming more important to the world's manufacturers by
