Nederlandse versie

Heidenau

Winter tires
The automobile industry and car owners are gradually becoming convinced of the usefulness of winter tires. Sales increased again last season. For motorbikes this is different. Despite the fact that motorcyclists would benefit greatly by having winter tires, there is only one manufacturer that makes winter tires for motorcycles.

History
Heidenau is a tire plant with a long history. The East German factory was once part of the Pneumant group and was taken over by Dunlop after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Heidenau (not enclosed in this take-over) then continued as Reifenwerk Heidenau. Initially the brand focused on tires for trailers, scooter tires and inner tubes.

Heidenau built a solid reputation with scooter tires. The mail companies of Belgium, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy used Heidenau tires because of the loading capacity, durability and also because Heidenau made winter tires for their mail delivery scooters, called Snowtex tires.

Motorcycle tires
For several years now Heidenau also produces motorcycle tires. But until recently had no winter tires in the program. That changed when export manager Rolf Harner had a conversation at a fair with a motorcyclist who took part in the “Elephanten Treffen” every year. This is a famous winter event where the real diehard motorbike riders meet, often in appalling weather conditions. This made Harner think...

M&S code
A quick market research learned that Heidenau is unique with its winter tire, although there are more brands that carry a M & S coding. This encoding can already be used when the profile is sufficiently open to dispose of mud and snow.

The coding does not reveal anything about the compound or its suitability for low temperatures.
Continental for example has TKC80, an enduro tire with a M & S coding. But they clearly state that the encoding indicates that this is a mud tire, and should not be considered to be a winter tire.

Useful
In all the different tests one clear conclusion becomes apparent when comparing Heidenau winter tires to ordinary allroad tires.
Winter tires on motorcycles provide increased security.
They give more grip when taking corners, allowing you a more comfortable and more relaxed ride.

The snow tire clearly provides better braking performance, decelerating more and it needs less distance to come to a complete standstill.
The K60 Heidenau Snowtex also has more grip and stability on a snowy trail route.
Available for allroad motorcycle models, see size chart on the left.