Tyres, as you have no doubt been told many, many times, are a Very Important Thing when it comes to motorbikes. They are, after all, the only thing keeping you and your bike from sliding off down the road in a shower of sparks and plastic filings. So having the right tyres on your bike is a good idea.

Now there is one thing that I need to get straight here. A tyre that works well for me may not work well for you. In reality, unless you are Neil Hodgson, how good a particular tyre is depends more than anything else on how it feels to you, the rider. Some people like lots of feedback, some find that unnerving. Some people like a tyre that needs a lot of muscling around, some like a tyre that drops into corners as fast as you can think of asking it to. It's all down to you.

We've recently fitted our very long term GSX-R 750 with the latest supersports tyre from Pirelli. Being a cautious individual I have previously stuck with the same tyres as were on the bike when new, but having tried the Diablo Corsa fitted to the GSX-R test bike we had from Suzuki recently I was very happy to give the "regular" version a try.

And it was a good move.

Having now done about 2000 miles on them, including time on the track, touring, high speed blasting and riding in town, and having encountered everything that the British Summer can supply, weatherwise, I can say without a doubt, that these are very good tyres indeed.

Tyres don't all look the same, and the Diablo has a very purposeful look to it, with a lot of rubber on the rear and an innovative tread pattern on the front. Initial feel is that the tyre offers a lot more feedback than the previous fitment, which is slightly disconcerting at first but soon becomes as useful as it should be once you get used to it. The first hundred miles or so were dedicated to scrubbing the tyres in and getting rid of any slippery residues. Two laps of the patented MotorbikesToday test circuit did the business nicely, as well as confirming that as well as giving loads of feedback, the Diablo handles dodgy surfaces with aplomb.

The next part of the test involved a couple of quick trips across the country on wide variety of roads, from unclassified lanes up to motorways. The Diablos proved to be stable while not needing a vast effort to get them to turn. A brief deluge proved Pirelli's claims of superior wet weather capabilities through their improved compound and tread pattern to be well justified. Indeed, they are far superior to the previously fitted tyres, which themselves were pretty good.

A trip down to Folembray in Central France was the next big test. A leisurely cruise turned into a fairly rapid one before eventually ending up as a high speed blast in the rain as I got lost twice on the way to the hotel. The combination of a long dry spell and rain showers made the D roads across The Somme slippery and unpredictable, but the Diablos never missed a beat or gave me even a moment of raised heartrate. The next day saw some track action on a steaming hot Folembray circuit, and again the tyres were perfect. They felt as though they moved around a little more than their predecessors but were eminently controllable and never once gave me the impression that they might be going to let go. Having tried them on a Triumph Daytona at Rockingham earlier in the year, where we experienced lean angles that we thought barely possible, I can vouch that they work very well indeed on a track.

So here we are, 2000 miles later. The Diablos look slightly worn but certainly have another 3-4000 miles left on them. They rippled a little around the edges on the track but didn't overheat, blister or blue. They coped brilliantly with the rain as well as with the treacherous greasy patches that were left afterwards.

In short, Pirelli Diablos are damn' fine tyres which wear well and are more than adequate for fast road and track use as well as being flexible enough to use day to day as well. I'm impressed.