Eurogrip Tread Talks | Trailhound SCR & STR Tyres Unveiled & SCR Quick Review

Eurogrip just unveiled their Trailhound SCR and STR tyres for scramblers and adventure motorcycles in India. This also included a quick experience of the Trailhound SCR, and here's our initial impression:

The Unveil 

So the Trailhound is a new series of tyres that Eurogrip will launch for scramblers and street focused adventure motorcycles. There are some interesting sizes and target motorcycles with different displacement from diverse brands on the list, which is always good news.

This line of tyres was originally launched in EICMA targeting the European market, and are now going to debut in India soon. Eurogrip’s aim is to target the performance and capabilities of the best European brands in the international market, but offer this at the cost that sits between middle and top tier tyres, ensuring good bang for your buck. These tyres will be hitting stores and dealers across the country by the end of March 2025, so if you are on the look out for a new set of tyres then maybe hold off a bit for these.

Trailhound SCRs 

The SCRs are aimed at scrambler or street motorcycles like the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, Royal Enfield Scram 411, KTM 390 Adventure, Honda H’ness CB350 and more. These tyres are constructed with a 0 degree steel belt for superior handling. And a X-ply structure with synthetic fibres for increased lateral stiffness and resistance against bumps. A high silica content with carbon black will give better grip on tarmac in dry and wet conditions. Moreover the knobby-like pattern has been specifically chosen to ensure optimal grip on all surfaces such as gravel, dirt and broken tarmac, promising to be a true do-it-all tyre. This is something that sounds perfect for our road conditions. Eurogrip says that this is intended to be a 80/20 tyre with 80% road focus and 20% focus on light trails and off-road conditions.

The front tyre is available in a single size for 17, 18 and 19 inch wheels. On the other hand, the rear has 17-inch and 18-inch options with a single cross ply size in each, and three radial options in the 17-inch size. 

Trailhound STRs

The STRs are designed for bigger adventure motorcycles, particularly for long-distance touring. The list of motorcycles targeted include the Aprilia Tuareg 660, Benelli TRK 502x, BMW 1250 GS, Honda Transalp, Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 among others. The construction is very similar to the SCR in terms of a 0 degree steel belt construction and X-ply structure. That said, it has a Quadrazone multicompound layout. This is your typical dual compound coupled with an additional two layers for improved mileage and stability. An 80% silica content ensures excellent grip on both dry or wet and cold tarmac. Eurogrip says that this is a 90/10 tyre with 90% focus on road performance and the slight ability to handle light off-road trails and broken tarmac as and when you encounter it.

The front tyre comes in 21 and 19 inch options in five sizes. Rear tyres are available in 17 and 18 inch options in five sizes with both radial and cross ply construction in both.  

The Test

On Road Experience

Our test experience included a small loop of about 10 kilometers of good tarmac to get a small experience of the Trailhound SCRs. I was riding a KTM 390 Adventure shod with these tyres and they felt good. There was plenty of grip on corners and the bike was stable under hard braking as well. I also had a short ride on a Suzuki V-Strom SX and the feeling was similar: stable under braking with good grip. I do wish that we could have spent more seat time with the tyres on a longer road ride considering they are predominantly road-focussed. Unfortunately the format for the ride didn’t afford us more time with these tyres on tarmac.

Off-Road 

The off-road portion of the experience was a lot different. We had plenty of time with these tyres on an off-road circuit that had bumps, jumps, dirt and loose gravel. At first glance, these tyres seemed like they were going to be out of their depth off-road seeing that they have only a 20-percent off-road bias. But the experience was quite different. Despite their appearance they offered quite a surprising amount of grip off-road. Yes, they did slide around but they were very predictable. In conditions where I thought I would be constantly dabbing my foot after losing the front, the front dug into the loose sand and gravel. The rear was sliding out under power but in a very predictable manner. Note that all these shenanigans were done on stock tyre pressures. With the tyre pressure lowered even more, these tyres would be more than an acceptable choice for some dry trail riding.  We didn't have any wet off-road conditions but I suspect with the depth of the groves and the size of the blocks, these tyres would be out of their depth fairly quickly. But for dry conditions they are a solid thumbs up for off-road performance. 

Now, we only got to experience the SCR tyres on this occasion but the STR should be available soon, and we may just be able to get our hands on a set of these for our long term Himalayan 450. Stay tuned for the review! 

Conclusion

From this short first-hand experience, we can say that the SCRs are true scrambler tyres, with a good do-it-all attitude. Eurogrip has been testing these tyres both in India and Europe and they promise to offer great performance and mileage at a more-than-competitive price. So If you do have any of the motorcycles that these tyres are targeted at, we recommend you keep an eye out for them at your nearest dealer soon.