Tyre choice (again, sorry)

[hobo]

Needing some new tyres for the R6 & am a little unsure about which route to go down.

I spend 1/2 my bike time on the track & the other half commuting/weekend blasts. The bike never goes out in the rain (unless I get caught in it whilst out).

Now.. do I

a) Get some fast road/track tyres such as Pirelli Diablo Corsa's which are roughly 90% road/10% track

or

b) Get some fast road/track tyres that are more track biased, such as Michelin Power Race (70% track, 30% road).

I don't ride particularly fast on roads as a) I don't have many mates with bikes, b) traffic doesn't allow, c) can't rely on surface.

I'm swaying towards the Power Race's as the bike is becoming more & more a track toy (and see this becoming even more so in 9 months )

How good would the Power Race's be if I were caught out in the rain though whilst on a ride ?

[catso]

hobo said:

a) Get some fast road/track tyres such as Pirelli Diablo Corsa's

IMHO and they're on offer here; www.thefastone.co.uk/products.asp?cat=218

[hobo]

Yeah I saw that. £139 per pair against £200 for the Power Race's.

Suspect I am just interested in knowing how much better the Race's would be on track against the Corsa's.

[chilli]

mark,

A mate of mine has just done his first track day on those Michelin 2ct's.....He says there's much more grip than the standard Diablos's and he's sold for life!!

Cheers.

[hobo]

The 2CT's are still 90% road tyres (equivalent to Corsa's). I'm really interested in the more track biased stuff & how well it performs in normal road conditions if necessary.

[shot2bits]

I'm going to replace my BT-014's for the Diablo Corsa III's though I may also consider the BT-02's... Decisions, decisions...

[mtbr]

Hobo,
If you are going to wear them out before the end of summer, try a set of sticky track biased tires, if you think they will still be on your bike when Autumn sneaks up on us all, stick to something that will warm up quickly and give good grip from cold.

Sticky tires that keep cooling down on you, every time you stop (or are held up) on the road, can leave you frustrated and grumpy in no time!

I tend to stick to one make of tires because I'm used to the way the bike turns on the tire profile. I have tried a lot of different tires over the years on my Ducati and have settled on Pirelli's (just because that's what suits me) I find the rubber compound makes less difference than the cross section shape and stiffness of the tire. -I just don't use all the available grip anyway!

Also bear in mind that tires from different manufacturers (of the same nominal size) can vary in diameter by several millimeters. Doesn't sound like much, but if you moved the forks through the yokes by the same amount, you would expect a significant change to your bikes handling.
M

[hobo]

I suppose the other consideration is how well these track tyres cope with conditions which are bone dry.

I'm looking at doing 2 or 3 trackdays a month for as long as the weather holds out, but expect half of these to be in slightly wet conditions.

[hobo]

Tyre blokey mentioned that track oriented tyres could be a handful under normal conditions & that he would advise I fit a steering damper if I went down that route.

[shot2bits]

hobo said:

Tyre blokey mentioned that track oriented tyres could be a handful under normal conditions & that he would advise I fit a steering damper if I went down that route.

Have you considered the Diablo Corsa III's - they're sposed to be a good combination of road and track?

[Andy Oh]

shot2bits said:

hobo said:

Tyre blokey mentioned that track oriented tyres could be a handful under normal conditions & that he would advise I fit a steering damper if I went down that route.

Have you considered the Diablo Corsa III's - they're sposed to be a good combination of road and track?

Shot2bits, I would seriously consider Michelin Pilot Power 2CT's over the Pirellis. I'm now on my second set and will not go back to the Pirellis. Also a mate of mine put a set of 2CT's on his GSXR 1000 K5 and it has transformed the handling of the bike, his previous tyres were Bridgestone BT014's and he won't go back either.

[shot2bits]

Andy Oh said:

shot2bits said:

hobo said:

Tyre blokey mentioned that track oriented tyres could be a handful under normal conditions & that he would advise I fit a steering damper if I went down that route.

Have you considered the Diablo Corsa III's - they're sposed to be a good combination of road and track?

Shot2bits, I would seriously consider Michelin Pilot Power 2CT's over the Pirellis. I'm now on my second set and will not go back to the Pirellis. Also a mate of mine put a set of 2CT's on his GSXR 1000 K5 and it has transformed the handling of the bike, his previous tyres were Bridgestone BT014's and he won't go back either.

Which Pirellis did you use though - the new III's? It's a difficult choice isn't it - ideal would be to try them all out! The mags have all written really positive reviews about the new III's so worth considering. My stock BT014's have 2K on them now - I reckon they'll do another 1K before I replace them - I've not noticed any lack of grip but then I havn't been pushing that hard to be honest - only done 2 track days this year and one of them was on an R6 cup with Dunlops' which performed quite well.

[hobo]

Must admit to having been tempted to buy a set of USED track tyres off fleabay & see what they were like.

£35 got you these:


MICHELIN POWER RACE TYRES (cost £175ish new).

[Andy Oh]

hobo said:

Must admit to having been tempted to buy a set of USED track tyres off fleabay & see what they were like.

£35 got you these:


MICHELIN POWER RACE TYRES (cost £175ish new).

Hobo, if you are doing between 2 & 3 track days a month I wouldn't buy a used set of tyres, after all why are they on Ebay for sale, answer because the best has been ragged out of them on track and you would probably have no idea how much life are left in them.

I appreciate what you are saying about new tyres. I had a track day season ticket with 100% bikes last year (before they went bust) and only did a few days due to the cost of tyres. I was having a new set of Super Corsa Pros's every two track days which works out very costly.

Edited by Andy Oh on Tuesday 22 August 15:49