Are Sports Touring Tyres Any Good For Fast Road Riding?
Discussion
I've not done a bike trackday for 10 years now and I'm not likely to in the near future. So I feel that just possibly, sports-touring tyres might have come far enough now for their outright grip in all conditions on the road (certainly doing a 20 minute commute) to be better than that of my old Pirelli Diablo Rosso 2s.
My riding is all commuting, but it's mostly on b-roads and there's loads of opportunity for knee-down riding etc.
What are people's opinions of tyres like the Michelin Pilot Road 3? Do they warm up or keep their heat noticeably faster/better than Supercorsas or even Pirelli Diablo 2s?
My riding is all commuting, but it's mostly on b-roads and there's loads of opportunity for knee-down riding etc.
What are people's opinions of tyres like the Michelin Pilot Road 3? Do they warm up or keep their heat noticeably faster/better than Supercorsas or even Pirelli Diablo 2s?
Depends on your definition of fast.
In the summer Supercorsas will be better in terms of outright grip, however they were very quickly and are scary when there is standing water. They also don't cope well in winter.
Sports Touring tyres will cope far better when there is standing water, and will warm up far better in the cold. They will also last a lot longer. They also offer more than enough grip for your to deck out your knee/pegs.
I've done a trackday in January in the fast group on a Pirelli Diablo Strada rear, and a Continental Conti-Motion front. Able to get my knee, pegs and centrestand down and not be embarrassed.
In the summer Supercorsas will be better in terms of outright grip, however they were very quickly and are scary when there is standing water. They also don't cope well in winter.
Sports Touring tyres will cope far better when there is standing water, and will warm up far better in the cold. They will also last a lot longer. They also offer more than enough grip for your to deck out your knee/pegs.
I've done a trackday in January in the fast group on a Pirelli Diablo Strada rear, and a Continental Conti-Motion front. Able to get my knee, pegs and centrestand down and not be embarrassed.
John D. said:
moanthebairns said:
novice to intermediate, then sports touring tyres are more than good enough.
You could argue that you could use them in fast, and you could if you were that way inclined.
Did you even read the question? Wakey wakey!You could argue that you could use them in fast, and you could if you were that way inclined.
t I am. I used to use Bridgestone BT-023 tyres on my 2000MY R1. They were fantastic. Very hard wearing in the centre and grippy as snot on the outer edges. I seem to remember the blurb on them being that the centre was made from a really solid compound but the outer edges used the same compound as the BT-016 which was the top end supersport tyre at the time. Used mine in a couple of trackdays in the intermediate group including one very wet trackday and had absolutely no issues.
My PR4s have been better than my Diablo 2s. Both were great but the PR4s seem to give me more confidence when it's slightly colder and for standing water/rain. Which in the UK is never far away even in summer.
Maybe at the limits the Diablo 2 is better, but riding as hard as I could I never saw the difference. They wore horrendously as well. I did one very slow trackday, then only a couple of thousand miles and they were worn to the steel wire. I'd get supercorsas instead next time.
Just an aside, I think Baron Von Grumble advocates PR4s for road bikes. He seems a decent rider.
Maybe at the limits the Diablo 2 is better, but riding as hard as I could I never saw the difference. They wore horrendously as well. I did one very slow trackday, then only a couple of thousand miles and they were worn to the steel wire. I'd get supercorsas instead next time.
Just an aside, I think Baron Von Grumble advocates PR4s for road bikes. He seems a decent rider.
Prof Prolapse said:
My PR4s have been better than my Diablo 2s. Both were great but the PR4s seem to give me more confidence when it's slightly colder and for standing water/rain. Which in the UK is never far away even in summer.
Maybe at the limits the Diablo 2 is better, but riding as hard as I could I never saw the difference. They wore horrendously as well. I did one very slow trackday, then only a couple of thousand miles and they were worn to the steel wire. I'd get supercorsas instead next time.
Just an aside, I think Baron Von Grumble advocates PR4s for road bikes. He seems a decent rider.
SAS TOM overtook him at oulton loads and he rides on M7s.Maybe at the limits the Diablo 2 is better, but riding as hard as I could I never saw the difference. They wore horrendously as well. I did one very slow trackday, then only a couple of thousand miles and they were worn to the steel wire. I'd get supercorsas instead next time.
Just an aside, I think Baron Von Grumble advocates PR4s for road bikes. He seems a decent rider.
For remotely legal road riding I'm not sure why any of the current decent sport touring tyres wouldn't be enough for all seasons for all riders even on sports bikes. Anyone who says differently is either a BSer (thinking summer bike meet carpark banter) or will be expecting a ban or maybe even prison sentence once caught! 
Again track is totally different but says it all if the Ron Haslam school uses Bridgestone sport touring tyres on the track.
Again track is totally different but says it all if the Ron Haslam school uses Bridgestone sport touring tyres on the track.
This is my thinking:
I used to be very happy indeed with my old BT010s and D207rrs.
Assuming tyre technology has progressed proportionally to everything else, my current sport touring tyre ought to be at least as good as those 12+ yr old tyres. In which case I should have no issue subjecting them to the same treatment and expect to be looked after.
It's not without its holes I admit.
I used to be very happy indeed with my old BT010s and D207rrs.
Assuming tyre technology has progressed proportionally to everything else, my current sport touring tyre ought to be at least as good as those 12+ yr old tyres. In which case I should have no issue subjecting them to the same treatment and expect to be looked after.
It's not without its holes I admit.
The speed I've seen some people ride on sports touring tyres means I actually totally agree with that. I used to know a big bloke (25st ish & a similar missus) who could out corner me on the same bike to such an extent that I used to wonder if it was worth even keeping riding. I'm no riding god, but I'm not normally the slowest out there.
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