Total Motorcycle Community Forums

VermilionX wrote:

macktruckturner wrote:still think you need race tires for a trackday???

yes, that rider has skills that i do not possess yet.

i don't intend to be cheap about tires.

i know race tires is not 100% anti-lowside but it gives me more room for error.

Obi-Wan: Give it time young padwan. May the force be with you.

In all seriousness race tires require to be at a certain temperature in order for optimal handling. Sometimes this means they shred easily.

JCViper528 wrote:
Obi-Wan: Give it time young padwan. May the force be with you.

In all seriousness race tires require to be at a certain temperature in order for optimal handling. Sometimes this means they shred easily.

well yeah, of course i'll run the 1st few laps conservatively especially since im not familiar w/ the track.

that will give it enough time to heat up ...and race tires warm up way faster than street tires.

I suggest picking up two british bike mags: TWO (Two Wheels Only) and BIKE. Both have more MotoGP than I care to read about. Both mags give you pretty helpful tips on improving riding style (not always though) and they rarely feature cruisers as cruisers are more of an American/ U.S. thing. Plus they love to review sport tires.

alright, to answer your question - race tires get sticky when they're hot - when they're not hot, they aren't that great. In order to get them hot, you have to ride 'em hard, and keep it up. Notice how after a caution lap in any roadracing series, the riders are weaving rapidly back and forth? They're trying to retain some heat. That's the heat piece - which you may find yourself not riding hard enough to maintain.

The next bit comes w/ traction itself. Race tires, like most other race components are not forgiving - they are designed to transmit what you input to the floor as fast as possible. When you get in a turn, and decide you need to change lines or scrub more speed, or put in a little more lean angle - if you don't do it smoothly and correctly - you might just find yourself testing your safety gear. Do your best to slide, I hear tumbling hurts like hell.

Do you know what to do in a slide (traction loss, or power induced)? that should be priority #1, race tires are utterly unforgiving in this regard - get in a slide and don't handle it properly, and forget lowsiding, you're high siding - and I hope you've got good medical insurance as you very well may need it after a "my uber sticky race rubber grabbed traction after a slide and threw me over the barrier wall, into the 8th row of bleachers as my shiny GSXR exploded into a mess of mangled pieces" highside.

Finally, and this should likely go in one of your other trackday related threads - you're aware that in the n00b class you can't typically pass in turns (ever), and often not even on straightaways (until given the blessing by the safety riders/instructors)? Judging by the tone of most of your trackday related posts, you are looking to be able to probe the limits WFO the whole time - and until you're in the experienced class, that just simply is not going to happen. You may find yourself taking turns slower than you're used to even on the street throughout your first session, trying to blast up to the front could get you blackflagged, and that would be a giant waste of money. Practice is great, I applaud you for wanting to improve - I'm just trying to help you paint a picture for training based in reality, not market hype or FUD.

macktruckturner wrote:alright, to answer your question - race tires get sticky when they're hot - when they're not hot, they aren't that great. In order to get them hot, you have to ride 'em hard, and keep it up. Notice how after a caution lap in any roadracing series, the riders are weaving rapidly back and forth? They're trying to retain some heat. That's the heat piece - which you may find yourself not riding hard enough to maintain.

The next bit comes w/ traction itself. Race tires, like most other race components are not forgiving - they are designed to transmit what you input to the floor as fast as possible. When you get in a turn, and decide you need to change lines or scrub more speed, or put in a little more lean angle - if you don't do it smoothly and correctly - you might just find yourself testing your safety gear. Do your best to slide, I hear tumbling hurts like hell.

Do you know what to do in a slide (traction loss, or power induced)? that should be priority #1, race tires are utterly unforgiving in this regard - get in a slide and don't handle it properly, and forget lowsiding, you're high siding - and I hope you've got good medical insurance as you very well may need it after a "my uber sticky race rubber grabbed traction after a slide and threw me over the barrier wall, into the 8th row of bleachers as my shiny GSXR exploded into a mess of mangled pieces" highside.

Finally, and this should likely go in one of your other trackday related threads - you're aware that in the n00b class you can't typically pass in turns (ever), and often not even on straightaways (until given the blessing by the safety riders/instructors)? Judging by the tone of most of your trackday related posts, you are looking to be able to probe the limits WFO the whole time - and until you're in the experienced class, that just simply is not going to happen. You may find yourself taking turns slower than you're used to even on the street throughout your first session, trying to blast up to the front could get you blackflagged, and that would be a giant waste of money. Practice is great, I applaud you for wanting to improve - I'm just trying to help you paint a picture for training based in reality, not market hype or FUD.

thanks for the info.

i'll put it into consideration.

here in CA, track temps get up to 100+ ... i heard street tires can't handle 100+ track temp.

Whoosh...

my thoughts exactly...

100*?! you serious? Hell man, in the summers here in Texas the average road surface temp is well over 100*, many times exceeding 110-120* mid-day. So far I havent seen any motorcycle tires around here melt and stick to the road...Doing a small burnout will far exceed 100* instantly, your performance street tires are more than adequate..you just dont want to hear that, do ya?

You're grasping for some sort of reason to spend 400 bucks on race tires when you arent even close to reaching the full potential of the tires you have on there now...

I just dont get it...

kellanv wrote:my thoughts exactly...

100*?! you serious? Hell man, in the summers here in Texas the average road surface temp is well over 100*, many times exceeding 110-120* mid-day. So far I havent seen any motorcycle tires around here melt and stick to the road...Doing a small burnout will far exceed 100* instantly, your performance street tires are more than adequate..you just dont want to hear that, do ya?

You're grasping for some sort of reason to spend 400 bucks on race tires when you arent even close to reaching the full potential of the tires you have on there now...

I just dont get it...

He wants to spend $400 on race tires, and all but refuses to shell out the cash for one track day to actually use his race tires on a track?

jonnythan wrote: He wants to spend $400 on race tires, and all but refuses to shell out the cash for one track day to actually use his race tires on a track?

are you dumb?

i wanna buy race tires for use in trackdays. those things are not street legal.

It's all about talismans -- physical representations of magical power -- for Verm. It's the sword, not the skill to wield it; the gun, not the ability to shoot; the guitar, not the ability to play; the racing motorcycle, not the ability to race. Read what he writes... there are two repeating themes: Look at how cool this thing is, and ability is always luck. "If I'm lucky enough to race ..." "If I owned this +5 gi my life would be better" "He was lucky to start at a young age ..." "I can't ride on a track unless I have racing tires" It's never skill or dedication, never hard work or commitment... it's always something outside of the individual's control...or for sale.

It's so silly... he rides so little, spends so much energy thinking about new talismans to acquire... and ends up having a lot less fun than people who buy those 25cc midget-bikes. If he had bought a used 250-500cc bike and track prepped it himself, spending a total of maybe $3000, he could've been out on the track 20+ times for the money he's wasted on fancier bikes, crappy add-ons, insurance premiums, and other silliness... and he wouldn't have had a bike stolen... and he would know more than 90% of the riders on this forum... and perhaps actually be ready to get a 600cc track bike and ride it to half its potential by this time next year. As it is, he's a wannabe of the worst sort.