Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Sev wrote:Radial tires from what I understand handle high speeds better then a bias tire or bias-ply.

True. The introduction of radial tire technology in motorcycles came from the racing world. Bias ply tires have the nasty habit of stretching and elongating at very high speeds, due to rotational forces. As racing speeds climbed higher, racers noticed this tendency more often. The tire could come completely separated from the rim if the speed was high enough.

I remember seeing a video of a racer in the '80s(can't remember which) running speed tests on a new bike at a track. He was doing somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 mph and you could actually see the tire stretching off the rim (just before he crashed).

Mr Sev,,, I have great respect for you, I get the impression ur a smart guy, but you have to agree any radial tire is much better than any bias tire when it comes to traction and handling and if you had a choice you would choose a radial.

Soooo... they handle high speeds and the forces put on them as a result of being at high speeds better? Not that they make a sportbike handle better then other kinds of bikes... Is that what you're saying Moto?