Winter tyres?

[KnightRider]

Being an all weather rider I am finding that the sport tyres on my CBR600RR are giving me absolutely no grip in these cold wet conditions. I have had numerous "close calls" and the worst had to be tonight on the motorway:

I was in the middle lane of the motorway doing 65+ and slowly overtaking a truck on my left. As I was passing him he clicked his indicator on to turn into my lane. Not wanting to take any chances I gave it a bit of gas (not that much though) to get out of the way and lost all traction on the rear for the next few seconds. All was okay cause I controlled the slide and regained traction but it got me thinking that riding in winter on sport tyres is probably not the smartest thing.

So the question is - does anyone here changes their tyres for the crappy conditions? Now obviously a number of you guys will have sport touring tyres on the SV but those of you who have sport tyres - what do you do?

[Smoggy]

I'm finding my Michi PR2s pretty grippy.

Can feel the odd time when the back starts to go cornering, but its never anything major, no big twitches apart from when I've been going daft... yet.

Though that said I had the back break traction in a straight line today aswell.
But in fairness I'd basically pinned it in 2 up though 3rd.

[fizzwheel]

I put Sport Touring tyres on my GSXR.

What Sport tyres have you got on your CBR ? Diablo Corsa III or Michellin Pilot Power II's give pretty good wet grip and not to bad in the cold, but the OEM Bridgestone 014's it had on were utter ****e in the wet / cold...

[injury_ian]

+1 on the michellin PR2

only really giving twitches on greasy salty dampness... but i have 1/2 the power

[Lozzo]

Not many sports tyres will be getting enough heat in them in current conditions. A good choice would be the Michelin PR2s that everyone loves. I rode my Daytona 955i through a winter on them and they were great.

[KnightRider]

I'm really wondering if I should get some proper winter tyres for the cold and then switch to better sport tyres later in the year.

[walkaboutandy]

+2 on the Michelins!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Michelin-Studded-Motorcycle-Tires-21-front-19-Rear-NEW!_W0QQitemZ390009277805QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ200 81117?IMSfp=TL0811171110012r3220

[fizzwheel]

I'm really wondering if I should get some proper winter tyres for the cold and then switch to better sport tyres later in the year.

Just fit a set of Sport Touring tyres, all the grip you'll ever need, hot or cold.

My GSXR feels so much nicer to ride on the Metzler Z6's I've got on it now than it did on the Sporty stuff. Its because they have a much wider operating range of temp they get heat into them and keep it.

Whereas anything more Sporty, you have to ride hard to keep the temperature in them and when the pace drops a bit the tyres loose heat and then they dont give grip... when its freezing out like it is at the moment they'll never get hot enough in the first place, wihch is why you are slippy sliding...

[northwind]

Did you see the article in either Bike or Ride a few months back? They did the same route, once on Dunlop Roadsmarts and once on Qualifiers, their test pilot was faster on the Roadsmarts!

I think there's an argument for sort of middle-sticky tyres on the road like the standard Diablo or Sportec or whatever, just to give you more margin for error and, maybe, confidence but racey rubber is just wasted for most people other than total headbangers, worse than that, it's actually worse than cheaper, less sticky rubber since it needs to be hot to work. Modern sport touring tyres are amazing frankly.

[STRAMASHER]

Changed from Vipers to Storms last year as the Vipers were dreadful in the cold and greasy wet over winter. Like riding on marbles, no confidence in the front. Could not believe the difference changing back to ST tyres made. Keep there profile longer so you get more cornering pleasure.

Plenty of grip for summer on the road too ,although on the SV the tyre out performs my tired forks and a 70bhp Vtwin should not be troubling a rear.

Would not go back to track/sport stuff on the road. ST tyres are different class these days. :cheers:

[Luckypants]

I really rate Avon Storms in the wet. On the muddy road up to my house they cope well with the goo as well due to the big tread grooves.

[philbut]

my BT021's have been great for both summer riding and over winter - still get the odd twitch on greasy round abouts but all in all very good really. My Z6's on the SV were also good in winter.

[ricky]

i have just put avon storms on my sv and am really liking them and find the grip well in the wet, i had dunlop roadsmarts on the bike when i got it in april and found i wasnt happy with the way the bike went into corners

[fizzwheel]

Did you see the article in either Bike or Ride a few months back?

Was that the one where the measured the tyre temps after each run and the Sports touring tyres were 3 or 4 degree's warmer after the run than the pure sports ones were ?

[Dangerous Dave]

Avon Storms is my vote, leaves me with full confidence in any weather. I would point out I felt the Avon Azaro's felt a little better in cold temperatures, my opinion anyway.

[tonny006]

I run mr Fireblade on Pirelli Corsa 3, They are brilliant wet or dry.

[breakz187]

Im running the Continental road attacks and they seem to be pretty good in the wet. Cant say im that experienced with tyres, as these are my first, but in the 5 months i've been riding they've been fine in the wet and the recent cold.

Have yet to get the back wheel sliding when exiting roundabouts etc.

[yorkie_chris]

Depends what you're doing, it was pretty cold early this year and I had some track compound pirellis on. I ran them pretty low on air, so they got hot and stuck like chewing gum. In the wet, terrifying. Before they got hot, terrifying.

I find avon storms are excellent, haven't known anyone complain about them yet...

[northwind]

Was that the one where the measured the tyre temps after each run and the Sports touring tyres were 3 or 4 degree's warmer after the run than the pure sports ones were ?

Yep, think so.

[Biker Biggles]

That test wasnt done in winter either IIRC so the results would be even more in favour of touring type tyres at this time of year.They actually showed that road tyres had more grip on the road than sporty ones because they ran at their designed operating temperatures on the road.Sporty tyres had a narrowed temperature range and didnt tend to get into that range very much on the road,so gave less grip.
Stands to reason really---You want tyres designed for the conditions you are riding in.