Race tyres for road use?

Yeh i hear what you saying. I been converstating with a few of my family and friends that ride and they been telling me the same thing that you are. thanks for looking out tho. i'm just waiting for my frame and swing arm to come back from powdercoaters once it does i will give you a shout with regards your tyre that you got lying around. love the look of your bike by the way. i was torn between going for the race look with mine or the naked streetfighter look and i decided to go for the streetfighter look. once i get the frame back from powdercoaters and do the rebuild i will post some pics

[northwind]

Cool, mine will go the same way at some point I reckon. But it's just about winter so I'm keeping my fairing for now

Originally Posted by northwind

Helpfully, I've got a new and a part used Z6 120/70 in the shed, if you want one PM me if so, I've got a set of Diablo Stradas to wear out and I think I'll be going to 021s next (nothing wrong with the Z6s, the Stradas are practically the same tyre, but I got a set of low-mileage takeoffs for £50 )

Supercorsas have tons of grip, but in all honesty most people don't need it, so you end up trading tyre life that you can use for traction that you don't need. I've got old SPortec M-1s on at the moment (which again, were dirt cheap), which are a bit outdated but still more than grippy enough for my purposes- I'm sworn off trackdays just now and I personally don't want to ride on the road in a manner that needs stickier tyres

TBH I think most people who use the really sticky tyres on the road are wasting their money. Not saying your mate is, he might not, but the combination of sticky rubber, massive chicken strips, and no signs of heat distress seem to be a classic one wherever sportsbike gather!

These days, sport touring tyres are frankly incredible, Niall Mackenzie mentioned in a review that the 021s are stickier than most race tyres were when he went pro!

Who makes 021s i have bridgestone 020s at the min but there isnt much life left in them

[northwind]

Bridgestone... They're the replacements for the 020.

I use USED race Supercorsa’s on my road bike (as partworns are cheap), bearing in mind they need to be HOT to work at their best, they actually work surprisingly well in the wet and in the cold!!

Bear in mind that race compound tyres suffer from something called ‘heat cycling’ … i.e. every time you get them hot then let them cool, they are harder the next time to get the grip (you are actually raising the initial ‘work’ temperature).

Although happy to use partworns due to cost/recycling, I’d not buy NEW track compound tyres for the road.

Oh and you can get road compound and race compound (the ones that are SC rated … e.g. SC1, SC2).

Sorry to butt in but my Daytona has Pirelli Dragon SuperCorsa Pro tyres on it and I don't know what they're supposed to be like? I'm not a mentalist by any means on the road but want to get as many track days out of them as possible. I think I know the answer here but should I get another set of wheels with road tyres or swap the tyres with decent road based ones after a track day?

Supercorsa Pro's are incredible. They've got more grip than you'll ever need for the road. But then you'll never need that much grip on the road so it's a bit of a waste.

The harder you ride, the grippier they get, but then that can lead to problems too. Try riding through the gravel at a junction and they pick up that gravel and spray the bike. I found they also pick up autumn leaves too it the roads dry.

If you are looking for most miles on trackdays go for something like Conti Roadattacks or Michelin Pilot Road CT2's They are at the "sensible" end of the scale. They'll still allow you to ground out the pegs though so have more than enough grip. Some use them as intermediates when racing too. The warm up quickly and stay warm longer. They are designed to be effective at a much lower temperature than the Super Sticky stuff. They'll work from ambient up to about 50 degrees. (no problem going higher)

A step up from that woulkd be the Sportier model of each, being the Conti Sportattack and Michelin Pilot Sport CT2's. Both are slightly softer than the above and so wear faster but grip more. These will have a temperature range of 35-60 degrees. They also allow for over 50 degrees of lean (a LOT!)

At the top end you have the super sticky stuff that you only really need for racing. (and don't think you'll be anywhere near racing pace on a track day ) These would be the Pirelli SCorsa pro's, Conti Race attacks, and a whole host of other "race tyres for the road". Everyone has one in their range. Some have several. These run at 65-85 degrees as a rough guide and cool quickly. Not good for commuting or in the rain so much. Not dangerous, just not grippy.

Are they worth the trade off? Well, not for 7 months of the year. Keeping them super sticky is difficult due to the cool temperatures. They still wear quite quickly despite not being grippy so it's not a good trade. I ride about 100 miles at a time and I can physically see the difference after every ride with the SC Pro's.

Far better to have something like the Roadattack that is sticky all year round just not as sticky as the SC Pro's in the summer.

In the rain, the Roadattack or the Michelin pilot road CT2 will run rings round the SC pro simply from being warmer. Its operating in it's temerature range when the SC pro is about 60 degrees too cool.

Saying that, everyone should try some SC Pro's in the summer. They really are breathtaking! You can be ridiculously heavy handed even as far as you can possibly lean and the tyres will just stick. Whip the throttle open on a bumpy B road (on the SV 650) at 45 degrees of lean and nothing but forward motion occurs (tried it!). you just can't upset them! They also give you lots of warning if they are not up to temperature before letting go completely. They tell you when they are ready.

I suppose it comes down to ability. If you can find the limits of lower group, move up to the next group up. If you find the limits of those, then move up again. If you never reach the limits, then you never need to move up.

Cheers Berlin! Talk about comprehensive. I'm not a super fast rider at all so I reckon once these go I'll get some middle of the road sporty tyres. How many track days should I expect from the Dragons after say 1000 or so road miles and don't they heatcycle out so even if there's loads of rubber left they go bad?

I get mine as race scrubs so I don't know how many you'd get. Mine have already had a good old melting on both sides when I get them.

The ones I'm running now had 8 laps and the warm ups on them and I've done about 1200 miles on the on the road (all hard riding, no pootling or commuting) The rear is going to be gone by 2000 maybe 2500 at the latest. but it'll wear out on the sides first! No flattening off on these puppies!

The front still looks good for at least another rear (I'm running SC1 on the front and SC2 on the rear)

But it doesn't really matter because they are £50 a pair Buy them, stick them on, ride the bumpkins off them and stick another set on

If I was buying them new... I wouldn't I'd buy Michelin Pilot roads 2ct's or Road attacks. In fact I might fit some Road attacks when this rear is done and save the SC Pro's for next year once the salt is gone.

Due to them being used so quickly, heat cycling isn't an issue. If I was only using them to do 500 miles a year then they may be affected but They get a good thrashing twice a week at 100 miles each time.

One the road I can't get them up to full race temperature no matter how hard I ride so it's even less of an issue. (and boy have I tried!)

One thing I do notice is, with SC Pro's is that you have to be the boss. For gentle riding it's like dealing with a teenager. They'll grumble and complain. Niggling you. You have to say "OI! I'm in charge here"! and put them in their place. As soon as you up the pace, they come alive. They go from twitchy and playing up to absolutely superb. If I were a beginner or nervous rider, I'd think they were the worst tyre in the world. I'd be constantly fighting them because they would be boss. Push back and they sing like angels.The harder you push, the better the song. Having the nerve to push a tyre that isn't giving you confidence can be difficult for a beginner but as soon as you do you see the rewards.

As a bye note if anybody wants to try some race tyres I have some used Metz RensportRS2's 2 Rear and 1 front all with still 4m tread in the centres but def no chicken strips=£60 Plus set of full wets used but loads of life[Mich rear Perrelli front] for £50------------Just in case somebody wants to experiment