Please advice!
I'm switching from DOT race tires back to High Performance Street tires
after reading Sport Riders shoot out where they sampled all the
different tire categories to test how they stack up... In summary:
They gathered a lot of data during this test and learned a lot about each
tire and our own preferences for tires. Much of the objective data show
the more track-oriented tires to be superior when it comes to lap times
or speed,and certainly that is the case. However,on both street and
track that increasing performance comes with more of a requirement
from the rider. Setup is more important with the grippier tires, stability
and compliance suffer,and conditions have to be just right to access
that extra traction. Over 80 percent of our street test loop,the four
types of tires averaged within a couple mph of one another,a strong indication
that factors other than what tire you are on dictate your pace on the road.
Surprise No.1 for us was just how capable the sport-touring tires are,
especially on the street. If you're not looking for that last
10 percent of performance from your bike,sport-touring tires have
excellent traction and predictability and will provide thousands of
miles of use.
Surprise NO.2 was how good sport tires were on the track. Both
brands provided great,consistent performance,lapping an average of
just a half-second off the DOT race buns. They carded the best scores
on the street portion of the test and required little in the way of
set up to get comfortable with.
Surprise NO.3 was just how much the DOT race tires sacrificed on
the street compared with the sport and hybrid tires. Neither of our
riders felt comfortable on the majority of the test loop with the race
tires, and even though the tires have incredible grip levels and are amazingly
fun on a fast,smooth road,that performance is not worth the trade off
that must be made the rest of the time. At the race track the DOT race
tires are clearly a step above the street tires, and there is even
more of a performance gap than our lap times indicate-both our riders
felt they could go faster than they did with more set up time. Again,that is the
price that must be paid for great grip and steering from a race tire.
The final piece of the puzzle is this: To get the best performance,
you must be honest with yourself when it comes to choosing a tire.
They given you the answers. You just need to figure out what questions
to ask yourself.
SPORT-TOURING
DUNLOP D220ST AND MICHELIN PILOT ROAD
Rating Street: 78.7 Track: 75.5 Average lap time: 1:12.72
......Street v Track
General:. 7.7 7.5
Braking;. 8.0 8.0
Traction; 7.9 7.8
Steering; 7.6 7.2
SPORT
DUNLOP SPORT MAX QUALIFIER AND MICHELIN PILOT POWER
Rating Street:89.5 Track:87.3 Average lap time: 1:08.90
......Street v Track
General:. 9.0 8.9
Braking;. 8.9 8.7
Traction; 9.0 8.7
Steering; 8.8 8.4
HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORT STREET
DUNLOP D208GP AND MICHELIN PILOT POWER 2CT
Rating Street:89.3 Track:88.8 Average lap time: 1:08.97
......Street v Track
General:. 8.8 8.8
Braking;. 9.0 9.0
Traction; 9.2 8.9
Steering; 8.6 8.8
DOT RACE
DUNLOP SPORT MAXGP AND MICHELIN POWER RACE
Rating Street:89.4 Track:92.8 Average lap time: 1:08.447
......Street v Track
General:. 8.4 9.1
Braking;. 9.3 9.5
Traction; 9.3 9.6
Steering; 9.3 9.3
RACE SLICKS
DUNLOP KR106/108 AND MICHELIN PILOT
Rating Street: NAT rack:93.2 Average lap time: 1:08.23
.........Track
General:. 9.0
Braking;. 9.5
Traction; 9.9
Steering; 9.1
I only have one bike... it's set up for the rigors of racing plus sport riding and touring... so a single tire
choice is critical if I want to cut low lap times and still satisfy my street requirements... lucky for me
Metzeler makes such a tire called Rennsport Road... only trouble is they don't import this hoop to the
USA anymore... no problem... I found them on the UK Ebay site...
http://cgi.ebay.co.u...2QQcmdZViewItem Metzeler Rennsport Road / Street
"Tyre developed for racing oriented riders using race technology for top dry
performance on normal road and high satisfaction on the racetrack"
a.. Fast and direct handling for very high performance riding on normal roads, for delayed braking and
rapid direction changes
b.. Compound deriving from racing experience for outstanding grip and very
fast warm up: the slick-like behaviour allows fast cornering with very high safety margins
c.. The 0° steel belt structure provides great degree of control and stability in all conditions, especially
when powering out of corners, giving excellent feedback
My Metzeler Rennsport High Performance *Street* tires after a Thunder Hill Track day...
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