Not starting a tire war here just looking for some information. I've been running pirelli for the better part of the past few years on my 600. The 180/60 rear slick standard size front. I plan on running some MotoA rounds next year so I switched to their 180/60 Dunlops last time out in preparation for next season. Anyway.. I went to the same track I'd been to not long ago with similar conditions and used the exact same suspension setup as last time I was there as a start and HOLY SHIT the bike was basically unrideable! I could only bare 3 laps before I had to pull in. Chatter. Couldn't trail into corners. Lots of rear spinning/lack of grip and the whole f'n balance of the bike was off! It was crazy! For those who know and have done it before..what are some "general" setup changes I can expect and should look at doing for the brand change?
Talk to your tire and suspension guy. Dunlop is a stiffer tire, requires different pressures. Until you get the pressures right you will be chasing your tail.
I don't have a (reliable) suspension guy. I had a good baseline and typically would only need to make a few changes between tracks and gearing. I'm on a 675 and I was told by the Dunlop tire rep to run 23R/33F off the warmers. Sunny weather mid 80s and track temps in the 110-115F range.
What's the diameter of the tires? Manufacturers usually publish them somewhere. First thing I would change would be ride height front and rear to accommodate different tire diameters.
Who is your Dunlop Rep? Those numbers seem high to me but it is all relative. What if you tire gauge is off? Are you riding fast enough to hold pressure? What's the tire look like?
I don't recall the dunlop reps name (maybe Brad?). I'm not the one to question him since I don't know much of anything about the tires. I did work in the pits is MotoA superbike and the pressures were much different, but that was SBK. I want to say they were running as low as 19R and 38F at Utah. The front looked fine. The soft rear tore really bad but when I put on the med+ per the reps recommendation , the tire looked a lot better. I'd like to think I'm fast enough. Typically top 5 but no lower than mid pack expert pace.
You have good advice in here about working with a suspension guy. Also the pressures you mentioned were the direction we were heading on spec tires, but that was on a different version dunlop and on a R6. I will say raising the front pressure helped my son's chatter issues tremendously.
Tires are part of the suspension equation. Going from a soft carcass to a hard carcass, I think you're gonna need to soften your settings.
my pressure ranges on my R6 are 36-39F & 20-23R. I usually start at 37F/21R when using the Soft front and Soft or ExSoft rear. I wouldn't recommend that anyone race on less than 35F.
I'll try the pressure changes. As far as exact geometry changes that means I'll need to measure a new pirelli set then measure the dunlop new set. I was hoping someone would've already done that and know the numbers. I recall seeing here that the measurements you see on the sheet isn't the same as when you mount it on the rim. Which is why the 180/60 and 200 aren't actually the same size despite what the spec sheet says. I think it was @metricdevilmoto that mentioned it?
the whole "change the geometry for new tires based on their dimensions" doesn't make sense to me. 1. u cant get everything exactly the same as before with diff tire diameters. swingarm angle, rake, & trail will be different in the end no matter what. 2. thats geometry when upright. once u lean over, it all changes again anyway because the tires have a diff profile. so whats the point? does this actually work? does it help speed up finding a baseline? or is this just another case of placebo effect in racing?
I went from Pirelli to Dunlop to test the waters; Front tire felt awesome, but the rear was spinning up pretty bad and the TC light hit full retard. I lowered the rear to 18 if I recall and it help along with some set up changes. I honestly don't remember the suspension changes-that's where your pro comes in. But yeah, they're different.
When swapping tire brands (especially some as different as Pirelli and Dunlop), there is more to consider than just ride height and air pressure. I went the other way (Dunlop to Pirelli) and we had to go up in spring rates.