My preferred shop will have their pre-season sale on race tires soon, and I'm trying to narrow down which tires would be best to go with. I'm on a Ninja 300. I'll do 3 trackdays/month this year, and will also participate in some tack-on unsanctioned races that one of my trackday providers puts on at the end of each Saturday track day. There's potential to run a few sanctioned events this year - really just depends on how things progress this season and what my funds look like. I've narrowed down my choices to the following: Bridgestone R11 Pirelli Diablo SuperBike - SC1 Rear/SC1 front Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SC1 Rear/SC1 front The pricing between the Superbikes and SCs is not substantial enough to be a factor. The R11s are cheaper than the SCs by about $70. I'm very partial to Pirelli as I loved their TD tires, they just didn't last very long. That's really my only complaint with those tires. I've ridden the R11s once and felt they were okay. I had the rear come around once or twice, and the front didn't give me a lot of feel and let go on me once. However, the day I rode them conditions were VERY difficult (50F ambient temps most of the day) and my warmers were not getting them up to temp. I don't want my limited experience on the Bridgestones to cloud my judgement. Guys I ride with say they last quite long, but maybe don't have quite the edge grip of the Pirelli SC. Any input from guys who've ridden these tires on the little bikes would be great. Thanks.
Both tires are well capable of winning races. If you use a proper race tire (either of those) with warmers on the little bikes, you can get a few race weekends to a whole year (depending upon your pace) on them. The faster you ride, the quicker they wear. I'm a fan of the Bridgestones myself for their consistency and our tire guy, but really they're both great tires. I've run Bridgestones, Pirellis, and Michelins on my R3 and 300, they all worked well I've actually set my fastest time on the Michelins, but I think I've noticed a quicker fall off of performance on them. They were awesome new, but not so great after a few sessions. The Bridgestones are super-consistent for me.
Thanks for your input. I’m leaning the Bridgestones as well as I believe my local shop struggles to keep Pirellis stocked during the season, and $70 would add up over time. There are much faster guys than me on the R11 and most seem to get 4 track weekends out of the tires, including 4 races. I love the idea of racing on slicks, but it’s probably not really necessary.