Craigslister Says ur a FOOl for buying Race Tires

Hey Lee, It's Alex from the last mays KSS. I have experinced that in my street riding in years past that my pilot power's would fade ALOT from heat cycling much soon then I have been experiencing with these power ones on my street bike. Havent tried any Michelin Pures. Just my experience and opinion. Thanks again for the suspension cheat sheet at VIR.

 

My gut feeling is that Michelin race slicks with 30 heatcycles in them would be downright dangerous on the street

 

I agree that is bombfire material. But 1-2 heat cycle DOT legal Power Ones with a few sprint races on them that's different?

 

I've been using race take-offs on my street bikes for years. So long as you're not trying to race on the street they're perfectly usable.
Now, try and drag knee up your favorite canyon on a cold morning and you may have a sobering moment or two, but I'd argue that would be the case with any tire.

 

the older model H2/M2/S2 would be downright scarry the 1st out lap if they were not REAL warm from warmers. That is not the case with the new Power1 race tires. They heat up pretty quick. I would guess the race version would feel "firmer" however than the street version as they have more layers (4 on the rear vs. 3 for the street).

 

Wont set sail cross country on them but would feel good around town.

 

I run takeoffs on the street.The thing i have noticed is if its a med. compound dunlop your gonna bust your ass in the winter months.Been there done that and had a few people i sold my scrubs cuss me as well.Softer compounds are better for the street.Atleast when it comes to dunlops.The meduim dunlops will last forever though on the street.Just are not safe in my opinion.I don,t know if this is the case with other brands.

 

Agree, especially in the hills of sunny CA. Race take offs are cheaper, are better for the hard street rider, and give a rider for confidencce when cornering. They just don't quite last as long but for $100ish a set, hands down a favorite. I've easily sold 200+ sets of take offs from 2001-2006. Not one complaint.

 

Lets look at this. Most everyone here runs tire warmers for their race tires right? You do this because your tire offers the most grip at that certain temperature.
To reach that temp you would either need to gradually increase your speed every lap or heat them up before the race/track day whatever. To keep heat in them you must continue to go fast.

While a plane jane street tire heats up fast without the need for warmers. Thats fine and dandy on the street because well there are speed limits restricting how far you can push your tires.

So if you buy some race take off for the street your going to want to run warmers before going out right? Ahh but you could always just take it easy at first and let the tires warm up right? Doesn't it take a good amount of hard braking/accelerating to generate this heat? You cant tell me just driving around on the street required you to go from 5 gear WOT to slam on brakes slow left hander?

Now maybe just maybe if your a canyon guy you can keep the pace up but that brings up the fact you shouldn't be pushing it that much on the street and/or your just reckless/ignorant you think a full fledged race tire thats super expensive will instantly give you grip right away and work phenomenal whether at race pace or just putting along on the street.

disclaimer: I could be way off base and not know jack $hit and no i was referring to only race tires not your hybrid Corsa III, 2ct, pure, etc

 

Guys I'm NOT a tyre guy but I was stuck a couple of seasons back with no pirelli slicks available for my race SV650.(still on a 160 rear hoop) The guys at Pirelli offered me DOT rears as an alternative. I was quite worried about grip etc. The word frm the top was that the ONLY difference in the tyre was that one was grooved and one ungrooved. Maybee I'm a nana rider but I diddn't notice the difference.

 

just a thought...but if your a racer or track day guy how can you talk bad about running take offs on the street? i mean unless you have loads of money and garage spaceyour just taking money out of you pocket

 

I have been wondering this lately as well.
I understand that DOTs will offer less grip with an increasing number of heat cycles, but just because their level of grip goes down, does it mean they have less grip than a street tire?
I.E. if a DOT tire has 10 grip units new, and 7 grip units by the time you are ready to get rid of them, or ride them on the street. Would a street tire have 6 grip units or 8?

I will be using DOTs for the first time this year, without warmers. I understand the heat cycles will reduce the effectiveness of the tire. But, in you experience, will a heat cycled DOT actually have LESS grip on the track compared to a street tire? Or just less grip than it would when new?

 

That isn't Lee Acree, that is Rick Acree, no relation.

 

I must say I'm and were a select few In my area that are die hard riders. We used to go through new sets of tires maybe around 6 per riding season. I must say that riding matching takeoff tires is the way to go. We ride real aggressive out here in the kettle moraine area and twistys are good! Last year we rode untill November around 45 degrees and these takeoffs handled great just properly warmed up. If you can say that takeoffs provide less or the same grip on the streets with aggressive riding your wrong! It's a complete WORLD of a difference! I agree with you that you get tons more traction and lean on a good set of warmed up takeoffs. I'd rather trust a good set of takeoffs then a basic stock tire when I'm draggin a knee. I'm sure people will disagree but when your like me and have 2kids / moneys tight.. Takeoffs are a damn good thing for a serious rider.



Im not trying to start no pissing match. But I have more traction running these on my street bike than Ive had running street tires on it. But i live in hot sunny FL. They were a lil skeetchy below 50 this winter for the first few minutes of riding.But Im not looking to rip nobody off or hurt anybody I ask if they have run take offs before and then still explain what they are to my fullest abbility. I remember three years ago riding my f4i as only means of transportation. And wishing i could have had this much of a deal on tires.[/QUOTE]

 

90% of the time, it is a placebo effect. People think because something has "race" in the description, it must be better.

For all of the people who say they get better traction on the street with race tires...why do you say that?
Did you lower your lap times through the mountains?
Were you able to control slides better?
Did the tires stop spinning up as much on corner exits leaving walmart?

Unless somebody is running a race pace on the street, they will neither get race tires up to temperature nor notice any difference between street tires and race tires.

 

one of the biggest problems i see is how do you get the race tire to a good operating temp on the street? We all know what a cold tire feels like on track. If 160F-190f is pretty good, that just won't happen if your doing 55mph between all the cool curves in the road.. does the used race tire give more traction than a good street tire? Im not sure, but the 2ct Michelin street tires are way less money new than a new set of race tires and they sell a ton of em. They must be pretty good.

 

you lost me at "i no longer run street tires because I value my life."

I don't think there's anything wrong with running race takeoffs on a street bike, but to imply that street tires are less safe, or unsafe for street riding is ridiculous. I bet those Power One's are really safe in the rain compared to street tires.

 

I've raced on street compound tires. My bikes- FZR400, Hawk GT were fine on them and I have a great trophy/crash ratio.

Face it, "modern" rubber is waaay better than many of us will ever be, and I would have no issues using take offs on the street.

 

So is this guy a tire vendor or what? What's his motivation? I think he should stop using the for sale section of craigslist for his public service announcements. The DOT says the race takeoffs on my street bikes are fine.

 

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