I have set of Pirelli Superbike SC1 tires on my R6. They have a 2 (shortened) trackdays and a solo 20 on them. It looks like there is still 50% tread front and rear. I realize I am slow, but this 180/60 just seems to last forever. I understand heat cycling, but it seems that I'm hearing more and more people say heat cycling is a thing of the past. There is a ton of meat left on them, and they were fine last time out. Any reason not to run them again?
You can run the Pirelli SC until the wear bar is gone without any issues. I usually flip them a couple times so they will easily last 3, 4, or 5 trackdays.
every time i think i feel less grip due to heat cycling, i realize that there were def other factors contributing. the last time, i was getting some private coaching with a lot of stopping and talking. there was almost no time to put warmers back on, so the tire temp fluctuated a lot. grip was real bad by the end. but of course, thats prob due to lower operating temps and less rubber due to so many laps. until someone does a back to back comparison on new tires, one heat cycled and one not, we'll never know. i do suspect the effect still exists, but i doubt its as pronounced as it used to be. we might need to be shooting for lap records to notice.
the faster you are, the more you will notice heat cycles. Some really fast guys can tell you how many times the tire has been heated up.
This is very applicable to some. Personally I won't/can't race on a tire that has more than 1 heating cycle. It could be somewhat mental, but I can definitely tell if it's has 2-3 cycles or more, and they're definitely slower.
I've put about 7 cycles into my sc1/sc2 set so far between a mix of trackdays and racing. Still have a good amount of life left in them too. Haven't noticed any hardening (I do the fingernail test) but it's obvious that I'm also pretty slow!
It's Sv's or nothing for me usually, but Nap said I can destroy his bike on the first session of the day...Kinda hard to pass that offer up lol
I haven't put literally any thought into heat cycles since I started running race tires (which is probably the only tire that it would matter). What would be considered a heat cycle is another question to ponder. On track vs warmer temps? Cause then at a track day you run through 5,6,7 or so "cycles". Or what about the guys that loose temp off warmers? I'm no expert and I don't always listen to my own advice on this, hence why my bike is busted up and my foot has more scar tissue, but it's probably always best to just go off feel. If it's a brand new tire then sure whack the throttle and go for it. Old tires your practicing on feel it out and increase speed incrementally.
I'm not counting heat cycles. This here is a Cup EVO 200 on a 1000 after day 4, 5-6 sessions a day, 40-60 minutes between sessions, no warmers. Day 4 gets interesting. I'm thinkin' that if I ran as hard in the mornings as I do from lunch on, I'd get two days...maybe three. I would never race on a tire this used. When it's gone, it's gone...and I mean gone.
Not sure what tracks you ride or your pace, but I'm hard pressed to get 4 days out of one of those tires (180/55) on my sv. I also, wouldn't let a tire get that far down either.