Ebay special Michelin slicks???

They were sealed/stored properly so should be good. I called Michelin USA this a.m. and they gave me a number to call in (I think) South Carolina - their motorcycle dept??? I left a voice message for some guy named Walt and am waiting for him to return the call. We'll see what he says.

Thanks for your input :up:

 

If infact you do have a set of GP tires they may ask you a few questions as to how you got them and what not. The majority of the GP tires come from over sea's and are very "controled" if you will, as to who can get them and use them. Id'e be willing to bet this walt guy won't know much as i also know that there are specific chemist's and employee's that deal strictly with GP tires and the R&D associated with them.

 

no way these are MotoGP tires.. these are basic leftovers that are being sold for cheap on Ebay by motorace. they are good tires for what you pay. These came on the wheels he bought, but they are like $35 PER TIRE.. prototype or "one-offs" are not let out of sight by the tire reps. "special" tires used by some of the fast michelin riders have to be given back in fact.

 

I have a hunch these are infact GP tires that got mixed up some how. If you have ever seen the shipping department at the michelin plant you would understand that it's perfectly possible to have a minor mix up. If the GP tire developers are wanting the riders to test a specific compound they have formulated they will often send out one set at a time and wait for feedback. Not very often that it hapens but sometime one of the shipping grunts will unintentionally throw the set in with a nomal order going to a shop somewhere and one unknowing luckey individuel has a set of 1500$ tires.

I do know they are not the new new new tires they are using as they actually have bar codes on the inside of them and are scanned leaving the factory and are scanned by a company rep as soon as they come off the bike to be accounted for so they can do some analysis of the wear of the tires.

 

also...

99% of the time these are sold off very cheap as the shops and dealers don't know what compound the tires are and don't have a part # that matches up so they either give them away or give you a set of "free" tires if you buy some rims.

 

Sorry but that doesn't happen. Michelin's race shop is in SC and the cage (where confidential tires are kept) is entered by three people total..... our commercial product comes out of Monee, IL and the two inventories never mix.

Let me add this.... if these were "old/retired" part numbers they could end up being sold in a basket of discontinued tires.. MotoRace has sold tires bought this way.

 

I'm I the only one who thinks this is halarious?

Dude... this is f'ing too funny. I'll bet $1,000 right now that Walt has forgotten more about tires than you'll ever know..

 

Well I just got off the phone with Walt (Awesome guy to BS with :up: and obviously knows his chit).

These are prev. gen tires, he estimates about 6 yrs old but notes that the front is a good tire while the rear so-so (there's much better stuff out there nowadays).

My bike is a bit of a hybrid cbr600rr; use a 6" rear marchesini off a 929 with a 1kRR front end.
His recommendations regarding this particular application:

*use 30psi front since it's a Honda (31-32 otherwise - didn't ask why), ~25 psi for the rear.
* Bake front at about 140-150 deg. F / bake rear at about 180 and do it for at least 1 hr; preferable 1.5 - 2 hrs!
* Notes that for a 600, their testing indicates that the best combo is running a 16.5" front with a 17" rear; the fat 16.5" rear has too much traction for a 6ixer and will cause the front end to steer wide in a turn/not keep a tight line - 1000s have enought power to spin it up and steer with the rear that way.
(I actually remember seeing a pic. of Josh Hayes doing this on his Erion Honda where he ran a 16.5" slick in the front with a 17" DOT in the rear for qualifying).
* Geometry wise, with a 16.5" I should try to flatten the swingarm a bit (so it can really dig in all that rubber)
* One of the rears I have (the one on the rim currently) has a mere three laps on it. It is a soft compound and so I was wondering regarding its longevity? Walt noted that if it was sealed well it is very likely in a good condition and should last about 30 good laps on a 600.
* The catalyst in the Michelin tires is not so much activated by temperature as it is by centrifugal force (wheel in motion) and friction in the rubber so they tend to heat cycle pretty good.

I'll give these things a shot on Friday 6/20 but will make sure they're on the warmers for a long damn time before venturing out on track! Thanks for everyone's input.

IG

 

Best tire purchase I've EVER made.
Greg, do you have more?

 

No, I've been having a bit of a laugh myself. Walt is the mang, mang.

 

Ya... ..he must have thought he was on Wekapedia or something and not the WERA MOTORCYCLE RACING bbs... I'm still cracking up... I know my grand is very safe.

 

Don't forget to clean the mold release off with naptha or you'll be wasting valuble practice time wearing it off the old fashioned way.

 

Are you referring to he slick film on the exterior surface? What's the best way to do this?

 

Naptha and a rag. wipe it off. You'll feel the stickiness after you do it.

 

Will go get some and give it a shot; I take it it should be applied very lightly?
First time I heard of it, does anyone else do this to scrub their tires in???

 

actually havnt sold the 1000 yet so going to use the rest up probably.
I can't believe some guys actually thought these were "GP tires " Come on guys, those things are under lock n key, and tracked like top secret documents..

 

These are quite old standard 16.5 slicks... nothing special. FYI---Michelin DOES NOT use mold release like other tire companies. If you want to play chemist by cleaning the tires go ahead because you guys apparently know more than the people who designed the tires.

 

Thet are kept under more than lock and key...I am sorry as i don't know walt but do know some chemist's and plant workers over seas that have spoken liberaly about GP tires and what great care is taken to keep them secret but accidents do happen when deadlines are involved.

 

No worries... there's a few of us here that are coonected with Michelin and we were having fun at your expense.. No worries and thanks for being a good sport.

 

No worries, havnig spent a fair amount of time over seas and being only 15 minutes away from a track where some GP riders practise and benig a big race fan i have had the amazing opportunity to chat about tire technology with Michelin techs and chemist's and how it all works. It's absolutly mind blowing the amount of money/R&D/time put into one tire to literally be shreaded up in practise...Just giving my input