You won't go wrong with any modern rain tire. Pick a brand that you can get both good feel and trackside support from, then set it to the pressures you're told and flog the bitch.
This is the main reason I picked Pirelli. Over the years I've had to get 190s, 160s, 140s rears and when I was searching around Pirelli was the only one that offered rains in all the sizes I needed. I think Dunlop does now as well, but several years ago they didn't if I recall correctly. Don't think B-stones and Michelins do even now, but I could be wrong.
You should go to Hastings. It's awesome. George is a great track owner and Ducati Omaha puts on the best track days I've ever been to. Also he's a Pirellis race tire dealer, after being a B-stone dealer for many years. Still sells both I believe, but guess what sells more as far as race tires in the last couple of years? I'll give you a hint...starts with a P and rhymes with Marelli
a good rain tire isn't what makes a rain rider.. a good rain rider makes a good rain rider. as some said, all the top brands produce good rain tires. get with a vendor from your area. Mike with perelli, Gabe picard with custom performance for Michelin, etc.
I'm done going to racetracks so I'll pass. It's time to golf, boat, and ride dirt bikes in GA. See you at Highland park resort this fall/winter?
That doesn't sound as fun. I stopped golfing a few years ago so I can go to race tracks more! You can always golf when you're older. And before you say "I'm already old"...I mean OLDER than whatever you are now
Thanks Mike. I will get the tires from you. Just need to figure out logistics. Yes, but race DOT's in the rain will make a good dry rider a bad rain rider.
I sold the TZ to get a 200XCW about 15 years ago. For me blasting up and down tight rocky single track trails and sweating my ass off is just more fun. Along with golfing and blasting the boat around I keep busy, then this winter I'll find an old bike to restore.
I was debating on going back to racing harescrambles at the beginning of the season. Still have a rm250 collecting dust in the garage. But after some consideration I decided to road race in the summer and hit the dirt in the winter. I greatly enjoy both. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
How have guys found the transition when first using wet tires? It must be tough to break through the mental barrier to trust the tires when first using them?
I am a fast end of intermediate / slow end of advanced track day rider. I was using 8 year old rain tires at a track day. I passed everyone on the track including coaches except for the one coach that was also on rain tires. Everyone else was on DOTs or sport tires. I previously (6 years earlier) ran one damp session on rain tires. From my experience you will adapt fairly quickly up to a certain level that will have you blowing past anyone not on rain tires. From there maybe some racers can chime in to give you more feedback.
Thats interesting - I thought there is the risk that rain tires wear out fast unless you are running them in wet enough conditions to keep them cool. That may be something I heard about high level racing and not your average track day though..!
i don't rain ride these days, but back in 2002-3 when i started, was just doing track days in 2002. Track day was raining .. mid morning I said "screw it, i'm gonna buy rain tires" and rode the rest of the afternoon with my buddy who was also just starting to roadrace, and had also done a lot of dirt bike riding/racing as i had done. We had a blast. we really got a feel for how good rain tires are that day Some tips some one of the better rain riders i ever saw told me soon after, "get all the braking done fully upright, smooth is key".. i went on to win a lot of rain races. Now, it's just too nerve wracking to concentrate so hard, for the entire race. Don't really enjoy it.
Thing that gets me about "rains" is the variety of tread patterns. Some of 'em just freak me out, like, how the hell does that shed water in a turn? But they do.
yup. i used to like the old "dirt track" tread pattern of michelin rains. then later, all the mfg had the grooves on the front tire that went straight out to the sides from the center tread, you are like "how will that work! " but they do. major improvement.
Summit Point Shenny. It was raining pretty much all day. There were about 17 customers and 5 coaches there. They just ran an open format. You could go out anytime it isn't red flagged or lunch. The one coach and I were the only ones that had rain tires as far as I could tell. The rest just ran anyway (no tire vendor was there). All but about 7 or 8 of the customers crashed, some twice. No significant injuries and most of the bikes only had minor damage and some mud to clean out. Toward the end of the day even I called it quits as a new puddle showed up somewhere each lap. If those puddles are deep enough even a rain tire is pretty much useless.
Rain tires grip because the compound gives the tread blocks chemical grip to grab the wet pavement. The tread grooves give the water a place to go and the centrifugal force of the spinning tires help evacuate the water away. Then compare compounds in this way. A SC1 slick needs a dry track and enough ambient and surface temperature (but not too much) to get to it's best operating range to grip the tarmac. A rain compound must have water and lower ambient and surface temps to grip the pavement and prevent overheating. Riding in the rain IMHO is being smooth with your inputs with a rain setup. Then the best way to get better at it fast is to follow a faster rider around and observe. Soon your confidence and lean angles will increase and your speed will too. Softening up the bike (rain setup) is important too but ask your suspension guy for your settings and not me. See ya
You ever get a itch to ride something? Come down and visit I have a Honda RS125R and other stuff to pick from? Cota ? We also have the hill country Marriott 4 miles away. World class courses
