How Many Sets of Wheels

I have 3 sets……1 set for rains, 1 set that start off for races only, then 1 set for practice. As the set for practice get too worn then they are trashed and the race set get moved to practice and I buy a new set that get used for race only.

On my SV the fronts last longer so that can be somewhat of a juggle.

 

This is my answer as well.

If you can afford them, buy them. I would have practice tires on one set, rains on one, then new tire on the other front, used rear that had another race in it, then new rear ready for prime race.
When balling on a budget, juggling tires saves money. Wheels are cheap compared to wasting tires imo.
I also mounted and balanced my own used tires before getting to the track so I'm ready. Being prepared is the key to success. Worrying and rushing while waiting in line at the tire guy is bad for performance.

 

I'm all for supporting tire vendors, but it's a big win in my book if I leave after the weekend is over and never had to see the tire guy for a flip or mount, because all I did was swap wheels. Never had a bad tire vendor, but have seen plenty of very busy tire vendors and rushing my program creates very avoidable time crunches. I also prefer to RTV my cush drives to the wheel and never take the carrier out and just balance the whole setup. Some tire vendors want you to remove them, then you're stuck with additional chances of losing parts. There was one vendor a few years ago that wanted me to remove my captive wheel spacers. Yeah, no... Tears up the lip of the seal and weakens them to the point where the seal will fall out, so the "captive" spacer doesn't do anything anyways. Over 8 years of riding and racing, at $20 a flip, my $`1300 tire machine has paid for itself a few times ago.

 

Well this took off quite a bit, and I appreciate everyones comments. My initial thought was a 3rd set, and it sounds like a good plan.

I should probably try and stick to the budget thing a bit more, but hey, its a hobby and my wife and I work hard. I already mentioned I was probably going to buy another set of wheels and she was cool with it. I probably wasted a decent amount of tires last season, but at the end of the day, if I didn't feel comfortable, I would rather spend on the money on a set of tires, then up my chance of injury, or needing more parts of a bike. Lucky for me, there may be a Black Friday sale on some wheels this week.

I agree with you on this. I have had pretty great experiences with the tire vendors, unless I was late to the party and they didn't have the tire I was looking for. Thats on me though for not just buying it ahead of time. I would like to get into flipping my own tires, and this may be the year I do so. And your right about some guys wanting things off the wheel vs on the wheel, which like you said, could cause someone to lose something.

 

I have two bikes - both with a spare set of wheels. Up here in the Northwest having my "B" bike with wets - just standing by - gives me a total advantage on those weekends with unsettled weather passing through. The oldest tires get used for the Friday track day and 1st practice, then slap on the wheels with the new slicks to qualify and race. I always have a set of wheels ready for new tires. If our vender is running short on a specific compound I want, I'll buy my tires first thing Friday morning.

 

+1 to 2 sets of warmers for 2-3 sets of wheels. It's really helpful when optimizing your race day. A 2000-series generator probably won't run all 4 warmers at max. But you can likely do 3 no problem, so you can warm up that rear you need to swap for the next race.

 

100%, after having a 2 and 3 bike program off and on for a few years, 3 sets of warmers is really nice. You don't have to go full baller and have brand new sets for everything, most of us slowly build our program. I started off with a used set as my very first set, after a season, I bought a brand new set. New set became the primary and I had my old trusty ones as my second...and you life cycle your equipment as you can.

One bike program with multiple wheels, two sets for sure. If nothing else - the second set is a backup as a just in case. 90% of the time I never need to use more than one set of warmers, if I need to change a rear on race day, when I pull the warmers off, Il just leave the rear plugged in and throw it on the new wheel before I head out for my race. obviously bike class dependent, but I've always had ~45min-1hr+ to heat up the new tire.

 

Also, fuck having to swap rotors and stuff out. All of my wheels are 100% complete and it makes life that much easier. Totally worth it to have complete assemblies. The only thing I have to do for my rear is a 10 second carrier swap, as each one of my carriers has a different size sprocket on it. But, as anyone with a R6 knows, keeping it complete prevents that inner spacer from falling out and getting dirty/lost.

 

So racing isn’t cheap?

 

Agree on all points

I consider myself a cheap minimalist racer, and I consider 3 sets a minimum. 4 would be better if you have the space.

 

Totally agree.

When we are talking about spare wheels, thoughts of anything different never even entered my mine.

Each set should be fully dressed with rotors and shit and ready to go.

 

Yup...even the white ones.

 

FTFY.

 

^^^^ This. Right here. It expands on the OP's original post but, since we're talking "extras", might as well add in the extra bike / bike parts that are also nice to have on hand and ready to go.

Someone else said this (I'm loosely quoting them): The best spare parts is having another complete bike (ready to go).