1. All tires loose air.
2. They work best when properly hot.
3. They cost more than you want to spend on them.
4. If you don't trust them then get rid of them.
5. Shiny tires don't work!
6. Worn tires can cost more than your bike.
7. Used tires should be used to keep your boat from banging against the dock.
8. Bigger may not be be better.
9. It does matter where and when they are made.
10. They work great in wet weather, if you pay attention.
I could list more, but for now these ten points are the most important. So lets talk about them one at time. I know you don't want to hear this, but tires are porous. That means that air can pass through the rubber. It also means that you, the rider are required to check the pressure upon occasion. You should own a good pressure gauge, not the $1.00 special in the checkout lane at your local Dollar General, no offense Dollar General. Spend a few dollars on a good gauge. Go to an auto parts store and get one that is liquid filled, shock covered, with a flex hose that swivels. It will look cool in your tool box and your riding buddies will be impressed. You will also get accurate readings every time. Don't loan it people. Keep it close to your vest and it will reward you with a better handling bike.
Cold days and cold tires are bad for traction. This may sound trite, but it will not be so when you grab a big handful of throttle coming out of a corner. It won't matter if you are on a track or your favorite road. I have seen many experienced racers throw there prized possession down the road on the warm-up lap due to cold tires. I have also talked with many streeet riders who have brought a wrecked baby to me to fix because they did the exact same thing. Basic rule of thumb is; if the ambient air temperature is below 70 degrees then caution should be your byword. I bet there is a study somewhere that gives exact grip to temp ratios, but I could care less, I'm not an engineer. The key is to let your tires warm up before you hammer down. This is true on the street and on the track even if you use tire warmers. Coming from an age of no tire warmers and hard compound tires, it was imperative to properly use your warm up lap to warm your tires. I have seen riders take off their warmers go to the grid and before is time to take their warm up lap the tires had lost 80 degrees of temp. By the way, weaving does not warm up tires.
OK I agree...tires cost alot, especially good ones. But most of the time people either buy more tire than they need or less than they should. Simply put tires should match the bike and the riders ability. For example: Maladin will probably not run sport touring tires on his GSXR and Joe Bob should not run soft slicks on his 250 Rebel. Extreme example I realize, but the point is that if you do track days then you might want to stay away from Oriental tires of unknown origin. I am not going to specifically name brands for fear of reprisal, but if you have never seen a sponsor sticker on the side of a race bike with their name, then I would run away. Enough said about that.
Tires have Karma. Did I say that? I had "TYT" written on duct tape covering the speedo on my racebike and people would ask what that meant. "TRUST YOUR TIRES" It means that I could go race and forget about my tires. I came from a bias tire racing background, they were skinny, hard, slippery and the best of them sucked, and when radials hit the scene I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Tires got better as you rode them. It takes that little worry away and riding becomes much more pleasurable.
Two simple things her...shiny equals slippery tires. Get it? If they are new or you sprayed something on them to make them look better, they are slick when shiny. Don't spray anything on your tires ever, unless it's soapy water. I have had at least twenty people bust their ass in front of my shop seconds after I told them to be careful...new tires are slippery. Two got carted away in the meat wagon with broken body parts. Were they just not listening?
If you can see the inside, you need to stop riding. That white stuff in the middle of your tire is the the tires guts. It could be either a cord or steel bands. There is no traction left unless you can find a way to only ride on the side of the tire. Stop now! Nuff said. Cord = wreck + injury + $$$
Ditto the above paragraph. Stop coming to my shop and asking if I have any used tires for sale. If they are used, then they are done. If you want race takeoffs, I would say be very very careful about what you get. Some race tires do not react well on the street. There is a reason they are called race tires and not street tires. Many will never come up to an operating temp that makes them sticky when used on the street. If you have a race or track day background, then you know what I'm talking about. Buyer beware is the best advice here.
If your rim is 4 inches wide then don't put a 180/55 on it. The tire will roll over on itself and the handling gets weird. I don't care if your buddy did it and said it handled great. You may go one size larger in most instances and things will be fine , but any larger and all bets are off.
On your tire is more information about your tire than most people ever use. Tire size: Width (in mm), Height (% of width), Rim size (inches), Manufacturer, Country of manufacturing, Max load, Max tire press, Date of build (week & year) and some more stuff. The one that's important to sportier riders is the build date. Expressed in weeks and years it tells the reader how old the tire is, for example: 4407 = fortyfourth week of 2007. When you buy a tire online you should be aware of the build date, as older tires may not have the traction qualities of a new one. Tires, batteries and humans don't get better as they get older, except in my case.
I grew up in Florida and it rains a lot there. I have ridden more in the rain than I ever want to again. The grooves on your tires are called sipes or siping and the purpose is to disperse water. If you have a sport tire there is very little siping on the sides. Great for traction on dry roads, terrible for wet roads. The key here is to be aware of lean angle in the wet with these tires. You need to extend braking and be softer on the lever. I raced at Mid-Ohio in the rain two years in a a row. Sitting on the starting grid, I watched the rain approach towards the front straight. When the wall of rain was on the other side of the bridge that crosses the track just before turn one, the green flag fell for the GTO class. I sat there on my GTU bike and watched the entire GTO class disappear into a wall of water. I remember thinking, "This is going to be fun." Shortly thereafter our green flag fell and forty riders charged off into the waterfall. At the completion of the first lap there were riders down in every corner and most corners had more. One and a half hours of drenching rain were in my future. At the halfway my partner would get to have as much fun as I was. At the forty-five minute mark I exceeds the traction limits or my riding ability and fell coming out of the Keyhole. After a trip to the pits for a healthy dose of duct tape I was back on track and lapping almost five seconds faster. Now I knew how fast I could go in the rain and I got comfortable with it. We, my riding partner and I got fourth place in class that day and eleventh overall. You can go fast in the rain, but you need to relax and go with the flow.
No comments:
Post a Comment