[taz]

this is from Z1R Rider from when they were on 16" rims

here's a copy and paste from an earlier post I made on tires: all are pre-gens with 16" wheels

We have 5 Ninjettes in the family and they all have different tires and I've ridden all of them on the street and 4 on the track. First let me say that they all have a different "feel" when riding, none have a bad feeling (like the stock Dunlops) just different.

Bike one has Metzeler Laser Tec 100-90 on front 130-90 on rear, this is my personal favorite on the track or the street, very stable on the straights or the corners, turns in quickly and holds it's line. It seems that the tread doesn't wrap around as far as the others as it has no "chicken strips" left on front or rear, or maybe I push harder on them because they feel good to me.

Bike two has Shinko SR740 100-80 on front and SR741 130-80 on the rear, contrary to "wiki; Shinko tires: No better than the Dunlop K630" these are a surprise!! they are good enough to take the stock forks to their limit, you can drag footpegs all day long with them, stoppies, no problem! Turn in is quicker than the Metzelers, and they feel a little bit "twitchy", but never scared me. One of the racers on a 300 was amazed when he came to our pit and saw it has Shinkos.

Bike three has Pirelli MT75s 100-80 front and 120-80 rear, turn in is quick like the Shinkos, and are a little twitchy, but no unhappy surprises. Shorter rear tire lets the pegs drag sooner than the others.

Bike four has Pirelli Sport Demon 110-90 front and 130-90 rear, turn in is a little heavier than the others but no where near as heavy as a 600 or 1000. Is stable everywhere and taller front tire gives extra cornering clearance, feels to me like it wants to stand up in the corners. Had to move the front fender up to clear the tire.

Bike five has the Pirelli Diablo Scooter tires, 100-80 front and 130-80 rear, I haven't ridden on the track with this bike, but on the street it's the only one that I've had the rear "step out" on the 1-2 shift. Might be it just needs a little more heat in it to grip good.

None of the bikes have enough miles to say which one will last the longest, the Metzeler is, by quite a bit, the most expensive of the bunch, and if past experience means anything, the rear will last around 7000 miles and the front about double that.

and this is form cbreater and we have 17" rims on them now

We have a slew of pre-gen 250’s in our camp with various states of tune but here is what we have and my personal take on the set ups. I have not ridden any of these on the street, only at the track. YMMV
All have GSX-R rear shocks tuned to the owners riding preference for feel and tire wear. Front suspension is set up as follows:

1 with GVE, cut stock springs to get roughly .70 and if I recall, 30wt fork oil. Not sure what pop off spring is being used. This is stiff, hydraulic stiff. Originally it had 2” cut off the stock springs and a lighter weight oil but was somewhat softly sprung. This setup offered good compliance and feel but was soft for hard braking. Stiffer springs were added but then the rebound wasn’t enough to slow down the return stroke. Thicker oil was added to calm the rebound and that worked great but now it feels hydraulically stiff on compression and does not offer the feel of the softer set up. This is running RS10 tires. I’m sure this will get sorted out over winter to soften it back up.

1 with GVE, .75 Sonic springs, 30wt fork oil. Not sure what pop off spring is being used. This is stiff, hydraulic stiff. Originally it had 2” cut off the stock springs and a lighter weight oil but was somewhat softly sprung. This setup offered good compliance and feel but was soft for hard braking. Stiffer springs were added but then the rebound wasn’t enough to slow down the return stroke. Thicker oil was added to calm the rebound and that worked great but now it feels hydraulically stiff on compression and does not offer the feel of the softer set up. This is running Alpha 13 tires. I’m sure this will get sorted out over winter to soften it back up. Essentially the same set up as above but with different springs. They feel very similar to each other (as they should being set up almost identical).

1 with Ricor Intiminators, 2” cut off stock springs, 5wt oil. This bike is pretty well sorted and offers good feel on the front. This is running Alpha 13 tires. This is a softer sprung but very well damped set up. Stiffer would be nice on this set up to hold the front up under hard braking better but otherwise a good set up with lots of feel.

1 with Ricor Intiminators, .75 Sonic springs, 5wt oil, forks lowered in triples, Big Boy links to raise bike 1” at the pegs. This bike is running SuperCorsa tires. This bike offers the best compromise (in my opinion, the others may chime in and prefer their own set up) of stiff yet compliant. Offers fantastic front end feel and bump compliance while supporting the front end well under hard braking. This is my personal choice for best feeling setup for fast laps. This set up offers almost the same feel as above (as it should being set up almost identical) but with better chassis support with the stiffer front springs.

IMO, the Ricor set up is the way to go. No, you cannot tune them like you can the GVE, but in my experience it looks like you don’t need to in order to achieve a great feeling front end. If you spend enough time with the GVE I’m sure they can be tuned to be as good or better than the Ricor but to get going with little fuss, get the Ricor and enjoy your new suspension."