Thread: Race Tires 2017
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Old August 4th, 2017, 05:24 PM   #54
Twinshock750
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Name: Alistair
Location: Auckland NZ
Join Date: Sep 2016

Motorcycle(s): CMR TZ750 Yamaha, McIntosh TZ350 Yamaha, OW01 Yamaha, 300 Ninja Lightweight production Bike

Posts: 14
Here in NZ in our 300 class, we were limited in tyre option we could use, due to our rule book provisions (the 250's were open DOT).
DR11/3's
RS10's
Alpha 13's
BT003RS Street
Conti Attack and SM
M7RR's

Were the bulk of the homologated list. No SC's no Alpha 13 SP's, No slicks, no wets, no warmers, No 120 fronts. 140/150 rears only.

The tyre combo that ended up being the most favoured ws RS10 front and DR11 rear.

A few guys were using DR111 fronts and DR11 rears or DR11 fronts, but the Dr11 front was not seen as a great choice. hard and not a lot of feedback, prone to slide and chatter, but noted as "controllable".

As usual, I took an alternative route an ran Alpha 13's. I was the only one....well almost - bit no one at a national level ran them. I was quite surprised as I would have thought they would have been the tyre of choice out of the list (given no SC's etc), especially against the DR11's.

I ran the last race meeting and 2 ride days on RS10 front and rear. Set a new PB at the local club circuit on these. the RS10 front was seen as the best option available in terms of grip/feel/warm up of the options. I found it didn't seem to warm up as fast as the SC's on guys I was racing with on 250's who could use them, but gave plenty of warning, where as the Alpha 13 didn't - makes me wonder how close I was to the edge on coldish tyres on the Alpha's!

The RS10 rear 140/70 seemed to work okay for me. A couple of guys have used them - but most people are just following the crowd and listening to other's feedback without doing any testing themselves. The comment belief was the RS10 rear had a narrow window for pressure and a couple of riders thought it was flattish profile, therefore they would ride off the edge. I didn't....and playing with tyre pressures based upon circuit and conditions is a given. I got it working okay at my pace pretty quickly (3 sessions), and one of the top guys was using a 150/60 rear, though he did low jump off on the last corner of a race....not sure what the background was, I should ask).

Our rules have opened up a a little - still no wets, but we can have warmers and we can have an DOT tyre, but still basically 110 and 140/150. We have not previously really had the 140/701 SC2's here available (no market).

I suspect that we will see most people jump to thee SC1 front (retail is $100 NZD more than an RS10 front) and probably the DR11 140/70 rear, unless 140/70 SC2's are brought in by the distributor (we cannot use the SC2 unless they are generally available, so no mail order versions allowed from offshore...).

I have a tyre "durometer" which measures rubber hardness.....that was interesting walking around the pits and noting tyre rubber hardness. Though obviously this is only part of the overall dynamic as construction and pressure will have a big bearing). The DR11 front was way hard The lower the number, the softer the rubber:
Alphas 56 front rear
DR11 65 front , 53 rear
Conti Attack Front 64
RS10 front 55
D212 GP pro 3 120/70 front (on my TZ750 and OW01) 60
D211 GP Racer rear 160/60 rear (on my TZ750 and 180/55 rear on my OW01) 60
Avon AM22 soft compound 18 inch race tyre (off my TZ350F) 55, AM23 Rear medium 65. (these are the gold standard 18 inch Bias ply race tyres for TZ's)

The SC's will by guestimate be about 50.

Conti soft front slick was 45.

So given the above, I was really surprised that no one used the Alpha's and favoured the DR11's etc. Can only think it was a feel / feedback thing, or some one had a bad experience and said "don't use" - in fact I had a message sent to me on facebook to that effect....that they were "terrible" ! I think set up had something to do with that and in fact the actual rider (not the person who told me, confirmed that later!).

The big question I have and Vulgr from Aussie may be able to help - is how do the new Alpha 13SP compare to the SC's - Dunlop specifically as best I can tell did the update to compete with the Pirelli. In Aussie they have had them (we have not yet here in NZ) and there have been sporadic sightings of top guys with them, but still the SC's look to be dominant. Dunlop tout them as a full on DOT race tyre and are used the the Asia cup and also the RC390 cup there in the US. The Vid I saw seemed to indicate softer carcass too.

We are possibly getting the SP's here - but not sure. I need to talk to my mate at the Dunlop Importer to find out - I have out of preference run Dunlops but am being swayed by the Pirelli. My ultimate preference would be to use the Dunlop knowing they similar performance to the Pirelli in terms of grip and feel, but just to be "different" and make everyone else wonder - as I can see the Pirelli being ubiquitous.....

I did that for years on my TZ350 - Ran 18 inch KR Dunlops,when every one else ran Avons....until Dunlop stuffed the front tyre and then stopped production! (I gave in and bought Avons at that point!)

So the big question I am getting to after all this typing - is how good are the Alpha 13SP vs the Pirelli SC? Anyone know?

Cheers Alistair
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