Thread: Race Tires 2017
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Old July 6th, 2017, 06:25 AM   #36
tgold
ninjette.org sage
 
Name: Timm
Location: West Seneca, NY
Join Date: Oct 2015

Motorcycle(s): 2006 1050 Speed Triple, 2010 250 Ninja racebike, YZF320RR? Racebike

Posts: 556
MOTM - Nov '15
So I tried the Alpha 13’s on a practice day and during a 3 hour endurance race the following day and I rate them as an ok tire. They are pretty much as I thought: Not a true race tire but still decent and a good value if your money is tight. Are they capable of winning races? The answer is: It depends. We won our 3 hr endurance by 5 laps, but if you’re running at the sharp end of the field in a sprint race I wouldn’t recommend them. I think that a rider would be putting themselves at a slight disadvantage because the A 13’s just don’t have the outright grip that the Pirelli Supercorsas do. Even with endurance racing on a 250 Ninja we got the Pirellis to last for four three hour races so that still is pretty good. I suspect that the A 13’s would have similar or better life. The main issue I had with the Dunlops was the feedback: If you go into a corner after braking and are not immediately on the gas they will let you know they don’t like it by chattering or wiggling around. Now you might say that you’re not supposed to be off the gas in the middle of a corner. I would agree with that for the most part, but I would say that just about everybody gets into a corner a little hot now and then and we have a tendency to want to wait just a tiny bit to get back on the gas. The Dunlops don’t want to let you do that and I suppose in a way that is a good training tool to remind you to not to be off throttle in a corner. I did also find that in long high speed corners where you are not always hard on the gas the ‘Lops will not really chatter but do a front end “wiggle”. Kind of distracting when it happens. All of the issues that I experienced were with the front tire with one minor exception: I have a 300 Ninja rim on the back of my 250 to get the proper profile with the A 13 rear. The minor issue is that the edges of the tire are so close to the swingarm that it causes problems with catching my tire warmers during installation and removal. I had no issues with grip on the rear A 13 but I think that a 150 width tire is unnecessary for the 250. I used the Pirelli rear in a 140 width and had zero issues with grip, so I think that the Alpha 13 in a 150 size adds weight in the worst place possible with no performance benefit.
The biggest thing to me is that the A 13 front will slide earlier than the Pirelli. I was working on my line on a fairly tricky low speed corner and I hit some bumps at the apex which produced a chatter-slide-chatter. Biggest front end slide I’ve had in a while. Another medium speed corner where I was working on getting the exit right and I clipped the inside curbing which produced a tuck and a tankslapper enough that I decided to straighten up and ride off the track at a pretty good clip. Fortunately I just rode through the grass and eased back on the track without further incident. Would the Pirellis have just gripped when that happened? I can’t say for sure. I will say that my teammates did not experience the same issues that I did with the A 13’s as their riding style did not produce the same experience that I had with them
So it comes down to this: I know that we can win endurance races on the A 13’s and they are way cheaper than the Pirelli Supercorsas, but the A 13’s are simply not as good as the Supercorsas in terms of outright performance in the dry.
As for economy, I was tempted to try the A 13’s because they were so cheap. But cheapness really carries little weight when we are talking about doing what it takes to race and win. You might say: “but you won on the Dunlops. Why don’t you keep using them?” I’d say that we did win one race, but there are still four races to go and I don’t want an inferior tire if comes down to a close battle in a race and falling down does not help win championships. In the end it comes down to my preference and what produces the most confidence. For that, the Pirellis win hands down. I get better performance out of myself and my bike with the Pirellis so that is what I will be using for the forseeable future.
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