Upon suggestion of a few of you and some other close friends I am now researching tire warmers. Are they all the same? Should you get a particular brand for the tire that you are running? How do you find out what temp the tire needs to kept at so you don't cook them in the pits?
I am sure this has all been answered before point me to the thread of just weigh in. Thanks in advance.
get em.. more crashes occur on cold tires than you could imagine. Makes life for you, others, and your bike (and other bikes..) safer.
I really like the Chicken hawks. seem much easier to roll on and off and have a thermostat. $425 or so new..
Chicken Hawks on my end too.
Chicken Hawk has three levels though. Regardless, they all use the same element to heat the tire. The first one warms it, and I don't believe that it has any control.
Next, you have a set that have "pils" that you can use to control the temperature that the warmer will go to.
Next, the digital control. Way cool, I can miroo manage my tires and cool them down gradually, or heat them up gradually during a day.
Got a late day race...when then set them to simmer at 115 for about two hours...just leave them to do their thing. Additionally, you can read the actual temperature that the thermostat is reading. So, if the powers off, or it's cold outside, I know where I sand.
Assuming you're as poor as the rest of us, I have a set of Tyr Sox, complete and in good working condition. $175 to your door...
Same with me ;D ( Cheep Tyr Sox) worked great.
CHICKENHAWK
Ditto.... Chickenhawks rule! Get them, you will be happy you did!
I use Chicken Hawk also. But it seems that almost all tire warmers are roughly the same - except Tyr Sox (sorry Jeff!). The Tyr Sox are the only two-piece design that I know of. The one-piece design of the Chickenhawks and others is much more convenient. I don't know a single person who prefers Tyr Sox over any other kind. Tyr Sox are just cheaper, and that's why people have them.
Beyond that, some brands of tires work best at lower temps and others at higher. My Chicken Hawks have two options for temperatures - 135 degrees or 175. Pirelli tires are at their optimal temperature at around the 135 setting and 175 degrees would just overcook them. But Michelins work better when heated using the 175 setting.
For that reason, I would suggest getting either of the two higher models of Chicken Hawks, or some other brand that offers some kind of temperature adjustment. Unless you know what brand of tires you're going to run forever and they're fine with the one temp available on the lower models....
- Stu
Actually, the Michelin's work the best at 180 rear and 140 front. If you run the front at 175, it takes about two laps for them to cool down.
So, getting the middle level Chicken Hawks with a 135 front and 175 rear would be a nearly perfect choice for michelins?
Michelin told us to put the S4 tire in the warmers at 190 for one hour prior to use for the Willow 200. Suprised the hell out of me.
We use the Chickenhawk, and love em!
Hence the reason I am selling my Sox... (that was the whole $175 to your door part)
Perfect set for the new racer!
another vote for chicken hawks.
Thanks guys! Looks like Chicken Hawks it is. Will check into them at work tomorrow and start saving. Thanks again all.
QuoteSo, getting the middle level Chicken Hawks with a 135 front and 175 rear would be a nearly perfect choice for michelins?
For the regular guy, yes.
But like Team Nuclear said, you can do some funny things.
Nuke, that was a brand new tire, right? I know there are games you can play with the tires to actually heat cycle them with out running them. I believe in WSS then run the DOT's at like 200 for about four hours. But those are so the tire last just for the race and gives the maximum traction for that race...only.
You are correct sir. The idea being to heat the carcass to operating temp, not just the rubber.
In any event, with the Dunlops we have run all year, we normally just turn them on 30 min before the first practice, and then whenever the bike is in, the warmers are on the tire, but not turned on, just to slow the "cook - Down" that the tire suffers. Think of it as one long heat cycle. All day.. lol
i have the bakers, and i honestly would leave them on all day except for 20 min's or so during lunch.
the bakers(non digital) didn't seem to get much past 140 using the laser thermometer, but my tires lasted forever....no wait, until i started doing mid-13's ;D ;D ;D
Benji.