Race on DOT's?

[vanillagorrilla]

Wow, great price on the Power races.

Good adivce on the pilot powers, too.  I'm still not sure what I'll do.  Maybe a track day or 2 or the pilot's to see how they area?  Any opinions on the Dunlop Qualifiers vs the Pilot Powers?  Better, worse, same?

[truckstop]

You can also try here. STG does free shipping, and usually ship very quickly.

I ran Pilot Powers the first half, and Power Races the second half of last season. I like the Power Races better. The Pilot Powers get greasy on really hot days, but then I'm not fast, and never pushed them beyond their capability. They do warm up faster, and stick better in the rain than the PRs.

[EX_#76]

That price is insane on any  PR series tires. Call around. Look for the PRC front and the medium 160rear, 350 would be an average price on that. Give Walt Schaefer (256 538 5906) a shout. He is pretty much numero uno when it comes to michelin tires in this country, he is down south but ships really reasonable. Tommy is great at the track in the MW too. The PRC's will last you a minimum of two weekends at mid pack lw times on an SV. And a medium rear will solidly get you through a weekend with some grip left over. The Pilot Powers are good, but I found myself riding on the edge of there traction often, not a good place to be for someone new to the sport. They are capable of fully competitive times and race wins in the lw class especially in the am ranks and right conditions(ive won 4-6 races on them in the past two years) I ran low 12's on them at gateway in shitty conditions and my best times on race tires were high 10's. So the pilots are good enough, but the PR series tires are worth the extra few bucks. And plenty of guys get by without warmers. Guy Bartz won races as an AM over the past few years  and was a quick expert without them in CCS MW lw classes.. Same goes for a couple of ULTRA fast WERA lw guys.

And Grasshopper beat me twice in a row on pilot powers!!!  They are good tires.  The Pilot powers will not put you on the ground and the race tires are no gaurantee you won't crash. 

What is important is to have your bike set up well enough for you to feel the bike beginning to loose traction before it is too late for you to correct the situation.  As a LW AM you should be just fine.  When you feel like the tires are limiting you speed, buy the race tires.

Thanks for the words Ben!!

[251am]

Anyone out there race on DOT tires like Pilot Powers, Diablo Corsas or Dunlop Qualifiers?  I've been road racing a cr85 mini for a few years and will continue to do so, but I'd like to transition into a SV650. 

My first race was on Metzeler Tourances on the R1100GS. Those tires had 9000 road miles on them. Didn't win anyhting but did not come in last either.

  I use Pilot Powers for a rain tire, and I know they'd be good for an amateur for a weekend or two. Don't use warmers, go with about 31-35 PSI...

[vanillagorrilla]

I hear ya there.  My cr85 mini roadrace bike gives me little to no warning when I lose traction... Ithink a lot of it has to do with the fact that I run 125 gp slicks on it without warmers, I don't think they'er ever getting up to temp.  It can't help that the bike still has the MX valving in the suspension either.  This is exactly why I've been asking these questions - I want to take the tires out as a variable while I try to set the SV up.

31-35, huh?  35 sounds awful high...but then again, you've been there and I haven't.

Thanks for all the advice guys, this has been very helpful to me.

[foughtstrong]

Since the issue about tires is up.  Which Michellin compound should on run on my 03 Gsxr 750?  Still new so I'm not looking at racking up great lap times. Soft/Medium etc........?

[251am]

Since the issue about tires is up.  Which Michellin compound should on run on my 03 Gsxr 750?  Still new so I'm not looking at racking up great lap times. Soft/Medium etc........?

  I run the PR5 rear and PRC front on my K1 750. IIRC rear PSI of 22, front at 29 or so. Get the PowerRace series Michelins from Tom Mason in the Midwest; there is a Power Race tire available on-line, but it is NOT the same thing as what you get at the track from Tom.

  Yeah, the Pilot Powers for track work should be run around 31-35, somewhere in there. Feel em out to your satisfaction and make adjustments for feel. Start with a baseline PSI at the beginning of the day, with a cold tire, and leave it alone for the day. If you want to make a pressure adjustment during the day do it with a cold tire that's sat at least an hour or more.     

[Garywc]

i want to try these

[smoke54]

dots-great stick,fast warmup,fall off fast!:)
tim