How long do your tires last?

[Decreasing_Dave]

To qualify my question, I race an R6, I won championships in my first year, and I use tire warmers.

Thanks for the replies.

[Decreasing_Dave]

Yeah, that's right...I answered my own poll.....get over it.

Practice, races and practice the following race weekend.  I somehow cannot convince myself that my tires won't protest any additional hard racing on them by this point.  I use tire warmers religiously.  I even keep them off of the concrete (bike on both stands) during the down time in my garage.

I think I just have a mental problem.  :o

[Mongrel]

I do most of the same things.  I tend to throw a new set on late on the practice day do a scrub in and one practice on race day and 3 to 4 races.  I then use them for practice the next weekend.  After that I will get 2 to 3 track days out of them and then I sell them for $50.  I use tire warmers on race weekends and just insulate the tires (tire warmers on the tires but no power) on track days.  Bike is always on stands between race weekends.  BTW the bike is an SV650.

I have in the past used tires for 2 race weekends, but have found that as I got faster and practice sessions got longer (track day before race day) I was having trouble pushing the tires late on the 2nd race weekend.

[khanson]

That really depends upon how fast you go.

You can do 30's at Blackhawk and the things will last for eternity.

Ride a 1000 at the AMA level and they last 20 laps.  It won't even last the entire Superbike race.

However, I 've tried to make a tire last and crashed my brains out from it.  The $200 for the tire just turned into a 1000 in repairs.

[Super Dave]

I start races with a new rear Michelin.  Depending upon the track, depending upon the distance, and depending upon the importance of the race and who's there will dictate how long it lasts.  

Daytona.  One FUSA race, and the tire is going down hill.  I had to use one rear for two FUSA races in March and it got pretty tired in the second race.

Blackhawk.  I'll start a race on a brand new tire.  If I feel the weekend is important, the tire will go for two races usually no problem before I can feel the best part of the tire starts to fall off.  

I'll practice on those tires.  I'll practice on them for an eternity.  But it's hard to set up a bike on used tires.  The lack of excellent traction won't load the chassis like a new one...so what are you trying to set up?

Fronts last longer.

If you're a couple of seconds slower than a faster guy, you might double your tire life at the club level.  Smaller bikes...well, and SV isn't going to completely destroy a tire.  And an R1...well, it's going to have tires for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between.

[Roger@ASMA]

It completely depends on the track, pace and bike, as Dave said. On a small twin I can usually get two weekends out of a set, sometimes if the pace is hot I can get one weekend out of a small twin on the rear but the front almost always two. On a 600 I can usually get through 4 sprints before both are trash. On the R1 the rear was usually gone after two sprints if I was really on it. Fronts lasted the whole weekend on the R1 still.

Most people running top 5 in the expert class will practice on last weekends tires and buy new ones for the race.

[OmniGLH]

Most people running top 5 in the expert class will practice on last weekends tires and buy new ones for the race.

That's about what I do.  Last weekend's tires for practice.  New tires for GTU and Sunday practice.  New tires for Sunday's sprints and next weekend's saturday practice.

After watching both my teammate AND myself crash and destroy our bikes several times this year while trying to be thrifty and stretch tires out... I don't mess around anymore.  $300 in tires is cheaper than $2000 for new rims, fork tubes, gas tank, fairing stay, subframe, frame straightening, ambulance ride..... you get the idea.

[Scotty Ryan]

Tire life really depends on a number of things,track surface, tire pressure,tire temp,track temp, bike size, tire compound, tire brand and even your riding style. Example- I was racing an sv 650 this year almost bone stock(76hp) and so was my teammate(98hp), we would almost always run the same lap times but I would wear tires two to his one. I think that it may have to do with the fact that I come from a dirt background and he has only ridden on the pavement. Anyways I don't think that there is a set standard for tire wear.

[Thingy]

These guys are right.  There are too many variables that determine tire life.  Most have already been listed.

However, I think the biggest factors are how fast you are, the horsepower and weight of the bike, and how well set up the suspension is.  (My opinion of course.)

When I started racing five years ago on a 750, I was going through a set every 3 weekends. (2 sprints, 1 GT, and practices per weekend.)  Now, I go through a rear in 45-60 minutes of track time on my 1000.  Fronts last a lot longer.

Maybe you can find some guys that are faster than you on 600s on the board that race in your area and they can tell you how long tires lasted for them when they were running the same times that you are.

[speedster_1]

Not long enough....Liter bike!

[shakenbake]

Having your Suspension dialed in really helps tire life alot.

I ride an R6, bike was sent to GMD and fully set up, suspension dialed in perfect.
We ran one set of Super Corsa's for 3 straight 3 hr endurance races.  Yes I said it 9hrs plus practice on one set of tires.  Soft front and Hard rear.  
We came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd in that order the the 3 races on those tires.  FYI, half way thru the 3rd race the tires where like butter.

This is not the smartest thing to do, but if you got to make your budget last, sometimes you do silly things.

[tshowrench]

The faster we go, the more tires we use...

About now, we are getting less than 100k on a set at very smooth tracks like Atlanta, and less than 60k at Buttonwillow.