Soft or Reg Race tires?

[Super Dave]

Ah, the tire game...

First, the super soft Pirelli was what I ran on my GSXR600.  I would go through three rears (softs) before I would change my front.  The super soft front, even though it "sounds" like it might be too soft, is great.

The next harder compound from Pirelli above (harder) than the soft is a medium (yellow).  It really only works under extreme conditions like a long hot oppressive race.  Even then, it doesn't really hook up real well.

As for other tires, the big trick in changing brands is that tire manufacturers all follow their own patterns of development.  I've raced on, been sponsored by different companies.

First and foremost, you MUST check the tires to see if there is an actual difference in the heights of the tire.  If there is, there will be an alteration in the geometery of the motorcycle, causing it to handle worse, or better, but it will be different.  Even the actual contour, the roundness, per se, of the tire can be different causing it to turn in differently.  It takes me a full day (hours!) to alter things to try and make the bike work correctly when changing to a different tire than what I am set up for.

I haven't ridden on the Bridgestones, but who knows?  The Pirelli's were the "funny" tire in the paddock just a few years ago...

[tshort]

Regarding 40 deg F weather and Pirellis, I ran them down at Putnam two weeks ago, with morning temps in the 40s, and highs only in low 50s.  The tires stuck great, like everyone says (soft/supersoft rear/front).  But after a day and a half of sessions the rear was toast.  Cold tearing was given as the reason by those who seemed to know.  But they stuck *incredibly* well - I was doing things on my 748 I'd never done before.  So I put a Dunlop 208GP on the rear for the last few sessions on Sunday, left the front Pirelli.  Couldn't get the Dunlop to hook up anywhere near as well as the Pirelli, even after a couple sessions scrubbing them in.  Yeah, they look like they'll last longer, but if maxing out the fun/lap time factor is your goal, I'd say go with the Pirellis.  I will be from now on.

Matt Drucker got my set for me and had them at the track ready to go when I showed up.

BTW, the Dunlop rear showed some cold tearing after two 20 min sessions.  Don't know if this was rider error, or the temps, and/or lack of use of tire warmers, but it kind of ticked me off - I'm told once they do that, they're pretty much done.

My $0.02 - ymmv...

[Super Dave]

Cold tearing...

The current crop of production DOT racing tires are more racing tire than anything.  Radials do not generate the heat that the old bias ply tires we used to ride on did.

So, if a tire is cold, the compound can just kind of come apart.  Once you loose that rubber, the tire looses its insulation to hold in the heat.

So, tire warmers are pretty much necessary on cooler days, but I continue to use my warmers all year round.

Once it gets the cold shred, you can't put the pieces back, so it's all down hill from there.