Tyre Woes

My rear D220 is almost knackered and I'm off to Spain next week. The front
have another 5000 left in it. So I thought I could pick up a rear D220 cheap
(not being top of the range) to rip up in Spain.

Trouble is noone stocks them. Tyre shop reckons I can fit a D208 to the rear
no problem, but then I'll have more grip at the rear then the front which is
the reverse of popular opinion surely.

So now I may be forced to junk the front D220 and go BT020 all the way as I
don't wanna fit anything too soft for touring.

Unless anyone knows somewhere in London that can supply and fit a rear D220
160/60 this week?

 

Fit BT010s all round. On a light bike like the SV they last a good
long while (like 7k rear) and grip beautifully.

 

Surely more grip at the rear is the way you want it. Stops the back
end sliding out from under you. The front end will have just as much
grip as before so as long as you don't really overdo it all should be
well.

 

I couldn't tell you why but it is *not* recommended to have stickier
tyres on the rear than the front (I was surprised to learn that as
well). Maybe it becomes significant only when riding at the limit.


--

jeremy
['75 RD250A ] | ['02 Fazer 600 in blue]
____________________________________________
jeremy dot ovenden at hazelweb dot co dot uk

 

Can you point me to an actual recommendation from a tyre manufacturer
or similar? It's certainly *not* true for cars and while two wheeled
vehicles are very different from four wheeled ones the reasons for
more grip at the back being better in a car would seem to be about
right for a 'bike too.

That said I think on any relatively high performance bike I think I'd
like to have pretty similar tyres front and rear.

 

No I can't but the guys at my local motorcycle tyre dealer presented a
plausible reason (which I cannot remember now of course).


--

jeremy
['75 RD250A ] | ['02 Fazer 600 in blue]
____________________________________________
jeremy at hireserve dot com

 

Probably something along the lines of if the back is harder than the
front and slides you might save it.

If the front is harder than the back and that makes it slide then
you'll do a Champ.

Thing is though, a harder compound doesn't always mean less grip.
Some WSB/GP bikes wind up using a harder compound on the front or back
because it give more even wear during the race. But I guess race
tyres are a whole different kettle of fish to road ones.

 

Well, according to ATS, radial front and cross-ply rear is illegal
whereas the other way around is legal which tends to agree with my
thoughts.

On the other hand www.superbiketyres.com says in its FAQ "You can mix
say a BT56 front with a BT57 rear. These are both Bridgestone tyres
but with slightly different characteristics, in laymans terms the 56
is grippier than a 57, and the grippier tyre always goes on the front,
this is an OK mix."

So I can't find a really authoritative answer.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Any difference in grip will be much less
noticeable than the difference between a worn-out and a new tyre, and
given your relative newbyness I'd doubt if you're ever seriously close
to the limits anyway.

In your position I'd definitely be going for the D208 rear option -
indeed I've done similar when mixing BT010 and BT020 in the past,
contrary to manufacturers recommendation, and never had problems with
it.

 

says...

What I heard, was that if you have a grippier front than rear and you're
on the limit of grip in a corner then the back will drift out first and
the grip from the front will pull the bike round keeping it more or less
on line. If the front drifts first then the back will push the front into
a lowslide.

This could of course be bollox as I've never had the bottle to
deliberately push my tyres hard enough to find out.

 

So which fish are best for race tyres? Obviously not skate.

 

When the chips are down you won't beat huss

 

Depends on how you tuna them up.

 

I reckon that sole should give the most grip.

 

But for real power I think you'd want turbot

 

alá Champ? ;-)

 

So which fish are best for race tyres? Obviously not skate.

Do you know of a plaice that sells them?

 

I've heard these are a bit flat.

Perhaps a bit of percussive maintenance with a Hammerhead Cod Mako a
difference. Otherwise you'll just have to Nurse them along.
Alternatively Basking a Tiger rider may help. Eel be along shortly.

 

Oh for pete's hake!

--

jeremy
['75 RD250A ] | ['02 Fazer 600 in blue]
_______________________________________
jeremy at hireserve dot com