TYRE wars

Hi everyone, apologies for being away for a while, had a change of job, etc, etc, etc.

It's that time of year when new tyres are an immediate and definate expense. I ride an RSV1000R ('04-'08) with PVM wheels. I ride all of the year (including getting caught in the occasional downpoor). I try to ride fast on the roads, with a 60 mile daily commute on A-roads. The bike currently has Dunlop Sportsmax Sportsmarts fitted. The wear has been good, but I would like a tyre that offers a little more feel through the front to help with confidence getting the bike leant over. If anyone has any suggestions, your thoughts and recommendations would be very welcome.

The standard sizes are 120/70/17 front and 190/50/17 rear. Has anyone tried a 180/55/17 rear like the Factory RSVR bike? Would this be a help or a hinderence at getting the bike leant over and corners?

Cheers one and all!

Mark

Mark, I cannot imagine that the Dunlop SportMax SportSmart can not do the job that you require. I found the Dunlops to take a little longer to warm up than Pirelli SuperCorsa's for example, but that should not break down confidence. Remember that you have to work a tyre hard if you want it to work hard for you. The reason obviously is to get heat into them. I assume here that your suspension setup is reasonable and recommended tyre pressures are used.


Just for interest ( and not suitable for rain use and not legal ) >>>
I have experience on Sportmax 190/60/17 ( yes 60 ) paired with 115/17 (can't remember profile ) slick up front which was an awesome performance package. Some chop ordered them from a tyre shop and did not collect. Saw them on the rack and got a deal that I could not understand and took it as I intended to do a trackday. This was for my 2000 RSV-R. I was a bit reluctant on the 115 width for the front as it has a high / V profile and looked a bit ' skinny ' . Later I found that it was really a rear tyre for 250 2-stroke race machines. Incidentally I also read somewhere that it was the pairing of choice for some Aprilia Endurance team on a RSV factory as they reckon that the 115/17 Superbike Slick front had a better profile and performed better than the 'normal ' options on offer.

My very first impressions were not that good as I did not get the opportunity to warm them properly.....then I went away for a weekend to bike riding heaven and my opinion changed. The 60 profile rear had the same effect as adding a tooth on the rear sprocket, but seeing that I already dropped a tooth front it did not bother. Rear slightly up due to profile helping turn-in without suspension setting. Holding a line and even making it tighter with that front was really easy once you got decent heat into them. Then it was a matter of riding behind my mates in the twisties and picking them off one by one

Looking for better rubber than a Sportsmart?
Good luck with that one

Sports tyre choice and performance?...it's mostly in the mind imho (prehaps with a little bit of voodoo too :roll)

Corsa_RSVR said:

The 60 profile rear had the same effect as adding a tooth on the rear sprocket, but seeing that I already dropped a tooth front it did not bother.

Click to expand...

Is that right? My calcs show that increasing from 190/50 to 190/60 profile is equivalent to losing a couple of teeth from the back sprocket.

Bigger rear sprocket = more acceleration

Bigger rear tyre = more top speed

Rob

get some racetechs and be done with it lol
ck

apostrophe, there is a gear calculation program on the net that is very useful. Thanks to one of the guys here that pointed me in that direction.
www.gearingcommander.com/

Easy to use, for most popular superbikes the standard gearing is available, choose a ratio, choose tyre size and you get a ' geared top speed '. Over-gearing will actually show faster on the calculation, but if you don't have the Horses to pull it, then you will get a lower top speed than expected.

Now if you want to check, have a look and see on gearingcommander what difference in ' geared top ' speed a 190/60 rear tyre will yield as opposed to a 190/55

( my memory, if serving me correctly, is roughly one tooth on the RSV-R aprilia which runs 17/42 standard , but I had 16/42 ie. the 60 profile tyre with 16/42 gearing equated to 17/42 gearing with a standard 55 profile rear. ( I am doing this from memory, will check later and apologize if i'm wrong haha I will work it out again and post )
eg. 17/42 using 190/55 profile = 16/42 using 190/60 profile ( not exact but comes close )

That 60 profile Dunlop Sportmax has serious attitude. Some will like the change in handling and character of the 60 profile and some won't.

Ok, went to gearingcommander.com and plotted this out : Aprilia / RSV / 01

6th gear / 9750 rpm / stock gearing 17/42 and stock tyre 180/55/17 = 284.2 km/h
6th gear / 9750 rpm / 16/42 and 180/55/17 = 267.5
6th gear / 9750 rpm / 16/42 and 190/60/17 = 280.2
6th gear / 9750 rpm / 16/43 and 190/60/17 = 273.7
6th gear / 9750 rpm / 16/44 and 190/60/17 = 267.5

Most of us know that the stock RSV-R '00 will not run 284.2 km/h in stock form on level road
with no wind as it is slightly over-geared.

Corsa_RSVR said:

apostrophe, there is a gear calculation program on the net that is very useful. Thanks to one of the guys here that pointed me in that direction.
www.gearingcommander.com/

Easy to use, for most popular superbikes the standard gearing is available, choose a ratio, choose tyre size and you get a ' geared top speed '. Over-gearing will actually show faster on the calculation, but if you don't have the Horses to pull it, then you will get a lower top speed than expected.

Now if you want to check, have a look and see on gearingcommander what difference in ' geared top ' speed a 190/60 rear tyre will yield as opposed to a 190/55

( my memory, if serving me correctly, is roughly one tooth on the RSV-R aprilia which runs 17/42 standard , but I had 16/42 ie. the 60 profile tyre with 16/42 gearing equated to 17/42 gearing with a standard 55 profile rear. ( I am doing this from memory, will check later and apologize if i'm wrong haha I will work it out again and post )
eg. 17/42 using 190/55 profile = 16/42 using 190/60 profile ( not exact but comes close )

That 60 profile Dunlop Sportmax has serious attitude. Some will like the change in handling and character of the 60 profile and some won't.

Click to expand...

Yes I use gearingcommander. I see what you mean...

190/60 with 16/42 is a very similar ratio to 190/50 at 17/42

The effect of increasing tyre size is the same as adding one to the front, not one to the rear.

Rob

Ok, so here is the argument or goal. You have for example '98 - 2002 RSV and run a sensible 16/42 gearing with 180/55/17 tyre. Now you want to run a 60 profile tyre, BUT you want to retain current gear ratio if possible. ie. have to change sprockets, What are the choices ?

16/42 gearing with 180/55/17 >> gearingcommander.com >> 267.5 km/h ( this is my reference speed )
Fit 60 profile tyre >> gearingcommander.com >> new projected speed 280.2 km/n
Option 1 : Take one tooth of front >> gearingcommander.com >> new projected speed 262.7 km/h
Option 2 : revert and run16/43 with 60 profile >> gearingcommander.com >> new projected speed 273.7 km/h
Option 3 : revert and run 16/44 with 60 profile >> gearingcommander.com >> 267.5 km/h

EXACTLY Fook Me >>> So, if you ran a 16/42 with 180/55/17 THEN you can EXACTLY keep same ratio when fitting a 60 profile tyre and change to 44 rear sprocket.

Corsa_RSVR said:

Ok, so here is the argument or goal. You have for example '98 - 2002 RSV and run a sensible 16/42 gearing with 180/55/17 tyre. Now you want to run a 60 profile tyre, BUT you want to retain current gear ratio if possible. ie. have to change sprockets, What are the choices ?

16/42 gearing with 180/55/17 >> gearingcommander.com >> 267.5 km/h ( this is my reference speed )
Fit 60 profile tyre >> gearingcommander.com >> new projected speed 280.2 km/n
Option 1 : Take one tooth of front >> gearingcommander.com >> new projected speed 262.7 km/h
Option 2 : revert and run16/43 with 60 profile >> gearingcommander.com >> new projected speed 273.7 km/h
Option 3 : revert and run 16/44 with 60 profile >> gearingcommander.com >> 267.5 km/h

EXACTLY Fook Me >>> So, if you ran a 16/42 with 180/55/17 THEN you can EXACTLY keep same ratio when fitting a 60 profile tyre and change to 44 rear sprocket.

Click to expand...

The point I was making was that the words you used...'The 60 profile rear had the same effect as adding a tooth on the rear sprocket' did not make what you meant clear since they imply that a larger tyre is equivalent to larger rear sprocket. I fully understand your actual point.

Rob

yeah rob, you are right.....it meant to read ' taking a tooth ' NOT ' adding. My apology if I confused the crap out of someone.....

Corsa_RSVR said:

yeah rob, you are right.....it meant to read ' taking a tooth ' NOT ' adding. My apology if I confused the crap out of someone.....

Click to expand...

No problem matey. At least it shows someone is reading, and taking an interest in, what you write

Rob