Slicks or treaded?

[The Singing Chef]

Hi guys,

Have just bought an Sv650 1999 for the track. Comes with an additional rear slick.
My question is what kind of handling difference do you get when using a slick? If not kept up to optimal temperatures because I am not going fast enough, will that cause any problems?
I don't have any tyre warmers so would have to warm them up on track.
Just starting off with track days and testing days at the moment till i get enough money to come out racing :banana:

Cheers, and any additional advice would be welcome as well.

[blackdog]

Yes, obviously warm them up on the track as fast as possible but the physics are fairly simple.

More surface area = more grip.

[CHOPPA]

Hi guys,

Have just bought an Sv650 1999 for the track. Comes with an additional rear slick.
My question is what kind of handling difference do you get when using a slick? If not kept up to optimal temperatures because I am not going fast enough, will that cause any problems?
I don't have any tyre warmers so would have to warm them up on track.
Just starting off with track days and testing days at the moment till i get enough money to come out racing :banana:

Cheers, and any additional advice would be welcome as well.

Whatever you can pick up cheap, slicks or race DOT tyres are all heat sensitive but just warm em up good. Try get tyres of some guys that are racing that use lots of tyres so you can get em cheap.

Pirelli tyres tend to keep the most grip for a long time so are good second hand

[CHOPPA]

You wont notice the difference in grip between a treaded race tyre and a slick

[blackdog]

Whatever you can pick up cheap, slicks or race DOT tyres are all heat sensitive but just warm em up good. Try get tyres of some guys that are racing that use lots of tyres so you can get em cheap.

Pirelli tyres tend to keep the most grip for a long time so are good second hand

Just changed your tyre sponser from Pirelli to someone else?

[CM2005]

I'd personally go for treaded tyres on your SV

[sugilite]

Slicks last longer as they do not have grooves creating multiple edges for the track to tear away at the tyre.

[CHOPPA]

Even better still, go buy yourself a set of Pirelli Supercorsa Road tyres, they will grip better cold, last way more heat cycles and new tyres that you know there history is the best.

You can thank me later

[The Singing Chef]

Thanks guys for your input! Will trial out both tyres and see how they go, got to get used to the bike first anyway. Jumping up from a gsx 250 so will be fun. Look forward to seeing you guys on the track!

[FROSTY]

Hey singins chef. I used to race F3 on an SV650. Pretty slowracer. Anyhow come nationals time I used a mixture of slicks and treaded tyres. frankly I couldn't really tell much difference if any at all.

[Mental Trousers]

Besides entry fees tyres are your second largest expense, closely followed by petrol (that's if you don't crash). Tyres warmers are really worth what you pay for them because they help preserve your tyres. Not only do they warm the tyres so you don't arse off first corner, but they also mean you're only going through a single major heat cycle in a day. On a bike with decent suspension it's heat cycles that will kill your tyres. So one of your first purchases should be a set of warmers.

Slicks will last a bit longer cos they don't have any grooves. But they are slower to warm precisely because they don't have any grooves.

Pretty much use whatever you can. Definitely try and stick to the same brand though because your bike will feel very different on different tyres.

[The Singing Chef]

Hey singins chef. I used to race F3 on an SV650. Pretty slowracer. Anyhow come nationals time I used a mixture of slicks and treaded tyres. frankly I couldn't really tell much difference if any at all.

Hmm that's quite interesting. I wont be flying anyway, just moved up to group 2 in ART so will be aiming to get into group 3 first anyway. Will be nice having more ground clearance and bigger tyres. Was a centimeter away from grinding my exhaust pipe and right to the edge of my tyres. I am planning on going to a testing day at puke on the 12 of November. If anyone is out there and wants to give a new Guy some tips and do a few laps with me it would be very appreciated.

[The Singing Chef]

Besides entry fees tyres are your second largest expense, closely followed by petrol (that's if you don't crash). Tyres warmers are really worth what you pay for them because they help preserve your tyres. Not only do they warm the tyres so you don't arse off first corner, but they also mean you're only going through a single major heat cycle in a day. On a bike with decent suspension it's heat cycles that will kill your tyres. So one of your first purchases should be a set of warmers.

Slicks will last a bit longer cos they don't have any grooves. But they are slower to warm precisely because they don't have any grooves.

Pretty much use whatever you can. Definitely try and stick to the same brand though because your bike will feel very different on different tyres.

Yea will be looking at Tyre warmers when I have some spare cash. I would have thought that because of the softer compound they would wear out faster?

Cheers for the advice

[Mental Trousers]

Yea will be looking at Tyre warmers when I have some spare cash. I would have thought that because of the softer compound they would wear out faster?

Cheers for the advice

Slicks don't necessarily use a softer compound.

Tyre wear can be affected a hell of a lot by the temperature. In general soft tyres work better at higher temperatures, harder tyres at lower ambient temperatures. Use the wrong compound for the wrong temperature and you can completely chew a tyre up in a couple of laps.

[Gremlin]

Yea will be looking at Tyre warmers when I have some spare cash. I would have thought that because of the softer compound they would wear out faster?
Bearing in mind slicks are usually softer than road tyres.

A tyre gets heat into it by friction, from the road obviously, but also from the movement and flex of the tyre. Ergo, the more grooves you have in a tyre, the more the remaining tread will move around, so the quicker it warms up (materials in tread ignored). The movement of the tread also means the tread wears (rate depends on the makeup of the tread).

Solid tyres (slicks) have no grooves, so without warmers would take ages to warm up, if you could even get enough heat into them. Of course a slick has no grooves, so therefore less movement of the tread, hence why it could last longer. On a sliding scale, all this applies to road tyres. Race tyres that are road legal are bloody hard to get up to temperature compared to a sport touring tyre, but with both in their operating temp zone, the race version is more sticky.

[The Singing Chef]

Bearing in mind slicks are usually softer than road tyres.

A tyre gets heat into it by friction, from the road obviously, but also from the movement and flex of the tyre. Ergo, the more grooves you have in a tyre, the more the remaining tread will move around, so the quicker it warms up (materials in tread ignored). The movement of the tread also means the tread wears (rate depends on the makeup of the tread).

Solid tyres (slicks) have no grooves, so without warmers would take ages to warm up, if you could even get enough heat into them. Of course a slick has no grooves, so therefore less movement of the tread, hence why it could last longer. On a sliding scale, all this applies to road tyres. Race tyres that are road legal are bloody hard to get up to temperature compared to a sport touring tyre, but with both in their operating temp zone, the race version is more sticky.

I see, that makes sense now.

Guess I will stick with treaded now until I can get some tyre warmers and a good set of slicks.

[Sketchy_Racer]

Just to put a spanner in the works, here are some definitions:

Slick - Non DOT approved race tyre, with a selection of compounds, usually soft, medium and hard

Treaded Race Tyre - DOT approved, but it is almost no different to the slick in most cases, ignore the tread difference it doesn't make a difference to the heating and compounds of the tyres, just makes them wear slightly faster. Even though these are DOT approved for the road, they a very much a race tyre and would be lucky to last 3000km on the road, they are slicks with a couple of silly grooves to meet DOT compliance.

Treaded Road Tyre - Completely difference kettle of fish to the race versions, much different compounds and usually different profiles. Will not get close to matching the grip levels of the races tyres but will last a lot longer and will probably be slightly more consistent in grip with the lack of tyre warmers.

A medium level track day rider will not notice any difference going from a slick to a treaded race tyre that are the same profile, brand and size.

My recommendation would be to buy a set of slicks with a medium rear compound and soft front compound and a set of warmers which will pay for themselves quickly by preserving the tyres. These will last well for a track day rider and give good levels of grip.

Good luck and have fun!

-Sketchy

[quickbuck]

Thanks guys for your input! Will trial out both tyres and see how they go, got to get used to the bike first anyway. Jumping up from a gsx 250 so will be fun. Look forward to seeing you guys on the track!

A GSX 250 Invader? to an F3 SV bike for the track... Huge step...
I went from a CBR600 road bike to a 250 for the track... And that is plenty fast/ expensive enough.... In saying that, I do have time to hold conversations down the short pit straight at Taupo....

Actually, the Dunlop Sportmax tyres on the 250 last a whole season, so the expence isn't so big for them.
But as said, there are some good second hand deals to be had on tyres to fit your SV.

Great to see somebody else has seen the light and is taking it to the track!

[The Singing Chef]

A GSX 250 Invader? to an F3 SV bike for the track... Huge step...
I went from a CBR600 road bike to a 250 for the track... And that is plenty fast/ expensive enough.... In saying that, I do have time to hold conversations down the short pit straight at Taupo....

Actually, the Dunlop Sportmax tyres on the 250 last a whole season, so the expence isn't so big for them.
But as said, there are some good second hand deals to be had on tyres to fit your SV.

Great to see somebody else has seen the light and is taking it to the track!

Yea very big step, I look forward to the learning curve though.

Tires I have on at the moment are

Rear - Michelin Radial
Front - Pirelli suberbike

+1 Superbike slick rear.

And yea I love the track now, just want to get on there now!! just got my bike up here this morning so gave her a quick wash and check over.

[quickbuck]

And yea I love the track now, just want to get on there now!!
Cool man,
Keep us posted on how you get on.... It is also a good place to review your progress....

[The Singing Chef]

Cool man,
Keep us posted on how you get on.... It is also a good place to review your progress....

Yea will do mate cheers, Will hope to get video on the 12th at Puke so will get some opinions :yes:

[FROSTY]

Hey SC. Look not being a smartass But I've done a heck of a lot of laps of Pukie and hundreds of em on my SV650. NEVER have I dragged my exhaust ion the track. If you are close then theres something wrong with your setup. Looking at the pics of your bike I'd say the first thing you are going to drag will be the toe of your boot of you dont slide em far enough back or your footpeg if you do.
I used to touch down on the hairpin and for a moment on T2. It would be knee down on the hill and the second half of castrol.
On the tyre front -I was running metzlers and prirelli's The information I was given by Pirrelli was that the tyre COMPOUND was exactly the same slick or treaded. I prefered treaded only because they are easier to resell at end of season.

[The Singing Chef]

Hey SC. Look not being a smartass But I've done a heck of a lot of laps of Pukie and hundreds of em on my SV650. NEVER have I dragged my exhaust ion the track. If you are close then theres something wrong with your setup. Looking at the pics of your bike I'd say the first thing you are going to drag will be the toe of your boot of you dont slide em far enough back or your footpeg if you do.
I used to touch down on the hairpin and for a moment on T2. It would be knee down on the hill and the second half of castrol.
On the tyre front -I was running metzlers and prirelli's The information I was given by Pirrelli was that the tyre COMPOUND was exactly the same slick or treaded. I prefered treaded only because they are easier to resell at end of season.

It was on the gsx250 that I was getting close. Never touched just very close. The sv has alot more room for leanage.