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

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

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

[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?

[CHOPPA]

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

[CM2005]

I'd personally go for treaded tyres on your SV

[sugilite:Me]

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:Me]

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.