Motard race tyre

[Quasievil]

Hi I have a KTM525smr which I intend to race next month, currently it has Metzler Drift slicks on it, which is fine but I dont want to change to wets if there is a rain day, reason is I dont have spare rims or tools to change tyres at the track, I will eventually but until then I will stick to a treaded race tyre, can anyone offer me a bit of advise as to whats a good track race tyre for a motard that will be good in the dry and ok in the wet...................what do you use and why ?

[CHOPPA]

Motards aint hard on tyres, willies wets hold up ok in the dry... I got tyre levers bro!

[scott411]

motards will chew wets in the dry if you ride them hard, have tried that before, and wets aren't that cheap,

you can run proddy tyres on them, but they are still not that great in the rain, if you groove the outside a bit they are better,

motard tyres are easy to change i did one in 10 minutes at wanganui a few years ago in full leathers, and i am not a good mechanic, if you can get a bead breaker or steal one off someone, (road race guys tend to be prepared a bit better than the motard boys) it may be worth carrying treaded tyres,

[GaZBur]

A lot of the guys down here run Metzler M3's and do quite nicely. I dont see a point in drift tyres as nobody drifts on full size race tracks. I usually run mid field as neither myself or my bike are uber-quick and run Dunlop 501's which by comparrison are very hard tyres. They slide very early but predictably. I have also tried Pirelli sport demons which are possibly slightly better than the Dunlop except in the wet. I have noticed that the tubless tyres run colder than the tubed and are slower to warm up but that may just be because of recent weather temperatures.

Good luck anyway!

[Devil]

Quasi: Not along the wet lines but, spoke to an SMR racer who mentions the profile of the Dunlop slicks stops most of the chain clearance issues that you're having. Failing that, running a skinnier rim, still with the 160 rear.