Race tyres on the road?

[(P)]

seeing used race tyres on trademe has got me thinking if i can run them on the road? is it legal?

Or would they be better used at the dragstrip?

thanks my home bois of kb!

[R6_kid:Me]

You can't legally ride with slicks on the road, but I have seen at least one person doing it in the past.

Most 'race' tyres are homologated, in that they are a production based tyre on sale to the general public for road use. Conti RaceAttacks and Pirelli SuperCorsa Pro's are both race tyres with enough tread cut in to them to be legally used on the road. Can't remember the Bridgestone or Michelin equivalents off the top of my head.

You need to keep in mind though that as they tend to only be good in good conditions (dry roads) and probably will take longer to heat up than standard road tyres. Also they are not designed to be sticky for as long as normal road tyres and so they will most likely be shot before they are below the legal tread depth requirement.

[roogazza]

I ride every now and then with a zx10 and he uses slicks all year round ! Not legal , but what amazes me is he never seems to have any 'moments' with them ? He rides quite smooth and isn't too aggressive in his movements so thats probably the key.
I run supercorsas, but am very careful from cold. If you are able to get enough heat into them its worth it. I only ride in fine'ish weather. G.

[NZsarge]

The Michelin equivalent would now be the "Power One".

[Kwaka14]

You can only use slicks in drag racing in some classes as for the winter drags and dragwars the rules say that effectively the bike must be of wof standard, however scrutineering will often let them through (well have seen it once or twice).

[sinfull]

I ride every now and then with a zx10 and he uses slicks all year round ! Not legal , but what amazes me is he never seems to have any 'moments' with them ? He rides quite smooth and isn't too aggressive in his movements so thats probably the key.
I run supercorsas, but am very careful from cold. If you are able to get enough heat into them its worth it. I only ride in fine'ish weather. G.

+1 on Gazza's post !
If ya work out the costings (and change your own tyres) it is far cheaper to buy a few sets of ex race tyres or 1 front 2 rear combos' ya can save a hell of a lot of money !
I'm in the (was gonna say fortunate but a sponser would be a hell of lot better) position to have a race bike which i use dot tyres on the track with and as soon as i get a couple of slides, or think its time they go, replace them and put them on my road bike (or stack them up ready to lol)
They do need to be up to temp to work properly but then so do road tyres !

[Matt Bleck]

Slicks are all good on the road until it rains, then it's whea hey hey from there...

[driftn]

Slicks are great fun on the road.
Even in the wet they are good but when they get in standing water things turn to custard.

[SixPackBack]

Don't bother. By the time the tyres are on sold they have been cooked and are often useless. Often they are slippery in the rain, wear quickly and offer no more grip than a street tyre.

[pritch]

Don't bother.

I'm with him.

If you could get race tyres up to temperature on the road, if the number of heat cycles hadn't exceeded the maximum, if you never had to ride in town, if you never had to ride in the wet and if you never struck a red traffic light, it might almost work.

Then again a tyre specifically designed for road use would still be more betterer...

Like the tyre people say, the more honest with yourself you are about what you require from a tyre, the better service you will get from your tyres.

[cowboyz]

generally speaking people throw away their tyres way too early. I went about 2 years running second hand tyres and getting 4-5000k out of tyres that were deemed wornout paying about 40-50 bux a tyre. that is good economy. there are alot of peeps getting in on the game with alot of buggered tyres being sold on trademe right now though so have to be careful. Alot of F2 or even clubman riders use production tyres like racetecs which are fine on the road.

[YellowDog]

I'm with him.

If you could get race tyres up to temperature on the road, if the number of heat cycles hadn't exceeded the maximum, if you never had to ride in town, if you never had to ride in the wet and if you never struck a red traffic light, it might almost work.

Then again a tyre specifically designed for road use would still be more betterer...

Like the tyre people say, the more honest with yourself you are about what you require from a tyre, the better service you will get from your tyres.

Agree, it is not a good idea. Race tyres can only do their job effectively at high temperatures. The guy who rides real smooth could ride with any tyre at all. If you are doing a one or two off trip, then that will be fine.

When it starts to rain get someone with a camera on each corner for the new top rated YouTube clip.

[AllanB]

Is it legal you ask? If it is a Dot approved tyre then it is street legal.

As for the other aspects I have no experience.

However it does occur to me that many posters are missing the most important part of fitting someone else's race tyres to your street bike.

They will have killed all chicken strips and probably have a nice bit of balled-up rubber on the edges - thus giving you heaps of street cred.

[DEATH_INC.]

I was one of those 'you can't do that' guys a year or 3 back, but I've run 'em for a while now (not slicks, D209gp's and the new Supercorsa's) with no problems. In fact, I'm so used to the feel of them now I can't get used to the feel of road tyres now....

[Drew]

Go for it. If you're talking about treaded tyres, they are generally fine on the road. A really common reason for a rear tyre coming off before it's worn out is "sheer" on the surface. It's nearly impossible to get a tyre to stop it once started on the track, but on the road it wears off and the tyre is fine.

Half worn tyres are less than ideal on the track too, so people with will change them in hope of selling them, to pay for some of the new ones.

Slicks are good on the road, but that is only half true at times. Dunlop entechs chew out like a bitch on coarse chip, unless you run warmers and dont stop to let them cool down. Supercorser "dragon" slicks work well, because they are literally a treaded supercorser without tread, made for track days really. The "superbike" version suffers the same as Dunlops.