2010 ZX6R. The wifes trackbike.

[Yorick]

I used to give them away

Even ones with less than 10 laps on ? That'd be silly wouldn't it. Sure when they're knackered they're binned or given away. But £320 tyres with less than 20 miles on them, they have a decent value.

Sorry, that was a throwback to Gubbs

We got tyres at cost. Approx £100 for a Dunlop 190 rear. And the tyre man would turn the tyres for us, but not customers.

I got the very best out of my tyres

[Mr. Dazzle]

And the tyre man would turn the tyres for us, but not customers.

Don't let tomcat hear you say that

Does sound kinda wrong to me too, but then again you never had a blow out? I suppose if the man from Dunlop is doing it he can check the tyre over at the same time.

[Yorick]

And the tyre man would turn the tyres for us, but not customers.

Don't let tomcat hear you say that

Does sound kinda wrong to me too, but then again you never had a blow out? I suppose if the man from Dunlop is doing it he can check the tyre over at the same time.

Every year us instructors went on a training day. The very top man from Dunlop racing dept came to talk about tyres. He was amazing. When we asked if we could turn tyres he winked and said "not officially"

So our tyre man wouldn't do it for customers.

[Supermofo]

I remember bumping into Ducati Pete (he still about?) at brands and he was in the process of turning his tyres before going back out.

[weeksy]

I remember bumping into Ducati Pete (he still about?) at brands and he was in the process of turning his tyres before going back out.

not seen him for a while, even over on the trackdayriders forum. He was great entertainment that bloke

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

What makes you decide the tyres are shagged, I think mine have done 8 or 9 track days and still feel fine.

[weeksy]

What makes you decide the tyres are shagged, I think mine have done 8 or 9 track days and still feel fine.

Wear, profile, and squirrelyness. The first 2 are down to me, the last is down to Mrs Weeksy.

Wear : amount of tread left, the composition of the sides/edges
Profile : tyres go 'out of round' on one side and have a step in them which gives a transition from say 20% to 25% lean and feel a bit wandery because of that.
Squirrelyness : This is down to Mrs Weekys 'feel' out on track, something we've been working on as rider/crew over the last few years. She's getting more used to what she likes and doesn't like in how a bike feels, how it turns, holds lines or indeed 'feels a bit squirrely' at times. I wouldn't go as far as to say she can notice when it's 1psi out, but 5psi she'd 100% notice an issue.

This isn't helped by the fact manufacturers now seem to have daft pressures and a lack of consistency within them. Back in the day you'd have a set of Racetec/SCs and you'd run 29-30 on both front and rear from cold. They'd work fine and everyone was happy.
Nowdays, you measure them hot, either while on the warmers or after a session, running 24-28 on the back hot and 33-37 on the front hot... It makes things more complicated to get right but also can give weird feelings on the first couple of laps if done off the warmers.
But then you'll get another set of rubber and their windows will be completely different.

Add to this the fact that tyres nowdays feel and react completely differently. For example, Racetecs have quite a soft sidewall which means they dig in, squirm and squat a bit under braking for example. The Dunlops have a stiffer sidewall and feel more consistent but arguably lack some 'feel'

I think i babbled on a bit from "they just look fucked"

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Cheers for that, I'm running Conti Endurance Race tyres which are quite stiff and don't have a massive amount of feel, probably why they're lasting fine, also 60bhp doesn't shag a tyre designed for over 100bhp.
I could easily get away with softer tyres but I'm not sure if I can be arsed, I'm not worried about how fast I'm going, I'm more bothered about how much fun I'm having, I'm tempted to back to the slidey Maxxis the bike came with, I was slow but it was a lot of fun coming out of corners with the rear wheel going slightly sideways.

[Trinity765]

What makes you decide the tyres are shagged, I think mine have done 8 or 9 track days and still feel fine.

I wouldn't go as far as to say she can notice when it's 1psi out, but 5psi she'd 100% notice an issue.

Are women more sensitive than men? I can feel the difference between cold and warm suspension and don't need to check psi to know I have lost some. I got called Princes and The Pea for that (road riding only, no track experience).

[Mr. Dazzle]

What makes you decide the tyres are shagged, I think mine have done 8 or 9 track days and still feel fine.

When the belts start to rust.

[weeksy]

What makes you decide the tyres are shagged, I think mine have done 8 or 9 track days and still feel fine.

I wouldn't go as far as to say she can notice when it's 1psi out, but 5psi she'd 100% notice an issue.

Are women more sensitive than men? I can feel the difference between cold and warm suspension and don't need to check psi to know I have lost some. I got called Princes and The Pea for that (road riding only, no track experience).

Don't know... Good question though. The reason we've been trying to work on it is due to lack of feedback at times from her
"hows the bike"
"yeah it's fine.."

Meh.... Give me a bit more to work with..

So now we get
"hows the bike"
"seems to be turning a bit slower"
"is that on entry, mid corner or exit.."
"no idea"
"go out next session and then tell me where"

She'll then go out next session and give me a bit more info. Meanwhile i've checked and re-checked pressures and possibly adjusted slightly.

We've been known to send one of the fast lads out on her bike at times like this, just to put her mind at rest that nothing is wrong with the bike.

[Bigyin]

I remember bumping into Ducati Pete (he still about?) at brands and he was in the process of turning his tyres before going back out.

When Bob At FWR was a gobby kid long before he was working with tyre sales in his rookie 600 season with Bemsee he was turning tyres all the time and by the end of the year was Rookie 600 and iirc Clubman 600 champion as well.

[Couchy]

What makes you decide the tyres are shagged, I think mine have done 8 or 9 track days and still feel fine.

They can go off and slide a bit when proper knackered, a few warning slides on tyres you know have done a day or two is enough to let you know it’s time to change them . Some folk can go years on the same tyre as they are steady riders, tbh I’m slow enough not to care too much these days so I count myself as one of them

[G.P]

Wear, profile, and squirrelyness. The first 2 are down to me, the last is down to Mrs Weeksy.

Squirrelyness : This is down to Mrs Weekys 'feel' out on track, something we've been working on as rider/crew over the last few years. She's getting more used to what she likes and doesn't like in how a bike feels, how it turns, holds lines or indeed 'feels a bit squirrely' at times. I wouldn't go as far as to say she can notice when it's 1psi out, but 5psi she'd 100% notice an issue.

We've told Ceri, when they get Squirrely, get another Squirrel, Squirrels are miles cheaper than tyres.

[Yorick]

Wear, profile, and squirrelyness. The first 2 are down to me, the last is down to Mrs Weeksy.

Squirrelyness : This is down to Mrs Weekys 'feel' out on track, something we've been working on as rider/crew over the last few years. She's getting more used to what she likes and doesn't like in how a bike feels, how it turns, holds lines or indeed 'feels a bit squirrely' at times. I wouldn't go as far as to say she can notice when it's 1psi out, but 5psi she'd 100% notice an issue.

We've told Ceri, when they get Squirrely, get another Squirrel, Squirrels are miles cheaper than tyres.

Not like you to be funny

[Tricky]

I remember bumping into Ducati Pete (he still about?) at brands and he was in the process of turning his tyres before going back out.

not seen him for a while, even over on the trackdayriders forum. He was great entertainment that bloke

Ah there's a blast from the past-, and thats spooky- last time I saw Pete was at Portimao, think it was the very first ever bike TD there got to be 10 years ago, maybe a little more. Was a few of us there, icluding Couch, RSVMan, Spliffy and a couple of my ex-Bemsee racer mates.

Pete was there on his 990 Superduke, and binned it on the brakes into turn one in the pissing rain, prety sure it was the first day.
we got his bike ridable again, but for the rest of the trip it had wonky Akra cans, one pointing up, one down

[weeksy]

I'm sure it spent the next 5 years with wonky cans

[Couchy]

I remember bumping into Ducati Pete (he still about?) at brands and he was in the process of turning his tyres before going back out.

not seen him for a while, even over on the trackdayriders forum. He was great entertainment that bloke

Ah there's a blast from the past-, and thats spooky- last time I saw Pete was at Portimao, think it was the very first ever bike TD there got to be 10 years ago, maybe a little more. Was a few of us there, icluding Couch, RSVMan, Spliffy and a couple of my ex-Bemsee racer mates.

Pete was there on his 990 Superduke, and binned it on the brakes into turn one in the pissing rain, prety sure it was the first day.
we got his bike ridable again, but for the rest of the trip it had wonky Akra cans, one pointing up, one down

I remember that it was the second Trackday there 2008 I think, I’ve got the pic somewhere of the duke, Pete is still around pops up on Facebook regularly

[Couchy]

not seen him for a while, even over on the trackdayriders forum. He was great entertainment that bloke

Ah there's a blast from the past-, and thats spooky- last time I saw Pete was at Portimao, think it was the very first ever bike TD there got to be 10 years ago, maybe a little more. Was a few of us there, icluding Couch, RSVMan, Spliffy and a couple of my ex-Bemsee racer mates.

Pete was there on his 990 Superduke, and binned it on the brakes into turn one in the pissing rain, prety sure it was the first day.
we got his bike ridable again, but for the rest of the trip it had wonky Akra cans, one pointing up, one down

It was April 2009 not 2008

Untitled by Tony H, on Flickr

I remember that it was the second Trackday there 2008 I think, I’ve got the pic somewhere of the duke, Pete is still around pops up on Facebook regularly

[Tricky]

Yup, remember it well- I've pretty sure I've got some on-bike video somewhere from the trip with Lucie in it too