How to choose a good tire for your motorcycle①
- 2021-06-22-
Motorcycle tyres have different shapes, patterns, etc. It is best to choose the tire that suits you.
1 The shape of the motorcycle tyres. Yes, although they all look the same, the tires actually come in different shapes. The two most basic motorcycle tyres shapes are a sharp triangle in the middle and an arc with a very smooth overall shape.
Triangular motorcycle tyres are more sensitive than curved ones, making it easier to turn the motorcycle and turning the motorcycle left and right, and even give the rider a feeling that the speed of entering a corner has become faster; at the same time, when bending, this The shaped tire has a large contact area with the ground and good grip; the disadvantage is that it is not stable enough when running in a straight line, and because this type of tire is relatively rare, few riders have experience in using it, and it feels when you first use it. Will be weird.
Curved motorcycle tyres are not as sensitive, but the stability of straight acceleration will be much better. At the same time, this kind of tire has good cornering ability, the process of body steering and side pressure is more stable, and it is easier to hold the line in the corner. Most of the tires are in this shape.
The width of the tire is also an aspect that needs to be considered. Generally speaking, the wider the tire, the better the grip, but the less agile and difficult to steer; the narrower the tire will do the opposite.
2 The material can be roughly divided into Soft Compound and Hard Compound
The advantage of soft materials is that they can withstand high extreme temperatures. After reaching the best working temperature, the grip and viscosity are extremely strong; the disadvantage is that the time to reach the best working temperature is slow, the material is too soft and not wear-resistant, and because of the high viscosity , It is easy to absorb sand and small stones, which will affect the grip.
The advantages of hard materials are that they require low working temperature, wear resistance, and are not easy to absorb road debris; the disadvantage is that they are not easy to become sticky and do not have the super grip of soft materials.
3 Fully hot-melt tires and semi-hot-melt tires.
Almost all hot-melt tires use soft materials.
The tires that have the most track capability and can make the fastest laps are undoubtedly all hot-melt. The all-hot-melt tire has the strongest stickiness and the best grip after reaching the best tire temperature. The Pirelli Diabllo Super Corsa, as the only all-hot-melt tire in the Motorcycle USA test team, performed the best on the track and made the fastest lap time.
But it is not the best tire to work on the track, it is also the best in the environment of street and mountain riding. Fully hot-melt tires have a high limit temperature and a high melting point, so it will take a relatively long time to reach the optimal working temperature. It requires high-intensity riding by the rider or the use of a professional tire warmer to achieve the best The working temperature of the tire; and before the optimal tire temperature is reached, the grip of the all-hot-melt tire is very poor; at the same time, due to material problems, the all-hot-melt tire will be very sticky after melting. If the ground is not clean and flat, A lot of sand or even small stones will stick to the tire, which will affect the grip of the motorcycle tyres.
Semi-hot melt tires use hard materials in the middle of the tire and soft materials on both sides.
The motorcycle tyres we most often come into contact with are semi-hot melt, and now most of the standard tires of large displacement sports/sports cruising motorcycles are also semi-hot melt.
Because the soft material is used on both sides, the cornering ability of the semi-hot-melt tire is also excellent; at the same time, because the middle part of the semi-hot-melt tire uses a hard material, the tire becomes more wear-resistant (it is the service life of the full-hot-melt tire). 1.5 times to 2 times of the tyre), it is not so sticky, and it is easier to adapt to the unclean road conditions such as street/mountain roads; finally, because of the combination of hard and soft materials, semi-hot-melt tires require working temperature It is not as high as full melting, and the rate of temperature rise is relatively fast.
The downside is that compared to the full-melt tires, the overall grip of the semi-melt tires is not so strong. Under normal circumstances, on the streets/mountain roads, it is impossible for us to achieve the full potential of the full-melt tires. There is no need for such exaggerated grip, at least for safe, law-abiding riding styles. Coupled with a series of benefits brought by hard materials, as long as it is not completely used to run the track, the crocodile will recommend you to buy semi-hot-melt tires. Fully hot-melt tires are not only expensive, wear quickly, and unnecessary, but can also be quite dangerous when the road environment and tire temperature are not perfect.