Rain Tires

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Thinking about rains for the EX. I can get a set of rain takeoffs for $100 from someone I know. Looks like new would cost me around $400, which is higher than I expected. Any of the slow guys (or fast guys who remember being slow once upon a time) run rain takeoffs? I assume at my level (1:31's last weekend, but I still need to figure out new T1 and stop braking & turning in early) takeoffs from a fast EX guy would be plenty. Yay? Nay?

Also, I want to do another track day in July, before next race weekend. I won't be able to get the takeoffs before then. If I sign up for one and it rains, am I going to be wasting my time on DOT Dunlop D208's? I'm thinking if nothing else I'll get a feel for traction limits and feedback?

As usual, I'm the new guy with no clue what's going on, so feel free to discuss/correct/abuse as necessary. Thanks.

[PPS26]

well i had a set of rain take offs friday morning in practice and found myself laying on the ground in turn 11....but who knows may have been a mistake on my part..newly painted bike curse...or the frt tire had no more grip...def want to make sure the take offs you get havent been chewed up in the semi dry...

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

DB Did a two seasons with Pilot power street tires for rains.

[BMFR6]

you could pull it off, but the risk is of course how hard they have been run and if they have been run in dry/semi-dry conditions. to be honest, i'd say buying new is the best bet. as long as you take care of the tires and store them correctly, they will last you many seasons.

course, like squirrel mentioned, you can use the pilot powers as well. not as good as rains (really not even close) but they'll do the job you are looking for.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

well i had a set of rain take offs friday morning in practice and found myself laying on the ground in turn 11....but who knows may have been a mistake on my part..newly painted bike curse...or the frt tire had no more grip...def want to make sure the take offs you get havent been chewed up in the semi dry...

Ouch. Then again, I've done that in 3 on the dry. Tires mean nothing if your user input sucks, which mine did. Not saying yours does, I have no clue, but mine sure does sometimes.

DB Did a two seasons with Pilot power street tires for rains.

Good to know! Still, unless I ride my D208s in the rain I need rain tires anyway. I already have the rain wheels, I don't see spending $ to mount street tires on them when ptwins lets me run rains.

you could pull it off, but the risk is of course how hard they have been run and if they have been run in dry/semi-dry conditions. to be honest, i'd say buying new is the best bet. as long as you take care of the tires and store them correctly, they will last you many seasons.

course, like squirrel mentioned, you can use the pilot powers as well. not as good as rains (really not even close) but they'll do the job you are looking for.

I assume by "take care of the tires" you don't mean "leave them on my rain wheels at the track in my tramper"? That was more or less my plan...

[BMFR6]

I assume by "take care of the tires" you don't mean "leave them on my rain wheels at the track in my tramper"? That was more or less my plan...

exactly. using your rain set up to hold down your ez-up isn't a good plan. i did 3 seasons on my rains and they were still in great shape when i got rid of them. say you get 4 seasons out of them, thats $100 a season. how much would a crash cost you to repair because you went out on shoddy tires? it's good to save money, but tires (and brakes) are a bad place to do it.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

exactly. using your rain set up to hold down your ez-up isn't a good plan. i did 3 seasons on my rains and they were still in great shape when i got rid of them. say you get 4 seasons out of them, thats $100 a season. how much would a crash cost you to repair because you went out on shoddy tires? it's good to save money, but tires (and brakes) are a bad place to do it.

I have no ez-up, but I take it you're saying leaving them in my tramper @ the track like I do with my DOT's (which stay on the bike) is a bad idea? Am I actually supposed to take them to & from the track and store them in a cool dark place? Hm... that's a PITA, but if it's what I gotta do, it's what I gotta do.

As for what would it cost me to crash because I lost traction? So far, looks like ~$16/crash. I'm guessing that number could increase, but that's what my first one cost me. Gotta love those EX's when it comes to crashing...

Of course, I could get hurt, or break something expensive. A bigger concern is if the tires suck I’ll be slower than I need to be, and I don’t want to be slower than I need to be. If I can seriously get multiple seasons out of a set of rains it’s probably worth it, unless the takeoffs I can get are in awesome shape, which I’m not confident about.

[Kurlon]

Before you park your bike in the tramper, up your tire pressure to 50psi.

[BMFR6]

I have no ez-up, but I take it you're saying leaving them in my tramper @ the track like I do with my DOT's (which stay on the bike) is a bad idea? Am I actually supposed to take them to & from the track and store them in a cool dark place? Hm... that's a PITA, but if it's what I gotta do, it's what I gotta do.

As for what would it cost me to crash because I lost traction? So far, looks like ~$16/crash. I'm guessing that number could increase, but that's what my first one cost me. Gotta love those EX's when it comes to crashing...

Of course, I could get hurt, or break something expensive. A bigger concern is if the tires suck I’ll be slower than I need to be, and I don’t want to be slower than I need to be. If I can seriously get multiple seasons out of a set of rains it’s probably worth it, unless the takeoffs I can get are in awesome shape, which I’m not confident about.

Yes, storing them in a cool dark place is best. You don't have to be overly anal about it, just don't abuse them. like you say, you could get hurt or break something expensive, but also keep in mind it's not just what could happen to you. There are other people on the track that depend upon you doing everything you can to go out on the track with the safest equipment possible. As you improve and the racing gets closer, this gets very important. ask one of the experts how they would feel gridding up next to a guy that isn't 100% confident in their bikes set up. Not trying to lecture, just trying to pass along some wisdom.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Yes, storing them in a cool dark place is best. You don't have to be overly anal about it, just don't abuse them. like you say, you could get hurt or break something expensive, but also keep in mind it's not just what could happen to you. There are other people on the track that depend upon you doing everything you can to go out on the track with the safest equipment possible. As you improve and the racing gets closer, this gets very important. ask one of the experts how they would feel gridding up next to a guy that isn't 100% confident in their bikes set up. Not trying to lecture, just trying to pass along some wisdom.

I appreciate the heads up, and yeah, I wouldn't go out there with an unsafe setup. Last thing I want is to take someone else out because my bike was not set up right. That said, I do see a lot of people run DOTs in the wet and just take it easy, so I'm not sure that it's the same thing. Still, I think the bottom line here is I need decent rain tires to ride in the rain. Otherwise I'm going to be all sorts of slow, and possibly dangerous. Oh well, add another expense, I'll have to just bite the bullet.

So, what's everyone like for rain tires? Especially on an EX, if you've got one or had one at some point.

[Kurlon]

I'm running Bridgestone rains.
120/595R17 YEK mounted backwards up front (125 GP rear)
155/620R17 YEK mounted in back

Got this setup suggestion from WERA, worked like a champ so far.

[Fitz]

John Tansey had a set posted on the bulletin board at event #4. Pirelli's. SV sizing. Bran new for $200 I believe.

Fitz

[Paul_E_D]

I found used rains to be more than adequate for my first 5 years or so. Evaluate them like knobbies. As long as the edges of the knobs aren't gone or curled up and hanging off, they will perform light years better than DOTs. In fact, they will perform better than DOTs until the knobs are worn entirely off!

["Dangerous" Dan K]

John Tansey had a set posted on the bulletin board at event #4. Pirelli's. SV sizing. Bran new for $200 I believe.

Fitz

That's a killer deal, but I'm pretty sure the rear would be too big. I was watching someone run a 160 rear on the past couple weekend and he needed to take the chain off and slide the rear back to get the warmer on, then slide it forward, take the warmer off, and retighten after thrid call. Too much hassle for me.

I found used rains to be more than adequate for my first 5 years or so. Evaluate them like knobbies. As long as the edges of the knobs aren't gone or curled up and hanging off, they will perform light years better than DOTs. In fact, they will perform better than DOTs until the knobs are worn entirely off!

That's more or less what I thought when I started this. Because they're no longer ideal for an expert shouldn't mean they won't be OK for my novice use...?

[zx1012r]

Dana Temple takes Jeff's old rains and uses an electric planer to restore the tread. I laughed until I had a hard time getting around him in the rain! A true cheap EX500 racer!

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Dana Temple takes Jeff's old rains and uses an electric planer to restore the tread. I laughed until I had a hard time getting around him in the rain! A true cheap EX500 racer!

Does he really? Nice! Dana is the man, no question. Then again, the stuff he does with these bikes he could probably make good rains from mac n cheese and burnt DOTs.

BTW, hi Mark, it's Dan. Orange EX, in the garage w/ BJ, Joe, Brendan, Harrison & Alex. I didn't even know you were on here until recently. No idea if you realized this was me or not.

[Kurlon]

BTW, hi Mark, it's Dan. Orange EX, in the garage w/ BJ, Joe, Brendan, Harrison & Alex.

You know, they guy in his avatar pic?

["Dangerous" Dan K]

You know, they guy in his avatar pic?

Whoops... forgot about that. guess he did know

edit: oh yeah, :

[LowSider]

Oh yeah, a set of take off can't handle the horsepower of an EX.

[lrrs428]

I have a set i bought off heath, they were $50 and i have run them 6 or 7 times in the rain including 4 wins. i ran 34's in practice on a 560smr last fri with little wiggle in the rear coming out of turn two, so on an ex i would assume some budget rain tires like i bought would be ok.

[TTD]

Yes... rain takeoffs are fine. Far better than DOT's.

The fastest rider at our April trackdays in NJ was on a set of rain takeoffs he bought for $10.

[legalspeed]

buy your rains, collect your trophies....