mattijw

I'd be really interested in hearing how much mileage anyone has got out of the dunlop sportmax roadsmarts as i'm considering a pair. I'd also love to hear from anyone with experience of Maxxis Supermaxx M6029's, again especially the mileage from them.

I'm currently running Pirelli diablo strada's (at the recomended 36psi/42psi) and IMHO they're great. Stable and predictable wet or dry and grip well enough that I have no chicken strips on the rear and have touched the pegs on both sides. I'd be totally happy except that the rear is showing quite a bit of wear at 2500miles, I'd reckon it will be shot by 3500 or so. I'm hoping to get more out of some roadsmarts.

For the record I'm 6'4 and weigh 100kgs and ride reasonably hard (29mpg or so ) but only road, no trackdays (yet!).

seanvtr

29mpg!!!

my is jetted buy a tuner so is awesome, but i only get 22ish, throttle is a on off switch though

Dunlops qualifiers are ok ish when warm, but you let them cool down and its another story

016- my favourite tyre but on the twin cant cope with what i dish out, dont seem to like the pulses sliding out of corners , front planted though

2-ct are the best wet or dry

road 2ct is what i would go for tons of grip wet or dry, and my mate on his blade got 7000 moiles out of the rear and he likes the throttle (just not in a straight line like most people)

avon storms are good too and cheaper than the raod 2ct

Tman

Can't beat the sport touring battleax (Bridgestone) for last... and it can ride hard when needed.

nath981

welcome aboard sean! Road 2 Cts may be a better option for what I believe are conditons specific to the super hawk and other twins with high torque and strong engine braking. In line fours and other similar are generally much easier on rear tires because of these circumstances.

Even though I use trail braking which places additional stressors on the front tire, and avoid straight riding like the plague, i still am not happy with the wear rate of the middle section of the rears no matter Q2, BTO-16, Michelin 2cts. They all have soft sides(which are fine in terms of grip/wear), but only medium centers which suffer early demise at the hands of the engine braking and torque of the Hawk. I want hard centers and soft sides and maybe the road 2CTs will satisfy my criteria. thanks for the input.

nath981

welcome also Tman. I'll check these out. What i'm looking for is light weight like the 2cts or power pures, hard centers, and soft sides. I have Q2s now and of course the middle is medium which translates into premature wear and the rear is heavy @ 14.8lbs. Today i changed air pressure from 28 rear to 32 rear, stayed with 30 for the front just because it felt a little too soft when pushing down on the middle as opposed to the front. No science here just informal expeimentation. After 200 miles, feel pretty good.

nath981

Well i did find this info on the pilot road 2ct whuch states that they indeed have hard compound center and soft sides. Now I have to locate the dimensions cause i like the size of the Q2 180x55 which is basically the same as a 190x50 Bto-16.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcyc...-pilot-road-2/

mattijw

Thanks for suggesting the pilot road 2ct's Sean i hadn't considered them. I think the storms are now replaced with the storm 2 ultra, which is a triple compound!

Nath981, I totally agree about the wear in the centre of the rear, this is exactly my problem too. The dunlop sportmax roadsmart 3tc's are also a dual compound rear that's the main reason i fancied them over my current pirelli diablo strada's. You might find these two sports touring test articles interesting, particularity the tyre wear measurements in the second (newer) one. Annoyingly the pilot road 2ct isn't in either of them.

http://tinyurl.com/bikejune2008

LineArrayNut

couldn't be more pleased w/ my combo of mich road2 rear and 2ct front, wear is good & even; no probs on grip and even good rain perf.

nath981

thanks matt. good read. That's the thing...as new tires like the power pure, Q2s, etc become available, I can't find a source to that adds all the specs to the tire tests like the one you provided and the ones in cycle mags like sport rider. And the weird thing is that the dimensions are not standardized so that you know what you're getting. For example, I removed a BTO-16 190x50 with less than a thousand miles on it because i thought it was too wide. I replaced it with a Q2 180x55(the supposed correct size for my 5.50 wheel) and sat them side by side and measured and they were the same size within a couple mm. WTF. Both of these were larger in width and had a different arc across the tread than the 180x55 BTO-14 I had on previously. Go figure. I'd like to know all the dimensions before I buy another set. Now I like the arc shape and width of the 180x55 Q2 and the 190x50 BTO-16 but don't know how this will compare with prospective tires like the Pilot road 2cts or the Power Pures; and it's difficult to get weights, like 14.8lbs for the rear Q2 is more than I want, but couldn't get the info until after i got it. Frustrating ****.

Sport Rider and other mags eval new tires as as they come on the market but neglect to include weight/physical dimensions/other data that would help you to compare with previously tested tires, and this could be done easily.

If i lived near a tire outlet i would go there and check for myself if they'd let me but..........anyway thanks for the help matt.

nath981

Sounds like a great choice for the superhawk. You wouldn't happen to have the weight and other specs for the pilot road 2ct rear would you?

mattijw

If weight's a big issue you might also want to check out the new michelin Power Pure, it's also dual compound and they have been touting it's LTT (light tyre technology) its apparently lighter than all rivals. Just in case you didn't have enough options!

http://www.michelin.co.uk/connected/...les/power-pure

nath981

oh yeah. I believe I will be a sucker for the light weight at least once. I have a feeling I should be trying the pilot road 2ct because of the center wear factor, however when i look at michelin compound charts, it show soft sides and medium centers for both. Doesn't make sense to me.

nath981

Oh........ and in an attempt to address the center wear issue, I went from 28 to 36lbs cold pressure rear yesterday(left front at 30lbs cold).When i returned the rear read 40lbs hot. I didn't like the ride as well as lower pressure. Felt a little stiffer. like the suspension was set too hard, but it isn't. Gonna try 32lbs cold next and see how that feels.

majordomo490

If you run 28psi rear you are gonna wear them out pronto. That is track type pressure for max grip.
The recommended pressure is 42. I run mine at this most of the time but sometimes will drop to 38 on cold days. I would not go below 36 for ROAD riding and recommend that you try 38. Yes it will feel a bit stiffer than what you are used to cos it will be stiffer. You will get used to it. I'm currenty running Metzeler Racetechs cos they are cheap but have also had Q2's, BT 14s and 21's.
14's were the best for grip and feel but wore out too rapid for me. My next set will be a bt-016 front and a BT-021 rear. Soft front hardish rear.
Also I would up the front to 34.
Check out the Bridgestone web site they have all the sizes posted.

nath981

thanks for the suggestions major. I'm happy with 30psi cold in the front tire and with 28 in the rear in terms of grip on the roads I ride. The only thing i don't like is the premature middle wear on the rear which can be solved with hard compound middle. With 4-5psi increment when hot, I'm at 34 front, 32 rear. I know most riders run max pressure, but that is for maximun load according to my belief. At 175lbs, I'm nowhere near max weight, so I'd rather sacrifice a little rubber, the key word being "little". The front is perfect and the rear is too, except for the middle despite my effort to stay off the middle of the tires.

my goals are two: light tire with hard center compound rear. What's weird is that the michelin site shows medium compound on both the power pure and the pilot road 2ct which doesn't make sense to me considering the wear attributes reputed for the pilot road.

nnjhawk02

Hmm - I'll chime in

'02 Hawk (currently can't ride broke wrist)

But I recently put on a set of Pirelli Diablos, which I got from Cycle Gear sale 2 yrs ago for $170 - set. Seem to turn in well & grip well, but after 1k miles I think the rear center is starting to wear. But for the $ IDK.

Was thinking of going to 2CTs for next set as I hear many good things about them.

My riding is aggressive when in the twistys, but also used for commuting (which is mostly hiways - 150 miles R/T). I do not drag a knee - yet.

Thus, my next set of tires will either be a dual compound or Some gripy ST.

BTW - I had a rear Qual that lasted about 4k. Then got a Conti Road Attack which lasted 5500 miles - but center cords Were showing big time. Both of these purchases were during road trips. The Qual cause I got a flat in Vt & only tire they had (set me back $270. for rear only - doh) And Conti was @ Indy '08 MotoGP -again only tire they had for me, but was $100 cheaper than Qual + they cleaned & adjusted chain for free (Dreyer Honda in Indy - were excellent peeps)

When I get back on road in August I'll give a better report on Diablos - but they seem to grip nicely. So bummed I can't ride, but its been so hot on east coast lately that I doubt I'd be riding much - ATGATT

nath981

sorry to hear about your wrist njj. make sure you stretch it all ways to maintain mobility after you get the cast off cause you're gonna need that wrist to do justice to those diablos.

I know what you mean about the heat, but i rode anyway. Not bad except stopping for gas cause I'm lucky that I can go directly to the twisties from my house without any in-town riding.

I'm trying to get an answer from michelin about the medium compound thing I mentioned earlier, but so far nothing from them. I suspect they may be reluctant to classify the center compound of the pilot road 2ct as hard due to liability, so they may be doing a relative classification to get around the issue. I'm either going with the pilot roads 2ct or the pures depending on the wieght differntial if I can ever get that info. heal quick.

mattijw

I think the difference is in the carcass, AFAIK they make sport touring tyres stiffer so the run cooler and distort less thus saving rubber but loosing outright grip. They also build them with anything up to 50% more tread on them to last longer. Obviously there is a weight and ride quality penalty for this. I'm sure someone will point out if this is a load bollocks

I think i'm going to go for the roadsmarts over the 2ct's, no real reason just a gut feeling they will suit me and last! I'll let you know how I get on as the front is going on straight away but my rear has a few more miles in it. Although it looked a bit rough after today's ride like it had feathered at the tread and has picked up a lot of little cuts and tears. Might be getting too hot?

majordomo490

When you talk to michelin find out if the medium compound in a power/ pure/road etc is the same in all the range. I think that when they say medium and soft they are not the same across the range just in that particular tire.???? **** now I'm confused! The other thing is that the soft compound was only in like the edge 10% of the the tire which I never get to.

nath981

so far two emails to michelin have yielded no replies. Next will have to be a phone contact attempt.

8541Hawk

Try turning the damping adjuster on the rear shock around a 1\4 turn out from where it is and see if that helps.

mattijw

Out? So less rear damping. Ok i'll give it a try, what's the theory behind it?

nath981

talked a rep at michelin. Don't think he was tech savy enough to answer my questions because he just seemed to be looking at the charts and citing the obvious. The only thing I got out of him was that the Power Pure was 12.8lbs and this only after I told him the Q2 was 14.8lbs, and he saw that mich stated 2lbs less than the competition, so this is even suspect. I need to talk to someone else and maybe try to elicit some credible info and maybe get the weight of the pilot road 2CT. report back later.

Hotbrakes

Less damping allows the tire to move over bumps instead of being forced into them, shredding the tire. The suspension is more compliant with the road.

nath981

acc to the guy i spoke with today, medium compound is the same, however it's the percentage of tread that's the difference, same as shown in their charts. I really don't believe he did anything but look at the charts we can see and spit back what we already know. if i find more I'll report.

8541Hawk

What he said..... The feathering is a sign of too much rebound damping.

seanvtr

I did this on my 2009 zx10r on the road, suspension was perfesionly set up, but the theottle spent most of the time at the stop in the twisties, 1st 2nd and 3rd gear

nath981

You guys are doing a respectable job tearing up those tires. If I had some money to invest, I'd be puttin it into the tire companies.hahaha. I thought i was eatin mine up quickly, but you guys are making me look like a freakin slacker. Look like track tires. You're having way too much fun Sean. You need to get on the track and get some sponsers. hahaha

Tweety

Naa, naa naah... You still have a visible chicken strip... Go out again and practice more...:rotfl:

Seriously though, nath is right... If you can run the pace to make a tire look like that with a zx10r on the street, you should get on a track... Much less moving obstacles to contend with...

Tweety

Well, I can tell you from talking to one of the tech guys at Michelin here in Sweden that he's full of it... The rubber compound is completely different, it's not the same mixture in any way...

Now the actual hardness of the compound might be the same or at least very close, on medium vs medium, that I never asked, but I'm guessing that should be true...

BTW regarding your pressure... 28 is TOO LOW, your tire is eating itself... The guy told me that on most tracks he'd recommend 32-36 for the rear... On a few 30... Never below that... For street riding, he suggested adding around 4-6 psi ie high 30's to low 40's... I'm running 40 rear now and 35 front... A bit lower than the spec sheet recommendation, but seems to work...