The SECRETS of great MOTORCYCLE TIRES

What makes great sport and racing motorcycle tires? Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer dive into the mysterious world of grip, durability, feel, carbon black, silica, and more. Get your carcass in here and have a listen to the latest Cycle World Podcast.
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[@one-of-us9939]

I live, I learn. Thanks guys! In my 53 years of riding I've only gotten valuable info a few times. And this show is one of them.

[@macmorgan6685]

Reminds me of Burt Munro’s using shoe polish to fill the cracks in his tires (as shown in the World’s Fastest Indian and maybe not true to fact!)

[@nickrider5220]

These tech talks are excellent 👍🏻

[@suzukikawasaki5165]

Tried em all, raced on the Michelin and Dunlop. Love Metzler rains. Dunlop hands down for me. Quick warm up and very predictable. Awesome feedback. Michelin tend to have more outright grip, but when they let go, forget it. Michelin high sides i used to call em.

[@RufusCapstick]

Always avoided Bridgestones in the past because I don't like the way they feel flat when cold. Bought an XR1200 last year, disappointed because it came with Bridgestones BT023Fs. However, they have been great, warm up quickly, plenty of grip and feedback, haven't enjoyed corners so much in years. Shows the improvements over time.

[@robertlawrence2748]

A truly excellent show :) It is extremely rare to find any illuminating information on tyres, but here it is !

[@stan0matic]

Wonderful episode! Thanks so much.

[@Deadlyforce73]

Love this! Thank you!

[@RandallSoong-pp7ih]

Thank you!

[@rgmcmichael]

Maybe a quick discussion about tire pressure variables?

[@larrycone8821]

Got to love Kevin, what a fantastic wealth of knowledge. Would love to have him and my coffee shop group of guys in the morning.

[@knucklehed54]

Love these tech discussions. How about a talk on odd-fire cranks for improved traction?

[@vxe6vxe6]

The D364's had that serious pointy tire in the center and wide "sides". I loved the "fall in" when coming off the point to the edges. Not as lot of fun when riding on SoCal grooved freeways, lots of fun in the canyons!

[@knucklehed54]

Idea for episode: coating useage in engines, cryogenics of components. Looking of 10ths of hp

[@JohnNewton-ev8ch]

Yes please!

[@ZacharySmith-wn8li]

Great Stuff guys!

[@TXLorenzo]

Professor Kevin never ceases to amaze me with his encyclopedic knowledge.

[@fuglbird]

The first dedicated motorcycle slick was developed by the English Avon company in 1960. Kenny Roberts used slicks from Goodyear when he started riding GP 500 for Yamaha in 1978.

[@goslonomo]

Each of these podcasts with Kevin Cameron is a concentrated college-level introductory course on the subject, with the exception that Mr. Cameron is a real expert in the subject matter and can explain things in a thorough yet comprehensible manner. If I had had teachers like Kevin Cameron, I'd be a genius by now.

[@RickyJr46]

Gents, my question is about setting tire pressures for street riding. For the purpose of my query let's use the owners manual figures of 36 front / 42 rear. Scenario: the bike is inside the garage overnight, where the ambient temp is 55 degF. The bulk of today's riding will be in 100 degF temps. Shall I set the 36/42 in the cool of the garage, without regard for the hotter temps that will be encountered during the ride? What would the protocol be if the situation is reversed? The bike is stored inside a very hot shed (95 degF) and the riding will be along the chilly Hwy 1 (60 degF). Again, shall I set 36/42 in that hot garage?

[@Michael-qo8bs]

I run tires whìch mimic the beloved dùnlop k81..tìre. This is the shoulder that features..gaps of non conti uous tread....this acknowledges the need for high communication and controlled drift to finish corner properly... Sport tires today feature unbroken high traction cornering surface. This means tire will hang on tenaçiously as loads get higher....when the load maxes and tire lets go tends to snap ..releasing all the force at once! More useful is a tire with less total grip.. but high communication..anď a broad band of disengagement! I raced 20 years..best tire i ever had was a worn beyond use racing wet from our race team....it was incrediable! It was never "hooked up"...never ",unhooked"! Made throttle like a rehostat for pointing the bike!! Great casual fun ..using as a steering tool on my yam tdm 850 sport bike killer! 12:52

[@mat314159mat]

Thanks you guys, best talk ever heard about those precious black rings

[@vxe6vxe6]

In the late 80's I had a 750 Ninja GPX (not a ZX7). A buddy of mine used to race one at Willow. He bought a 1987 FZR1000 and started racing that. I took off all of the "go fast" parts from his 750 and put them on mine. He had a set of Marvic rims on his 750 that he was going to use on the FZR, but the front rim didn't fit the FZR. I bought a front Marvic rim for the FZR, we traded front rims and I bought a rear rim for the Ninja. The rim size was 5.5x17 for the rear and 3.5x17 for the front. He had been running Dunlop slicks. At the time there were no "readily avalible" 180x5.5x17 rear street tires for the rim, so I was stuck running a slick on the street for the rear (no fun). I was at the local aftermarket bike parts store (remember them) in Oxnard when the tire guy came in with a new set of Metzler ME33 street tires in the sizes I needed. My buddy bought them with his racers discount and I bought them from him. Mounted them up and for 3 months I was running around with the only 5.5 street tire around. Lots of weird looks and double takes from people at The Rock Store and Nukem's seeing a bike that came with 16/18 rims running 17's with that "wide" rear tire. LOL! They were OK, much better than a slick on the street. When Dunlop came out with the D364's they were the cats meow! I ditched the Metzlers for a set of new D364's and never went back. When Dennis Smith used to run the Dunlop tire truck at the races at Willow he would have a serious amount of D364 take-offs he was selling from the "used tire rack". LOL! We used to buy a bunch of "used" tires from him. Never had an issue with them, you just didn't buy the totally rashed out tires. Dunlop was the tire I used after that. I got out of riding street bikes for years, when I jumped back in I was living in the PNW. That's when I was introduced to the Michelin Pilot Rode tires. Love them in the PNW! Still use Dunlops on the KTM 300 for the PNW singletrack gnar, first the D756 EX and now the AT81 EX!

[@race777]

I've been reading Kevin Cameron in Cycle world for what seems like forever. Absolutely love the video and podcast. Please keep it going!

[@Michael-qo8bs]

Also...many times there are great tires with poor set ups.... tire underperforms..customer paints tire with a negative brush! When its really the chosen psi that is to blame!

[@bruceparr1678]

Slicks are shit in the dirt. Knobbys are OK on tarmac.

[@Cross-Country-Biker]

Demystifying bike stuff... Well done 👋

[@gasracing5000]

Modern Black Magic... What factor makes the biggest difference in a race: the bike, the rider or the tyre? The answer is why every series uses spec tyres these days.

[@gasracing5000]

Yes, I know the reason most series use control tyres is the sponsorship money. The proceeding question is still valid and can have multiple reasons to arrive at the same answer.

[@davidciesielski8251]

Thanks a lot guys

[@flexjay87]

I will concede tire technology may be better than the past, but street tires cost way too much, especially compared to car tires, when you consider how many miles you get out of a set of bike tires. Just middle of the road Bridgestone Sport Touring tires for my bike cost around $ 125.00 - $ 200.00 a piece. Now, that might be okay, if you could get 30,000 miles out of them. But when you consider cheap Car tires are the same price, but are often rated at 60,000 + miles. Also bike shops charge $ 50-100 dollars for mount & balance per tire , compared to $ 20 bucks per tire on cars/ trucks.

[@charlieb1696]

you need a white board🧐

[@kellygrant4964]

I would love to hear your thoughts on the "dark side". I don't ride a bike that I would ever do this to. ZX14. But I am one of those rare ones that is a member of the Victory riders group, which some have been going this way. My thoughts are on big cruisers these people can drive straight really well and that is about it.

[@donaldhipple4921]

In my experience tires still are not offering great traction below 45°. They certainly much improved in every other aspect. In my early experience there was K81s then K491 then ME33 & 99. Now in the radial era I find Dunlop, Michelin & Metzler all have fine sport/touring choices, but Dunlop tires can be difficult to mount.

[@DrSmile81]

Every thing improved - and as such corporate greed which reduced durability for motorbike tyres to the lowest since invention of the wheel.

[@freebehindbars8654]

I’ve had great experiences with Michelin sport tires and Bridgestone cruiser/touring. Decent with Dunlop American Elite, ME888. Bad experiences with Avon Cobra Chrome, with two fronts cupping really bad and rear flattening off in under 8k miles.

[@RickyJr46]

I recall a comment by Freddie Spencer during the '80s, something about coming advances in tire technology would make his riding style obsolete.

[@dogpaw775]

i found these talks 48 hrs ago, i keep liking, commenting in the hope the utube algorithm will put them 'out there'. |they take me back to college 60 years ago when these topics were all we mused on. All the talk now adays seems to be about chrome, bling and the last bolt on part you got from your dealer. back in the day we debated topics such as ' by putting naphthalene rich moth balls in your air box does your motor benefit from a bigger fuel charge', discuss.

[@ricalava7747]

Didn't Michelin stop their 3CM automated manufacturing after the Power 2CT recall? I think their radial tyres are still hand made in Spain (and Thailand, sorry I forgot)

[@ayowser01]

Love me some pirelli supercorsas 🤤

[@JohnNewton-ev8ch]

Mark it looks like you have sunglasses on.....come on brother dump the hat and use some lighting! Love the show.

[@BrianjSiehr]

This tech talk is very interesting, FEA is an interesting subject matter as it applies to tire development but it’s amazing how little information is published on this. I suspect it’s very much proprietary. Great discussion.

[@larrycone8821]

I'm not sure if you have spoken about this but could you do a segment on the offset crankshaft on the yamaha's?

[@indy500tabasco8]

👽👽👽👽king of beggars bring me back to motorcycles and racing👽👽👽👽

[@Michael_Lorenson]

Excellent, thanks

[@mikeskidmore6754]

I think the Increased the Width of the rear tire When the Baggers started racing ..So they could all use the same tires.

[@BABYPOP028]

Yes, company “secrets” have been much tougher to keep! With the information and communication methods since the internet …

[@naturalconditions]

In evolutionary biology, an often used useful analogy is the "red queen hypothesis." It seems this also applies very nicely in the tire development business.

[@zap5936]

Club racing in the late 70s early 80s was the Continental had the first angled Tire K 111s. The dunlop K81 with the French compound was an excellent rain tire. AAMRR

[@vxe6vxe6]

Are there noodles involved in this podcast?

[@888jackflash]

Fascinating. Thank you

[@blipco5]

Continental Road Attack 👍👍

[@cpuuk]

Why do some tyre (pairs) have a silica rich front, but none in the rear?

[@JoshNewby84]

Because the front is responsible for pushing water out of the way, allowing the rear to grip dry pavement. Silica has a good coefficient of friction on wet tarmac, but loses some grip in the dry. This makes it better suited to the front tire.

[@vxe6vxe6]

Amontons' 1st law?

[@YouMotorcycle]

Can someone do a video that summarizes this video in like 10-15 minutes?

[@rogersemple3122]

Hoyer is a good guy but in the presence of Kevin be quiet and let the master talk.

[@fuglbird]

Kevin Cameron is clearly knowledgeable but Mark Hoyer is waffling too much.