race tire size and consumption

[Mongoose441]

Ok I am here waiting for my race hawk to arrive. The guy has A Marchenini (or whatever?) wheel on it He ran 180 size tires on it. I have a bunch of 120/180 sets of pirelli I bought for the 600. That I am not gonna use. So I would love to Run them on the hawk or should I sell the rears and buy 160,s. Also how long are you guys getting out of a set of tires

Oh yeah,

Hawk nation "whats up"

[Doc]

NOOB.

[Mongoose441]

NOOB.

So yes 180 or 160?

[SMF]

i'll be surprised if you can fit a 180 on. they may fit depending on the tire brand (they're all sized differently regardless of what's stamped on the sidewall). 180's usually don't clear the swingarm.

personally i'd switch to a 160 rear. you don't need the extra contact patch and it'll turn quicker and have less rotating mass. i believe nt650hawk (gino) used a soft front and medium rear for the majority of the season last year. given a few weekends on michelin soft/softs i'd agree. the rear wears a little quicker than the front so soft/med is a smart move

oh, and until you're running very fast times your tires will last forever

[sockmonkey]

oh, and until you're running very fast times your tires will last forever

Ditto that. I'm running pilot powers and the set on there now has been through about 8 track days and 2 race weekends and are still fine.

[MrDude_1]

unless you want to offset the wheel on the back of the bike, or break out the grinder on the swingarm...... you probably want to run something smaller then a 180.

[Crash]

You guys are either missing the point or don't understand the relationship between tire and rim size.

First off, if the man does indeed have a Marchesini rear rim I am going to assume that it is a 17x5.5". I Have never seen a Marchesini made for a hawk in any other size.

If the rear rim is indeed 5.5" in diameter putting a 160 profile tire on it will only increase the contact patch when the hawk is upright. Since the 160 (which is designed for a 4.5" rim) will have to stretch to reach the lips of the 5.5" rim and will therefore have a much flatter profile meaning: less contact patch when leaned over near the tires shoulder. Oh and the bike will feel like it gained 50lbs.

You will actually have a much more desirable and predictable rear tire profile if you run a 180 series tire. The problem you will run into is how much overhang any given tire has at the shoulder and this varies by manufacturer.

Michelins have very little overhang to thier tire's profile. I have never had a problem running their tires in sizes recommended for a 5.5" rim (on a 5.5" rim) on my hawk. That goes for both DOT and race slicks on both a Marchesini 5.5" rim and a VFR 5.5" rim. Oh and NO SPACERS and NO GRINDER.[/b]

[Hordpower]

Being a Bridgestone guy my whole racing "career" I used their 165 series slicks on a 5.0 or 5.5" wheel, which for that tire is the correct wheel width. When the BT001 DOT's came along, I started running a 180 rear, and it fit perfectly. Fast forward a couple years, and while prepping the Hawk for track duty I fit some new BT002's, 180 rear. It doesn't fit. Well, it does now, after grinding on it. I'm not a Michelin guy at all, but a customer just reported that the latest generation of DOT Power Race 180's don't fit either, whereas the prev. gen. fit fine on a 5.5". So it appears some of the manu's are increasing the width of their 180's.

[Crash]

Hey Hord,


You looking for a fight? Everyone knows all the cool guys ride Michelin.

:P

[joel]

I'm fairly sure my Hawk fitment Marchesini is a 17X5- unless I'm remembering things entirely wrong. I ground a little bit of a clearance on the swingarm but probably not as much as I could...yet many 180's would still rub,like Dunlops.I've ran a 160 on it to no ill effect...but I have also put a 170 on my Kawi that came with a 190 rear so don't ever do or put much stock into anything that I do.
I tend to like Hawks the best on 110/150-60's-I'm not a very good rider but it allows my sorry lack of ability to play to the best parts of a Hawk.Lighter rims somewhat mitigate that a little along with lots of weight loss but I dunno,an F2/VFR rimmed,mostly stock Hawk just feels like a really slow bigger bike to me and I'd rather be on a big bike with some motor...to somewhat mitigate my lack of ability.Why do I then have cool rims on muh Hawk? Chicks,simple as that-and to deflect the conversation away from how slow I am.

[Hordpower]

It's funny, I used to get all sorts of grief for racing with Bridgestones, the "redheaded stepchild" of racing tires. But I have 5 of these funny white plastic plates with a black "1" on them which seem to indicate that the tires worked just fine.

I like to think Casey Stoner is winning now because of all my work in the late 90's.

Hord

Hey Hord,
You looking for a fight? Everyone knows all the cool guys ride Michelin.
:P

[Doc]

[quote="Hordpower"]It's funny, I used to get all sorts of grief for racing with Bridgestones, the "redheaded stepchild" of racing tires. But I have 5 of these funny white plastic plates with a black "1" on them which seem to indicate that the tires worked just fine.

I like to think Casey Stoner is winning now because of all my work in the late 90's.

Hord

Ding, Ding...

:willy:

[Mongoose441]

We will just see what Happens, This hawk Is built as a full on race bike. It has a pirrelli 180 on it now. If My pirelli 180 Fits and does not rub I will run it. If Not I will buy the Rears.

[SpeedyR]

180

since you have them, fit one up and see how it fits. most of the companies are making their 180's wider and wider because of the power of the new 600's that are running them.

if it fits you are good to go. run the 180 as it's the appropriate size for the 5.5" rear wheel.

[SpeedyR]

It's funny, I used to get all sorts of grief for racing with Bridgestones, the "redheaded stepchild" of racing tires. But I have 5 of these funny white plastic plates with a black "1" on them which seem to indicate that the tires worked just fine.

I like to think Casey Stoner is winning now because of all my work in the late 90's.

Hord

Hey Hord,
You looking for a fight? Everyone knows all the cool guys ride Michelin.
:P

Hord,

I'll be curious to see waht you think of them on the 675. A lot of my friends in the SE all race on Bridgestone (stickboy is good people) and really like them and like you have won many regional and national championships on lightweight bikes.

some of them have moved up in classes and found that the tires didn't work quite as well on the bigger bikes.

I know they still are way above my riding skill and my guess is that 90% of the regional racers are not able to tap the potential of most of the DOT race tires these days. they are getting better and better every year.

anyway, post your comments about the 675 when you get a chance to take it to the track!!! i'm curious to see what you think of it. sounds like you've got a nice one...

Jeff