Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

ive bought the zx7r track bike and it came with pirelli slicks.
now ive done one track day and it was on treaded tyres. at no point did i find myself
running out of grip. However that was on a 70ish hp fzr600 and now i have a heavier and more powerfull
zx7r. ill also add i dont have tyre warmers and cant afford them for a while.
my times according to my crew chief ( girlfriend) ranged from 2:35 in the first session to 2:10s by the end of the day.
so the question is should i go with some sticky road tyres?
or should i keep the slicks and bugger them in one track day?

Pirelli slicks are apparently shit anyway from what I hear but I have only tried Dunlop and Bridgestones myself. To be honest, the times you are doing you don't need them and with no warmers would be better off with normal road tyres.

Slicks are cheaper for a start. Maybe not pirelli they seem to be the dearest. But Bridgstones are around $500+ a set, I did 2 days racing at Wakefield & 3 days practice, qually, & racing at EC & there is still another day left in them. I dont know how treads would go as far as life/laps are concerned? But I sure cant complain about my slicks.

Plus you can get second hand one with heaps of laps still in them even cheaper.
I know treads are as good as slicks doing 2.10, You will get faster as you get use to the ZX7r & you will feel much more in control on slicks.
Just my opinion, but slicks are my choice.

Slicks have limited use...... like up to 3-5 heat cycles, they are not designed the same as road tyres,if you use tyre warmers for the whole day = 1 heat cycle so you could maximise the useage, no tyre warmers & you run the risk of the tyres letting go if ridden really hard, so hold that thought...... second hand slicks, how many heat cycles have they been through? at 2:10 the tyres would probably give you plenty of warning before letting go so while you are getting used to the track you could probably get away with slicks..... heaps easier with treaded tyres, unlimited heat cycles & thrash em till they are dead

I'd buy a good set of sticky road tyres like pilot powers metzeler racetecs or something similar. They get sticky when they're hot and don't have the heat cycle issue of slicks... Just my 2c

yeh, forget slicks if you are doing 2.10's mate, a good set of Dunlop Q2's or Bridgie 003's would last longer and save you extra money on tyre warmers. If you do go with slicks, then tyre warmers are mandatory as Rob has said. You can squeeze more than 1 track day out of a set of slicks if you use warmers, unless you are pegging around the Creek at 1'35" or less, in which case you could easily chew through 2 sets of slicks in 1 track day !

What is more important than anything else though - is getting your suspension set properly first. Go out with a shit set-up, and you will chew through whatever you fit, pretty quickly. Spend good money on your suspension in the first place, and the times will come down quicker than just changing from road tyres to slicks.

Steve - the last set of slicks I bought were >$500, but a pair of road tyres (2CT rear and Pilot Power front) were less than $450 the pair.....I always heard that slicks were meant to be way cheaper than road tyres, but is this actually the case anymore for new slicks ??

Gosling1 wrote:Steve - the last set of slicks I bought were >$500, but a pair of road tyres (2CT rear and Pilot Power front) were less than $450 the pair.....I always heard that slicks were meant to be way cheaper than road tyres, but is this actually the case anymore for new slicks ??

Yep sure is.
I get my slicks for close to $500 a pair, that is a soft F & med R.

s man wrote:

Gosling1 wrote:Steve - the last set of slicks I bought were >$500, but a pair of road tyres (2CT rear and Pilot Power front) were less than $450 the pair.....I always heard that slicks were meant to be way cheaper than road tyres, but is this actually the case anymore for new slicks ??

Yep sure is.
I get my slicks for close to $500 a pair, that is a soft F & med R.

I dont know where you get your treaded tyres from but you should change immediately as your getting stitched up. Slicks are about the same price as a decent set of sticky treaded tyres these days. I usually wont pay more than $500 for treads and that is for BT016's or Q2's

Dont run slicks without warmers as they usually have heat cycle effectiveness as mentioned above but more importantly these dont require huge amounts of PSI inside them as the sidewalls afre stronger but!!!!!!!!! they do require alot of heat before you can push them. If you try and ride on them cold you will tear them up and most probably lands on your arse!!!

ok, im gonna lean towards some treads for now.
bt016s? Pilot powers? diablo corsas?
any preffered treaded tyre for the track?
wattie does low 1:40s at eastern creek on treads doesnt he?

they are control tyres that he runs on not your general road tyre. try pilot power race, dunlop q2's or dragon super corsa's

I did 1.45's on pilot powers. As did Madkaw. Treads are way better than people give them credit for.

Wattie wrote:I did 1.45's on pilot powers. As did Madkaw. Treads are way better than people give them credit for.

treads it is!

I run pilot power race on my trackie without warmers, and aside from a little cold tearing they are great.

Chris has had two sets of racetec's on the 6 and Russ dragged him down to a 1.49 last time out. MCAS are selling Pirelli Super Corsa's or whatever they call them at the moment for $469 a set

pirelli dragon supercorsa pro glen