Pirelli Superbike Pro Slicks

[Greg]

Did a search and could not find anything on the forum about these tires. Has anybody got any experience with using these tires? I'm currently using Dunlop Q2's for the track on my ZX6R, and while I do like them, they are a bit short lived as I'm currently getting 3 track days on a rear before it is shot. They also seem to get a bit greasy when hot and with warmer days ahead at the track I'm looking at other possibilities.
The Superbike Pro slicks are supposed to be great for trackdays with long life and good resistance to heat cycling, and fast warm up so that they can be used without warmers.

Any feedback would be welcome

[Triple J]

The endurance team I ride for used them in a 6-hour race last Memorial Day weekend. They lasted the entire race, but the rear was shot by the 5 hour mark. Still, that's good life, as a typical race tire will only last about 3 hours. Bike was a built 2003 R6, so comparable power to your ZX-6.

Good grip, surely better than Q2's. When you start approaching race pace (i.e. a fast pace in your typical advanced/expert track day group) the rear will slide a bit driving out of corners, but it is very predictable. Hard to say how much...not massive, but definitely noticable. It took me a bit by surprise at first as the tires only had one hour on them when I hopped on so I didn't expect it, but it was very easy to get used to and control. The sliding ended up being a lot of fun actually, as I'd never had a tire do that to me (Dunlop NTec were what I rode at the time, and they are like glue).  The rider who rode the last hour said they were all over the place by then, but they had 5+ hours at race pace on them. It was amazing they had any grip at all left. Depending on your speed, you may not notice this at all. We had an SC1 or SC2 front for the entire race, so no experience with the front.

I also have a couple fairly quick friends that do trackdays on them, and they love them. I'd say go for it. If you do get them to slide, just go with it...it's a blast! 

[Greg]

Thanks for the feedback, sounds like I'm going in the right direction 

[Greg]

I've done 2 track days on the Pirelli Pro Slicks now. The first day was a bit strange as I was having a bit of a hard time getting used to the tires. After some cautious laps scrubbing them in (no warmers), they still felt strange and I did not have a lot of confidence in the front, and I couldn't seem to get much heat into the front tire. I lowered the pressure and it seemed to help out quite a bit, but it still took me a while to get used to the sharper profile on the front tire which seemed nervous when going over bumps in the corners.

On the second day, the track was warmer and I really started to feel a lot more confident with the front tire and my lap times steadily improved. With two track days (300 miles) on them they still look barely worn where as the Q2's would already be looking pretty bad with the rear Q2 needing to be replaced after 3 or 4 track days. After some initial misgivings about the track day slicks I am now happy with them and hope they last as long as people say they will.

Now I just need to sort my gearing out as there are a couple of turns on the track where 3rd is too high and I'm not in the powerband exiting, but 2nd seems too low and I have to slow down a bit more than I'd like approaching the corner. I think -2 on the rear should be sufficient to get me into the sweet spot for 2nd and once that is done I think the bike should be fairly well set up for my local track 

[ellingly]

I've had one set of Pirelli Superbike Pros on my S2R1000 for just over 2 years now and they've done.... 17 trackdays. They're still excellent and have a little more life left. This is with sorted suspension though, they'd have chewed themselves apart before I resprung and revalved the bike to suit me. Good enough to get my knee down on them everywhere no dramas. Can get them sliding around but they're progressive and that's only when I'm pushing them hard.

I use mine with warmers but didn't for one trackday and they were fine, warmed up just like a road tyre really. Good to hear you're having fun .

Dunno what pressures you're running but the Pirelli rep here in Aus recommended 32f 27r after being on the warmers for an hour, and that works great. Works out to be about 28 cold front, 23 cold rear. I tried slightly higher the first day I had them because I didn't think they wanted to run that low and they felt a bit nervous, but were much better with lower pressures.

[Greg]

Hey thanks for the feedback. The tire rep said to run them at 23R and 29F when cold, but the front doesn't seem to heat up very well so I dropped it to 25 cold and it seems to work much better. There again I'm using a crappy pressure gauge and one of the things I have on my list to get is one of the Motion Pro gauges unless somebody has a better suggestion.

[Triple J]

Hey thanks for the feedback. The tire rep said to run them at 23R and 29F when cold, but the front doesn't seem to heat up very well so I dropped it to 25 cold and it seems to work much better. There again I'm using a crappy pressure gauge and one of the things I have on my list to get is one of the Motion Pro gauges unless somebody has a better suggestion.

Just take it over to your local tire guy and see if they'll test it. Basically just use theirs and yours back to back to see if they agree.

25 cold seems low for a Pirelli front...most are 29 cold/31 hot. Measure the pressure cold, then hot when you come in. Typically you look for about a 10% increase in pressure.

[ellingly]

Just take it over to your local tire guy and see if they'll test it. Basically just use theirs and yours back to back to see if they agree.

25 cold seems low for a Pirelli front...most are 29 cold/31 hot. Measure the pressure cold, then hot when you come in. Typically you look for about a 10% increase in pressure.

Rule of thumb I got from the Pirelli rep is a 3-4 psi increase from cold to operating temperature. I use that and it works grouse. Though like I said, I prefer to use them with warmers.



Means I can do that first lap out .

[Greg]

3rd track day on the Pirellis and they are really feeling good, and barely look worn at all. My buddy just put a set on his 848 and he is loving them as well