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Bridgestone Trackday Pressures?


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Hopefully this isn't a repeat, I've had a bit of a trawl of this section but came up with nothing. Simple question: what track day tyre prssures should I use for Bridgestone BT016s on an SV650? Sizes are an immense 120/60x17 front and 160/60x17 rear, with a truly frightening 81bhp to keep under control. Okay so I'm not going to take a great many scalps but I'm trying to get a handle on how this all works.

 

On the road I use 33/36psi front/rear, though I just checked and the recommended is 36/42. On track days (I'm a slow intermediate) I've been using 31/30, which has been fine I think, though any less on the front and it really starts to feel mushy. Not really noticed that much at the rear other than lower pressure = faster steering. Grip is good (peg scraping) and both ends look fairly rubbed up without any larger marks (suspension isn't too hard though).

 

Should I stick to the track pressures I've been using? As you can imagine I've heard many different opinions, thay can't all be right. Stability is fine, I've hit 125mph so far and it only has another 10-15 left in it anyway. Grip seems good, but I just want to try to figure out the right numbers and then I can stop worrying about it., and to understand a bit of the "why" as well.

Ta!

 

PS don't shun me for not riding Dunlops!

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If your happy, why change??? All sounds reasonable enough, pretty good starting pressures for a track and that particular tyre, also you are the one riding it so you have to be comfortable. If you were way out of the ball park then it might be a different story, but all sounds fine to me.

 

Having said that, now that you have a base setting and know what it feels like you could start experimenting to see what effect the changes have on the bike. Only talking a couple of PSI either way, just to start to get a feel for what too soft feels like or too hard and the effects on the tyre (what tearing happens etc).

 

If you do try to experiment, just remember 10/10ths is not the way to learn, back it off a touch to take in the different sensations.

 

 

PS: I use bridgys on my track bike too...

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Know what you mean about, if it isn't broke then don't try to fix it. What I'm after is wanting to know if I'm roughly in the right place or not. Some people reckon you should use road pressures on track, but apart from that not sounding right, I think the recommended road pressures are high anyway. Since embarking on the CSS journey I'm coming to question everything!

 

 

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Yeah, your pressures are in the ball park (very close I would say without looking at the tyres). Suspension set up would have a greater impact on wear indicators than pressure when you are that close anyway.

 

I know the Aussie CSS adjusts all student bikes (running road tyres) to 30/30 at the start of the day to assist all comers to get a good base line. Track pressures are always much lower than the road. It all based around tyre temp, rising pressure as they warm up and the less rigidity needed to counteract pot holes and weight.

 

When questioning everything, experiment with it to get a feel for what it feels like, thats what I like to do :)

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