Chicken Strips

[279 of 300]

I am curious, thanks to this excellent fourm and Twist of the Wrist II, I have gotten my rear chicken strip down to about a quarter of an inch, but my front tire has a two inch strip. I don't ride that hard, I must maintaint the "reasonable and Prudent" speeds on public roads. I am wondering what my tires say about my riding and how I might improve?

[faffi]

I'm no expert on these matters, but there are a few things to consider.

 

1) Tyre profiles differ greatly, as evidenced by your own pair of rubber, which makes it hard to determine how hard you are riding.

2) On just about any tyre, you still have plenty of grip left to lean quite a bit further even when you have just got rid of your chicken strips.

3) Speed is not just related to how far you are leaning over - if you do everything right, you could be cornering faster than another bloke on the same bike that has no chicken strips (on the rear wheel, at least).

 

BTW, I do not believe you can have 2 inches left of virgin rubber on each side of your front tyre unless it has tread all the way to the rim. One inch on each side is possible with the 1/4 in on the rear.

[Bullet]

I am curious, thanks to this excellent fourm and Twist of the Wrist II, I have gotten my rear chicken strip down to about a quarter of an inch, but my front tire has a two inch strip. I don't ride that hard, I must maintaint the "reasonable and Prudent" speeds on public roads. I am wondering what my tires say about my riding and how I might improve?

 

Nothing to worry about here my friend. In most cases you'll use more of the rear tyre than a front. It does depend on the tyre, what it's designed to do, for example some race tyres are very sharp profiled, and you can get to the sides, some road tyres are generally a little more rounder in profile, better suited to rolling into turns, etc, etc.

 

Hope that allieviates your fears on that one? The only strips that anyone seems to care about is the rear, and as Elrik says correctly, technique can vastly affect that as well, so really don't worry about it..

 

Bullet

[279 of 300]

Thanks for the help, it does make sense. I think I will wait untill I can attend a school before try to get rid of that last quarter inch, too many variables on public roads. Yesterday I hit a section with a lot of tar snakes used to repair the cracks and I could feel the bike slipping over them. Throttle control and staying relaxed on the bike got me through allright. Farther along a gravel truck was dumping enough gravel to cover the roadway each time it hit a bump. I am glad I recognize the Survival Reactions now and let the bike do what it wants to stablize itself. For deep gravel I just need to switch to a GS, kind of hard to do on the fly.

[Kevin Kane]

I am curious, thanks to this excellent fourm and Twist of the Wrist II, I have gotten my rear chicken strip down to about a quarter of an inch, but my front tire has a two inch strip. I don't ride that hard, I must maintaint the "reasonable and Prudent" speeds on public roads. I am wondering what my tires say about my riding and how I might improve?

 

Nothing to worry about here my friend. In most cases you'll use more of the rear tyre than a front. It does depend on the tyre, what it's designed to do, for example some race tyres are very sharp profiled, and you can get to the sides, some road tyres are generally a little more rounder in profile, better suited to rolling into turns, etc, etc.

 

Hope that allieviates your fears on that one? The only strips that anyone seems to care about is the rear, and as Elrik says correctly, technique can vastly affect that as well, so really don't worry about it..

 

Bullet

Bullet;

I appreciate your response. I use Dunlop 209 GP-A's and have been confused for years why I have c-strips on the front tires while the rear's outer edges are worn over.

 

Rainman

[acebobby]

The thing about front tyre chicken strips is that everyone on this forums riding style i.e. the techniques taught at the school, throttle control rule #1 and sitting a bit further back in the seat actually unload the front a little making it harder or almost impossible to get rid of front tyre chicken strips. If you see someone at a trackday without front tyre strips you can bet that their riding style is the coast to the apex style which loads the front end more while leaned over! The other guys that you see without the strips and you know they have good technique, the coaches etc, they will most likely be scubbing the side of their tyre while trail braking!

 

Bobby

[faffi]

I also think that fronts have more tread available for an extra margin of safety so that you run out of rubber first on the rear wheel, where a slide is slightly easier to deal with.

[Jaybird180]

I had a racer once tell me that he prides himself on being easy on his tires, while others brag about chewing them up. I once saw an interview that Miguel Duhamel did where he said that he went an entire season on a single set of tires (in his amateur days) and won the championship that year to boot! How's that for being smooth?

[faffi]

Sometimes one can wonder how much that last effort really brings. Did anybody see Vettel race in F1 earlier this year when his brakes more or less went away? He was braking really early, just coasting into corners, yet he was only a couple of seconds per lap off his ultimate lap time. Really makes you think about being smooth.

 

On a similar note, German magazine MOTORRAD used to ride timed laps around the old Nurburgring back in the 70s and early 80s. A lap took about 11 minutes, give or take a bit depending upon model. When they tested the BMW R80, the difference in lap time between using all the gears and doing the whole lap in 5th gear was only 20 seconds.

 

Most punters that are far removed from the pace of DuHamel and Rossi would probably circulate quicker with their bikes left in one gear than using the gears, not the least because it will free up brain capacity that can be used on reading the track and tyres etc. instead of minute throttle control and matching rpm.

[the razor]

I am curious, thanks to this excellent fourm and Twist of the Wrist II, I have gotten my rear chicken strip down to about a quarter of an inch, but my front tire has a two inch strip. I don't ride that hard, I must maintaint the "reasonable and Prudent" speeds on public roads. I am wondering what my tires say about my riding and how I might improve?

 

 

I have on my tires the same chicken strip as you. I am always careful of the drivers and not the riders. It is very difficult to lean hard on public roads because all the stuff on them, like gravel, leaf, etc. I do not worry too much about it. I concentrate in riding safe and using the proper techniques such as throttle control, been relaxed on the bike, making sure I do not stangle the handle bars, etc. Besides, I you do not lean as much, it can make you go a bit faster. It will be different if you were talking about a race track, where all the setting for cornering, speeding and leaning are more ideal. A few people I have found on the road kind of make fun of my 1/4" chicken strip, but when we hit the road I am the one

making fun when I just let them eat my dust. My opinion is not the chicken strip what makes you a good rider is the technique.

Be safe and 55 stay alive.

The Razor.

[Crash106]

I still have chicken strips on my tires. I just can't find a place on the street where I feel safe enough to zip around at a 40-degree lean angle. I pretty sure leaning over as far as possible is the safest way for me to get to work or even enjoy a back road blast. Now, I don't know much about racing, but I tend to suspect that winning on the track is more about vision, getting on the gas earlier than the next guy, and not falling down in the tricky bits rather than using maximum lean angle (or wheelies or sliding the rear tire).

[khp]

The only reason I don't have Chicken Strips on the rear tire of my streetbike is that I had to use it for CSS Level 1 & 2 in Sweden last year (the Swedes require that you have an insurance on your bike for courses, and you can't get that on a racebike in Denmark)

 

Trying to get rid of Chicken strips or getting your knee down on public roads is just an accident waiting to happen. And potentially a very big accident too - don't go there please.

 

 

Kai

[Nic]

ive got chicken strips on rear and front wen i done my level 1 at the end of the day i was still not getting rid of them doing level 2 and 3 soon hope it will help me to lean more

[ozfireblade]

The only reason I don't have Chicken Strips on the rear tire of my streetbike is that I had to use it for CSS Level 1 & 2 in Sweden last year (the Swedes require that you have an insurance on your bike for courses, and you can't get that on a racebike in Denmark)

 

Trying to get rid of Chicken strips or getting your knee down on public roads is just an accident waiting to happen. And potentially a very big accident too - don't go there please.

 

 

Kai

 

 

+1

[Kevin Kane]

ive got chicken strips on rear and front wen i done my level 1 at the end of the day i was still not getting rid of them doing level 2 and 3 soon hope it will help me to lean more

nic;

Chicken Strip removal is the result and not an end in and of itself. I would recommend you concentrate on your training and let the C Strips take care of themselves. It's like the obsession with touching a knee; that too is a by product of other factors in cornering. In time and with more reps the strips will be gone before you even realize it. DAMHIK

 

Rain

[dmj120]

I am curious, thanks to this excellent fourm and Twist of the Wrist II, I have gotten my rear chicken strip down to about a quarter of an inch, but my front tire has a two inch strip. I don't ride that hard, I must maintaint the "reasonable and Prudent" speeds on public roads. I am wondering what my tires say about my riding and how I might improve?

 

I say who cares. Your tires are saying you know what you're doing and what not to do... how many squidly-didlies have you seen with no chicken strips one day and the next see him assfault-surfin?

 

I used to worry about having virgin pucks until I realized I easily pass people draggin knees -on the outside- at the track; or watching those up/down mid-turn wobble while in the canyons.

 

Although, even riding slow [reasonably so], turning later and faster (quick-flick) will get you from a 10-piece down to a 6-piece

 

I think it best to be stable, smooth and bring home a clean bike... and this is coming from a slow guy.

 

just my 2 cents....

[faffi]

Is this soft enough?

 

Here you can see gravel embedded in the tyre just after I rolled over them to park

 

This is with the gravel removed, dimples still clearly visible

 

Rear Strada a much better match for the BT001 front than previous BT014, as you can see from virtually identical chicken strip of about 2mm - the 014 had zero strip while the front still had 6mm of virgin shoulder rubber

 

Also clearly noticeable is that I just roll gently when I carry a bit of lean as there is no stress pattern on either shoulder. I lack the nerve, skill and stupidity - or all of them - in order to load the tyres heavily at half-respectable amounts of lean, despite that I know they are far from their ultimate limit.

 

 

[Aufzynder]

I just wanted to add (just concerning street riding):

 

In the past - i was riding... without the right idea.... pushing quiet hard... adding lean and throttle... making steering/lean/throttle corrections in turns... increasing lean towards the end just for the fun...

 

that way... i had - depending on the used tyre - usually no chickens strips on the rear (a little on the front) and the tyres where worn out more at the flanks.

 

 

But... that was bad and dangerous riding!

 

 

Now, since

 

- I follow throttle control Rule #1

- I look for Turn-In Points, entry speed an flick rate...

 

I changed my riding.

 

Now, I again have chicken strips and the tyres are worn out first in the middle.

 

But - I'm a much better, smoother an safer rider. With the new technique I just have less lean, and I'm not leaned over as long as I was before. You can see this on the tyres.

 

This is another evidence to me, that you can't assess how "good" or say "fast" somebody can ride by the size of his chicken strips.

[faffi]

 

This is another evidence to me, that you can't assess how "good" or say "fast" somebody can ride by the size of his chicken strips.

 

I absolutely agree! I try to be smooth, particularly while leaned over as you can see with the stress marks sitting well away from the shoulders, although I will not claim to be a master. It was the incredible softness of the front tyre - no doubt a familiar sight to track junkies - that triggered me to post the pictures in the first place, and I also wanted to show that even if you have tyres from the same brand, they do not need to match in profile - whereas tyres from various makers can suit each other well.

 

An Australian editor used to scrape the fairing lowers on his Fireblade. When he started to hang off, he rode faster and no longer had any ground clearance issues. Obviously, doing it right is more important than using lots of lean (although lean is fun - more fun than the actual speed for me).

 

During my 30 years of riding, I have stumbled upon a very limited number of street bikes that have literally frazzles hanging from they tyres that are shredded to their very edges (and almost beyond). I don't know what speed and force is required for that, but I can envision Isle of Man-like speeds. Definitely far faster than me. But I've also met a few very smooth and quite fast riders that got away with very little wear and not a lot of lean.

[squirrels]

From what I've seen, the "chicken strips" on the rear are a good indication of not necessarily skill, but how comfortable the rider is in leaning the bike. If you see a good 2" of un-touched sheen, it's pretty reasonable to think that the bike is functioning more as a "show-horse" than a "work-horse".

 

But once you get down past maybe a half-inch or so, a lot of things can determine how much rear strip comes off, from the riding style (hanging off more stands the bike up more and gets you more turn with less lean) to the profile of the tire. (I have a 190 rear on my R1 and I still have trouble getting the last little bit of the tire)

 

 

The FRONT is a different story entirely. Unlike the rear, which is fixed in relation to the frame of the bike, the front is on a steering pivot.

 

My theory is that the physics of the motorcycle are a big part of why the "front strips" don't get worn down, especially in street-riding. The front tire is constantly tracking into the corner in most lower-speed turns. When you're countersteering, the tire only stays steered away for an initial split-second...then even as you're applying pressure to the bars increasing lean, the trail of the front-end has the wheel settling and steering into the turn, castering onto a more central part of the tire rather than the edge.

 

Most "street turns" are relatively quick...you get in a little deeper to get more of a look through blind corners and you flick in and back out pretty quick, so your front tire really has no time to work toward the edge. The kinds of corners that I've seen put wear on the front "strips" are long, sweeping turns, especially with decreasing radius. Being on the steering through more of the wheel's travel seems to give the edges more of a scrub. Carrying some more speed and trailing the brakes a little into the turn (reducing the trail) also seems to get at them a little more.

 

 

Bottom line is that front strips really don't tell you much about "rider skill". They're largely dependent on what kind of cornering you're doing, and I wouldn't expect you to really start seeing them wear from riding on public roads.

 

My 0.02. Your mileage may vary.

[Cobie Fair]

yeah, I've seen bikes with good riders on them at the track, with not all the rubber used, it's not a perfect indicator.