Tires, Tires, Tires

[yangins]

This was a street test. Q2 are hard to beat for street tires.
Track test? Now that might be a different out come with K3 and PP one.

Mad Yellow Bumble Bee

[freeflydive]

Originally Posted by RIQUE

I feel that the Metzeler K3 and Michelin Power One would have taken higher ranks than the Q2. Care to differ?

While K3 would have been marginally rated higher, the Q2's hold their own...especially when you factor the wide price gap. Motorcycle USA conducted a street/track tire comparison in 2010...the Q2's were constantly compared/contrasted against the top winner-Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP (comparable to the K3). While the Pirelli is better, the testers couldn't justify the price when compared to what the Dunlop Q-2 had to offer.

I've ridden all 3x tires listed above and my money rides on the Q-2...until someone comes out w/ a drastically better street tire.

[DrD]

Pirelli is the parent company of Metzler and I prefer the K3's over everything I've tried.

I haven't been using the SC2's after the last big price hike. The K3's are just as good, IMO.

[Triple Threat]

Tires find there ultimate stick at different temperatures. And we all know that tire running at street pace will not heat up any where near someone riding at a track pace. With that, the Q2's have the highest temperature thresholds of all three tires and will work much better at the track than the other two.

Street: Power One's>K3's>Q2's.

Track: Q2>K3>Power One.

Your milage and experience may vary,

Triple

[RIQUE]

Originally Posted by Triple Threat

Tires find there ultimate stick at different temperatures. And we all know that tire running at street pace will not heat up any where near someone riding at a track pace. With that, the Q2's have the highest temperature thresholds of all three tires and will work much better at the track than the other two.

Street: Power One's>K3's>Q2's.

Track: Q2>K3>Power One.

Your milage and experience may vary,

Triple

Triple...considering The K3 warms much faster than the Power Ones should'nt it be Street K3>PowerOne>Q2 ?

Riq

[larrykoren]

Power one is my favorite because they hook great at the drag strip even at 12 over. But I also light to turn pretty decently fast even if stretched and they let you do that. All the other "drag" tires are flat and you can only go straight or baby leaning in turns (shinkos). The power ones heat up fast for me on the street and grip even in 40 degree weather. And they do wear out fast especially with all my burnouts. But they heat up fast and leave melted rubber strips on sides of tire fast and grip wonderful on the street I think. But I only do spirited street turning, not road course. But I wish I had one near. The swingarm is only a 2-3 hour job to change max.

[Triple Threat]

Originally Posted by RIQUE

Triple...considering The K3 warms much faster than the Power Ones should'nt it be Street K3>PowerOne>Q2 ?

Riq

Just because a tire warms up a bit faster, doesn't mean it sticks better when warm. Nor is it a finite statement of a temperature range. Without doing a complete brain dump there are just too many variables. The two tires are very close in performance, almost neck and neck with a nod to the Power Ones. Worth noting, a K3 will warm up faster than a racing slick as well, but once the Slick reaches it's optimum heat range it would out grip a K3.

Here's another example, a 22 caliber bullet is actually is faster than a 357 bullet, but is 22 more powerful because it's faster? No.

Hope this helps,

Triple

[motodude79]

Originally Posted by insignis

Had the same great bike (my trade-in for the S1). Agree with your comments regarding the Dragon Supercorsa. Grip somewhat less in final 1000km of tread life. Perhaps something to do with number of heat cycles? But as for the Diablo Supercorsa...what a tyre! Better gip AND greater longevity than the Dragon.

My choice for the S1 once the Metz are gone will be from the following: Diablo Supercorsa SP, Dunlop Q2, or Michelin Power One. Money (relatively speaking) is unimportant here. After shelling out 25 K (AUD) for the S1 an extra hundred dollars per tyre change won't be an issue.

They dont' make the dragon anymore. Also its a trackday\race tire. It takes longer to heat up because its made to race not to ride on the street. Way more grip then the corsaIII.

[fast4d]

here is my rear Q2 after one track day. dunlop will warranty it and send me a new tire this week.

[RRrider]

Originally Posted by freeflydive

... but as I was surprised how poorly they rated the Diablo Rosso II.

Yes I read this article right before buying my winter tires for my two bikes. As they didn't factor in wet riding (they were down in LA or Las Vegas or somewhere warm), I decided that the new Rosso II's were worth a try. They claim to have much higher silica content which is good for wet, but the silica in these tires allegedly doesn't separate at high heat making them good in warm weather too. I put these on my Speed Triple R and have really liked how they have worked on the wet twisties up in the santa cruz mountains these past few weeks.

so +1 on the Rosso II from me (for wet twisties).

Originally Posted by Triple Threat

Street: Power One's>K3's>Q2's.

Track: Q2>K3>Power One.

Your milage and experience may vary,

Triple

Did you get your "greater than" signs correctly? Are you really saying the Q2 is the best track tire...better than the power ones...and that it is the worst choice for a street tire? From your earlier posts, I would have thought you'd have the exact opposite opinion from what I read here.

I just put the Q2's on my S1K for the winter months, expecting that it'll have to see some track time next spring as well before I put DOT tires back on her. Just breaking these in so I don't have an opinion on them yet...