Concrete has less grip than asphalt. It's not just you lol.

 

It depends. Concrete destroys tire easily.

 

I used to race and now make some trackdays at an airport that had concrete in some turns.The grip is less than asphalt and yes it does destroy without a reason the tires.Also with time it gets worst because you get concrete dust that is really really slippery.In rain is even worst with the dust and the water to create a slippery thingy.I strongly advice you to be aware of the areas with concrete.
Here is a video that I made at that airport.

 

Nice vid there DrIoannis, what did you use to pull the dash info from the bike and how did you upload it to the video with the clocks and get it in the right sequence?

 

Check this thread.

 

Comparing the two local tracks here, NJMP Thinderbolt which is concrete and NYST which is asphalt, NJMP definitely chews up my tires more and has noticeably less grip then NYST which is super grippy and very easy on my tires wear.

 

There's a twisty canyon road I ride that has a short concrete section amid the asphalt, at a bridge, that just happens to be in the middle of a downhill, right-hand turn. Without really thinking about it, I always get a little pucker-factor when I hit that section. I try to cross it with the bike standing up as much as possible, and at steady throttle...intuitive, I guess, but it sounds like there's good reason for it.

 

Keep in mind that both concrete and asphalt are mostly aggregate (sand, gravel, etc.), and most aggregate is local materials with variability on how the aggregate grips and wears. Your tires are mostly contacting this aggregate, not the binder. The characteristics of the aggregate has a much bigger impact on the grip of the pavement than the basic type of pavement. Maybe concrete, on average, is generally less grippier than asphalt, but I believe other factors play a much bigger role.

- Mark

 

surprising info from tire engineer

in 1985 i bought a new mustang gt, 5 speed,225 h.p. pretty tame by todays standards. i had great fun kicking out the rear and putting the car into a nuetral drift(when i got it just right). i can't remember what tire manufacturer i called but it was time for new tires and i was fortunate to get to talk to a tire designer/engineer, in the company. i told him of my "learning" to kick the rear, catch it with counter steering,etc. etc. very early on a saturday or sunday morning. i still go out with my vette then the 1000rr at 5:30am, for a really spirited ride/drive, when few people are out. anyway, i mentioned i would go out in the rain and play, as the car would "move around" at much slower/safer speeds and that i was saving rubber. had a real tight budget then. he told me that "playing" in the rain actually increases tire wear as the water acts like a lubricant and the roads abrasive elements act like little knives, promoting the slicing of more rubber. this guy was an actual engineer not a customer service rep. seems like the asphalt which affords less grip would spare your tire wear, but evidently it allows the tire to "move" more and slice away rubber.

 

My armchair analysis....

Whatever the pavement (wet, dry, grippy, smooth, etc.), if you're sliding, you're wearing more - a sliding tire has many times the wear of a rolling tire. But I don't think you can extrapolate this to where you automatically assume that less grippy pavement automatically wears more because the amount of time we actually slide our tires is pretty small. In fact, except for someone deliberately trying to stunt/drift a bike, probably 99% of the time we're not sliding a tire appreciably because we'd 'be on the verge of crashing all the time if you slide this much. And just rolling down the road without sliding, I'd bet abrasive/dry pavement wears a tire faster than smooth/wet pavement.

- Mark