Track tires

Pirelli has a nice looking tire for the Grom. I was leaning towards the Michelin myself, then another member (AJ510 I think is his forum name) on here pointed out a good point while at our last (my first) track day. The Michelin's have a lot of siping, or pattern, on the edge of the tire. The Pirelli's are almost slick like on the edge.

I haven't tried the Pirelli myself. One of the regular local track guys bought some for his Grom, but he wasn't able to make the last track day, so I wasn't able to hear any feedback. Looks like a great tire though.

Dunlop's.......

You can get a census from others you track with.

Most of the racers or guys I share the track with use Dunlops (TT93). I rarely see anyone else on anything different; i.e. Pirelli or Bridgestones or IRC's. And then there is Sava, which does have a slick, and different grades (soft / med / maybe hard too) of tire. Again, I would ask around the paddock and get some insight from the more serious track junkies / racers.

Old Goat Ninja said:

Pirelli has a nice looking tire for the Grom. I was leaning towards the Michelin myself, then another member (AJ510 I think is his forum name) on here pointed out a good point while at our last (my first) track day. The Michelin's have a lot of siping, or pattern, on the edge of the tire. The Pirelli's are almost slick like on the edge.

I haven't tried the Pirelli myself. One of the regular local track guys bought some for his Grom, but he wasn't able to make the last track day, so I wasn't able to hear any feedback. Looks like a great tire though.

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When you find out where your contact purchased the Pirelli tires, please spread the information. I have always liked the Pirelli Diablo series for the bigger bikes.

Thanks for the info guys. I think I will be going with the Dunlops. I was looking at some pictures from that weekend, and a lot of guys seem to be running those tires. The Grom is a blast on the track, and it's different type of experience compared to the big bikes. A couple of friends and I may make some runs to the Herrin compound this fall/winter too if you any of you guys in the southeast ever go there.

Only been to the cart track once with the Grom, but had no problems with the Michelins at 29psi. I'd estimate my corner speeds anywhere between 30-40mph with a kiss of peg feeler and hanging off the bike as much as possible. I wasn't using the very edge of the tire unless the peg was folding up, but still in the "siped" area. The mini moto guys that were out there all preferred the Mitas tires over the Dunlop tt93

nnamssorxela said:

I wasn't using the very edge of the tire unless the peg was folding up,

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Yeah, I don't think there's any way I could get to the edge of the tire with stock pegs. I was dragging pegs and still had plenty of tire left before the edge.

Another note, ask others (the fast and more experienced guys on Groms) with similar tires of what air pressure is set to, for a base line (air pressure will vary among riders and weight). Find someone about your weight. Air pressure is key, aside from good rubber for best grip and cornering confidence. Once you have a base line, then adjust accordingly to what works best for you.

Yes, air pressure is a great thing to control. I ordered this gauge from Amazon because of its sensitivity, and the chuck on the end able to grab onto those flexi-flyer valve stems, while adjusting the molecule content within those things made from the carbon black arts.

The dunlops are going to be one of the softest tires available for the grom. I'm not a pro but I can drag knee on stock tires at the kart track with minimal slipping, the stock front tire has caused me to crash twice but that's in combination with the bad front suspension. My friend runs the pilot pures and he is happy with them and he is faster than I am. And my fastest friend has just put a set of the perlli diablos on his grom and he loves them.

Imo your issue is with either the tire pressures and not getting enough heat into the tire or the suspension. The forks cause the front to push and slip more often than my stock tires. Your probly not hanging off the bike enough while being on stock suspension, knee down allows you to keep the grom upright when it starts moving around.

Better suspension = more mean angle

PMTs for slicks. I've ran the Bridgestones and have the Mitas DOTs on it right now. Also good options, but the PMTs are stupid for grip.

motoracer436 said:

PMTs for slicks. I've ran the Bridgestones and have the Mitas DOTs on it right now. Also good options, but the PMTs are stupid for grip.

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Ah, yes! I forgot about this tire brand. Thanks for posting. Although, I have never personally seen a set. If not using tire warmers, how many laps or long does it take to heat the tires up to turn some fast / hard laps?

I run PMTs on mine at the track and its great. Tons of feel and grip. I run medium front and medium rear. I might be switching to a soft rear cuz I've gotten to the point where I've found the limit and I'm loosing my rear if i try to push any harder.

Dunlop TT93s here.

I prefer Mita's, PMT is a really good tire aswell

the tt93's are just as good as the bt601's and both of those are leaps and bounds better than the previous dunlops tt92/91

Manimal said:

Ah, yes! I forgot about this tire brand. Thanks for posting. Although, I have never personally seen a set. If not using tire warmers, how many laps or long does it take to heat the tires up to turn some fast / hard laps?

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I've got 1 WERA race and 2 track days on them with plenty of grip and tread life left. They were Max's takeoffs, but were in good shape. I'll be taking them off to put some new PMTs on in prep for the 24hr next month. If you want to give them a shot, let me know and I'll bring them out to Stockton. You can have them.

Manimal said:

Ah, yes! I forgot about this tire brand. Thanks for posting. Although, I have never personally seen a set. If not using tire warmers, how many laps or long does it take to heat the tires up to turn some fast / hard laps?

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It doesn't take long at all. usually i do like one warm up lap maybe even a 2nd just to make sure that I'm good to go.

I've got an Ohlins kit in the front and an Ohlins shock on the rear, sprung for my weight. The issue was probably with the tire pressures I was running.

bjs8579 said:

I've got an Ohlins kit in the front and an Ohlins shock on the rear, sprung for my weight. The issue was probably with the tire pressures I was running.

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With the PMT Medium slicks i run 17.5 lbs rear and 18.5 lbs front. Those are warm pressures. Ill run a few laps get the tires heated up then dial my pressure in. I'm too cheap to get warmers.

The PMT mediums last a good while. Ive had like 4 track days on mine and they still got plenty of life left.