Dunlop Tire Choice Question | GTAMotorcycle.com

Dunlop Tire Choice Question

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BelievetoAchieve

Member
Can't wait to get out on Calabogie for the first time!
I'm a relative track newbie (6 track days so far), and was wondering about tire choice.
I'm riding a Japanese 600 and have previously run street tires in the past, and my lap times at Shannonville Long Track are around 2:20 on old Metzeler tires. I had a few small slides on them before that I was able to recover from.

I have new sets of 190/55 D209 GPA's and 180/55 Q2's and aren't sure which to put on for 'Bogie.
Sort of goes without question that the 209 are a more track-focussed tire, but was wondering if a beginner-intermediate level rider would be able to generate enough heat to keep the 209's happy?
The 209's are also a 190 tire, so they should have more rubber on the ground, but I'm not too sure how they compare having never used a race tire before.

Also was wondering ig the wider profile of the 190 /55 D209 tire would have the chain rubbing up against the tire?

Much thanks for any input.
 
190 will fit fine. I would say use up the Q2's first. I've been doing track for 4 years now and am about to get a set of those to try on the track. enjoy bogie, it's a big one
 
I'm very much a track day newbie, but I thought Q2 were great tire and never slipped or had an issue with them. I don't know if the tracks will make a difference.
 
I've run both, and the 209 do have a grip advantage, but not much. I'd use up the Q2 and enjoy the awesomeness that is Calabogie.
 
I'm using Q2s and I'm very happy with them. I'm about to replace them with D209s for a track day the 27th just because they were a good deal. When is your 'bogie day?

TBH though I don't expect to be able to tell the difference between the two tires :)
 
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Thanks for all your suggestions, I also got a great deal on my 209's but I'm now leaning towards using the Q2's for Calabogie July 4/5th. Especially since I'm not dragging knees yet.
 
fastar1 said:
TBH though I don't expect to be able to tell the difference between the two tires :)
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^^ what he said.

Todays hypersport street tires are amazingly good. I've seen this result in test after test and review after review.

UK Bike Magazine, which is known for its extremely thorough tire tests, sometimes using professional former racers, stated that, unless you ride at the "limit", aka professional/super advanced track rider, then you won't notice any difference between these two.
 
SunnY S said:
^^ what he said.

Todays hypersport street tires are amazingly good. I've seen this result in test after test and review after review.

UK Bike Magazine, which is known for its extremely thorough tire tests, sometimes using professional former racers, stated that, unless you ride at the "limit", aka professional/super advanced track rider, then you won't notice any difference between these two.
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Then there is the argument that track beginners need as much traction as possible because they are more likely to get into trouble, and need the extra grip to get out of it.

Q2`s are an amzing tire(I sell a ton of them!) which works well in all conditions, but they are not a track tire, and will not deliver the same traction as a focussed race tire. On the other side of the coin the gpa will work amazingly well on the track, but will suffer on the street due to lack of temperature consistency, and poor wear life.

Besides being a much softer compound, the rear GPA has a much larger footprint at lean than the Q. The Q2 is also a very small tire for it's size. In fact 190/50 Q2 is narrower than many 180's. I generally put 190/50 Q2's on 600's and 190/55's on literbikes with great success.

The real answer is track tires for track, and street tires for street. And theyre both so cheap(219.99 for GPA`s and 259.99 for Q2`s), maybe having both was the right way to go!
 
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He's not dragging knees, not sure what trouble he'll be getting into to take advantage of a race tire......the race tires wouldn't be very warm at that pace either.
 
I was always under the impression that race tires took longer to warm up and had to work a lot harder to keep them at that temp, therefore a bit more unpredictable for a trackday novice. can someone verify this?
also, it seems that there's a lot of positive feedback on the Q2 track riding. can some of you that have used these tell me what sorts of times/pace you were doing at shannonville wile using them, and how they felt?

thank you.
 
First time on the track used gpa's. Been using them since. Did a 1:30 first day at Cayuga and tires worked awsome. Using a track tire at the track you never have to question if your tires are up to the task (unless they're worn out). Warmers aren't necessary either with the dot tires, just a few laps to get them warm.
 
mobius said:
I was always under the impression that race tires took longer to warm up and had to work a lot harder to keep them at that temp, therefore a bit more unpredictable for a trackday novice. can someone verify this?
also, it seems that there's a lot of positive feedback on the Q2 track riding. can some of you that have used these tell me what sorts of times/pace you were doing at shannonville wile using them, and how they felt?

thank you.
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a race tire has a higher optimum operating temp.
 
murf said:
a race tire has a higher optimum operating temp.
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well yes, reason why a track novice has a tougher time getting it there and more importantly keeping it there. but unless it's on the warmers for a half hour then it'll take most of the session to get the tire completely hot. this has been my belief for several years, but here we got a tire vendor saying that he'll benefit from race tires, even though he'll be running them cold.
 
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BelievetoAchieve said:
Thanks for all your suggestions, I also got a great deal on my 209's but I'm now leaning towards using the Q2's for Calabogie July 4/5th. Especially since I'm not dragging knees yet.
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What tire pressures you plan on running at bogie?......what have you run before at shanny?
 
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