motorcycle tyres

[fil]

i am looking for more info than the manufacturers give about the performance of motorcycle tyres
e.g. what testing is required ,what info can the customer ask for ?
etc
unfortunately i am not a mechanical engineer - electronics- but am a quick learner can anyone point me in a direction to start - there appears to be very little testing required for a tyre to be legally sold

many thanks in advance

phil

 

[TestDriver]

Hello all,

I’m a little late to this thread but since I just found it, I’ll add my two cents.

Regarding passenger vehicle tire testing, there is significantly more testing going on than what has been posted above. Besides the basic government standard tests (BTW, these are about to become much more stringent), there is a myriad of internal testing done by the larger tire companies. These include exhaustive ride & handling, noise and durability testing that can be over 80k miles (tracks) as well as countless laboratory machine tests that test tires well beyond what could be deemed reasonably foreseeable in the real world. These higher standards are not limited to the OEM fitments either, so called “trade” tires get the same treatment before final release, although to a lesser extent depending on the specific market. Speaking from personal experience, when a new trade tire project is launched, it generally develops in the same way an OEM project does with pretty much the same steps in development taken along the way.

As far as motorcycle tires are concerned, I’ve not much first hand testing knowledge although I have seen it done and know it regularly gets done at least by the big guys. If I were to decide today on a new set of bike tires and one of my concerns was whether the product had been thoroughly tested, I’d opt for a brand name tire. If on the other hand I had more time, I’d read the latest bike magazines not just for tire tests but also for long term bike tests to get a better feel.

Cheers
Ramon

 

[fil]

ramon
thanks for your two cents worth, i am not worried about the ammount of testing carried out but the information available to the end user about the tyre
do you buy a product because it looks pretty? or do you read the label and see what its made of or the tech spec?
where is this info for tyres?
looking in the magazines will give you a riders opinion but a load versus grip for different conditions graph produced by mechanical (non subjective) machinery gives a relative readout!

 

[TestDriver]

Phil,

I'm afraid you'll be in for a long search if you want specifics on tire content. Information such as compounds, curing procedures and most construction specs (other than what is offered on retail literature) is impossible to get for the end user. The same goes for what is commonly referred to as force/moment data. These might be available to an OEM for obvious reasons but the nature of the tire business is much too secretive for it to be available to the public. Most companies have vast resources dedicated to reasearch and development in these areas and are understandably unwilling to make it available for public consumption.

I wish you luck in your search.

Ramon

 

[fil]

cheers ramon,
this is what i'm finding. with the tyre being one of the most important parts of the bike i will just gamble as usual and use my experience to keep me upright!!!!!!
many thanks to all who have posted

fil