scary pirellis when cold - Ducati.ms

missoulamoto · Apr 17th, 2009, 2:27 am

18 years of motorcycle riding didn't prepare me for washing out of a fairly conservative turn and sliding 30 feet across the road and into a curb on my week old HM1000s yesterday morning with 127 miles on it! You can imagine my dismay!

Mostly minor abrasions and bruises except for my pride. Thought I must have hit grease or unseen sand or something because of how unpredictably slippery it felt. Inspected the areas where I went down and found no such environmental factor. Seemed difficult to imagine due to how conservative a speed and angle I had been engaged in but now after reading elsewhere online about tires that perform poorly when cold- I have realized that the cause was exclusively my cold tires and my lack of understanding as to the signifcance of that. Have had Pirellis in years past on sportbikes and was always inspired by their performance so feel relatively shocked at this outcome. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else who rides in cold weather out there.

Crank1000 · Apr 17th, 2009, 2:37 am

Sorry to hear about your mishap. Are you ok?

I'm betting the tires were cold as well as new. There was probably still some release agent on the edges. There could have been other factors though. How's the bike?

sinex · Apr 17th, 2009, 3:05 am

Great track tyre, not a street tyre, I dumped the OEM corsa's on ebay after 100 miles, in favour of some Pirelli Scorpion Sync's for the colder months here in the UK, I will swap them out again mid may ready for my trip to Europe, in favour of some Conti Road Attacks, the Scorpions will go back on again later at the end of the season season

missoulamoto · Apr 17th, 2009, 3:23 am

Moderate road rash on elbow and ankle. Hematoma on hip. Funny thing is I had ordered frame and axle sliders assuming I would never need them which hadn't arrived in the mail yet. Bike survive surprisingly well. Ground front axle threads but didn't touch fork or wheel. Snapped off both handguard/turn signal units, snapped shifter, and some minor scrapes at footpeg and passenger foot peg mounts. Can't tell from 10 feet away besides the handguards. Still- on paper, approx $5,000 in damage. Thank god for insurance!

Thanks for the tire recommendations "sinex"

sinex · Apr 17th, 2009, 4:43 am

BTW, Like the others glad your o.k, bikes can be fixed

I really don't understand why Ducat fit the corsa's to the S model, not that I am a lover of the Bridgstone's on the standard bike, given they fit sync's the the Multi I would have thought that was the a good choice for the factory to fit as standard

AirCaptain · Apr 17th, 2009, 5:23 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by missoulamoto

18 years of motorcycle riding didn't prepare me for washing out of a fairly conservative turn and sliding 30 feet across the road and into a curb on my week old HM1000s yesterday morning with 127 miles on it! You can imagine my dismay!

Mostly minor abrasions and bruises except for my pride. Thought I must have hit grease or unseen sand or something because of how unpredictably slippery it felt. Inspected the areas where I went down and found no such environmental factor. Seemed difficult to imagine due to how conservative a speed and angle I had been engaged in but now after reading elsewhere online about tires that perform poorly when cold- I have realized that the cause was exclusively my cold tires and my lack of understanding as to the signifcance of that. Have had Pirellis in years past on sportbikes and was always inspired by their performance so feel relatively shocked at this outcome. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else who rides in cold weather out there.

Thanks for the post!

I live 3 hours north of Toronto, ON, Canada. We're just getting into our riding season and I've been sliding around also. Thanks to some old motocross skills I've been able to stay upright, but will be making a tire change soon!

MTScott2 · Apr 17th, 2009, 5:35 am

Sorry to read about your bad experience. I come from a Harley background, being of advanced age I was concerened about riding a Ducati. I trailered my bike home from the dealer on a rideable day .I wanted to be on familiar roads for the break in period ,At the dealership while the bike was out front people were admiring checking out the bike a young woman said "don't forget to make sure I warm the tires up." What about your air pressure ? Being a new bike the throttle is a bit choppy and the motor is tight too. I've told friends that it is the easiest and the hardest bike i've riden. Glad you got good insurance let them pay because you have. Fix her up move forward . I keep a journal of the rides and what I do to the bike and what I learned just to remind myself. Little things, like pick your line on corners and make sure to look 10, 20, 40 feet ahead to where your going. You learned a big lesson ,now look forward to your next ride and enjoy.Glad your OK.

SPPerformance · Apr 17th, 2009, 5:35 am

The exact same thing happened to me on the Bridgestones!! Cold tires was the only explanation I could come up with too. The Bridgestones are hard as glass when cold.

Caidly · Apr 17th, 2009, 6:59 am

Been there, done that, posted about it too.
Super Corsa III suck on cold pavement

Sorry to hear, glad you're OK.

Desmo_Demon · Apr 17th, 2009, 7:28 am

I'm sorry to hear of your mishap and hope you heal well and fix all the scuffed items on your bikes...

I've been a Pirelli fan for many, many years and have burned though 40 or more of them over the last few years between my bikes and the wife's bikes. I've run everything from the old Dragon to the Supercorsa Pro SC2 and the Strada to the Corsa III and never had any issues, even in the 30-40 degree (F) range. I've scrubbed off chicken strips entirely in less than 20 miles into a new tire, and about the only times I've had issues with sliding is when the tires were bald or to the cords.....are you sure there wasn't something in the road, like some sand or oil?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crank1000

I'm betting the tires were cold as well as new. There was probably still some release agent on the edges.

I dunno....Cristoph Knoche with Pirelli has this to say about new tires....

Quote:

"Maybe it's coming from the old days when people were spraying mold release on the tread when the molds were maybe not that precise," Knoche speculates, "and the machinery was not that precise. But nowadays molds are typically coated with Teflon or other surface treatments. The release you put in there (in the sidewall area only, not the tread) is for like baking a cake, you know, so that it fills all the little corners and today that is done more mechanically than by spraying. The sidewall is important because you have all the engraving in the sidewall [with tire size, inflation pressure and certifications] and that you want to look nicely on your tire, so that's why we still spray the mold release there."

This is from paragraph three of this article...

http://www.sportrider.com/ride/RSS/1...res/index.html

He also talks about using "race" tires on the street.