You may have won this time,...
You may have won this time, SUV, but we'll do battle again...
Strong>Miles Ridden: 4350
Modifications: Pirelli Supercorsa SP tires
I've heard the story a thousand times, and my reaction has always been the same. You see, a car doing a U-turn is usually quite easy to predict and therefore we can take defensive measures. This is why I was confused how riders got into these accidents. My standard barrage of questions would typically go something like: "Weren't you paying attention?" "Why didn't you swerve or brake? Don't you know how to ride?"
Tested on the same day (but...
Tested on the same day (but on different bikes) the soft Supercorsa compound suffered more wear, as is plainly visible.
Well, I finally found out the hard way when an SUV tagged me-tagged me good. Big Orangey and I were minding our own business, slowly rolling past a long line of dead-stopped traffic, when the aforementioned four-wheeler apparently got tired of waiting and decided to turn around. Instead of bothering to check a mirror she hooked out and straight into me. The impact snapped the rearset in half and took out the Vance and Hines exhaust as well. Her only defense was, well...she didn't have one. "It was my fault, sorry," was the explanation for her utter stupidity.
When it was all said and done I had a very sore foot, a broken rearset and a smashed exhaust. This, of course, just two days before I had a trackday booked. I sourced a stock rearset and threw the stock pipe back on because time was short and I still had to swap out tires.
The new Supercorsa SP compound...
The new Supercorsa SP compound had slightly less sidewall grip than the soft compound, but it didn't suffer nearly as much abuse and has held up well on the street.
On a better note, Pirelli hooked me up with a set of its new Supercorsa SP rubber-a DOT legal street/track compound. It's different than the standard Supercorsa because the rear has a "hard" compound, where the standards only have a "medium" or "soft." The SP offers longer life on the street while still competent enough for track use.
The front tire also has a new compound to match the rear. The carcass and profiles are exactly the same as the race versions, mind you-just the compounds have been changed to allow for more practical applications and to help stretch your dollar a bit.
I tested them back to back with a set of "soft" Supercorsas, and the only obvious difference was a bit more wheelspin on the harder rear SP. It was very predictable and expected though, considering it's a two-step harder compound. The front wore and performed much the same as the soft version.
Pirelli Supercorsa SP tires...
Visually, it didn't shred like the softer race tire, but simply wore smooth and evenly, confirming the notion that this is a streetable track tire. These babies aren't cheap, but they can pull double duty as a track and a street tire, so it's actually great value.
I've put nearly a thousand miles on them since the trackday, and they are holding up great. I'll let you know their condition next month after racking up yet another thousand or so miles.
So for now it's back to the drawing board. First is a new pipe, then maybe some rearsets.