How do you know when your tires are warmed up?

jay-d

jay-d

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I've read a lot of articles stating things such as warmed up tires or someone crashed because their tires weren't warmed up.

How the hell do you know? What are factors to look out for? I can understand on a very hot summer day, the asphalt is ridiculously hot so that heat will transfer to your tires warming them up pretty quick but what about on a cold Spring morning?

The only way I can think about checking to see if your tires are warmed up is by feeling them by hand.. :(
 
Depends on your style of riding. I know when I start out from being stopped for a while, I like aggressive acceleration and then harsh braking. That usually gets them nice and warm. It really doesn't take long (depending on tire of course) but if you've been moving for longer then 5 minutes, you should expect them to be warm enough for anything you are doing on the street. You will see some people swerving back and forth "to warm them up" but that really doesn't do anything.
 
Depends on ambient temperature, road temperature and tire compound. And even then it's a moveable feast based on style of riding, whether you're stop/starting or on long runs. This refers to track tires and tire warmers but gives you an idea of the variables involved;

Cayuga and Shannonville will not build heat under 15 Celcius. So if your tires are 80 C going out and you ride for 10 laps you will propbaly come in at 55-6-C,ish. Calabogie and Mosport,Tremblant you will maintain heat. Calabogie at 10 C you will maintain heat.
You can see evidence of this in a race on a very cold day when guys crash on the last lap or so and are not going faster. The tire just lost heat. So racing on a cold day,,be a hero in the first laps!
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if you're front wheel goes up in acceleration, and you're rear wheel goes up in front braking, you are good to go!
 
C-Note said:
You will see some people swerving back and forth "to warm them up" but that really doesn't do anything.
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Yes it does.It annoys the heck out of the riders behind you if you are in a group.Don't do it!
There are so many variables here.Type of tire,age or past life of tire (scrubs),your abilities,road temp.The list goes on and on.If you are looking for "maximum" grip out of a new state of the art sport tire,you will never get it on the street.As soon as you are between twisties,it cools down quickly.Someone with more knowledge than me will expand i'm sure.
 
Well that sucks!

Thanks for the responses, looks like it's something that comes with time. I've got a set of Conti Road Attack 2's and so far they've been great, even in the cold but I wish I had a way of really knowing and not just hoping.

C-Note said:
I like aggressive acceleration and then harsh braking. That usually gets them nice and warm. It really doesn't take long (depending on tire of course) but if you've been moving for longer then 5 minutes, you should expect them to be warm enough for anything you are doing on the street. You will see some people swerving back and forth "to warm them up" but that really doesn't do anything.
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This is what I've read too, that hard acceleration and braking are the best way to warm them up!


GayManLoveIsOK said:
he'll be able to advise you on that...

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum/showthread.php?154738-Fun-times-on-cold-tires-and-pavement
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Yikes! That's what I don't want to happen!
 
There's a really slippery bit of pavement right near my house. Every time I ride off I take the corner pretty easy and roll hard on the throttle on the way out. The angle of my drift tells me how cold the roads/my tires are.

And if I've been riding through crap/in a straight line for a while I do a few weaves before a corner to clean off that line of crap that's built up on my tire, not to warm them up ;)

-Jamie M.
 
jay-d said:
How the hell do you know? What are factors to look out for? I can understand on a very hot summer day, the asphalt is ridiculously hot so that heat will transfer to your tires warming them up pretty quick but what about on a cold Spring morning?

The only way I can think about checking to see if your tires are warmed up is by feeling them by hand.. :(
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I do this before every ride......... never had to worry about cold tires ever again.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82223734/
 
I've gotten in the habit of checking my tires by hand any time I get off the bike. I now have a fairly good idea of how long it takes for them to get warm, and how differing conditions affect how quickly they come up to temp. When in doubt, I always err on the side of caution though.
 
With time you'll be able to feel when the tires have warmed up. The bike seems to wiggle around a little bit when they're cold so easy on the gas and lean angle untill they feel more planted. Hard braking and acceleration will warm up the middle of the tire but if you go hard into a corner or get aggressive on the gas coming out you'll find out the hard way how long it takes to warm up the whole tire.
 
The problem is firmness. Any frozen tire may slide on an invisible amount of sand. As you go over a grain of sand, it should push into the rubber so the surrounding rubber keeps contact with the road. If the tire is hard, it doesn't push in as much. If there's enough sand, you can slip on it.
However, it depends more on the tire than it does on the temperature. A pro race tire is soft and basically made of mush and will eat and spit out a rock, but will wear out very fast - a matter of minutes or an hour or two. An old Pirelli is pretty much hard plastic at any age but you'll get tens of thousands of clicks out of it before the tread gets low. Look to your choice in tires first, temperature second.
 
toysareforboys said:
There's a really slippery bit of pavement right near my house. Every time I ride off I take the corner pretty easy and roll hard on the throttle on the way out. The angle of my drift tells me how cold the roads/my tires are.
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Video or didn't happen lol
 
toysareforboys said:
There's a really slippery bit of pavement right near my house. Every time I ride off I take the corner pretty easy and roll hard on the throttle on the way out. The angle of my drift tells me how cold the roads/my tires are.
-Jamie M.
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Explain this one in a bit more detail will you? By drift do you mean slide? If so then the "angle" of your slide is to do with your cornering speed, lean angle and the configuration of the corner. It's got nothing to do with the temperature of tires. If you're talking about how far your rear steps out on you then engine speed also comes into the equation. But if you can use minimal throttle input to crack the rear tire then it does offer some indiciation of tire temperature, albeit a very difficult one to measure. Unless you're Casey Stoner. You aren't are you?

Although, judging by previous videos you've posted up here, I'd say you don't do anything resembling what you've posted. I would call BS on what you say. As the above poster says videos or it didn't happen.
 
Wingboy said:
Yes it does.It annoys the heck out of the riders behind you if you are in a group.Don't do it!
There are so many variables here.Type of tire,age or past life of tire (scrubs),your abilities,road temp.The list goes on and on.If you are looking for "maximum" grip out of a new state of the art sport tire,you will never get it on the street.As soon as you are between twisties,it cools down quickly.Someone with more knowledge than me will expand i'm sure.
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It also attracts the attention of the Police. And can even be used to generate a "stunting" charge. So it's not that it does nothing. It just that it does nothing positive. :lmao:
 
Fiery254 said:
It also attracts the attention of the Police. And can even be used to generate a "stunting" charge. So it's not that it does nothing. It just that it does nothing positive. :lmao:
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Thanks for adding that.I can't recall the thread,but i think someone way back got charged with stunting or maybe careless for doing it.I have also personally seen a guy go down right in front of me on sr15 a few years ago.He was a noob and riding with a friend.His friend did it and when he did he got the front onto a bit of sand...boom!Almost took his friend out too.
 
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