With Maxxis tires becoming more and more expensive, perhaps you also have had complains from riders on low budgets?
There are at least three tire manufacturers looking at offering flat track tires at competitive prices, and perhaps even type approval for street use. But until this becomes a reality, I had a chance to test some Heidenau K34 tires last weekend.
The Heidenau K34 tires are commonly available for classic bikes and have higher speed rating then most classic tires. and some sizes are even available in soft racing compound.
Talking to Jimmy from A&A Racing, these racing tires are already used successfully in the amateur flat track races in the States.
Last weekend I used 4.00x19" hard street tires, 1.1bar (16PSI) front, 0.9bar (13PSI) rear
The track was the speedway track in Svitay and the surface was loose to start with.
The tires felt very predictable to me, just like I am used to with the Maxxis. I could not even find a clear performance difference.
The next day was race day and I continued to use them for the first two heats (as shown above). My starts weren't brilliant and I got stuck behind Austrian supermotard ace Hanson Schruf. I could stay on his tail but did not have enough margin to overtake.
The track was grooving up and I changed over to Maxxis. The Maxxis had clear grip advantage on the grooved track.
Nevertheless, I was very impressed with the behavior of the K34 street tires. Perhaps the soft racing compound would work well on the grooved track too.
The K34 cost about half of the Maxxis and they behave very well. The other great advantage is that they are street legal, and street trackers help awareness of the sport.
I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts about allowing these tires for racing.
Jan-Willem, Dutch Brothers
K34 street tyres
K34 race tyres
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