Be My Valentine

Dirt Quake Rubber

On the run-up to Dirt Quake 1, I recommended the Mitas Speedway rear as perfect cheap option dirt track tyre. One of the only drawbacks is that it's not road legal. As I'm planing to get an MOT for my chop but want to maintain the bobbly* look, this Taiwanese trail pattern Cheng Shin seems like a good choice. Unlike a motocross tyre, it has the same razor longitudinal cuts as the speedway rubber which give some extra flexibility in the knobs.
At 3.00 x 19" it's slightly narrower which makes for better handling on the street too. It cost me £50 at Kempton (which in retrospect sounds a little dear). I haven't tried it in action yet but the compound feels nice and grippy - unlike the perished and hard speedway cast-off I ran last year.
Your back tyre isn't so crucial if it fishtails in the quagmire but if you want to keep your pants soil free, it's most helpful you have a well planted front-end. BP

* Bobbly is a term first coined by Skooter Farm Dave in Milan a couple of years ago when he took note of the nouvelle vague choppers with motocross tyres - ie bobber with knobbly tyres. This Evo' built by Benny Boneshaker is a perfect example of the genre.

Mitas Speedway Rear

'Made in Czech Republic - British League - Not For Highway Use - Mitas Speedway Rear SW-07 3.75-19'
These tyres you can find discarded at the perimeter of any UK speedway track. At the hands of a methanol burning pro they will only last one race before they're shredded, two if you flip them. Anything with more stubble on it than a 2.5 x 19 ribbed Avon Speedmaster has got to be good to stop the front end of my XS washing out at Dirt Quake. For the rear I'll stick with the 3.5 x 16 Avon Speedmaster with its Fruit And Nut chocolatebar tread pattern. If I was feeling a decadent cheat I'd go for full bobbly spec MX knobbly on the back. BP

Heidenau Race (and Street Tracker) Tyres

From Jan-Willem Dutch Brother (#15 above), sent this to movers and shakers in European flat track (like Short Track UK's Peter Boast)...

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

European domination

Brit iron, Italian rubber.
I never knew they ran Pirellis back then. I wouldn't even dream of racing on those and I'm slow. What's that all about? I've had it drummed into me that tyres are everything, but Gene could kick all our asses on these. Perhaps I need better tyres because I need all the help I can get. GI
Photo found at ze last chance...

ADDITION: I'm going to have to teach Wayne how to post a comment (you just click the bit that say '0 comments' below the post), because he keeps delivering gems. Like this: "Those tires are still the shit on cushions. Cut Pirelli on the front was the only tire to use at Ascot."