Dunlop tyres

[cocker]

Looks like the bean counters have been at it again !!!
Meybee I'm jumping the gun but if they've managed to ruin the tt I'd like to think they're motorcycle tyre sales will nose dive . Hit them where it hurts - in the pocket !

 

[Kram]

Interesting, have it recording but havent watched yet.

Didnt F1 recently have problems with Pirelli tyres on the news? -cba to watch that it makes me fall asleep!

 

[Hood]

Don't know anything about Dunlop and the TT, will have to look now but I do know Continental have a massive recall going on in the USA for lots of their tyres for bikes so maybe an industry wide issue.

 

[frank horton]

thought Dunlop like Lucas was bought out by the Chinese....

 

[Greeves246]

Dave y Todd’s tyre yesterday

 

[Bravheart]

Just a thought i don't know much about bike tyres but we had a closed road four wheel motorsport event here recently and a neighbour has a mobile tyre sales and fitting service for such events. He has had a major headache trying to source enough product to supply the competitors even though he has a major tyre manufacturer backer. The tyres this time came from far and wide perhaps this is what's happening on the IOM and older, spurious or properly tried and tested stock has sneaked into the supply chain.

 

[Hood]

Give us more info? Was this a dunlop tyre? Was it the slick that Dunlop had officially withdrawn prior to the TY/. If so, why was it in use?

There is nothing (much, thus far) to complain about unless it is just a grump from the OP.

It doesn’t look like a bean counter problem, to me. Looks more like a technology failure.

 

[GRW]

Tyres have THE most difficult, virtually impossible task on the modern racing motorcycle.

They are the interface berween all that hi-tech & horsepower and the surface.

If the makers make them durable l, thd riders complain they lack enough grip.
If made with huge grip, the riders moan they lack durability.

The superbikes now bristle with electronics which maximise the throttle control and power delivery - to maximise and optimise the power output at all times - meaning the tyre gets beasted from start to finish with zero respite.... and the bikes might be making 230+bhp (MotoGP bikes now around 300bhp)... and all that put through a contact patch the size of a credit card.

Given all that, modern tyres are amazing things & it's incredible what they do - but the only thing anyone ever notices or comment on - is when one fails.

Who'd be a tyre supplier to get nothing but criticism & negativity eh? Cos that's what happens!
Bridgestone pulled out of MotoGP partly due to this - and the only Mfr willing to take it on - was Michelin. Without Michelin coming back, MotoGP would have been stuffed.
Dunlop are the supplier for Moto3, Moto2 as well as much more on bike racing, and in general their tyres seem to get less criticism than others - so I'd be inclined to look for other factors being responsible before throwing Dunlop under the bus out-of-hand, and with zero clue as to the circumstances.

I watched the practice roundup recorded from ITV4 last night. Michael Dunlop (ironic surname) defected from Dunlop during the practices to I think Metzeler (a Pirelli brand anyway) to try them.... and went back to Dunlops next time out.
I suspect he switched back because he preferred the feel & grip of the Dunlops, & felt that while the Metzeler might last... It'd not give the grip to be quick enough.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

My two cents worth. Long time ago I raced bikes, though only in the smaller classes, here in Au it was the 400cc four strokes and 250cc two strokes. It is one thing that we never gave it much thought. You put tyer warmers on prior to the start, get them to temp and away you go, basically. I would moan about tyer life and or grip as @GRW has mentioned and that was about it. Never had one fail and or know anyone in the bigger classes that had that either, but could imagine the horror of it happening, now. We used Dunlops, Michelins, Brigstones and Metzlers and I notices at different ciucuits it made a difference. The problem with this is that you don't know if and where it is going to happen to you. Riding on the road I could see that this would be very unlikely, but equally as traumatic as going into a turn at +200kph with the pegs touching, tucked up behind the screen as best as possible, in the the slipstream of the rider in front trying to get up the inside for the next turn, on the track . I only say 200kmh as that was about the max speed on the track you could get from the 400cc four strokes. For those that follow the GP here in AU the Philip Island circiut we turn in to turn one at 207kph with a slipstream. We actuall go through there with the throttle pinned. Long gone are those days, still got the bike and bits though

 

[Wozzaaah]

Give us more info? Was this a dunlop tyre? Was it the slick that Dunlop had officially withdrawn prior to the TY/. If so, why was it in use?

There is nothing (much, thus far) to complain about unless it is just a grump from the OP.

It doesn’t look like a bean counter problem, to me. Looks more like a technology failure.

Substituting components for cheaper ones would most likely result in wear or grip issues, that’s definitely catastrophic failure. There will be a lot of twitchy bum bums at Dunlop at the moment, that’s for sure.

 

[Ruffian]

Davey Todd was running the treaded replacement for the slick,

Michel Dunlop was running thr slick at the nw200 which exploded also. Which was the first real concern.

But then m.dunlop swapped to metzeler and the following day swapped back to Dunlop.

It's always a worry.
But trying to push a tyre to the absolute limit for 75miles will always be a test.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Interesting, have it recording but havent watched yet.

Didnt F1 recently have problems with Pirelli tyres on the news? -cba to watch that it makes me fall asleep!

Aye, concerns about tyre temps iirc.

 

[Kram]

Personally feel dunlops are poo, first tyres I used on the cbr6, were horrible rubbish. My money goes on Michellin Road5's and a Metzler Racetec on the front, not that Im racing but they are bloody excellent.

 

[cheb]

I watched a documentary about Seagrave some time back. The tyres on his car were rated for something like 400mph for 20 seconds. I can't mind the actual figures their life expectancy wasn't that much.

I'm also amused how the beabcounters are blamed with absolutely no evidence save a broken tyre.

 

[Kayos]

I watched a documentary about Seagrave some time back. The tyres on his car were rated for something like 400mph for 20 seconds. I can't mind the actual figures their life expectancy wasn't that much.

I'm also amused how the beabcounters are blamed with absolutely no evidence save a broken tyre.

Easy target, the same as people with an over inflated sense of self importance who blame management for everything

 

[Knuckles2907]

There was a bad batch of Dunlop tyres at the nw 200, the top 3 riders in the super bike race at the tt all use Dunlop tyres, my e padjetts racing still had a bad batch as both there riders had to stop

 

[Greeves246]

Haven’t seen what Connor Cummins problem was, assumption was the team had told him to stop as a precaution. Always the possibility that Todd’s tyre pressure was wrong or that he had tyre damage. Dunlop will no doubt examine and determine the fault, if they were concerned they will pull all tyres from later races.

 

[cocker]

I do seem to remember something about motogp teams running tyre pressures under the manufacturers recommends . The manufacturers and organizers seemed to be getting quite stroppy about safety .
My money's still on dodgey tyres . If it was down to tyre pressures we'd be seeing the corporate finger of blame being pointed at the team's .

 

[Greeves246]

From the team response, it seems to suggest they were running lower pressure than others. Quote,
“Whilst the leading three finishers of Peter Hickman, Dean Harrison and Michael Dunlop had trouble free rides with the Dunlop treaded rear they were running, the same couldn’t be said for Milenco by Padgetts Honda rider Davey Todd with his rear delaminating half way round the second lap.

As a result of a meeting on Sunday between race organisers and Dunlop representatives, the parameters on tyre pressure have been closed with a minimum now of 22psi.

Team boss Clive Padgett told bikesportnews.com, “Padgetts have had a superb relationship with Dunlop for many years, in terms of both product support and results. We’ve had a little blip recently but we’ll ride it out together and will continue to run their tyres on our machines.””

 

[cocker]

Gun jumped then !