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so..just how good are the Michelin PowerCUP race tires?

16K views 65 replies 18 participants last post by  Fallis 
#1 · (Edited)
.. good enough that even at Daytona, with the rear chunking a bit on the 3rd lap of a 5 lap sprint race in every race, you can still win a national championship (on the supersport bike in the 750cc class no less), take a couple 2nds, a 3rd, and a 4th and 5th.. in your 6 total races. :)

The front tire is like velcro with incredible trail braking stability. And the side grip as stellar with the A 190/55. Even using 1st gear in some of the corners on a 140hp r6 superbike, i would just let it eat.. At Daytona when on the banking though, the tire just left of center is horribly abused. It is pushed into the new pavement with no let up like a few years ago when it was bumpy. When the tire gets over 300f the outer layer in that specific area comes off and other technical stuff happens i can't follow. BUT, the tire still worked at lean and everywhere else. You just felt it wallow a bit when in that part of the tire, so you did what you could to lift or push the bike off that part. Daytona is a fun but weird place for motorcycles.

SO.. if it can do that when up against an ARMY of Dunlop riders with Daytona specific tires, imagine how it will do at every other track where it is actually designed to work?

Running times above 1:57 or so, the riders had NO issues. In fact David Gray ran a 190b compound in the 44 lap team challenge. It looked amazing. It's just the faster times (not fast compared to pros but decent).. in the 1:52-54 range it would overheat just left of center where the tire is pushed hard on the banking. BUt again, some of the experts and all the am riders on the Cup had no issues with the tire at all at Daytona.

Fast Michelin rider Dan Ortega was just a tic off my times at this track on just a supersport bike, and had some very good finishes, even in the pro races. Some chunking but he still brought it home.

IF Michelin were to invest in a Daytona specific tire, something that had the hard middle compound over just 2" more to the left of where it stops now, you would see Michelin perhaps dominate the Race of Champions event next October.. :)
 
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#3 · (Edited)
added some info above :)

and the podium pic and avatar sig will be removed in a few days.. let me gloat for a little while. I had a good weekend.
 
#13 ·
the Dunlop Daytona speedway specific tire does NOT chunk.. And as i stated earlier, doing 2:00 or thereabouts or more lap times? you could run anything and it won't chunk. Some even on 1000cc bikes don't as at that lap time, you are not holding the throttle 100% on the banking, and the tire is fine. you run a Michelin or a Pirelli at a good lap time there, and unless there is HEAVY cloud cover.. you will chunk the rear.

What is still interesting and should raise eyebrows, is that yea.. it chunked at a good lap time, but it was STILL so good that I could finish top 5 in all the races :) The front is just STUPID good.
 
#14 ·
you won't feel a huge difference in the rear Power1 vs the PowerCup (some but not much), but the FRONT PowerCup is light years better than the PowerOne.
 
#12 ·
congrats, man!

i used power cups all season this year for my track days. only had one issue and i think that gingerman just eats rear tires. especially when combined with a ham-fisted rider like myself.

dave gray is a maniac. not sure how he does what he does. he actually talked to me about my tire on the aforementioned gingerman day. nice guy.

keep the podium pic up. you deserve it...


s3aturnr
 
#15 ·
i have not tried the PowerCup "C" rear, that may be worth a go? it's a harder compound than the A and B rears. I assume the suspension is dialed in too? if the tire looks nice, no tearing, just even wear.. well, yea. not too much can be done but perhaps try a couple PSI up or down. If you try the "C" rear, let me know
 
#17 ·
 
#27 ·
Duane from Michelin used to do the east coast tracks when I raced in that region, don't know if he's still doing that or not.

Grey lives right down the road from me so I see him wherever I go. This can be a good thing or a bad thing :D lol
 
#28 · (Edited)
LOL.. gonna have to be nice to David, he gave me some cool Michelin bini nit caps for the cool weather.

Now.. wanna see what "could have been" had the daytona speedway surface been cooler ??
morning warm up Sunday.. granted it's only practice, but holy shit was the bike on a rail. I came back to the pits and told my guys "we will win races if the clouds roll in" :) it was awesome. the michelin just isnt' designed to have the incredible abuse from the speedway put to it in that specific area.. sadly, the sky was clear and track temps rose.
again, no way am i saying i could have beat those guy, just pointing out how good the michelin tire is. Racing.. practice.. they don't give out the trophy for practice :)

Date: 10/21/12
Time: 09:03AM
DIS ROC 2012 SUN GRP 4 RD 1 Practice

LAPTIMES - No: 6 - Greg Melka
Index Lap Laptime
1 1 02:14.499
2 2 01:54.919
3 3 01:53.020
4 4 01:54.402
5 5 01:53.142


Date: 10/21/12
Time: 09:03AM
DIS ROC 2012 SUN GRP 4 RD 1 Practice

LAPTIMES - No: 5 - Dane Westby (the Wolverine is a friggin machine, look at that consistency!)
Index Lap Laptime
1 1 02:02.919
2 2 01:53.966
3 3 01:53.490
4 4 01:53.790
5 5 01:54.009

Date: 10/21/12
Time: 09:03AM
DIS ROC 2012 SUN GRP 4 RD 1 Practice

LAPTIMES - No: 98 - Jake Zemke
Index Lap Laptime
1 1 02:14.820
2 2 01:57.048
3 3 01:58.571
4 4 01:53.392
5 5 01:53.264

Date: 10/21/12
Time: 09:03AM
DIS ROC 2012 SUN GRP 4 RD 1 Practice

LAPTIMES - No: 777 - Mark Miller Jr. (Mark beat me in all my races, was the winner in the vid i posted)
Index Lap Laptime
1 1 02:08.708
2 2 01:53.533
3 3 01:54.319
4 4 02:06.936
5 5 01:53.823

Date: 10/21/12
Time: 09:03AM
DIS ROC 2012 SUN GRP 4 RD 1 Practice

LAPTIMES - No: 37 - Stefano Mesa
Index Lap Laptime
1 1 02:17.344
2 2 01:56.749
3 3 01:53.905
4 4 01:54.543
5 5 01:53.858
 
#29 ·
You make quite a convincing argument for these Cups. If I didn't have such a strong hookup to get Dunlops...
 
#30 ·
i hear ya. cheap is cheap. But.. for those reading, you have to use the $550 uk ntec to go as fast as the michelin cup. the spec dunlop does not compare. As you can see from those lap times. No DAMN WAY should i be running lap times with the likes of Dane westby, Jake Zemke, etc.
 
#31 ·
So I just read some article about the Power One Comp vs Commercial (I just bought a set from a guy on this forum and was trying to figure out with they were the old ones or the new ones, turns out they are the old Power One Competition series) and at the bottom it says "To give due credit, I must say that a significant portion of the technical data came from Greg Melka." http://superbiketoystore.com/superblog/2009/11/12/michelin-pilot-power-one-tires-demystified/

So, as the article says, "when the rain sipes are gone the tires are designed to WORK BETTER! so don’t rush to change when the rain sipes are gone. The tires are designed to loose the rain sipes to become a “slick”.," take a look at this tire and see if you can tell me anything about it.


This thing was sliding around corners on the "cool down lap." So why did mine get less grip as the sipes wore away? Is this tire really shot, or am I being a puss?
 
#32 ·
So I just read some article about the Power One Comp vs Commercial (I just bought a set from a guy on this forum and was trying to figure out with they were the old ones or the new ones, turns out they are the old Power One Competition series) and at the bottom it says "To give due credit, I must say that a significant portion of the technical data came from Greg Melka." http://superbiketoystore.com/superblog/2009/11/12/michelin-pilot-power-one-tires-demystified/

So, as the article says, "when the rain sipes are gone the tires are designed to WORK BETTER! so don’t rush to change when the rain sipes are gone. The tires are designed to loose the rain sipes to become a “slick”.," take a look at this tire and see if you can tell me anything about it.

This thing was sliding around corners on the "cool down lap." So why did mine get less grip as the sipes wore away? Is this tire really shot, or am I being a puss?
dude.. you are taking those comments TOTALLY beyond what was intended.
Rain sipes on the side of the tire, after a few sessions is fine. That tire is tottaly fu cked and has been ran way too long. You don't even have tread left in the middle of the tire. At the point you are trying to run that tire, it can't hold any heat.
Also, the Power1 and Power CUP are night and day different.. the rain sipes are the same pattern, but other than that, there is NOTHING similar about these 2 tires
 
#33 ·
I know this is a Power Cup thread, but I've got 3 relatively fresh competition Power 1s (1f/2r) and 1 brand new Power 1 front that are taking up space.

If interested, I can send the flickr album with pics.
 
#40 · (Edited)
and for those wondering what a chunked tire from the brutal high banks of Daytona LOOKS like.. here ya go. Makes ya get a bit "creative" about doing fast laps.






Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
#53 ·
and for those wondering what a chunked tire from the brutal high banks of Daytona LOOKS like.. here ya go. Makes ya get a bit "creative" about doing fast laps.






Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Greg, I have a set of take offs and the littlest sipe on the edge is about all gone. Worth running to try out or not? V front and B rear i believe. Will upload pic later when I get to the shop.
 
#54 ·
problem isn't the fact the sipes are partially gone to mostly gone on the max lean angle area.. it's the fact it's a "V" front, not a "VB" or "VA". That leads me to believe these are powerONE tires, NOT powerCUP. Cup is SUPERIOR big time to the Power1, especially the front tire. The power1 rear is pretty darn good, the V front isn't that bad, but the power cup fronts are just stupid good in comparison.
 
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