Old School New Tires

[aviationfred]

Who remembers this tire design from back in the late 80' and early 90's? Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp. These tires are being marketed as retro tires for café bikes. I have no idea what the performance of the tires are.

A basic info video https://youtu.be/8NsfyTHRoBE


Fred

[Sparky84]

Yes I do remember them but just as Pirelli Phantoms, they were good back then but never used them on the FJ and still can't with 16' rims.

They seem to be radials now, don't think they were in the late 70's and 80's.

Why don't they make all tyres Radial construction if its better?

[Millietant]

Who remembers this tire design from back in the late 80' and early 90's? Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp. These tires are being marketed as retro tires for café bikes. I have no idea what the performance of the tires are.

A basic info video https://youtu.be/8NsfyTHRoBE

Fred

The original Phantom's were the only tyres I've ever taken off before they were worn out - I replaced them at less than 1500 miles - awful, no grip in either wet or dry. The front was the biggest issue, lost it 3 times in the dry, luckily without crashing. Rear spun up in any gear in the wet. They were great tyres once........... compared to the rest at the time.

BUT - with 30 years of technology advance, I reckon it's safe to bet that they'll be great.

[Pat Conlon]

Ho hum...Cafe racing: racing from bar to bar, going a "ton" on a "hopped up" 65 hp Brit bike with Amal carbs, Lucas electrics and drum brakes....and POS tubed tires, sounds like soooo much fun.

[Hemi Bob]

I remember having a set Pirelli Phantoms  my 1981 GS 1100 .I think back then they would use a rear tire on the front.
But at some speeds you would get a front end fallowing the zig zag tread.
In 1985 when I bought my FJ 1100 it came with a set of Pirelli Phantoms N/C .
Not sure if they were really free at $5829.they didn't give the bike away
I do remember it handled very well. I now have a set of 16"Avon Storms to
install and try out .

[PaulG]

I had a set of Phantoms "way back" in 88-89 on an '80 KZ750.  Had my first 2 wheel drift ala Randy Mamola on them.  Bias plies back then.  IIRC they were relatively OK ......... as long as it wasn't raining too hard or too cold. 

Pirelli has been the sole supplier for WSBK for several years now.  I watched a discussion about their R&D approach, and their race tires are directly related to their production tires for quicker-to-market turnaround.  One of the reasons why WSBK's squirm all over the place under acceleration/braking.  Despite the "retro" tread design, the carcass and compound would be on a different planet than the ones I used to have.

[Millietant]

Ho hum...Cafe racing: racing from bar to bar, going a "ton" on a "hopped up" 65 hp Brit bike with Amal carbs, Lucas electrics and drum brakes....and POS tubed tires, sounds like soooo much fun.

They came as original equipment on my 2nd FJ.

When I had them on my old 650 Honda, they were "OK".

[Motofun]

Pirelli has been the sole supplier for WSBK for several years now.  I watched a discussion about their R&D approach, and their race tires are directly related to their production tires for quicker-to-market turnaround.  One of the reasons why WSBK's squirm all over the place under acceleration/braking.  Despite the "retro" tread design, the carcass and compound would be on a different planet than the ones I used to have.

I race Pirelli's.  Their design is a softer (ie less stiff) carcass than the Dunlop's so you have to use more psi to compensate.  I ran my D rears at 21psi hot, my P at 27 psi hot.  The big advantage, at least for me, is I can sometimes feel the rear move a little before it lets go whereas with the Dunlops I was usually just guessing.  As far as the sipes on those retro tires....It's just wrong.  They will actually pump water back under the tire!  When you look at your rear tire from behind you want to see an upwards pointing ^ shape.

[Motofun]

You want to know what's really strange?  When you look at your front tire from the front you also want to see the same upward ^ shape to the sipes.  That means they are pointing V from the rear...exactly opposite of the way the rear tire is.  This has never made sense to me....What am I missing?

[ribbert]

You want to know what's really strange?  When you look at your front tire from the front you also want to see the same upward ^ shape to the sipes.  That means they are pointing V from the rear...exactly opposite of the way the rear tire is.  This has never made sense to me....What am I missing?

Because the rotational loads are in different directions. Rear accelerating, front braking.

Noel

[gumby302ho]

 I never road on Phatoms but the word out on them was they only stuck when they were hot, most riding where I was growing up was light to light and all out drag racing and I was warned that they feel like banna peels when they spooled up but be careful and ready cause when they grabbed be pointing straight and hang on.