Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: tyres, cold, tire

Question
I have a honda cbr 600, (iv just past my test), do i need to heat up my tyres to get the max grip whislt im riding on normal town roads.(Our max speed on town roads os 30 mph). if i do can recomend a safe way to do it.

many thanks

Lee

Answer
The short answer is no, you don't need to heat up the tires for modest, low speed riding. New street tires have decent traction even when cold. However, they have much, MUCH better traction when warmed up to operating temperature and are much safer when warmed up properly.

Generally, it takes at least 20 minutes of riding at freeway speeds to get street tires up to temp. If you're riding at slower speeds, it may take much longer than that. In fact, they may never get up to operating temperature at lower speeds, especially in colder climates.

Tire grip also varies depending on air temperature, road surface temperature, tire size and type, tire pressure, and age of the tire. Adjust your riding style based on the conditions of all these factors--don't ask a cold tire to do what only a hot tire can do!

You can vary your tire pressure somewhat from manufacterer's recommended settings to help them heat up/grip better. Operating temperature should feel very warm, but not to hot, to the touch with your whole hand--just a little uncomfortable. If they don't feel just a little uncomfortablly hot, or if they feel too hot, adjust your tire pressure 1 psi at a time up or down to get the tire temp you want--more pressure to make the tire run cooler, less pressure to make the tire run hotter. Be careful if you stray more than about 10% from the manufacturer's recommended settings though.

There is a detailed explanation of how to find optimum tire pressure in my new book "Maximum Control."

Pat