Track Performance
The Streets of Willow is a pretty tight and busy track that replicates your favorite canyon road without the pie trucks and CHP. I had a chance to test the tires on a heavier and torquier Aprilia Mille with favorable results. I had absolutely no "oh shit" moments, OK, maybe one or two, but bike and tires saw me through with no incident. Due to track ignorance, I was grabbing a gear or two where I shouldn't have, yet suffered no instability problems. The R6 has no steering damper and it's considered a candidate for one at racetrack speeds. It was full credit to the Sportec set up, that I didn't feel the need for one. No headshakes, no sliding, nothing… What more could I have asked for?
So, after being hammered around the track by the division one journalists, I spied the chase truck eventually turn up with a sorry looking Yamaha R6 sitting in or rather swimming, in its own puddle of oil. Luckily, I managed to grab some JB Weld en-route and with a large dime sized bubble-gum-under-the-table looking repair, the leak was stopped. The tires were contact cleaned and gingerly re-scrubbed in on the track. The bike rode perfectly with no more surprises, and bar the holed ignition timing cover, surprisingly little damage. I rode it home too, with no problems.
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Did they behave themselves?
On the limit, the Sportec M-1 offers that strain-specific steel belt winding system that is supposed to give you clear feedback on when the tires are going to let go. This feedback is important to ensure your well being, especially whilst on the very limits of adhesion. Being an old fat guy, I felt no such feedback, yet I enjoyed seeing Don Canet of Cycle World go around me sideways a couple of times on his Suzuki GSX-R in a seemingly controlled fashion, a good assumption of it working.
Tire wear looked absolutely astounding. With three hours of absolutely non-stop track time and over 250 miles of hard street riding, wear was negligible. Even the rear tire on the big GSX-R1000 didn't look too bad and that bike is notorious for whooping up on innocent rubber. Do yourself a favor and go grab a pair from your local purveyor of fine quality rubber. Good mileage, good grip and they're black too.
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Price and Availability
Price: Projected MSRPs at time of press are:
Fronts - $141.95 to $145.95 and Rears - $173.95 to $233.95
These prices are right in line with competition. No more nasty big buck surprises when shopping for your next Sport tire. Also, the Sportec M-1 will be OE fitment on future Aprilia's Mille, Falco and Futura. Not too shabby, if you ask me.
Availability: They are on a large boat heading this way as you read this. Figure first or second week in November. Don't hang around though, as they will prove to be a popular choice for fast street and occasional track day riders.
Mike Emery
A big thank you to Rick Menapace for letting me crash an R6 and having the faith to give me another bike to continue my evaluation. Top bloke!
