TRACTION SCIENCE
Traction is bloody important, but what’s the secret to making the most of a tyre’s grip?
Riding
BY KEITH CODE
It’s either grip or slip.
THE CALIFORNIA SUPER BIKE SCHOOL
Founded by the legendary Keith Code in 1980, the California Superbike School offers a step-by-stepmethod of technique oriented rider training in the art of cornering motorcycles. Over the past 30 years hundreds of thousands of students have improved their riding skills and cornering capabilities at CSS and their teamof professional coaches are dedicated to your improvement.
Traction limits can be hard to reckon for some riders. Understanding how traction is created can introduce some clarity. Traction is a byproduct of the brew of chemicals in the rubber compound, coupled with how cleverly the tyre carcass is constructed and shaped, plus proper inflation, tread depth, and tyre temperature, which invariably varies with different rubber compounds.
Heat a mounted tyre to its optimum operating temperature, tilt it to 45 degrees, and then apply ever-increasing pressure to it. At some point the tyre will eventually slip – the load at the exact slipping point represents 101% (or so) of the tyre’s static-grip limit.