RC TYRES

[shanks]

Just after your opions here please chaps....

What would you like to see in 1/10th off road tyres?

At the moment it seems Schumacher dominate this market with minispikes/minipins....

What are your thoughts on theese tyres and how if at all do you feel they could be improved on?

Could just be a matter of cost

Could be that you feel a different pattern / compound would be useful

Any comments are welcome

[Si Coe]

I'm not convinced they dominate because they are the best as much as by consensus view that they work fine, last well and it keeps stuff simple. Back in the early 90's I'd have to carry a full sized kit box of tyres around in different shapes and compounds as no one solution worked well everywhere. In dry spells on grass tracks you'd have to change each round as the grass (which favoured cut spikes) was torn up leaving dirt (which favoured full spikes). This was before inserts were common, so you can imagine that after they arrived you'd also need several sets of the same tyres with different inserts etc.

Nowdays its very simple - a set of yellow minispikes with medium inserts will work in the dry pretty much anywhere, and if its wet Ballistics do the same. Thats not to say that other types aren't sometimes better - at Woodvale I had a big advantage due to using TR32's which worked better there than Yellows. However I only ran them because I had them, most people just stuck with yellows, which I'm sure is the case elsewhere too. I've got some Losi step pins that work very well at Bury, but I don't use them as yellows are cheaper and more readily available.

[shanks]

Similar thoughts myslef in that it is more "common opinion" that makes them so popular (obviously they are a very good product)

I imagine that is the barrier to market for a new tyre supplier then....in that it could be difficult to convince people to move away from what they feel "comfartable" with.

I suppose price would be an attraction - a set of schu yellow can be £12-14.

Whats your thoughts on number of tyres sold - uk and globally - got to be in the hundreds of thousands for schu tyres alone?

[coolcars782]

schumacher dominate?? more like bb

[sosidge]

Originally Posted by shanks

got to be in the hundreds of thousands for schu tyres alone?

You will never learn that figure because it will be closely guarded by Schumacher... but I'm confident that hundreds of thousands is a massive exaggeration...

[shanks]

Originally Posted by sosidge

You will never learn that figure because it will be closely guarded by Schumacher... but I'm confident that hundreds of thousands is a massive exaggeration...

you could be right - i really am just guessing at the moment

[shanks]

Originally Posted by coolcars782

schumacher dominate?? more like bb

really? to be honest i was only saying schu dominate from my very limited opinion......most of the guys i know seem to use schu...

[Nick Goodall]

Certainly a good few thousands of pairs sold each year i'd say - It's actually quite rare that they get a massive meeting like the Euro's where Schumacher's are THEE tyre to use as it's usually been on Dirt in the past.....

You can only imagine how many sets of Proline Holeshots get sold world wide though, think of all the small clubs alone in the States where they are pretty much always regarded as the best tyre on dirt - plus all the big races they have - remembering it's a set per run usually, then all the other countries that primarily run on Dirt tracks!

I think Ballistic are the only company to come close to the schumacher tyre but they've tried quite a few different things now but still not actually beaten the Schumacher Yellow minispike - Even those GRP tyres which were a great idea seemed to die off....

I think the original reason Ballistic did so well was mainly down to price but they're no cheaper now so in the dry a minispike works better generally, in the wet i'd agree Ballistic spikes are going to be better or sometimes Pinks can work at certain tracks but mainly in the UK Grass or Astro favours the Schumacher tyre so make some Identical for £5 a pair and you'll be laughing

[Si Coe]

Well they dominate the tiny UK market, and have a strong showing in Europe, but the truth is that dirt course need a very different sort of tyres, and since that is the favoured surface in the US and Far East, Schumacher is really a fairly minor player in the tyre stakes.
Proline and J-Concepts sell a lot more tyres than Schumacher do, they just don't make grass and astro tyres so we don't tend to use them.

[Si Coe]

IIRC the original Ballistic Buggys were copies of Schumacher full and cut spikes. As in literally copies - they used Schumacher tyres with the labels removed to make the molds! But they couldn't get the compounds the same so were never really as good.

As stated, the rest of the world runs on dirt. Schumacher tyres have never won a Worlds, and are unlikely to as long as they remain on dirt.

[shanks]

thanks fellas so far - all interesting stuff there....

keep it coming....

[Nick Goodall]

Originally Posted by Si Coe

IIRC the original Ballistic Buggys were copies of Schumacher full and cut spikes. As in literally copies - they used Schumacher tyres with the labels removed to make the molds! But they couldn't get the compounds the same so were never really as good.

As stated, the rest of the world runs on dirt. Schumacher tyres have never won a Worlds, and are unlikely to as long as they remain on dirt.

1987 - Romsey, the one and only Masami running the Cat XLS on Schumacher tyres!

[Nick Goodall]

And also they used Schumacher BIBX Compound Minispikes and Cut spikes at the 1993 Worlds in Basildon.

[Alfonzo]

The Schumacher tyres are of excellent design, the performance speaks for itself. I'm sure there's room for improvement, as there always is. What happened to the GRP cone things? Everyone was banging on about those for a short while, don't think they worked very well though.

[Nick Goodall]

Originally Posted by Alfonzo

The Schumacher tyres are of excellent design, the performance speaks for itself. I'm sure there's room for improvement, as there always is. What happened to the GRP cone things? Everyone was banging on about those for a short while, don't think they worked very well though.

I mentioned them too - there was no reason they wouldn't have worked as well as the Schumacher tyre but i don't think the Compound was quite right, they weren't really any cheaper either so i think it was a case of they're not better so stick with the Schumacher tyres.....

I still think it'd be cool if they could nominate an even split of tyres at the Nationals so that some meetings were at least Ballistic buggy tyres, some were Schumacher etc.

[PTRU]

they were not the prefered tyre for the Nats Nick that is why they did not sell in numbers

[DCM]

GRP's never gave the ultimate amount of grip, as a yellow, but, it didn't rely on the edge profile of the spike to make it's grip, so is useable for a lot longer.

Schumacher, as far as I am concerned, need to reduce the tyre cost, to be honest.

[jim76]

GRP were slightly cheaper, came in nice cardboard boxes with stickers and foams. The later compounds they brought out offered a bit more grip until the decided to distribute the tyres themselves and shot themself in the foot.

As Phill said, it was a lack of national support that stopped them gaining a foothold in the UK.

[shanks]

Seems as I thought in that the choice is somewhat limited due to several factors covered above.

I get them impression drivers would be interested in a new tyre or two?

So what are you looking for in a tyre?

1) price
2) compound / grip
3) lifespan
4) availability

in no particular order

What are your requirements?

Are there areas you feel current tyres/manufacturers could be imroved/improved on?

[DCM]

Well, there is no point in having a cheap tyre that either don't grip, or is gone in a run, but if you can get the grip of a yellow, duration and cheaper, then ACE!!