Dunlop Qualifiers

Ok so my buddy just got a set of Qualifiers for his R1. And I have Qualifiers on my R6. The tread patterns are drastically different between our front tires and some what different on the rears. Any guesses why?  

I have some guesses.  

Hopefully some of them are correct.  

The tires on your R6 are the OEM variety.  Yamaha goes to Dunlop and says make me a tire with these characteristics--profile, wear, stiffness, etc.  So Dunlop does.  Now Kawasaki/Suzuki/Honda also have ideas of how a tire for their bike should be.  And sometimes they differ in what they want/need in a tire.  So Dunlop makes a "special" tire for them.  You'll notice that the tires in Sport Rider and other magazines will sometimes end with a letter...  For example...  for my 10R, SR lists the tires as 218J.  The "J" is the tire that Kawasaki had made for the 10R.  The R1 also comes with 218s stock, but they are listed as 218L.  And to further complicate things, Dunlop thinks they know what is best in a tire and those are the off the rack tires or after market tires that many of us buy after the stockers get replaced.

So the long and short of it is...  Your R6 has Qs that Yamaha specified the specs for, and your buddies R1 now has the Qs built the way Dunlop thinks is best.  Now when you change your tires, you'll be able to order OEM Qs from your Yamaha dealor or the after market Qs like your buddy has.

Hope that helped.  Hope I didn't confuse things...  I've read it a few times before posting and could go either way on the help/confuse thing.  


Chris  

Just like Ti-guy says.

Check out where each one is made, too. You'll get a surprise.

AT  

Thanks guys that makes sense. I remember my buddy saying that you can't find 218's aftermarket when he first changed his tires on the R1. And I did notice that my tires were made in Japan and his Q's in the USA. I appreciate the input. Another question is which one is better? Would Dunlop design the tire for distance and Yamaha for performance? I guess we'll find out.