Twin, V4, Inline

Much is made in MotoGP about the differences in cornering styles between V4's and inlines, the short version is that the I4's setup is better at corner speed and tire conservation than the V's which require point and shoot technique to take advantage of their superior power. Clearly the differences are minute but at that level everything is crucial, so here is my question does anyone notice the difference on the street or for that matter at trackdays between bikes or noticed a practical difference in tire wear?

I was always told that the twin with its gap between power pulses was easier on tires but what prompted this discussion is the extremely high rate of tire destruction in the twin when ridden aggressively. I had previously assumed that the more cylinders the smoother the power delivery so less inclination to tear at each pulse with an electric motor in theory being the smoothest and potentially the best at tire conservation....

There have not been any twins in MotoGP since Honda had a twin two stroke back in the early 90’s. It was never raced by the factory team, even though Mick Doohan wanted to try it. Aprilia had the cube triple that Edwards raced for a while.

It not about motogp but if anyone has noticed tire wear on different styles of sportbikes

My track only RC51 is easy on tires.

Interesting, my twin is brutal on tires. My thoughts are that its got a lot to do with riding around on DTC1.

Suspension set up? Wrist? My twin has always been pretty good with Pirelli no DTC.
GP: I've come to understand it's fairly complex at the GP level. Piston firing order "big bang" vs "screamer" for example. Panigale V4 is something of a hybrid, 1,2 - 3,4 left side pistons fire in close proximity then the right two. I don't know what they are calling it. Anyone know?
Where it gets complex is the way the bike flexes laterally and how flexible the tire carcass is as well as the tread + suspension set up. That's a lot of variables. A very flexible tire carcass has been Ducati's critical last inch lateral suspension that used to be the GP version Bridgestone tires before the single tire rule. It has been critical for Ducati as it's got the engine as a large totally brick-stiff stress member in the frame. This is where "boardroom racing" has changed who wins. Honda usually gets its way with these little details and absolutely f'ked Ducati by getting the single tire manufacturer (whomever it is) to produce a tire that is spot on perfect for Honda, super stiff tire carcass with a softer tread. So Ducati chews the tires up, lost it's last critical inch of lateral suspension and had years of EFFING .... performance while it had to reinvent its frame, engine placement, and cornering philosophy which all happened right when VW brought Ducati and Valentino Rossi joined the racing team. A perfect clusterfuck. Ducati tossed the L engine design and finally started using AL frames etc etc. Fast forward 2020 Dovi was doing pretty ok sometimes finally his last year. I'm writing novellas because semi-lock down slow as sht bureaucracy winter waiting for my bike I just want to go ride when is spring. omg you read this whole thing?

The best tire life and wear pattern i experienced was with reverse crank inline 3 both front and rear tires. The reverse crank keeps the rear planted during deceleration instead of sliding. The front stayed planted during corner exit. Basically less sliding which eats tires for me. Mv agusta f3 800 fyi.

My 1199 rear has a harder time heating up even though it makes more power. Has to do with the pulse. So, i run low air pressure and that helps keep the heat up. Heat makes grip which keeps the sliding down. Seems counterintuitive but considering the pace i get decent life and wear pattern that way.

Lots of things to consider when dealing with tires and engine configuration. Makes the hobby interesting!!

The gp bikes with V4's run external flywheels that the inlines can't so they can alter crank weight to the track which also has an impact

How does that work?

What’s the theory behind it?

We all know a lighter flywheel revs quicker are you saying they slow the bike down with weight rather than electronics or what?

Heavier flywheel decelerates slower too do they use heavier on larger tracks or?

Paul G said:

Much is made in MotoGP about the differences in cornering styles between V4's and inlines, the short version is that the I4's setup is better at corner speed and tire conservation than the V's which require point and shoot technique to take advantage of their superior power. Clearly the differences are minute but at that level everything is crucial, so here is my question does anyone notice the difference on the street or for that matter at trackdays between bikes or noticed a practical difference in tire wear?

I was always told that the twin with its gap between power pulses was easier on tires but what prompted this discussion is the extremely high rate of tire destruction in the twin when ridden aggressively. I had previously assumed that the more cylinders the smoother the power delivery so less inclination to tear at each pulse with an electric motor in theory being the smoothest and potentially the best at tire conservation....

Click to expand...

Personally, my bigger V2's are tire eaters when I'm not smooth on the throttle or abuse the engine compression. Not so much with the 959.

Thanks for all the input, I got my tire wear situation more or less under control by three changes if you can called 1200 miles as opposed to the usual 800 on an V3 SP good. 1. Altering my riding style being much, much smoother on the throttle 2. A new TTX and 3. Added a lot more free sag, same with R and C, adjusted it from baseline also by feel and observation. There is a lot to learn, but I think its a mistake to assume that because its a twin or a four then the tires will respond differently, at the bleeding edge of the sport, for sure, but for weekend hackers like me let loose on 200hp machines it wouldnt matter what the engine configuration is if you are hamfisted.

The bleeding edge : )

No mention of the dominant V5??