US journalist Ari Henning is on a quest to build the perfect KTM RC390 race bike.
A sell confessed lover of small capacity bikes, he’s a regular competitor at tracks across America. As soon as the KTM landed outside the offices of Motorcyclist Magazine, Ari’s colleagues knew this bike would end up on a race grid somewhere.
As part of a raft of recent changes, Ari has been playing around with tyre types and sizes to help him get the very best out the KTM on track.
Now, it’s worth noting that this bike is not being ridden on the road – and Bridgestone, Ari’s brand of choice for this project, do not recommend the changes he has made in their fitment guide. However, as it’s in the pursuit of perfection on circuit, and given the fact that he has a valuable opinion on the tyres, we’ll choose to gloss over that bit.
“For this outing I levered on a 120/70-17 front Bridgestone R10 DOT race tyre to complement the 140-series RS10 rear” says Ari.
“I’ve been working on front-end feel on the RC, and I wanted to put a really sticky tyre on the front to eliminate rubber from the cornering equation so I could focus on the chassis. Right away in practice I experienced much better front-end feel, and with some additional front ride height, turn-in stability and feedback improved even more.
The rear end, however, is now an area of weakness. The RS10 has ample grip at corner exit, so clearly this traction issue is the result of a suspension or weight imbalance. Needless to say, that’s where I’ll be focusing my attention for now.”
Despite winning all three of his races at this meeting, it is lap times that Ari uses to benchmark the performance of both himself and the bike, and he admits there is still work to do to improve the handling. A bike that handles well can truly be ridden both fast and hard.
What you need to know about the tyres:
Bridgestone’s treaded Superstock and Supersport race tyre, available in a variety of compounds and designed for use on circuit.
The sportiest of Bridgestone’s road tyre range, ideal for fast road and track day use. It comes as the OE fitment on the Kawasaki Ninja H2, and is now available in H-rated sizes for hard-ridden small capacity sports bikes such as the KTM RC390 and Yamaha YZF-R3.
If you’re looking for high performance road tyres for your KTM RC390, then the test topping H-rated Battlax S20 EVO or the even sportier H-rated Battlax RS10, fitted as a matching pair, are both ideal and more than up to the job of the occasional track day too!
More importantly, they also come in the right sizes for the bike…..
Find out more about the Battlax R10, Battlax RS10 and Battlax S20 EVO.
