Take-offs?

Ive seen these. Ive heard of people trying to sell them for what seems like great prices for tires.

What are they exactly? Why do they call them take-offs? What makes them different than buying normal high-end tires?

I am thinking of buying some for next season.......but they just seem so beat up and battered. Surely they will be outperformed by a soft-compound "normal" tire?

Ive tried googling this but all I find is tons of pages offering them for sale etc.

lonesoldier84 said:

Ive seen these. Ive heard of people trying to sell them for what seems like great prices for tires.

What are they exactly? Why do they call them take-offs? What makes them different than buying normal high-end tires?

I am thinking of buying some for next season.......but they just seem so beat up and battered. Surely they will be outperformed by a soft-compound "normal" tire?

Ive tried googling this but all I find is tons of pages offering them for sale etc.

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Take Offs , are ...or should I say were ...when one purchased a new vehical / scooter and they wanted to upgrade or change to another brand.. the dealer would buy back these tires for a fair price .... these tires were then sold to the public as take offs... but that was then , and this is now....beat up & battered.....? Hmmmm....sounds like a rip off , not a take off....Daryl

A take off is just a tire that has been used and then taken off. It's very common for track junkies to take off and sell tires after using them for a short time at the track...they generally still make good street tires but no longer meet the demands of full on track use.

People buy and use perfectly good take offs for a great price every single day. Any tire could be a take off...I've seen pilot power take offs and DOT race take offs and slick take offs...just browse your local forums.

ahhhhhh......k it makes sense now.

I was thinking of buying them for the track. I say battered because the edges of just about every take off i have ever seen is ripped up from being heavy on the throttle out of corners.

so they are no good for the track then eh. Best stick to fresh slicks?

I bought some pirelli supercorsa take-offs and I love'em! The ripped up look just made me smile because I knew the scrubbing in was convienently taken care of for me.:rockon:

i guess if uve still got rubber left before the metal-threads, the rough edges dont matter

You can also pick up tires that aren't sold to the public in this manner (eg. The guy we met up with at Lobie with GP Racers on...FZ6 cup control tire). Still might get a couple of good sessions out of them but you'd need to work hard to keep them warm enough on the road methinks.

jmerch44 said:

The ripped up look just made me smile because I knew the scrubbing in was convienently taken care of for me.:rockon:

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Tires don't need to be scrubbed in.

DefyInertia said:

Tires don't need to be scrubbed in.

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One heat cycle is recommended, to me thats still scrubbing in. you would be stupid to just start railing on a fresh set of tires. But you obviously have to show that you know more than someone else, so call it what you want.

jmerch44 said:

One heat cycle is recommended, to me thats still scrubbing in. you would be stupid to just start railing on a fresh set of tires. But you obviously have to show that you know more than someone else, so call it what you want.

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Once brand new fresh tires are up to temp, they are ready to rail. No scrubbing in the surface, no heat cycle, no anything other than getting them up to temp. is needed. However, you should be careful at first because brand new tires can feel and handle very differently than the old ones you just took off....

I'm not going argue with you about why I choose to post...good lord.

lonesoldier84 said:

ahhhhhh......k it makes sense now.

I was thinking of buying them for the track. I say battered because the edges of just about every take off i have ever seen is ripped up from being heavy on the throttle out of corners.

so they are no good for the track then eh. Best stick to fresh slicks?

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Yes.... but you don't need slicks, just good DOT tires.

Let's see, you are going to ride your bike on the track. When on a race track the idea is to push your skills and the bike harder than on the street, right? So why would you want to cheap out on a used set of tires when your pushing hard. Not me, I'm worth the cost of new meats on the bike.

With our low powered 600's all you need is new rubber and you are good to go!

well.......a set of take-offs for the track will still work wont they? they still have rubber on them as they arent down to the metal threading yet...........so surely they still offer a lot of traction?

just how inferior are take-offs to normal fresh tires and in what capacity?

should i not even bother with them?

lonesoldier84 said:

well.......a set of take-offs for the track will still work wont they? they still have rubber on them as they arent down to the metal threading yet...........so surely they still offer a lot of traction?

just how inferior are take-offs to normal fresh tires and in what capacity?

should i not even bother with them?

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Take-offs are 100% suitable for anyone who isn't racing. They are not as optimum as brand new but are perfectly useable. Unless you are consistently sliding both tires under control at racing speeds, you don't need to worry about take-offs. I would use them, and I was riding A-class track days...

jmerch44 said:

One heat cycle is recommended, to me thats still scrubbing in. you would be stupid to just start railing on a fresh set of tires. But you obviously have to show that you know more than someone else, so call it what you want.

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Do you have a source for this "recommendation"? Heat cycles are the bane of racing tires, one of the reasons tire warmers are used. Your comment shows your ignorance.

Cali rider said:

Take-offs are 100% suitable for anyone who isn't racing. They are not as optimum as brand new but are perfectly useable. Unless you are consistently sliding both tires under control at racing speeds, you don't need to worry about take-offs. I would use them, and I was riding A-class track days...



Do you have a source for this "recommendation"? Heat cycles are the bane of racing tires, one of the reasons tire warmers are used. Your comment shows your ignorance.

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Yeess I do have a source! its the guy that put my damn tires on. Why are people so against working in a st of tires? I'm not ignorant. I would call myself safe, MAYBE even smart for giving that that extra little patience before railing. But since you and that other track junky know it all, I'll just bow out. dont want my safe habits to rub off on anybody.:Flip:

lol dude, chill out... the point is today's tire manufacturing process is different compared to 10-20 years ago, and while old processes used to leave residue on the surface of a brand new molded tire -which you had to "scrub off"-, you don't need to do so anymore. You can take a brand new tire and rail on it right away as long as they are at temp... scrubbing them for 100 miles won't make any difference in the traction, as long as they are to temp. That's just a fact and being an a-hole to respectable mods of this forum won't change it.

edit: and about the OP's question: as long as there's rubber left (check wear bars), and no obvious flat spots, a tire is a tire and will work just fine... I would not buy OEM take-offs though... I hate OEM tires.

good info wavex.

thanks bro.

lonesoldier84 said:

well.......a set of take-offs for the track will still work wont they? they still have rubber on them as they arent down to the metal threading yet...........so surely they still offer a lot of traction?

just how inferior are take-offs to normal fresh tires and in what capacity?

should i not even bother with them?

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Take off's depending on who they came from and what shape they are in are great for hitting the track. When I first started racing my SV 650 I purchased take off's from the faster guys who used their tires for only one or two races or qualifying sessions. I would get several race weekends or track days out of them.

Once I started racing at the AMA level I began to sell my own take offs. To a track rider or beginner racer, these make great tires as they have hardly been used at all. They offer great amounts of traction and not considered inferior at all.

Just be careful who you are buying them from as you don't want to end up with a set of tires that have been over used or are too worn out.

Misti