You know, what I'd like to know from your perspective is, what do you specifically get from having a more compliant tire for your specific type of riding.
Is it the mechanical traction you get, which might be more easy to emulate with a stiffer tire, but a more compliant suspension, in theory...
Or is it the feedback you get from the tire, which might be far more sensitive to tradeoffs in compliance in various suspension components.
My suspicion is that it's harder for riders to account for traction feedback information that's outside of their comfort zone than it is for an engineer to provide the same level of mechanical grip while shuffling parameters around.
So my question to you is, are you looking more for your tire to simply provide grip during the periods of time it's actually in good contact with the ground, or are you also reading precise traction information as well? (During cornering specifically).
I ask because I wonder if instead of tiptoeing around in fear of losing traction in the first place, if you deal with traction issues on the "backside" so to speak, and just deal with loss of traction after the fact, because you know it's going to happen, and it makes more sense to "fix" it then, and get on with not being too cautious into the next corner.
I'm not sure if I'm making any sense here. I guess I wonder if some people care more about traction information telling them how it *IS* going away, as opposed to traction information about how it *MIGHT* be about to go away.
As well as the difference between entering a corner specifically intending to maintain grip throughout it, as opposed to entering the corner focused on the directionality of your exit, being more concerned with getting your direction of travel as a whole changed, and viewing the loss and return of grip throughout that process as incidental.
Good Question, very complex, but if it wasn't, it wouldn't be a Question.
I'll just start with the first line and see how far I can go.
Line1. What I get is tire hook-up. The Pirelli Diablo Corsa III's stay in contact with the roughness of the pavement that is very variable in it's roughness.
A stiffer side wall, say Dunlop or Michelin, will (now this is like at a molecular level to maybe a 1/64th of an inch of action between the tire and the pavement) will be lifting off high points, instead of just stayin down.
Compare it to dribbling a basket ball. Full air pressure, the ball is hard, drop it and it bounces nearly as high as it was dropped from. Let the air out, drop it, it hits the floor, plop, no bounce what-so-ever.
Now keep in mind both front and rear tires are soft sidewalls. I don't depend on either tire staying hooked up, its just easier, the more they are.
The front one, will get lofted, under power, or a combination of power and a little bump assist. So that has to go on with no effect. That just requires a certain lean for the speed and arc of the corner, like a uni-cycle rider.
Dirt riders pick this up real fast, because of their sketchy traction.
The Rear wheel can loose traction, (can is an understatment, count on it loosing traction) but, for the most part (rarely a bad thing) it's a good thing, helps drive the bike into the corner (that's how flat trackers go around a dirt corner at 100 mph on a mile track). These Track day/Dot, street tires, are beautifully controllable. All they ask is that you the rider, give them a chance, Don't do all the wrong things.
Use Your sight line, see what your getting into. Know what You can do, do it ahead of time.
Line 2. Stiffer tire, more compliant suspension.
That's not quite right. You choose a suspension, say Ohlins but there are quite a lot of options, that is working through out its range, for the job at hand (say prepaired surface road race track, or public road, and we all know what that can be) as oppose to the other jobs which require more travel, and I'm not writing a book just some posts.
But You choose a suspension, that's correct springs for the weight of you with gear, and your bike. There is no stiff or more complient, there is only correct.
You have (if necessary) shim stacks chosen to give the desired controls during the travel. Both in distance of travel and speed of travel. There is no stiff or more complient, there is only correct. You have a job that needs to be done. It either gets done wrong or it gets done right.
Fine tuning of those controls are what the compression and rebound settings do. That gets into a specialists territory, go to them.
The rest of the Question for now anyway I'll lump into feedback...I get that from the tires, and concentration. A light touch on the handle bars, lets it come through.