Product: Kaneg Tyre Warmers Product Review – Digital and Non-digital
Place: Phillip Island International Raceway
Date: April 26th 2010
Authors: Brad Glennan – Hoax Racing Australia
A track day at Phillip Island, the Mecca of motorcycle tracks, in the variable conditions this place produces means a set of tyres warmers can come in very handy.
Heath from Two Wheel warehouse had a set of Kaneg Digital Tyre warmers for me to try. The Kaneg warmers come packaged in a handy nylon bag, to keep the warmers dry and safe from the elements. Upon opening them up, the first warmers I pulled out was what I thought for the rear wheel, but was actually for the front! Compared to the last set of tyre warmers (Bandits circa mid 90s) I had owned, these were a lot wider, therefore in theory keeping the heat in better. The extra coverage appears to also allow the sidewalls to heat up, retaining the heat in the tyres better once they are removed. The thickness of the nylon material appears to be very sturdy.

675 with Kaneg Stands and Warmers
The warmers were very easy to get onto the tyres. The generous Velcro fasteners along with the tight elastic webbing and the sheer physical size of the warmers more than adequately cover the 120 size front and the 180 size rear tyre I was using.
Once all in place and plugged in, the digital model warmers display lights up, initially showing the ambient temperature. A flick of the set switch, sees the default 50 degrees flash, then simply scroll up or down until you reach the desired temp you wish your tyres to be set too. To start with, I set them both at 75 degrees, perhaps a little below what is considered the optimum operating temperature but it is what i prefer on a beautiful day like day 1.
I was still initially a little apprehensive about finding out exactly how good the tyre warmers make your tyres feel out if pit lane, but in the 3rd session I bit the bullet and fired into southern loop, pretty much the first corner once exiting pit lane, at about 95% and sure enough, the tyres stuck, and felt like they had already done 3 laps.
I feel the main advantage of the digital warmers over others available at the moment is ability of the digital display to show you exactly what temperature your tyres are at. For example, usually at the first session of the day, after running around with riders briefings, registration, scrutineering etc, you may only have your warmers on for a few minutes, and your not really sure actually how warm your tyres are. With the digital model, you know exactly what temp you set and can push it up to heat them up quicker.
For the second day, conditions were a lot colder, so it was great to be able to set the temperature a little higher. Whilst the numbers go up to 99, the tyres only reach about 85 degrees, but perhaps 99 degrees is outside the design parameters for both the tyres and the warmers.
For the extra $$$, I believe the digital ones are definitely worth the extra cost, even if it is for the piece of mind of knowing where your tyres are at.
Brad Glennan
Hoax Racing Australia
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I also used the Kaneg tyre warmers on these two days and completey agree with the comments above. Just being your average bloke who couldn’t race due to ability, but likes to give it a crack, the Kaneg tyre warmers came in handy on the much colder second day but they definitely made the first lap or two of each session more valuable as i didn’t have to wait for the tyres to warm up. Even if it is just in my head, it worked.
Here is my bike with the non-digital warmers on and we also use Kaneg Race Stands.

CBR600 Kaneg Stands and Warmers
I also think the road tyres i use on my track bike last a little longer when they only have one true heat cycle for the day. Brad who lapped in the 1:48s was 20 seconds per lap faster than me and really used the warmers as they are designed to use and his input to assessing these on the day is much appreciated. This is a photo of Brad out there, if you see him then give him a wave.

Braddy G Hoax Racing
Thanks and safe riding,
Heath
Two Wheel Warehouse






