Handling Problem?

[bugsquawsher]

I'm not sure how to explain this one.

For the last month or so the bike has just felt Odd.

Like its tracking something on the road , Even with the road is smooth. Or like wind is pushing me around. But there is no wind.

Is there something in the rear end or the front end that is known to get loose? I just dont' feel like the bike is Tracking like it should , I feel uneasy in turns and sometimes even in a strait line.

The tires seem to be in good shape. they are metzlers.

before I felt like I had a direct link to the road. Now something just feels Loose or disconnected if you know what I mean.

This all started after gettin Two flats in two weeks.

Maybe I'm just paranoid that I'm gettin another flat , But I dont' think so.

Tire pressure is Good. 42 rear 41 front.

Thanks

Tom

[philbytx]

Tom,

How many miles on the tires?

It could be that they were mounted incorrectly or, more likely,

it could be that you have a typical worn flat spot in the middle of the tire which gives you that initial "twitch" when you turn into the corner.

[bugsquawsher]

Just went out and took a good look at the tires.

I dont' know how many miles are one them.

A guess would be between 12k to 14k on the back

front should be under 4k.

The front one is barely starting to show signs of the flat spot.

The back one on the other hand has a pretty good strip down the middle that is flat.

I guess thats the problem.

Both the flats I spoke of were Faulty Valve stems , and I had to ride them both (at different Times) flat for a mile.

I didnt' think the rear having a flat spot affected the handling as much as this one is.

[myshkin]

I just had the a similar situation with my R1100RT. With 11k on frt and rear tires, the last 1000 miles have been gruelling. Turns required more counter steering force on the bars to keep the bike in the turn, it steered itself when I ran over grooves and started feeling very uncomfortable leaned over. The front tire finally started looking terrible but the rear had a few more miles left. I changed the tires and voila the old great handling was back, BTW I am trying a Z6/ME880 combo and the handling is great. The bike does seem a little taller so the 880 made be a slightly larger diameter than a Z6 in the same size.

[John Dickens]

Once the rear tyre develops a flat area the handling loses it's sharpness but it's still OK to ride once you know about it.

[bugsquawsher]

I sure wish Bike tires lasted as Long as Car tires.

I ride over 100 miles a day , just to get to and from work.

[Blake]

I ride over 100 miles a day , just to get to and from work.

I wish I had that problem. My ride is only about 13 miles - one way. I guess I could always start looking in other states!

[peterbulgar]

I sure wish Bike tires lasted as Long as Car tires.

You and me both. First and foremost I consider my bike to be a transportation tool, although one that happens to be a lot of fun to use. There was talk on this forum recently about bikes being toys, and as such we should expect to have things break and do rebuilds at low mileages. I don't agree. However, rapid tire wear compared to cars seems to be a given with motorcycles, and 12K miles on a rear tire is exceptional, especially for a relatively heavy bike and for a semi-sporting compound such as your Metzelers. If you want to dance to the music, you've got to pay the piper. More about paying the piper in a few days after my 24K service.

peter '73 r75/5, '04 R1150RA

[Andy A]

I also ride to work every day in Houston. Round trip is 75 miles and I love it. I have been running the ME880's and the best mileage I have gotten from a rear is 17k. This one is at 14k and I will be switching to the Michelin Pilot Road just to feel the difference. I too have learned that a worn tire can really make the bike handle poorly.

 

Have fun!

[bugsquawsher]

I sure wish Bike tires lasted as Long as Car tires.

You and me both. First and foremost I consider my bike to be a transportation tool, although one that happens to be a lot of fun to use. There was talk on this forum recently about bikes being toys, and as such we should expect to have things break and do rebuilds at low mileages. I don't agree. However, rapid tire wear compared to cars seems to be a given with motorcycles, and 12K miles on a rear tire is exceptional, especially for a relatively heavy bike and for a semi-sporting compound such as your Metzelers. If you want to dance to the music, you've got to pay the piper. More about paying the piper in a few days after my 24K service.

peter '73 r75/5, '04 R1150RA

 

Yea My Bike is a Tool , My Main means of Transportation. I ride it to work everyday it is not Raining when I getup.

If it looks like rain , but won't start till after I get to work , I will ride. I dont' mind gettin wet on the way home , because I can change clothes when I get there.

43MPG on the Bike is Much better than the 17MPG my truck gets. Riding it to work is not always fun. Some days it pretty much sucks, I hate cold. My definition of cold is Below 50, But I will still ride.

My Bike is definately not a toy. Although I do go play on it from time to time.

[No_Twilight]

You guys who want max mileage from your tires should consider a hard touring tire. They don't have the traction of a sport touring tire but if you're just zipping up and down the freeway and want a bike that is more like a car, then go for it. Car tire buyers focus so much on mileage that they've been making car tires hard as a rock for years. Just don't expect the traction in the corners that you have with the sport touring tires.

 

Your bike is a commuter vehicle that gets the gas mileage of a civic with the performance of a Ferrari. I hear you saying that you want your bike to be more like a civic.

 

I can't give any recommendation on touring tires because I've never even looked at them.

 

--Jerry

[Andy A]

Fair enough. I’m not complaining about my tire mileage and I think it is great compared to what I have heard about. And I totally agree that harder compound goes further. I just want to be able to play a little on the weekends too… The 880 gets a little slippery on the rear once and a while…

[bugsquawsher]

You guys who want max mileage from your tires should consider a hard touring tire. They don't have the traction of a sport touring tire but if you're just zipping up and down the freeway and want a bike that is more like a car, then go for it. Car tire buyers focus so much on mileage that they've been making car tires hard as a rock for years. Just don't expect the traction in the corners that you have with the sport touring tires.

 

Your bike is a commuter vehicle that gets the gas mileage of a civic with the performance of a Ferrari. I hear you saying that you want your bike to be more like a civic.

 

I can't give any recommendation on touring tires because I've never even looked at them.

 

--Jerry

 

My only complaint is not the milage from the tire so much as the performance of it though its short life.

when it gets the flat spot it still has thousands of miles left in it. And I'm too cheap to replace it at this point.

The center of the tire should be harder than the sides.

That would be cool

[GordonB]

How about a Honda Civic? The cost of service every 6,000 miles on an RT, plus the cost of tires? A Civic would be cheaper, warmer, and airconditioned.

Not to mention a new one in the same cost as a new RT.

Uh Oh.....Here it comes

[No_Twilight]

[quote

My only complaint is not the milage from the tire so much as the performance of it though its short life.

when it gets the flat spot it still has thousands of miles left in it. And I'm too cheap to replace it at this point.

The center of the tire should be harder than the sides.

That would be cool

 

Sounds like you do a lot of straight line driving. My flat spot isn't noticable until near the end of tire life. The center of sport touring tires is usually harder than the sides but unfortunately, the center is the area used for braking so they can't make it too hard or you won't be able to stop. Tire design is all compromise. --Jerry

[Larsen]

Tom,

Drop those tire pressures to what your owner's manual states and you'll get much better handling and many more miles before you wear a flat pattern. Your tires are an integral part of your suspension, just like your shocks, and should be allowed to flex. To date, even when crossing the states coast to coast on the highways, I’ve never worn a flat spot on any of my front tires, and I've been riding since the early 50's.

Good luck,

[bugsquawsher]

Tom,

Drop those tire pressures to what your owner's manual states and you'll get much better handling and many more miles before you wear a flat pattern. Your tires are an integral part of your suspension, just like your shocks, and should be allowed to flex. To date, even when crossing the states coast to coast on the highways, I’ve never worn a flat spot on any of my front tires, and I've been riding since the early 50's.

Good luck,

 

Funny you say to lower the pressure

My tire guy said just the opposite

[wolcott]

I just looked up the tires section in this automotive technology textbook I had. Although this pertains to car tires, it should relate. Effect: rapid wear at shoulders. Cause: underinflation (or lack of rotation, in case you were wondering what low tire pressures or lack of rotation do to car tires). Rapid wear at center. Cause: overinflation or lack of rotation. So, doesn't it seem probable that overinflating tires would make them wear rapidly in the center? I was inflating mine on my '99 RT to the pressures quoted under the seat-when I had it up to a BMW shop-(it had cooled for several hours before they even began work on it- the mechanic warned me not to run such low tire pressures. The mechanic said to run 40 in the front and 42 in the rear but that seems too high to me. I'm a small, light guy- I run 36 in the front and 38 in the rear. Sticker under seat says for 1 passenger to run 32 in front and 36 in rear, I believe. If I had a friend that was a little on the heavy side, and luggage, then I would run 40 front and 42 rear.

[Jim VonBaden]

Tom,

Drop those tire pressures to what your owner's manual states and you'll get much better handling and many more miles before you wear a flat pattern. Your tires are an integral part of your suspension, just like your shocks, and should be allowed to flex. To date, even when crossing the states coast to coast on the highways, I’ve never worn a flat spot on any of my front tires, and I've been riding since the early 50's.

Good luck,

 

Funny you say to lower the pressure

My tire guy said just the opposite

 

I agree with your tire guy.

 

I run 38/40 and usually get pretty good tire life. Except for the crappy D607's that came with my 12GS!

 

Jim

[Larsen]

The funny thing is that the majority of the people who tell you to run higher pressures have never had any formal training on the care and upkeep of tires. There are many old wive’s tales regarding tires. Tire technology changes almost daily. One thing is almost constant. The tires selected for a piece of equipment are a compromise between handling, tire life, and the ride.

 

Run the pressures you want but you lose handling and induce wear in the center of the tire by over inflating. Running 40+ PSI in the front tire of our oilheads is over inflating. I’m not suggesting under inflating. Just for grins why don’t you write to the tire and motorcycle engineers and find out why they suggest the pressures that they do in the manuals. Again it’s a compromise.

 

Regarding my background I’ve been to many many schools on automotive and aircraft tires over the last 47+ years and when I was an independent DME (Federally Designated Aircraft Mechanic Examiner) proper tire pressures and cause of wear was part of every exam.

 

Back in the 60’s we were having problems with Porsches and VW’s with handling and wandering at different speeds. Every time a customer complained of this we immediately checked the tire pressures. The German engineers had given us classes of how the tires are an integral part of the suspension system and it was proven 100% of the time that the problem was over inflation of the front tires.

 

To each his own,

[Boffin]

motorcycle tyres are different to car tyres, for a start they are not flat across the contact area, so high and low pressure has much less effect on the contact patch. On a car the tyre distorts out at the centre with high pressure, reducing contact patch, that does not happen on bike tyres, it just changes how much load it needs to flatten out the patch.

 

I run the presures that the tyre manufactures reccommend, which are higher than those BMW state. When I asked Bridgestone (UK) customer service about this they explained that there was a range of suitable pressures and that BMW gave the lower-end which gave a more comfortable ride with slightly higer grip levels. This leads to higher wear rates, the Bridgestone reccommendation gave better wear at the expense of a slightly harsher ride, whilst still having enough grip to drag the hard parts of the bike through corners. They also said to consider load, and that the solo-loaded figures under the seat relate to people who weigh 85kG (187 pounds).

 

Cya, Andy

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I tend to run lower pressures in my tires than is the norm here yet somehow manage to get similar tire life. I do a lot of freeway cruising/strafing and try to mix in secondary roads as time permits. My inflation strategy is different from most as I pay no attention to cold tire pressures. Load the bike and off for a ride, check tire pressure at first gas stop. I shoot for around 35 f/r on the 1100S and run 37 f/r on the Blackbird. Both bikes are currently equipped with MEZ-6 tires and I have about 8K on the tires on the S and 5K on the ones on the Blackbird. Both are now just starting to show some flat spotting on the rear. The Blackbird has so much more power and torque, and I use it, that I expect rear tire wear to be a bit more than that on my S. YRMV

[No_Twilight]

My inflation strategy is different from most as I pay no attention to cold tire pressures. Load the bike and off for a ride, check tire pressure at first gas stop. I shoot for around 35 f/r on the 1100S and run 37 f/r on the Blackbird. YRMV

 

Ed,

Since you care about hot pressure more you would probably enjoy a Smartire. http://www.smartire.com/products/motorcycles/index.html

 

I'm using one and really like it. Plan to install it on my "new" K-bike too. It gives real time temperature and pressure readings for each tire. It has alarms that are temperature compensated so you won't get high pressure alarms on hot days or low pressure alarms when you start it up on a cold morning. You can watch your pressure trend and see if you have any slow leakage. My rear lost about 1 psi in 3 months.

 

One word of caution: Tire shops can break the transmitters off if they are not careful. The manual shows how to take the tire off w/o breaking the transmitter but once I went to the shop w/o the manual and we tried to wing it and broke off a transmitter. So you have to have a shop that will work with you. Or, as I did, start mounting and balancing your own.

 

Forgot to mention, the real reason I bought it is as a safety device rather than a tire pressure tuning device and I still think is is worth the money just for the safety aspect. They sell for just under $200 online.

 

Cheers,

Jerry