Tire Wear

[Inroads]

Originally Posted by jbfla

That's a great idea, Jay! Second only to the balloon on the crankcase vent.

I can't wait to hear what you have to say about my tire lube.....

Followed RT's advice and mounted the new tire:



Jb

Hey JB,in your tire pic the little circle at 3 o'clock is the light part of the tire and

Is supposed to line up with the valve stem.May not matter with our 250 speeds.

[jbfla]

Originally Posted by Inroads

Hey JB,in your tire pic the little circle at 3 o'clock is the light part of the tire and

Is supposed to line up with the valve stem.May not matter with our 250 speeds.

Thanks, Inroads.

I noticed that......only after I had the tire mounted.

If it takes too much weight to balance the tire, I'll deflate the tire, break the bead, and try to rotate it to the proper position....hoping not to.

jb

[Sullybiker]

I commute on my Ninja 300 and I've never found a rear tyre that will do more than about 4.5k miles. This place is hard on brakes and tyres on account of the steep hills everywhere, but it makes for great riding.

I'm curious to see how long the factory Knobblies on my TT250 will last.

[jbfla]

Originally Posted by pete

sounds boreing......

Pete,

I went for a 50 mile rural test loop on the new tire.

On a deserted stretch of road, I swerved from one side of the road to the other, trying to lean the bike as much as I could.

I even found a rare couple of curves that I took at faster than normal speed, trying to scrape the pegs....couldn't do it.

You can see the result. The edges of the tire never made contact with the road.

Most riders in Florida wouldn't even use that much of the tire width.

Florida riding is boring, but at least it is riding...and it is warm...



jb

[jbfla]

Originally Posted by Inroads

......Is supposed to line up with the valve stem.May not matter with our 250 speeds.

Inroads,

You can see where the tire stem is on the unbalanced tire:







It took only 1 ounce, (4) 1/4 oz weights, to balance the tire.

That is less than on most of my tires.

jb

[pete]

The Shinko 700 is worth looking at if yer want a good 50/50 tyre..
they hang on well on the road , I get between 3000 to 4000km from
a rear & the XT660 can shread a rear tyre pretty dam quick..
If yer notice the side blocks have bridges between them to stop
nobbs flexing..
As yer see I get most of the tyre on the road... I have had them let go
a couple times but the seem to regrip if yer get the power off quick enough..
They are my front & rear tyre of choice for the XT660R...
Only gripe i have is the front locks up to easy while braking on lose surface
other than that they are magic.... & not to bad a prise...

For those of yous that have been around long enough Shinko use to be Yokahama
motorcycle tyres.....

[madsocial]

Florida is flat. They could design self driving motorcycles and everything would be safe.

[jbfla]

An update on the taller Shinko 705.

During a ride today I noticed the RX3 turned noticeably quicker than before.

Raising the rear of the bike, has steepened the "rake" of the front forks, and shortened the "trail". Did not realize it would make that much difference.

Another noticeable difference, due to the taller rear tire, is that it is much easier to get the bike up on the center stand.

Still getting used to only tiptoeing the bike at a stop.

jb

[Jay In Milpitas]

Yep, just a degree or two makes a big difference on bikes with modest steering angle. That is why factory race teams have a suspension person on staff. Changing tire pressure, spring compression (sag), fork insertion length, and more all interact to set the behavior of the machine.

Some of the elder here may remember the Hatta fork that Kawasaki used on the F5 Bighorn bike in the 70's. Once you had the weight fork oil that you liked in them, you could change fork height/length, spring compression, and trail (axle position) in minutes with just the tools in the bike's kit. Ride the freeway/highway to your favorite dirt spot, adjust for near trials-type geometry for technical single track, then back to high speed stability for the ride home.

Although a great concept, it failed. Riders making the wrong adjustments because they failed to learn or understand what was the right adjustment to make, and of course they were cheap Japanese made crap.

[Inroads]

Originally Posted by jbfla

An update on the taller Shinko 705.

During a ride today I noticed the RX3 turned noticeably quicker than before.

Raising the rear of the bike, has steepened the "rake" of the front forks, and shortened the "trail". Did not realize it would make that much difference.

Another noticeable difference, due to the taller rear tire, is that it is much easier to get the bike up on the center stand.

Still getting used to only tiptoeing the bike at a stop.

jb

I noticed that also with the 705.I like it....seems to flick quicker.

Of course the downside of that is a potential loss of stability.

I have not noticed that but will be aware when loaded down for a trip.

[jbfla]

Another observation about the taller 705 tire:

I have noticed that I need to "slip" the clutch just a bit more when starting from a stop.

I surmise that the taller tire has slightly changed the overall final gearing of the drive train.

I haven't done the math.... circumference = pi x diameter.

But I can feel the difference. The bike is slightly slower off the line.

It would have been nice if I had enough foresight when I replaced the stock 44 tooth rear sprocket with the same.

Another couple of teeth on the rear sprocket may have accounted for the difference in wheel size.

Which has me thinking of what unintended consequences will occur when I mount the 19" front wheel and tire.

jb

[pyoungbl]

jb, if you do mount the 19" front wheel you'll see that the speedometer will start to be almost spot on for accuracy. The wheel change does away with that annoying 10% error.

[madsocial]

Originally Posted by pyoungbl

jb, if you do mount the 19" front wheel you'll see that the speedometer will start to be almost spot on for accuracy. The wheel change does away with that annoying 10% error.

I have an extra set of rims that I bought. 19 though for the front. I have the TKC 80s mounted to the rims. I have yet to put them on the bike. We just haven't rode at all here in NY. I might mount them on there come late Feb. or sometime in March. Then see how it goes with the speedometer. Why do you think that changes?

[pyoungbl]

Rania, as I think about it the 19" has a larger diameter and thus should turn slower than the 18". The speedometer reads off the front wheel rotation. I remember thinking that the speedometer was surprisingly accurate. Since I have switched from the 19 that came on the bike to the 18 that was also in the crate, maybe my observation was that the 18 was the accurate one. Darn, just too many bikes (the TT250 speedo is a joke, my V7 is only off by about 2% and the Stelvio is also close to 2%). I'll have to take the RX3 out for a spin and double check against my GPS.

[jbfla]

Originally Posted by pyoungbl

Rania, as I think about it the 19" has a larger diameter and thus should turn slower than the 18". The speedometer reads off the front wheel rotation. I remember thinking that the speedometer was surprisingly accurate. Since I have switched from the 19 that came on the bike to the 18 that was also in the crate, maybe my observation was that the 18 was the accurate one. Darn, just too many bikes (the TT250 speedo is a joke, my V7 is only off by about 2% and the Stelvio is also close to 2%). I'll have to take the RX3 out for a spin and double check against my GPS.

Peter, the 19" wheel should improve the speedometer accuracy....also depends on the tire size/aspect ratio.

With the 18" wheel, when the speedometer on my RX3 reads ~67 mph, my GPS reads 60 mph.....about 10% off.

This is from one of my "top speed" test runs on a flat, level highway, with a tailwind, in a "tucked in" riding position:



jb