Wow. what a difference a new front tyre makes

I've changed (or mostly, had changed) many front tyres over the years,
but they were almost always like for like, or at least, like for updated
like.

The V11 has had a mix of tyres pretty much as long as I've had the bike,
with a Michelin Pilot Road 2 that I had fitted on the back shortly after
I bought it, and a ... a ... Bridgestone, I think, on the front. I'm
going senile. I really can't remember.

Well, the bike's always had a somewhat vague back end and over the last
few months, a tendency for the steering to pull and squirm over white
lines, HGV ruts, you name it. I fitted a steering damper (V11s come with
one as standard but it was missing off mine when I bought it) and while
it slightly tamed the odd higher-speed flap over bumps when on the beans,
it stuffed the lower-speed handling on anything but its lowest setting.

Weirdest was a roundabout near where I work: there are two roughly 30
degree segments of new tarmac, with a 30 degree segment of old tarmac in
between. As I rode over the new tarmac, the steering would pull inwards
and the bike noticeably try to sit up. On the old tarmac, the steering
would relax suddenly and the bike drop as if it were going to fall into
the turn; slightly unnerving.

Last weekend I had a matching Michelin front fitted. During the 100 or so
mile round trip to my parents, it was... scary; the bike felt like it was
going to slide at almost any corner.

Today, now that it's completed one full heat cycle and been scrubbed, the
bike is transformed. The steering no longer pulls over uneven road
features; the patchy roundabout seems OK, though to be fair, I was stuck
behind a van that had got underfoot. The steering felt so much lighter,
in fact, at speed, almost flighty. I upped the damper a couple of clicks
and it's more solid now, but without the awful low-speed wobbles I would
have got before.

Amazing difference. Obviously one can't rule out the fact that it's a new
tyre and the old one was only just legal, but still. On the face of it,
it looks like tyres from different manufacturers, even of the same type,
really can mess up handling, something I've always taken with a pinch of
salt before.

 

Also check the pressures. I can report that my bike handles much
better with 30+ PSI in the front rather than the 10 PSI it was on.

Squirmy don't enter into it ..

Paul.

 

I knew there was something I'd meant to do to the 10R when I got it
back from the MOT last week...

<forgets again>

 

I'm pretty careful about bike pressures; bikes get checked every week and
especially if they haven't been used for a bit. The new front got checked
before my 100-mile trip and again this morning.

I'm amazed when I read of regulars here claiming to discover the tyres
need air only when the bikes don't handle.

 

Once I know a tyre is seated properly and isn't going to lose air over
a few days I don' t bother checking pressures unless if it's been
sitting in the garage over the winter and I haven't used it at all.

 

Same here. I know the BMW rear loses just under a pound of pressure a
day[1], so I check that if it hasn't been used lately. The front tyre of
the GN loses a bit, too. The others don't, really.

[1] ill-seated tyre or, more likely, valve, I reckon.

 

Makes mental note to buy a pump... yet again

That's probably what will happen

 

Or since the weekend you've had time to get over your nervousness and
just ride it.

After changing a pair of tyres on an Imprezza once it was so tail-happy
that it would hardly hold a straight line at 70mph. I had to swap tyres
front to back - it understeered a lot but at least it was safe.

 

Big fan of the MPR2's.... Had them fitted to the viffer last year and
they are fantastic.

Transformed it after the old bridgestones that were on there.

 

Pilot Road 3s are out now. I suspect I'll be in the market for some new
boots for the gixer after Silverstone and the French run, and I'll be
looking for something that'll get me to Chimay and back and then Brno
and back. Choices, choices.

That said, the Maxxis Supermaxx touring tyres I put on the KTM have been
amazing. Not sure how empirically useful a 55bhp 150kg toy is for
comparison though.

 

I've ridden this bike in all weathers and have even ridden it in snow and
on sheet ice, albeit not deliberately. Given that I noticed how much the
handling had changed, both with the old front wearing and the fitting of
the new, I like to think I think I'd notice the difference between me
simply being scared and the bike behaving differently.