That wobble

[Simon Davey]

Now, I'm of an age that I'm happy to be honest, and accept that this honesty may lead to judgement and possibly being called a to**er etc. 

 

As per my recent mentioning on other threads, I've found some frustration with my cornering as I've had to correct my steering a couple of times per ride. (wobbly wobble). 

 

@RideWithStyles and a couple more of you suggested checking tyre pressure.

I promised myself that I'd buy a gauge, but I also thought to myself "I only bought it in December, surely they would have ensured it was safe and roadworthy"? 

Nope..... 

Bought a gauge today. 

12 PSI front, and 26 in the back! 

Owner's manual says 42 front and rear when cold. 

 

All this wet road riding I've done, it's just as well I've been cautious. 

 

So thanks for the prompt guys, you've probably saved my neck. 

 

 

[S-Westerly]

That would cause a bit of a wobble alright!

[Nick the wanderer]

It will feel like a different bike altogether now. You should be pleasantly surprised.

[Steve_M]

5 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

Now, I'm of an age that I'm happy to be honest, and accept that this honesty may lead to judgement and possibly being called a to**er etc. 

 

As per my recent mentioning on other threads, I've found some frustration with my cornering as I've had to correct my steering a couple of times per ride. (wobbly wobble). 

 

@RideWithStyles and a couple more of you suggested checking tyre pressure.

I promised myself that I'd buy a gauge, but I also thought to myself "I only bought it in December, surely they would have ensured it was safe and roadworthy"? 

Nope..... 

Bought a gauge today. 

12 PSI front, and 26 in the back! 

Owner's manual says 42 front and rear when cold. 

 

All this wet road riding I've done, it's just as well I've been cautious. 

 

So thanks for the prompt guys, you've probably saved my neck. 

 

 

What a tosser!
 

Good to see you holding your hands up on this. I’m sure most of us have skipped / forgotten checks at some point. EG. I don’t check tyre pressures each time I ride the bike despite advocating regular POWDERS checks. 

[Simon Davey]

24 minutes ago, Nick the wanderer said:

It will feel like a different bike altogether now. You should be pleasantly surprised.

 

I'm desperate to get out again now, might even go out in the rain probably not though

[RideWithStyles]

 i'mll

Edited May 15, 2024 by RideWithStyles
autocorrect

[Fiddlesticks]

Different issue, but I found going from a squared off rear tyre to new rubber was like night and day when it came to cornering.

[bonio]

I don't like squidgy tyres. Grim feeling.  

[Simon Davey]

47 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

i'm all for honesty, on that note sorry i dont actually remember explicitly saying so or the thread its attached too but it is some thing i would have said to check first..

Thanks.

 

what make of tyres are on? i'll guess that they are either dunlops or bridgestones?

 

this is now a character of the bike while the tyres that are on (as they are now) you might find out now that the front will lose air naturally more, nothing truly to worry about yet, but if you want to really look at it at a far later date that is move convenient; either the rim seat is dirty, the valve is weak/cracked or if the tyre has been stored/fitted poorly which will be the suspects.

 

The tyres have very little wear, but were sat for over a year before I bought the bike. Michelin Pilot Road .

 

The arse end....

 

[Simon Davey]

16 minutes ago, bonio said:

I don't like squidgy tyres. Grim feeling.  

 

Me neither, but I've only ridden it in the wet, only time it was dry was when it was -1, so I thought it was twitching on ice.

[fullscreenaging]

I would look at getting a new rear as that is seriously squared off. 
 

[Simon Davey]

47 minutes ago, fullscreenaging said:

I would look at getting a new rear as that is seriously squared off. 
 

Oh right, I imagine I'll need a pair, as they were both new before I bought it. 

Thanks for keen eye. 

Do you think it's from sitting in the corner doing nothing? 

Edited February 13, 2024 by Simon Davey

[Steve_M]

54 minutes ago, fullscreenaging said:

I would look at getting a new rear as that is seriously squared off. 
 

Just from my experience, some bikes are affected more than others as their tyres wear and square off. My VFR800fi would readily squirm over slightly raised white lines as the tyre wore, while my R1200GS doesn’t feel in the slightest affected until just before I replace them at around 2mm tread depth.
 

I did a day at Cadwell Park on my FJR with tyres that were nearly ready to be replaced and quite squared off - made little difference on track. As a bike that was bloody awful in the first place it wasn’t a whole lot worse - just needed a more of a push to get it to lean and was stable once leant over. 

Edited February 13, 2024 by Steve_M

[Steve_M]

8 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

Oh right, I imagine I'll need a pair, as they were both new before I bought it. 

Thanks for keen eye. 

Do you think it's from sitting in the corner doing nothing? 

Tyres square off through lots of motorway / straight A road riding with little lean. 

[Simon Davey]

Could it be the low 26 psi pressure on that picture? 

[Nick the wanderer]

It doesn't look that bad to me. I would be looking to see how old they actually are, should be a date code on them, before rushing to replace them.

I guarantee you they will be so different with the proper air pressure. They will look squared off more flat.

 

[Steve_M]

12 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

Could it be the low 26 psi pressure on that picture? 

I can’t see the wear indicators - they’re in the tread pattern - check them.  As a leisure rider I usually replace the tyres when they’re around 1mm from the tread. Not sure if that is a good description of what I do.. I used to let the tyre go all the way to the wear indicators when I was commuting as well as leisure riding as I was doing around 12,000 - 13,000 miles a year so I needed to get full value from them.

[RideWithStyles]

no

 

Edited May 15, 2024 by RideWithStyles
auto correcto

[S-Westerly]

My last bike had Michelin RP6 's and they were damned good tyres, yours looks to be RP4's so quite an old model tyre now. I'd not say that your tyre is particularly squared off compared to the pics below but their age might well count against them. 

Edited February 13, 2024 by S-Westerly

[RideWithStyles]

wes

Edited May 15, 2024 by RideWithStyles
autophonery

[Simon Davey]

@RideWithStyles & @S-Westerly

 

Many, many thanks, this is what forums are about. 

Cheers 

[Simon Davey]

Whoop whooooooooop. 

 

Air in the tyres now, it's stopped raining, sod it, I'm going for a ride anyhoo. 

Flippin eck, absolutely freakin awesome! 

I'm so happy to have now ridden the bike I thought I had. 

The only twitch was me over cooking it on a wet roundabout. 

I'm so darned happy, I actually thought I'd lost the ability to ride a bike.... 

Edited February 14, 2024 by Simon Davey

[fastbob]

Now that you have the correct tyre pressures , whack the tyres with a big spanner and memorise the note that they make . This is a quick way of checking for a drastic fall in pressure . 

[RideWithStyles]

or j

Edited May 15, 2024 by RideWithStyles

[Simon Davey]

6 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

or just get your moneys worth and use a gauge often you finally paid for....

I've since bought another gauge. 

The first one that slid out under pressure didn't "feel" right. 

Now I have one with a dial.