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Guys,
Hi, I'm Newman. I ride a 1993 Kat 600. There are 2001 Barracuda (Cheng Shin) tires on my bike and the rear is almost squared off because of high mileage. I've had the bike for a month or two and have put around 1500 miles on it and I'm very interested in getting new tires.
I've read up about what people recommend for the Kat. I just commute to school and back and ride on some twisty roads, so I wish to go for the tires with the best traction. I think I'm going for either the Pirelli Diablos or Bridgestone BT014.
In the 1500 miles on the Barracudas (which, I've read, are the worst tires in existence supposedly?), I've never felt very confident while leaned way over. Also, I had a crash this past week where I lost complete traction on both tires at 15-20 mph just after initiating a turn. The bike just "flopped" over instead of leaning, if you know what I mean, and low-sided. The bike and I are fine, but rashed up. I've attributed most of the fault on a slick fluid found on the ground at the crash site--there's a construction crew building a house right there and must have spilled something--but there's also that feeling in the back of my mind that these tires really suck and need to be replaced pronto and might have contributed to the crash. I haven't done any twisties riding post-crash.
For some more background, I purchased my Kat after bringing a 1971 Honda CB450 back to life and riding 2000 miles on it. It had tires made in 1978 on it. Needless to say, I have no idea what "real tire/traction confidence" feels like while riding a motorcycle. I'd like to find out with new tires.
As for my questions:
1. My bike has 110/80 and 140/80 Cheng Shin Barracuda tires on it. I’m pretty sure that they are terrible, but I have never ridden any bike with good tires on it. I’m going to replace them, which I mentioned above. If I want to replace them with either the Diablos or BT014s, what sizes would you recommend? I thought I read that my pre-98 Kat has a different rim or stock tire size (or something) than post-98 Kats, so that may affect things. I didn’t see any 140/80 rear tires, either, so I definitely need some advice. Another reason I ask is because I was told the profile of the tire could totally change the way the bike handles. So, what would you guys recommend?
2. On KatanaPlanet.com forums, I posted a question a while back about ground clearance. I felt like an idiot for saying that I was disappointed in the Kat’s clearance (even though I did offer up the idea that I was doing something wrong) and had several people give me some good advice on body positioning while riding. I must thank them again. As a whole, the advice has worked; my boots stopped touching the ground. I now keep a “safety margin” by using body positioning, which really works. In a situation recently, though, I had a near crash again due to a problem with my boots touching the ground and being “ripped” backward. The difference this time was that my body was totally leaned and it still happened. Here’s my question after considering everything: is the footpeg supposed to jut out past my boot? My boots, while resting on the peg, are a good half-inch or so past where the peg ends. Is my boot scraping instead of the peg because the peg doesn’t jut out enough? Could I have aftermarket pegs, perhaps? Or is this just normal and I should stop leaning so much? This instance I am referring to was in a 25 mph tight turn, but I really didn’t mean to touch down. It seems to me that I would scrape pegs instead of my boot if it jutted out more. I’d rather be able to just lean the bike over and not touch anything down and complete the turn, though, but would rather scrape peg than have my boot keep hitting the ground and trying to jerk me off the bike. I read that rearset pegs that were a bit higher up might afford me more clearance. Would this be safer or stupid given my particular situation?
Really, I’m open to advice, explanations, chastising, whatever. Thanks for the help.
Newman
P.S. Thanks also for taking the time to read all of this. I don’t have anyone to ask these questions in person (who I trust), so I let everything build up and then just ask everything online. I hope you don’t mind.
Hi, I'm Newman. I ride a 1993 Kat 600. There are 2001 Barracuda (Cheng Shin) tires on my bike and the rear is almost squared off because of high mileage. I've had the bike for a month or two and have put around 1500 miles on it and I'm very interested in getting new tires.
I've read up about what people recommend for the Kat. I just commute to school and back and ride on some twisty roads, so I wish to go for the tires with the best traction. I think I'm going for either the Pirelli Diablos or Bridgestone BT014.
In the 1500 miles on the Barracudas (which, I've read, are the worst tires in existence supposedly?), I've never felt very confident while leaned way over. Also, I had a crash this past week where I lost complete traction on both tires at 15-20 mph just after initiating a turn. The bike just "flopped" over instead of leaning, if you know what I mean, and low-sided. The bike and I are fine, but rashed up. I've attributed most of the fault on a slick fluid found on the ground at the crash site--there's a construction crew building a house right there and must have spilled something--but there's also that feeling in the back of my mind that these tires really suck and need to be replaced pronto and might have contributed to the crash. I haven't done any twisties riding post-crash.
For some more background, I purchased my Kat after bringing a 1971 Honda CB450 back to life and riding 2000 miles on it. It had tires made in 1978 on it. Needless to say, I have no idea what "real tire/traction confidence" feels like while riding a motorcycle. I'd like to find out with new tires.
As for my questions:
1. My bike has 110/80 and 140/80 Cheng Shin Barracuda tires on it. I’m pretty sure that they are terrible, but I have never ridden any bike with good tires on it. I’m going to replace them, which I mentioned above. If I want to replace them with either the Diablos or BT014s, what sizes would you recommend? I thought I read that my pre-98 Kat has a different rim or stock tire size (or something) than post-98 Kats, so that may affect things. I didn’t see any 140/80 rear tires, either, so I definitely need some advice. Another reason I ask is because I was told the profile of the tire could totally change the way the bike handles. So, what would you guys recommend?
2. On KatanaPlanet.com forums, I posted a question a while back about ground clearance. I felt like an idiot for saying that I was disappointed in the Kat’s clearance (even though I did offer up the idea that I was doing something wrong) and had several people give me some good advice on body positioning while riding. I must thank them again. As a whole, the advice has worked; my boots stopped touching the ground. I now keep a “safety margin” by using body positioning, which really works. In a situation recently, though, I had a near crash again due to a problem with my boots touching the ground and being “ripped” backward. The difference this time was that my body was totally leaned and it still happened. Here’s my question after considering everything: is the footpeg supposed to jut out past my boot? My boots, while resting on the peg, are a good half-inch or so past where the peg ends. Is my boot scraping instead of the peg because the peg doesn’t jut out enough? Could I have aftermarket pegs, perhaps? Or is this just normal and I should stop leaning so much? This instance I am referring to was in a 25 mph tight turn, but I really didn’t mean to touch down. It seems to me that I would scrape pegs instead of my boot if it jutted out more. I’d rather be able to just lean the bike over and not touch anything down and complete the turn, though, but would rather scrape peg than have my boot keep hitting the ground and trying to jerk me off the bike. I read that rearset pegs that were a bit higher up might afford me more clearance. Would this be safer or stupid given my particular situation?
Really, I’m open to advice, explanations, chastising, whatever. Thanks for the help.
Newman
P.S. Thanks also for taking the time to read all of this. I don’t have anyone to ask these questions in person (who I trust), so I let everything build up and then just ask everything online. I hope you don’t mind.
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