[loudnlow7484]

I think most of you have missed the point. If I hit the corners harder (I've not had the bike long enough to get really comfortable), it will end up tucking the front before it even approaches the edges of the rear. That makes me uncomfortable. If the rear starts to get loose, I can handle that (to an extent)..... but if the front tucks, I'll be meeting the pavement really quick. If the rear was the correct size, I'd be approaching the edges of the tire together... maybe even quicker on the back than the front.

but, if i dont have a big fat back tire everyone at bike night will laugh at me, yo!

btw Rick, i was in slamdusky last weekend (stupid move on my part, took the kids to cedar point)...does sandusky have their own little group of "stunna's" now? we were in traffic out by kalahari and a group of tools rode by doing stoppies and wheelies...and they weren't even doing them well...color me unimpressed

Ah, you should have hit me up! I'm assuming you didn't bring the kids on the bike, though.

Yeah, Sandusky has some stuntahs wit mad skillz, bro. When I worked up there, we called them "the bandana crew" for obvious reasons. They are some serious toolage...... A whole bunch of modern liter bikes, and not one person that can actually ride.

Thats a nice pressure washer I can see why you like it.

Pressure washer I thought he was talking bout that kick a$$ golf cart...

You're both wrong... I was talking about the wheelbarrow.

If the lawn tractor was in the shot too, I could have been talking about that as well.

[05RedKat600]

Yeah, but in places like Florida and Texas where people do these silly things there are no corners.......

[TRPUT]

I think most of you have missed the point. If I hit the corners harder (I've not had the bike long enough to get really comfortable), it will end up tucking the front before it even approaches the edges of the rear. That makes me uncomfortable. If the rear starts to get loose, I can handle that (to an extent)..... but if the front tucks, I'll be meeting the pavement really quick. If the rear was the correct size, I'd be approaching the edges of the tire together... maybe even quicker on the back than the front.

I get the thing about running over the edge of the tyre - but what you're saying is that's better to happen at the rear before the front. That sounds like it's worth knowing - although I suspect it wouldn't matter which end I lost first - I'd still need new gear.

On the 2 occasions I've had with no strips on the rears, I was no where near the edges of the front. At the moment - with the 110/150s on the pre and 120/170s on the post, the strips front and rear are about the same - possibly slightly bigger on the front. I'll see how I go as I continue to scrub the new tyres and feel confident with them.

[phantasm]

with the 110/150s on the pre and 120/170s on the post, the strips front and rear are about the same - possibly slightly bigger on the front. I'll see how I go as I continue to scrub the new tyres and feel confident with them.

I think thats the point. With propperly sized tires, you'll get use of the FULL tire without fear of running over te edge. It all equals up to better performance and safer riding.

[superbike]

My tires are round and black, no really, they are. After a track day the front usually has about a quarter of an inch c-strip on both sides. The rear is always to the edge on either side. I always figured that was just due to my riding style of trying to "back" the bike into the tighter corners. Like you said, I feel more secure trying to "catch the rear" than lose the front. I've never put a bigger tire on the back of the ZZR, so I'm not sure what kind of wear difference it might make. I have a new set of power race I'm going to try that has a little taller sidewall, 70 vs 65 is what I've been running, but finding them harder to find. Taller tires usually give you a "longer" contact patch, shorter tire usually gives you a "wider" contact patch. I'll let you know if I can tell any difference.

Where's "The Table" on this topic, would love to here from Joesph, he's the tire man on this forum...

[zuma]

Yeah, but in places like Florida and Texas where people do these silly things there are no corners.......

For sure, for sure.

[scottynoface]

I'm running 120/60 and 180/55 and I'm like superbike, around 1/2" on the front and barely any on the rear.

[TRPUT]

I think thats the point. With propperly sized tires, you'll get use of the FULL tire without fear of running over te edge. It all equals up to better performance and safer riding.

But that's what I've always had 'til now - properly sized tyres. And except for the set on the pre (which would scrape the handlebars before reaching the tyre edge front or rear) I had no trouble wiping strips off the rears and still having unused rubber on the front - so I was worried - especially on the Honda / Dunlop which reached the rear edge in only relaxed riding. This incorrect set-up I'm running at the moment is the most balanced I've had (out of 6 sets) in terms of tread used.

[loudnlow7484]

But that's what I've always had 'til now - properly sized tyres. And except for the set on the pre (which would scrape the handlebars before reaching the tyre edge front or rear) I had no trouble wiping strips off the rears and still having unused rubber on the front - so I was worried - especially on the Honda / Dunlop which reached the rear edge in only relaxed riding. This incorrect set-up I'm running at the moment is the most balanced I've had (out of 6 sets) in terms of tread used.

How much rubber do you have left in the front when you're on the edge in the rear? I would be perfectly content to be on the edge in the rear with 1/4" left on the front..... not so much the other way around.

[TRPUT]

How much rubber do you have left in the front when you're on the edge in the rear? I would be perfectly content to be on the edge in the rear with 1/4" left on the front..... not so much the other way around.

On previous sets - probably more like 1/2 to a whole inch of unused rubber on the front when at the edge of the rear.

Current set of 120 / 170s - which I haven't fully leaned into yet - shows 1 inch rear and 3/4 inch front. But with the steeper front profile I doubt I would reach the edge there before the rear. Hopefully, weather permitting and now that the wheel wobble seems fixed, I'll push those distances a little smaller tmoro.

And as requested before ... where's "The Table"???

[TRPUT]

OK - managed to shrink the strips a little today but didn't make it to my favourite "test track". Recent storms meant the road was beautiful and clean - except in the really fun stuff where there were leaves, gravel and even the occasional branch around many corners. I still didn't manage to "touch down" so there is more room for improvement yet.

Rear - 0.55" or 14mm
Front - 0.38" or 9.6mm

Other interesting figures:

Total cross sectional width of used rear rubber now exceeds 155mm.

Total surface width of used rear rubber about 180mm.

[thetable]

Where's "The Table" on this topic, would love to here from Joesph, he's the tire man on this forum...

Out riding...

What was the question again?

150MPH Golf cart tires? Yeah some of the current kart tires would probably fit, and with the right gearing the 250 shifters are probably topping 150...

I'll read through the whole thread tomorrow and weigh in...

[thetable]

I wrote a bunch of crap that has some valuable information, so keep reading if you want to learn or argue, otherwise, stop trying to measure chicken strips. It doesn't matter whose are bigger because none of us are getting paid on the measurement. RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE!!!

-Get your tire pressures to a good level in order to get your tires to the temperature where they are happy. (The old rule of thumb is 10% pressure growth, but if you harass the manufacturers enough, they will give you an ideal temperature to aim for, and you'll want a probe type pyrometer to check temperatures. (The infrared type are near worthless for tires as they outer carcass will lose temp quickly and unpredictable.)

-Limit your tire size choices based on the tire manufacturers recommendations against width of the rim and load capacity. No manufacturer is going to tell you that it is OK to mount a 190 on a 3.5" rim.

-If you find yourself running our of tire, pound your chest and go to a more aggressive tire. From what I've seen in the twisties, about half the sport bike riders could ride an ME880 and be just fine, yet they insist on running race takeoffs that they can't even get up to temp. If I can pass just about anything that isn't local at Deal's Gap on sport touring rubber mounted to a heavy *** bike, then it probably isn't your tires.

And then the extra crap below.

The front tire: 120/70-17 (stock size), about 1/4" chicken strip

If I'm reading your garage correctly, I think you'll find that the stock front was a 130/60-17. I think you will also find that the original tires were bias plys, where as now you have radials on both locations.

The size of the chicken strips and their location seems to have as much to do with the overall geometry of the bike as it does riding style as it does the shape of the tires (One of the reasons manufacturers recommend sticking with the same model tire front and rear.)

I think you will also find that a both a 190/50 and a 190/55 are an acceptable fit on a 5.5" rim. The 55 series tire will usually give you more turn in and more lean angle, where as the 50 series usually has a little flatter profile.

Are you actually putting less rubber to the road... Well, tire pressure plays a bigger role than tire profile. PSI is Pounds per Square Inch; it's not some random unit. If you have 40PSI front and rear, and you and your bike weigh 800lbs, then you will have a contact area of 20 square inches between the front and rear tire. Now how that contact area is applied is determined by size and shape. You could have a contact patch that is 20 inches long and 1 inch wide or it could be 5 inches long and 4 inches wide.

...More tomorrow, I'm tired, and I've been drinking.

[loudnlow7484]

If I'm reading your garage correctly, I think you'll find that the stock front was a 130/60-17. I think you will also find that the original tires were bias plys, where as now you have radials on both locations.

The size of the chicken strips and their location seems to have as much to do with the overall geometry of the bike as it does riding style as it does the shape of the tires (One of the reasons manufacturers recommend sticking with the same model tire front and rear.)

I think you will also find that a both a 190/50 and a 190/55 are an acceptable fit on a 5.5" rim. The 55 series tire will usually give you more turn in and more lean angle, where as the 50 series usually has a little flatter profile.

Are you actually putting less rubber to the road... Well, tire pressure plays a bigger role than tire profile. PSI is Pounds per Square Inch; it's not some random unit. If you have 40PSI front and rear, and you and your bike weigh 800lbs, then you will have a contact area of 20 square inches between the front and rear tire. Now how that contact area is applied is determined by size and shape. You could have a contact patch that is 20 inches long and 1 inch wide or it could be 5 inches long and 4 inches wide.

...More tomorrow, I'm tired, and I've been drinking.

Good looking out. I just assumed that with a 3.5" wide rim, that they would have fitted a 120 from the factory...... and since nobody really makes 130/60's, I guess I'll be sticking with 120/70's.

My tire pressure is set as it says under the seat. Not perfect, I'm sure, but I'm no tire expert so I figured that is at least safe. What concerns me is that my riding style is honestly pretty relaxed. I commute 75 miles each way on the highway, and I bomb around on backroads sometimes, but we really don't have much in the way of corners here. If I'm within 1/4" of the edge of the front just from on/off ramps, then I'll probably be in real trouble if I try to really get after it in some corners.

These tires are nearly brand new, so I'm not going to change them until they wear out, but when I do..... what do you suggest? Like I said, I do a ton of highway commuting, but the front Roadsmart doesn't seem to have a profile that will allow the bike to get over very far without running off the edge.

Now that I think about it, you might be the person to ask about this (maybe the two symptoms are related)...... This bike requires a TON of effort to take a corner on. You have to really muscle the bars to get it over, and then it requires a ton of effort to keep it there. If you let up a little bit, it wants to stand straight up in a hurry. Could these two things be related somehow?

[TRPUT]

...More tomorrow, I'm tired, and I've been drinking.

Good for you! Hope that's happy drinking.

Just to be clear - I'm not in this to compete in the "chicken strips" war - but to gain knowledge and share experience based on L&L's original post, because the idea of running off the edge of the rear has worried me in the past. So far, given that I have spare rubber both F and R, I feel more confident on my non-standard set up of 120/170 - and as such I'd be happy to have a chicken strip .. or 4.