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From: ? on 8 Jun 2010 13:15 Has anybody ever been in a situation where they were tempted to *reduce* air pressure in their tires for comfort during a ride? The recommended minimum air pressure and suspension settings in my Yamaha FZR1000 owner's manual don't work for me. The area I live in has rather extreme temperature variations which I doubt ever occur in Japan where the test riders must have determined the recommended settings. It can be 55 degrees in the morning here and I set my rear tire pressure to the minimum 36 psi recommended by the manual. I have the rear suspension preload backed off almost to the minimum. Backing off any more will result in bottoming. By midafternoon, the temperature is up around 100 degrees and the pavement temperature has to be at least 120 degrees. The rear tire pressure rises to 40 psi and the motorcycle becomes a torture rack over the roughly paved county road that is the last 20 miles of my route. I was riding slowly along the bumpy back road yesterday when I saw the lights of a bunch of Harley riders behind me, so I moved to the right and let a dozen bikes pass me. They were riding twice as fast as I could go, and I suspect that their balloon tires and softtail suspensions made for a much more comfortable ride than my sporty bike. I wonder how much air pressure Texas Harley riders use in their back tires, during hot weather.
From: The Older Gentleman on 8 Jun 2010 13:52 ? <breoganmacbrath(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > The area I live in has rather extreme temperature variations which I > doubt ever occur in Japan where the test riders must have > determined the recommended settings. Wrong. Try different tyres. -- BMW K1100LT Ducati 750SS Honda CB400F Triumph Street Triple Suzuki TS250ER GN250 Damn, back to six bikes! Try Googling before asking a damn silly question. chateau dot murray at idnet dot com
From: Andrew on 8 Jun 2010 15:51 "?" <breoganmacbrath(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:2b0e071a-8b25-4e51-b841-5d01aa0ce5b9(a)t14g2000prm.googlegroups.com... > Has anybody ever been in a situation where they were tempted to > *reduce* air pressure in their tires for comfort during a ride? > > The recommended minimum air pressure and suspension settings > in my Yamaha FZR1000 owner's manual don't work for me. > > The area I live in has rather extreme temperature variations which I > doubt ever occur in Japan where the test riders must have > determined the recommended settings. > > It can be 55 degrees in the morning here and I set my rear tire > pressure to the minimum 36 psi recommended by the manual. > > I have the rear suspension preload backed off almost to the minimum. > Backing off any more will result in bottoming. > > By midafternoon, the temperature is up around 100 degrees and the > pavement temperature has to be at least 120 degrees. > > The rear tire pressure rises to 40 psi and the motorcycle becomes a > torture rack over the roughly paved county road that is the last 20 > miles of my route. > > I was riding slowly along the bumpy back road yesterday when I saw the > lights of a bunch of Harley riders behind me, so I moved to the right > and let a dozen bikes pass me. > > They were riding twice as fast as I could go, and I suspect that > their balloon tires and softtail suspensions made for a much more > comfortable ride than my sporty bike. > > I wonder how much air pressure Texas Harley riders use in their back > tires, during hot weather. Instead of just backing off preload, adjust compression and rebound too. Or buy some good suspension bits...it is amazing how much better the good aftermarket rear shocks are. -- Andrew
From: ? on 8 Jun 2010 19:19 On Jun 8, 12:51 pm, "Andrew" <yogig.nos...(a)hotmail.no.spam.m.com> wrote: > Instead of just backing off preload, adjust compression and rebound too. Not adjustable. > Or buy some good suspension bits...it is amazing how much better the good > aftermarket rear shocks are. That's not in the budget for this fiscal lifetime...
From: Tim M. on 8 Jun 2010 23:50
On Jun 8, 1:15 pm, "?" <breoganmacbr...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Has anybody ever been in a situation where they were tempted to > *reduce* air pressure in their tires for comfort during a ride? > > The recommended minimum air pressure and suspension settings > in my Yamaha FZR1000 owner's manual don't work for me. > > The area I live in has rather extreme temperature variations which I > doubt ever occur in Japan where the test riders must have > determined the recommended settings. > > It can be 55 degrees in the morning here and I set my rear tire > pressure to the minimum 36 psi recommended by the manual. > > I have the rear suspension preload backed off almost to the minimum. > Backing off any more will result in bottoming. > > By midafternoon, the temperature is up around 100 degrees and the > pavement temperature has to be at least 120 degrees. > > The rear tire pressure rises to 40 psi and the motorcycle becomes a > torture rack over the roughly paved county road that is the last 20 > miles of my route. You do realize that you can reduce your tire pressure to 36psi after it has risen to 40psi, right? You do know that different tire guages give different readings, right? And you have checked yours to see that it is not reading 10 or 15% low, which is very common, and could mean that you are riding around with 44-46 psi in your rear tire once it comes up to operating temperature, right? I know an experienced rider like you, riding a liter sportbike, knows all this already. I'm just mentioning it because you did not mention it in your whine^h^h^h^h^h post. > > I was riding slowly along the bumpy back road yesterday when I saw the > lights of a bunch of Harley riders behind me, so I moved to the right > and let a dozen bikes pass me. > > They were riding twice as fast as I could go, This is not a surprise in any way. > and I suspect that > their balloon tires and softtail suspensions made for a much more > comfortable ride than my sporty bike. Softtail suspension is notorious for its short travel, harsh spring rates, and poor damping. I suspect that they simply are much more accomplished, capable, comfortable riders than you are. > > I wonder how much air pressure Texas Harley riders use in their back > tires, during hot weather. Why would you wonder that? It has nothing to do with your problems at all. |