Check your tires!

I got lax about checking the air in my tires at least once a week, and started noticing a decline in the performance of the tires. I was having to keep pressure on the inside bar to hold a line in corners. The bike wanted to "flop" over in low speed parking lot manuvers. The bike didn't feel planted. I just thought that it was from having enough miles on the PR2's that they were starting to handle worse. The front has about 4000, and the rear around 8000. I was always going to check the air "as soon as I get home". Finally after about a month, I checked the pressure, and found that I had 36# front and rear. Topped them both off to 40#, and forgot about it. Went for a ride the next day, and Holy Shite!! It was just like having new tires again! Very neutral steering once you set your line, no more flopping in the parking lot, and much better feel.

I know this is no revelation to youse guys, but maybe it will be a reminder to check those pressures regularly!

Yep, once a week. Not a bad idea to check your cage tires once a month, you'd be surprised how they loose air too

I'm jumping on the scooter this afternoon and heading to PA. (seven hour cruise) I checked the pressures lastnight. The front was good, but the rear was down to 36 pounds.

Get this- I picked up my brand-spankin'-new FJR about a month ago. It was just as the OP described, not good in the turns. "Huh," I thought, "just need to get used to this new bike." Next day I rode it to a friend's house, he stepped back and looked at the tires, thinking they were looking funny. I did tell him they were turning like crap. Put the tire gauge on each- 10 or more pounds low in each tire. Yep. Brought the pressure up to the recommended and all was well.

Brand new, just rolled out of the dealer. They forgot to check the pressure after the bike sat on their floor for some 6 months.

I was always going to check the air "as soon as I get home".

I recommend to check them just before you ride, not as soon as you're done. Tires heat up quite a bit when working and will read higher pressure. Check them when thy're cold. adjust as required.

I run my PR 2s at 40F, 42R and they work nice and are wearing very evenly.

Just my $.02 worth

I was expecting you to say you found them at like 28-30 the way you explained the handling. That bad and only 4 pounds low? Wow! I run 42 rear and 40 front, but do check the pressure regularly meaning at least once a week. With stable temps and the aluminum rims the pressure should not drop. If it does you have another problem.

Handling and fuel consumption are noticeable if I allow the tires to hit mid 30's pressure.

Intech said:

I was expecting you to say you found them at like 28-30 the way you explained the handling. That bad and only 4 pounds low? Wow! I run 42 rear and 40 front, but do check the pressure regularly meaning at least once a week. With stable temps and the aluminum rims the pressure should not drop. If it does you have another problem.

Click to expand...

I also was expecting to see 28-30 psi, not 36. The recommended tire pressure is for the maximum load capacity of the bike, not for performance. My understanding was that solo riding and unloaded bags, the performance would improve with lower pressure, maybe 36-38 psi. It's very important to note that it must be cold tire air pressure. The concept of tire pressure, load capacity, and performance that I mentioned here came from the Dunlop motorcycle tire web site.

Good reminder. I'm pretty religious about checking tire pressures before every weekend ride, but to add to this thread, check the tread out (all the way around) as well. I left on a 350 mile ride in the twisties last Saturday and tire looked to be fine, getting there, but still fine and I was not concerned about them making the ride (wrong!). I kept in mind that I'd never run a tire this far before (normally go about 5500-6000 before changing them out) and this set of PR2's (rear "B" spec) was at about 8700 miles when I started the ride. I have no before pics, but the first pic was at about the 300 mile mark, the second at the 350 mile mark. What a difference 50 miles makes! My new motto, if in doubt, change it out!

9143 miles



9193 miles

rfespinosa said:

Intech said:

I was expecting you to say you found them at like 28-30 the way you explained the handling. That bad and only 4 pounds low? Wow! I run 42 rear and 40 front, but do check the pressure regularly meaning at least once a week. With stable temps and the aluminum rims the pressure should not drop. If it does you have another problem.

Click to expand...

I also was expecting to see 28-30 psi, not 36. The recommended tire pressure is for the maximum load capacity of the bike, not for performance. My understanding was that solo riding and unloaded bags, the performance would improve with lower pressure, maybe 36-38 psi. It's very important to note that it must be cold tire air pressure. The concept of tire pressure, load capacity, and performance that I mentioned here came from the Dunlop motorcycle tire web site.

Click to expand...

I've also noticed poor handling and found the front tire was only down to 36. The FJR seems to be really sensitive to tire pressure. Maybe because of the weight?

Ditto on the poorer handling if I let my tires go down just a little to 36 or so. I run 42 in the rear and 40 up front with Avon Storms. Very neutral steering with those tire pressures. Because the FJR is very sensitive to tire pressures I would also recommend having a very good tire gauge.

FJReady said:

I was always going to check the air "as soon as I get home".

I recommend to check them just before you ride, not as soon as you're done. Tires heat up quite a bit when working and will read higher pressure. Check them when thy're cold. adjust as required.

I run my PR 2s at 40F, 42R and they work nice and are wearing very evenly.

Just my $.02 worth

Click to expand...

I usually check the tires when they are cold, but I the Feege was reminding me to do it during a ride! I will be checking them weekly. The pressure loss was over a period of at least two months, so I don't think there is a problem. And, at 36#, the handling wasn't horrible, but noticeably not up to par. When I first got the bike new in 08' I went through a period of regretting my purchase because my VTX handled better. But because of this forum, I learned about how sensitive it is to tire pressure, and how to set up the suspension, and now all is good :yahoo:

Got about 300 miles on my new Michelin PR3's and they feel great! Switched from PR2's, which I used for over 13,000 miles...over 50% more mileage than I got on the original Metzlers. The service manager recommended 42 psi front and rear and it seems to be working well. Had the right angle valves installed this time and checking pressure is so much easier and I do it about every other day... `

Guess I'm a tire pressure freak..

on the fjr I check every 2 days with a gauge, and do a 'thump' test before *every* ride.

on the harley, I don't need to. For some reason, those tires and rims simply don't leak down.

on the early BMW's, every time up and out of the saddle.

...but like I said, I'm tire pressure freak.

I really want to install some automagical realtime tire pressure readouts on the fjr as it's my primary ld ride.

Bogus said:

...I was always going to check the air "as soon as I get home"....

Click to expand...

Tires should always be checked cold heated tires give various pressures, inconstant.

Bogus said:

.... I checked the pressure, and found that I had 36# front and rear....

Click to expand...

The stock recommended tire pressure is about at this pressure. Most go higher for better wear, longevity. Handling should still be pretty good. :blink: In the twisties the lower tire pressure helps with grip. At the track the pressure is even lower (I ran my Dunlop D207's at about 29psi cold, per the Dunlop tire guys at the track) due to the extreme heat and thus increased pressure, and you want grip.
Since you check the tires hot, maybe they were slightly under inflated and handling worse. :huh:

FJRBluesman said:

Bogus said:

...I was always going to check the air "as soon as I get home"....

Click to expand...

Tires should always be checked cold heated tires give various pressures, inconstant.

Bogus said:

.... I checked the pressure, and found that I had 36# front and rear....

Click to expand...

The stock recommended tire pressure is about at this pressure. Most go higher for better wear, longevity. Handling should still be pretty good. :blink: In the twisties the lower tire pressure helps with grip. At the track the pressure is even lower (I ran my Dunlop D207's at about 29psi cold, per the Dunlop tire guys at the track) due to the extreme heat and thus increased pressure, and you want grip.
Since you check the tires hot, maybe they were slightly under inflated and handling worse. :huh:

Click to expand...

I don't check tires hot...that statement was a figure of speech that the poor handling was reminding me to check the tires. Then I would promptly forget to do it in just about the time it would take for the tires to cool down :wacko: I finally remembered, and when checked cold, I had 36#.

Check this out for tread separation!



The quick story...

Yesterday, a fellow rider from the Bay Area was headed south to Ojai for a new seat at Mayer's. Got to the middle-of-no-where on Indian Valley Rd when the Metzler Z6 disintegrated somewhere along a long straight stretch and he didn't find out till he hit a left hand turn. 1200RT and rider DOWN!

He used his SPOT to summon help which worked it's way down the line through our network on the barf forum and it filtered to me since I was the only one close, about 1.5 hrs away from his initial get-off point. Fortunately he wasn't hurt and was able to throw a plug in the leaky part and get to San Miguel at 20 mph where I scooped him up with my trailer and got him to a buddy's that has a tire machine/computer balancer/old 180/55 take-off. He rashed the shit out of the left side of his RT as well as bent the front stay and lost a side mirror/signal.

Thread here to see it in it's entirety.

This tire had less than 3000 miles on it and was replaced the same time as the front. His last Z6's ran 8k.He checked the pressure in these that morning. He's discussing the issue with Metzler and his insurance now.

Get your self a tpms, aluminum valve stems and you can see pressures all the time. I run 36F 40R. On angel st's due to a weird weave they have when set at factory pressures, great grip though

I found installing high quality valves (the aluminum 90deg ones) and cleaning the rim REALLY well when I change my tires makes a HUGE difference. Now I check my SV & FJR on the 1st of the month, and they've usually lost less than 1/2-lb from the month before.