Hi folks,
I was looking forward to bring this matter to your attention for some time, but hadn't
had the time to do it.
For those who don't know I have a 1999 European non v-boost bike, that was purchased
with the following tyres: Both Metzeler with 110/90 V18 on the front and 150/90 B 15
M/C.74V Marathon ML on the rear. This means I have a great balloon as a rear tyre and
a rather skinny front shoe.
Since new I noticed that when I lean at low speed to the left (or right), I have to
hold the bars firmly towards the opposite side, since the whole steering wants to go
further into the curve. This fight makes the bike nod quite badly and makes the slow
ride a rather unpleasant one to say the least. Forget about loose steering bearings, I
have tightened them till the front end didn't move freely from side to side and then
slackened them a bit so the front wheel up in the air could move from side to side,
but just barely. Now for the first question, has anybody else felt this, is it
normal???.
Second thing I also notice is the bike trying to change direction as I am moving
between stationary vehicles when I approach the traffic lights, since any deformity on
the asphalt, even the white marks on the road make the front tyre want to go one way
while the rear sits comfortably on top of the irregularities. I'm sure that if both
tyres had the same size, none of this would happen. On the other hand, the tendency of
the back tyre to wear itself flat does not help at all. Again, other riders must have
felt this also and once more this is also a rather unpleasant feeling.
Three, once on the open road full of nice twisters braking hard, solo riding, getting
the most of my max the bike is glued to the road and only when my centre stand starts
scraping the tarmac as I lean to the left and my canister scrapes leaning to the
right, I find the bike's limits. (I must inform you that I have Racetech front
suspension with no lowering kit and standard rear suspension set at pos. 3). The
rubber compound is good and have no grip problems, but..., yes there is a but. Taking
a close look at the tyres, I find that while the rear still had about 1/2 an inch to
go on both sides, the front one has gone all the way and pieces of rubber have been
peeled off where I have no more surface to use, just at the edge of the usable part of
it. This clearly means that while I could lean even more if the rest of the bike
allowed as far as the rear tyre goes, my front tyre is just about to let me down and
in a bad way.
I have nothing against Metzeler, it's just that I think I would benefit from having a
"fatter" front tyre after all I have just mentioned. My neighbour has a CBR 600 and
the front tyre is almost the same as the rear.
C'mon let's see what you come up with. One thing I would like to know is how big a
tyre can you install on the front without having to modify the rest.
Ground clearance is the second problem, so any mod. that implies smaller dia. wheels
such as Paul's max is out of the question. As far as I am concerned and for the time
being, I want to keep my bike as standard as possible, including rims.
Best regards,
Charles ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] )
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