Front end confidence
 

So recently I have had a few scares that have kind of shaken my confidence a bit. The other night I was leaving a friend's house to go grab some late dinner with some other friends. Her street has 2 left handers that are almost 90*, and it was about 10:45. I went through the first, and arrived at the second one. I was half way through the bend when I realized there was a huge patch of sand in the middle of the road, right where I was tracked to go. There was no correcting or I would have most definitely gone down. I rolled off the throttle gently and decreased my lean angle slightly and prayed as I hit it. :lol: The front let go for what seemed like a foot (most likely a few inches) and caught solid pavement. I caught my breath and decided if I needed to change my underwear, but I was all good. Dodged that one...

Today I was off work, so I decided to get out in this gorgeous weather and just get lost... find some new favorite roads type of ride. And I definitely accomplished that. Found a great new circuit with some empty country roads that snaked around. Half way through the ride I was out in BFN and had no idea where I was. I caught this awesome long left hander that led to a one lane bridge over this scenic creek, and into this awesome sequence of elevation and winding turns. I hit this almost double apex type of turn that was winding right and climbing uphill pretty rapidly. Half way inbetween the two apexes.... the front suddenly let go. Scared the shit out of me, because unlike before, there was no warning. Warm tires, dry pavement, sunny weather, moderate tree cover, no sand or gravel, my pace wasn't overly fast, and my lean angle wasn't super low by any means. And it wasn't like the double apex scared me into over-correcting. Could tree pollen make the road slick?

Anyway, after that it just ruined the rest of my ride. I hit quite a few other awesome winding sections, but my confidence had been hit. It's not like my tires are shot either. It only has 3,600 miles on the set, and there is TONS of tread left on the front. I'm just kind of confuzzled....

Were you heavy on the front end, weighting the front with your upper body on the controls? I had a similar experience at the gap, shook me a little but at the name time taught me a lot.

I thought weight on the front was good? I don't think I had a huge amount of weight over the front, I can't think about how I ride when I'm off the bike. But I may have to reevaluate that as I'm riding tomorrow.

No. Not good at all. Your hands should only ever be resting lightly on the clip-ons.

Use your core/back strenght to hold up your body weight when you're sitting upright and use your leg planted against the tank to support your weight while cornering. It takes some getting used to, but you will not believe how much stability it adds to your bike throughout cornering.

1000%

Hold your bars no tighter than you'd hold an empty bottle of water without hearing it crinkle or a tube of toothpaste without squeezing anything out of it.

Something still seemed up today. I really need to look at my tires...

Going up a steep hill, the front end is already light. Sitting away from the gas tank, and too much throttle in low gear can easily take all the weight off the front wheel. When I ride uphill, I like to sit near the gas tank. And if I'm following a fast rider uphill, I'll apply some rear brake around the corner to steady the chassis and keep weight on the front. While I have the gas on. That's what I did on this video. You can really see it between 1:50 and 2:05. http://www.twowheelfix.com/showthread.php?t=22239

What kind of tires are you running?

Where you want to weight is on the outside rearset, which will help get you more grip front and back. Use your body position on the tank to do that as well as No Worries suggests. Don't be all over the your clip ons though, should be relaxed there.

That was going to be my question too. Could be a grip issue, in combination with how you're weighting the bike.

I'm almost certain Pirelli Angels. I'll have to check that though. But the only other option from factory would be BT 016's.

No clip-ons. But I understand what you are saying.

Simple things first. Make sure you monitor your tire pressure closely. I ran a set of Pirellis on my TLR. That's the only brand I've seen that is SO picky about tire pressure. A pound or so off, and the characteristics of the tire changed 180 degrees.

I never had the confidence with the Pirellis that I did with other brands.

I thought it was just me that didn't like Pirellis. Huh.

Nope. I'm right there with you. Hate 'em!

I have a few brands that I favor. I wouldn't put Pirellis on your tractor! lol

I don't care for them either.

I've only ever ran one set. My 12 came with a new set of Diablos on it. I seen no gains from them but only got a little over 1/2 of the life I would eventually get out of a set of Pilot Powers. I know a few people who hate them and a few people who adore them.

I may get down to my storage unit to ride tomorrow evening. There is a gas station right next to my unit with a new air station that reads digitally. I'm very interested to see what it is at.

But G-rex I know what you are saying. Last fall I pumped the front up like a pound and the bike felt totally different. But previous to this, I've never had any problems with grip or confidence. I just had no feel from the front, it was so vague... and that was after an hour of riding and the tires completely hot. :idk:

I use to love the diablo corsa 3s on my Honda. That's the only Pirelli I have ever run and it wasn't that finicky.

For my GS, I run the Anakee 2s, they are a pretty badass street tire with a hint of decent gravel tire. Knee down in a salt covered dragon, no problem. Also good in the wet.

I had Diablos on my Buell... my only beef with them is that they barely lasted 3k... Otherwise they were ok.

Back when I ran sportbikes, that was my maximum on pretty much any street tire, but that is common when you live that close to the gap.

Had the Corsa III's on mine too, really liked them, but had the same life span as you.
Powers had twice the life, but handling was a bit twitchy.
Angels on there now, not a fan. Not near the grip of any other tire I've ran, and won't get much more than 5k out of the rear. :td:

Not sure what I'm going with next.

Those moments suck. Usually make me ride a lil bit slower the rest of the day. Sometimes it's just a fluke thing.

Had the ass end get loose on me at the track yesterday. I was hauling pretty good though and was on Pilot Power 2CT's that by the end of my day were done for. It was the 2nd to last session when it happened...So it was on my mind during my last session.

Funny thing was I was going to switch to Pirelli DRC's for my next set to see how they worked since i've heard rave reviews from guys who run them at the track.

As a quick update...

I was completely wrong with the Angels. BT-016's. I haven't had a chance to throw air in the front yet, but I haven't gone out for a joyride since then. I've mainly been on the highway 4 or 5 times down to my mom's and commuting 10 minutes to work the last few days. I haven't had any problems at commuting speed, but I'm still interested in what pressure the front is running. I'm off Monday, and will report back...

Huh, in a month you haven't had the chance to even check your tire pressure? I must be weird then... I check my tire pressure all the time. By the way, you don't need an air compressor. Most times I just use a bicycle pump if my tires need air.

tire pressure should be a daily check, takes two seconds to do it and could save your life. Definitely check them before any hard riding.

Update. Front was down only 1 pound at cold. The rear was spot on. But damn does that 1 pound feel weird. It feels really peaky and tall. :lol:

It was hard because my bike was in a storage unit until Friday. By the time I would get to a gas station the tires were already warm and it would read different. And I just never got around to picking up a handheld gauge. However, I wish I would have known a bicycle pump could handle that big of a tire. I have had a really good high volume mountain bike pump with gauge the whole time. :bash: :lol: