Quote:
Originally Posted by tnr4
Thanks for the well-wishes and advice, all. I'm especially interested to hear Hernan's suggestion on air pressure. I wondered that, and so the day after, I checked pressure, and I was at near maximum (40/40, max is 42/42). On these tires, I have experimented with as low as 34/36. So Hernan: when you say drop the tire pressure, how much are you thinking? Just that normal, experimental bit? Or even more?..........
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In Florida's summer, I have had to commute back home around 15 miles of Interstate (65~75 mph traffic) under heavy storms almost every evening.
Inspired in the Japanese Moto Gymkhana's technique of reducing tire's pressures by about 30% from the manufacturers recommended settings, I began experimenting with pressure reduction, starting from the 28 psi front / 32 psi rear recommended for my pre-gen.
I did it little by little, always monitoring the temperature (by hand) and (very important) increasing pressure in the morning for the dry commute.
I reached around 24 psi (cold) front and 27 psi (cold) rear; lower than that for a heavy downpour and they got hot very quickly.
I could have been mental, but I felt better traction when braking in bad situations.
http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/What_ti...hould_I_use%3F
Those values will not be good for your heavier GSX650.
If you decide experimenting, go little by little and never allow the rubber become too hot for naked hand touch.
Practice emergency braking on wet parking lots, but don't roll faster than 20 mph.
Good deceleration (0.8~0.9 G) will feel the same to you and to your tires-suspension from 20 to 0 mph than from 70 to 50 mph.
Keep those knees firmly clamped to the tank and your sight high and far.
This video shows what partially deflated street-sport tires (only type allowed by Moto Gymkhana rules) can do in the rain (note the right foot, the right index finger and the turns of the head):
Link to original page on YouTube.