finding the right pressures

[alex.s]

tire pressure is a sensitive subject. its different for how you ride your ride and how your suspension is setup. but i wanted to find more info about how people go about finding whats right for them.

im not good at this whole motorcycles thing but what it seems like to me is lower than "right" pressure on the front tire makes the bike want to stand up in a corner when on the gas. the opposite being true, too much pressure and the bike doesnt hold its line and just wants to lean all the way over. what about rear tire pressure? the only hint of feedback ive gotten from the rear tire about pressure seems to be how much grip i have on launch and the top speed... when the pressure is high, theres almost no grip trying to launch and it will even spin a bit. but it seems like when the pressure is too low, top speed and higher end acceleration is affected...

what do you think? do you disagree? how do you feel about them? how do you tell whats right and whats wrong for you? just trying to learn

[Jiggles]

thats the vagina

[TnNinjaGirl]

Someone got a refill on Percoset
Posted via Mobile Device

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

thats the vagina

[csmith12]

In the end the goal should be to find a psi that provides a proper operating temperature at the pace a rider is riding at.

I start with what track, weather and tire combo I will be running. The from there it's about temp control and feel. Lower the pressure the more flex the tire will have and will reach it's operating temp faster. It comes at a cost though. I believe I can feel the squishy/loose tire at low psi. I ran a session at 22/24psi like my pit mate. Not cool for me yet as he is a better rider. At higher psi it can brake loose if the temp is not up to snuff or the tire gets to hot.

Going to the track with no tire warmers shaves at least 1 lap off each of my sessions, sometimes two like early in the season where the track surface was 41 degrees first session of the morning. I adjust pressure between sessions based on air and track surface temps and sprinkle in a bit of how aggressive I feel throughout the day. I normally fall between 27-30psi on the rear and 28-31psi on the front at operating temp for the bt003's and a little lower on my R6. Again, give or take a pound based on conditions and aggressiveness. In the dog days of summer, I felt great on 25psi in the rear but felt as if I still needed a 30psi front.

Welcome to the game sir. It's an inch game too. To low, to high, loose a pound, gain a pound. And to make matters worse, the track/weather changes throughout the day. More rubber down and temps go up. So on and so forth.

So many variables, without a pit crew to watch all this stuff any given rider can hope to get close and maybe even a bit lucky he/she has the right combo to win.

All temps are at cold psi.

[alex.s]

but thats the thing. what indicators do you use to tell you its too much pressure or too little pressure when its running at operating temp? you can definitely feel a squisher on low psi, especially the front under braking. and yoou can definitely feel a rock hard tire slide around. but when its "close", and you are fine tuning... what indicators do you look for?

[csmith12]

Chatter and Turn in feel

Harder turn in feel = to low
Chatter = to high (assuming all other perfect conditions)

[alex.s]

how wide do you find the range between chatter and turn in mud? 5 or 6 psi between the two right? what tires are you on?

[csmith12]

Yea, at peak temps and track speeds 5-6 pounds can make a big difference. I am running BT003's on the 250. and Q2's on the R6 and when I can afford it, I will throw on a set of ntecs. cha ching....

At this level of detail, we can add in visual inspection. Should be a nice even pattern of wear across the width of the tire. Of course the softer edges will have more but evenness is the tell tale sign.

Mud = tearing patterns
Chatter = more than normal balling

[alex.s]

how do the 003s slide in your ideal pressure zone? does it skip more than it slides? is it a gradual let go or sudden? im new to the 003s and they are completely different from the ****** tires im used to

[csmith12]

Little skips or very light chatter..... Sometimes just one, other times a few in a row.

You know when you hit a large seam in pavement between lanes? How it throws the bike a little. It's kinda like that, cept just the rear mostly. When you get both doing it at the same time... it's time to back off a bit and adjust or you was just going to damn fast. lol

There will be a point were a rider can outperform the tech of the tires and need something more. Where a race spec tire is needed to handle increased speeds, temp and angles.

[alex.s]

i just upgraded to the 003s which are a huge improvement in grip and carcass over my old bt45s and pirelli sportdemons. those 45s had like no grip so i was used to it sliding all over the place and got comfy with it. now im on the 003s and had to adjust so much. suspension responds completely different when the tires actually grip. found myself lowering the damping quite a bit. i was definitely overrunning the 45s though. definitely not a tire made for abuse

[csmith12]

I have never run the 45's but have seen some crazy skill yo and have had my *ss handed to me by riders on touring tires. Slides can be caused by so many things. Do the smart thing and don't just chalk it up to tires without exhausting all possibilities.

[csmith12]

I hope we get some other points of view as well. This can be a controversial topic, since personal preference is so much a factor.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by csmith12

I have never run the 45's but have seen some crazy skill yo and have had my *ss handed to me by riders on touring tires. Slides can be caused by so many things. Do the smart thing and don't just chalk it up to tires without exhausting all possibilities.

true that. i need to suck less