newbie - tyre wear...

[flyin]

your bike should have a tool kit with a spannery lookin thingy, if you bought the bike without, any parts shop will have one for ya. fairly easy to work out/adjust to harder however i've found it a real c*** to soften it up again?!? oh well i'll jst leave it firm and harden up i guess....

[cammo]

cool, ill have a look and see what i can do! cheers mate

[vifferman]

ok then, so i gots half of ya telling em to get a new tyre and half saying itll be sweet for a bit more...im going to wanganui on wednesday and there;s a cycletread shop down there, so i will have a look! maybe ill just get a new tyre in a couple weeks b4 the track day and wear it out a bit more, that way i dont waste the little wee bit of tread left (gotta get your moneys worth ). ohh and incaes your wondering its a bridge' battalax bt010. thanx for all your help!!!

Bear in mind (as some of your 'helpers' haven't) that a tyre's grip is more than just a function of the amount of tread left. Oftentimes, a tyre will go 'off' before it's run out of tread. Tyres have a finite number of heat cycles in them, and the softer the tyre compound is, the fewer heat cycles before it's 'used up'. So you can't really judge how good the tyre is by just looking at it; some tyres will still be good with little tread left on, while others will be still road-legal and be well knackered.
It's sometimes a subtle thing too, so you don't notice how your tyre's performance has deteriorated, until you fit a new one and go, "Wow!! This feels like a new bike!" Other times, you'll notice it feels unsettled and you don't have confidence in it any more.
Best option is to just replace it when you can, as it's a very small area of rubber that's all there is between you being safe or lying on the road.

[Racey Rider]

Go On!
You read that somewhere didn't you!

[GSVR]

Also is it normal to have scrapped the road with my feet round tight corners after only riding for a week?

How far does your suspension sink when you sit on the bike and how much damping do you have? Soft suspension can sink into corners. Are you heavy or light?

Having sorted that out try climbing off the side of the bike and sticking your knee out. This way your bike won't lean so far over.

Just ideas. Personally I've never gone fast enough around tight corners to scrape my toes except for a few times when I've fallen off. The edges of my tyres still have those little molding dimples on them.

[cammo]

How far does your suspension sink when you sit on the bike and how much damping do you have? Soft suspension can sink into corners. Are you heavy or light?

Having sorted that out try climbing off the side of the bike and sticking your knee out. This way your bike won't lean so far over.

Just ideas. Personally I've never gone fast enough around tight corners to scrape my toes except for a few times when I've fallen off. The edges of my tyres still have those little molding dimples on them.

naa im super light weight, only bout 65ish... but yeah the susp. sags a bit and soo ill need to have a look at adjusting that when i figure out how too.. and yeah ive been experimenting with with sliding around on my seat. its windy the entire way to wanganui tmrw so ill test it a lil more. i tihnk ill get a new tyre tmrw also as i better not risk using a worn tyre!!!

thanx for all your help guys!!

[GSVR]

Take it easy and get some miles up on the bike or you may get overconfident and drop it before youve really got to know the bike well. (been there done that)

If your planning on riding hard out I would suggest you look at getting some frame sliders as even a low speed off will ruin your fairings and they arent cheap.

Cycletreads in Wang are good but don't carry a huge amount of stock (like anyone else except big shops Wellington/Auckland etc) and get stuff in overnight.
I was all set to buy a set of Michelin Pilots from there at a very good price until we found out they weren't available in the size my bike takes.

[moggy]

Definitely get a new tyre. The first biggish bike that I bought (Yam SZR660) had worn tyres. Unfortunately I didn't know enough to know either that they were worn or how it would affect the bike. I struggled with the bike for a couple of months. I couldn't corner it for toffee. I even went back and got some lessons on cornering. Finally someone told me to change my tyres and suddenly I could corner the the thing. However it was a bit of a lemon, so I ditched it shortly afterwards and bought a new SV

[erik]

cammo, if you haven't got the right tool, you should check with a bike mechanic to see how much it'd cost for them to adjust the rear preload for you. I'd imagine it'd be almost free if they've got the right tool, since all that needs to be done is the notched ring thing on the rear shock needs to be twisted a bit.