New toy, I think it's a keeper.

[Ocean1]

I'm interested in the front end step out as that sounds more like a tyre squared off at the front rather than a handling foible, let us know what new tyres do for it.

Me thinks those tyres might not be the best for greasy country roads.

Sounds like a tyre problem alright, my bandit did the same thing when i first got it - A brand new set of Pilot road 2's sorted it out

Many guys whose opinion I value rave about Michelin Pilot Powers

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Thought you might like an update.

I had been waiting for some pilot road 2s, and in the meantime I went over the suspension set-up again. I'd already backed off the rear preload another click, and at 30mm sag the bike felt less manic. Little less surgically precise maybe, but it tracked better and that wee "step out" was gone. May well have just been a function of not enough rake/trail. Couple of rides later I decided I'd hit some reasonably hard lumps without it getting anywhere near bottomed out, (this I know because I'd marked the stancheons). I also thought it could do with squatting a little more under braking. So I went down a bit more on the compression damping, which did improve things a bit.

And then the tyres arrived, so I took the bike down and waited while they fitted them. I was well home before I noticed that they'd fitted pilot powers instead of pilot roads. Ah well, no worries, It'd been a toss-up anyway. So I spent a week and a couple of mild local trips knocking the shine off them.

First really good ride on them today, and they're definitely less skittery than the Super Corsas. More predictable too, I can feel the back working around slightly but no sign of any sudden slithers, and the front just feels better planted.

So, a couple of minor tweaks and new tyres has made things less twitchy, feels better to me anyway. However, the forks still seemed... almost slightly oversprung. Tonight I decided to re-check things.

The book just gives pre-load settings for rider weight, not ideal. Bit of research and I found several references to good results with both ends at 30mm dynamic sag. OK, first things first. Static sag is... rear 12mm (OK), and the front... 24mm, (what the fuck?). I ain't no lightweight, but I'm only compressing the forks another 11mm? Shit. Now, the front preload had been higher than the book said it should be in order to get the 35mm they were set to. So either the front springs aren't standard, (doubt it) or there's a lot more oil in the forks than there orta be. And that'd explain the apparent heavily exponential spring rate too.

Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow...