Phase One.

[bart]

Intriguing Grasshopper. Interesting theories. Give me more.

[Motu]

Nice start mate.
The beemer's doughy suspension will be a + for soaking up the corrugations too.
Carying capacity, fuel range all sweet also. Gear up for an sthern adventure me thinks.

After soft long travel suspension it's a bit short travel and hard.Only a pre load adjustment on the rear,that's all I get.Not well balanced between front and rear,sometimes it's too soft in the rear,sometimes it kicks up,the front is slow to react at times too - but hey,it's better than an XS650.

I've been very dismissive in the past about riders who complain about SH22,but after my first couple of times on the airhead I had to eat my words.I was a total mess - overshooting corners,ducking and diving mid corner,braking too late,too early,mid corner....I even got into trouble with just a few pebbles in a corner.But it wasn't me...I still know how to ride.And it wasn't the bike,it's a good handling machine.It was the set up,I had to set it up for my preference and the roads I wanted to ride.

I've been caged in for 20 years - 10 years trapped on Waiheke Island,and then 10 years trapped in my own business.Now I have 4 weeks holiday a year (thanks Labour,I hope Mr Key leaves that one in place) and I intend to do more than just day rides in the future.

So I'm setting it up as a day tripper - duh......

[tri boy]

I'm guessing the forks are dampening rod design only. Some race tech emulators and uprated springs should be on Santa's "give me you old c**t" list.
I've finally dialled the scramblers ones in, to what is a nice plush ride, but very controlled over high velocity square edged bumps. Only thing is there is no external adjustment, but since they only sit on top of the dampening tube, (and held down by the spring), they are easy to pluck out with a long parts probe, and then a simple turn of the tension screw to adjust shim opening pressure.

As for the rear...............

[Motu]

What advantage is there over running the smaller standard front size

It comes from flattrack (this is going to be a streettracker remember) where they go into the turns with no brakes and scrub off speed with the tyres.The front tyre (sorry,they use tires in the USA) gets pushed very hard,and they use bigger tyres to take the load.If this site wasn't so petty about images I could show you some good photos of front and rear tyre loadings and fork compressions to show how they transfer weight with just the throttle.I have done some flattrack,and used to run a 3.75 x 19 speedway rear tyre on the front....I've also used that tyre on a couple of bikes on gravel.It takes a bit of getting used to,but a fat front tyre is good on gravel.

There is also a sidecar sitting in the shed......longer term there is another add on to the R65 project.

[Tony W]

It comes from flattrack (this is going to be a streettracker remember) where they go into the turns with no brakes and scrub off speed with the tyres.The front tyre (sorry,they use tires in the USA) gets pushed very hard,and they use bigger tyres to take the load.If this site wasn't so petty about images I could show you some good photos of front and rear tyre loadings and fork compressions to show how they transfer weight with just the throttle.I have done some flattrack,and used to run a 3.75 x 19 speedway rear tyre on the front....I've also used that tyre on a couple of bikes on gravel.It takes a bit of getting used to,but a fat front tyre is good on gravel.

There is also a sidecar sitting in the shed......longer term there is another add on to the R65 project.

I like your logic.

Looking forward to further developments.

[Motu]

Put a few more kms on it today - the Kaiaua loop,from the bottom,so get a few more interesting roads to fit into the ride,just a few small sections of gravel.This shot shows better the bend of the bars and size of the front tyre.



I'm relieved to now know I wasn't looking through heavy rose tinted glasses at bikes I have previously ridden,I really was better than I am.I still had my 1971 Yamaha XS1 when I had the XLV750 and XT400E - and I was puzzled as to why I felt so much more confident in gravel on this worn out shitter with street tyres than on my built for the purpose later model bikes.Now I know why,this is the set up for gravel.

Another interesting thing is the lack of wheelspin,I have to work hard to get the rear wheel to light up.The R65 has about 3 or 4 more HP than the XT600 (now 621cc),but the R65 feels much more powerful on the road....so surprising then that it just drives forward without drama where the XT600 would just break out in wild wheelspin in the same situation,on what all would believe to be far better tyres.A twin should wheelspin more than a single.A lot would be because of the tyres,but not all....I'll have to experiment more here.When it does get sideways it's just so controlable,no drama like a high CG bike,it just goes out,then comes back in when it hooks up...nice.As for the front - I can't get it to do anything,I just ignore it and get on with the road.

The K70 is a soft tyre,so much more than the ''vintage'' tyre it is marketed as.Check this out - 200km on them.The side lugs are really scuffed up,and you can see how much the tyre is bending and the lugs touching each other.I'm running what I think they should be - 20psi front,25 rear....maybe I'll go up to standard pressures later.

[warewolf]

If this site wasn't so petty about images I could show you some good photos of front and rear tyre loadings and fork compressions to show how they transfer weight with just the throttle.

I'd like to see that... can you put them up on advrider.com?

[Motu]

I'll the images off my computer...it's just a messy way to do it.

I like this one of Nicky Hayden on the RS750 - the forks are fully compressed and the front tyre flattened with a huge contact patch,the rear wheel only lightly loaded and just stepped out 6 inches or so,perfect.He has done this by shutting the throttle and loading up the front tyre.Grrrrr,this is a dumb way to do it - Hayden is now the last image!

Kenny Coolbeth has his bike pretty neutral here,but check out the tyre loadings and how narrow the blue groove is.

Chris Carr is just making the transition to loading up the rear tyre more,but by the look of his right arm the throttle is still shut....getting ready to turn it with the throttle.A narrow groove again,so most likely a mile track.

Dunno who this guy is,but a fantastic shot of the rear tyre loaded up,check out the contact patch and sidewall flex....front tyre is only just on the track.

New Zealand flattrackers used either competition trials tyres in 18in,or speedway rear tyres in 19in - both tyres would flex and lay down a big foot print like the K180 flattrack tyres.

If you look at the close up photo of my front K70 you can see the same thing.Most people look at the K70 and say there isn't much tread on the side,it won't be good in corners.But you can see it flexes,and on large lean angles,it's not just on the small side lugs,but has flattened out and on both rows of lug,and they are touching.This might freak out people used to running high pressures on modern tyres.....but I'm used to it and feel pretty confident with my tyres flexing and working on the road.

[warewolf]

Awesome stuff!

[BMWST?]

never had a airhead,but when i had my k100rs i was amazed at the rear wheel traction,realy noticeable in the wet...i put this down to two things.The lightsh sring and damping rates allowed the wheel to follow every bump,and i reckon the shaft drive reaction had the effect of pushing the rear wheel down ...All my big road bikes fron the early eighties were pretty good on gravel...the front and rear tyres used to be more the same size and i used to run a slightly bigger front than std...

[Motu]

I would say the traction is a result of the tyre compound.I have found out on ADVrider that the K70 is available in race compound....and I was hoping that,y'know....But after testing out tyres in my shed with the end of a butter knife,they are not as soft as trials or speedway tyres which leave an impression for several minutes,but much softer than a Battleaxe.So maybe they will be good in the wet as well,which is what I always remember the K70 as,the best wet weather tyre ever.

[Motu]

These K70's are soft alright,they are getting destroyed! After 2,000km the rear tyre has gone from 7mm to 3mm,the front to 5mm.As you can see the rear tyre is being stressed quite hard,I didn't expect them to wear this much,I'll be going through these faster than any adv tyre I've used.

Anyway,it certainly proves the traction comes from the compound.After a bit more time on the bike I'm even more impressed,it just doesn't move off line at all.I have even cornered in the thick stuff between wheel tracks,applied power mid corner - the bike just stays planted where I put it.I'll have to save these tyres for gravel only,for road rides I'll be going back to the street tyres.

[NordieBoy]

These K70's are soft alright,they are getting destroyed! After 2,000km the rear tyre has gone from 7mm to 3mm,the front to 5mm.As you can see the rear tyre is being stressed quite hard,I didn't expect them to wear this much,I'll be going through these faster than any adv tyre I've used.

The front may have done 2000km but the rear has probably done 2500km

[Motu]

The speedo is driven from the gearbox,so maybe the front has only done 1,500km! If I've lost 4mm in 2,000km,I won't get another 1,000km out of it. Bugger,the price you pay for grip eh? $150 isn't too bad for a tyre these days I guess,but the whole point of this bike for me was to be able to clock more kms.I'll only be using these tyres now if I'm going on gravel,for a seal only ride I'll swap to my road wheels and tyres.....good to have a spare set.I'll have to look for some other tyres with the same performance....wish they had those K180's in stock....but how would they wear?