Run flat and the rain and or the gravel roads.

vtxcandyred Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:54 pm

Last year before I had the car tire installed, the bike went over a ravine edge and could have been a BAAAAD scene. I believe it was a comination of things BUT one of the things was the stock M/C tire on it. I now have a Dunlop run flat and took a trip this weekend. Mama was not with me but I had a heavier camper this time.Its a six hundred mile round trip. I drove about ten miles on a gravel road and some of it was CLENCHING TIME. There was soft powdery stuff and nice steep hills and nice steep inclines with turns at the top and bottom. Cars coming at you from time to time and even a blasted four way stop in the middle of it all. The bike handled superbly. I was a bit aprehesive some of the time and a tad worried something like last year would rear its ugly head again, but it was not to be. On the way home I hit rain. Some was pretty hard but it was continually raining for a good portion of the ride. Again, the bike did better than I had thought it would. It held the road like a champ and never once did I feel it hydroplane. I had some hard stops too because the idiots did'nt know what to do in the rain. All in all I am completely satisfied with the run flat. By the way I do NOT use a TPMS. I check the tires regularlly and keep the pressure up in them. Also I run fifty one pounds in the rear. Two pennies.

Larry Simpson Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:53 pm

Glad to hear you had a good experience.But,I think you are missing some of advantages of a ct with the pressure you are running.With that pressure you are proubably rounding out the tire which will cause premature center wear like a mc tire.Also will result in less traction because you are limiting the surface contact.Also with the rigid sidewalls of a runflat and your high pressures you are not even close to the smooth ride that the ct will provide.Just food for thought. hmmm

vtxcandyred Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:06 pm

Larry Simpson wrote:Glad to hear you had a good experience.But,I think you are missing some of advantages of a ct with the pressure you are running.With that pressure you are proubably rounding out the tire which will cause premature center wear like a mc tire.Also will result in less traction because you are limiting the surface contact.Also with the rigid sidewalls of a runflat and your high pressures you are not even close to the smooth ride that the ct will provide.Just food for thought.

Well the sidewall of the tire states fiftyone pounds. I run whatever the tire manufacturer puts on it. The Cooper I have on the X I run thirty five pounds because thats whats on it. Cool

Doc Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:45 pm

51 psi is the MAX inflation pressure not the recomended inflation pressure. If you are putting 51psi cold in the tire then when it gets up to operating temperatures you are going to be way over the MAX Pressure. Try about 36 to 40psi and see if that isn't a better ride.

greenie Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:55 pm

The 51 psi is the max air you can put in the tire if you loaded to the max weight limit.. Which is somewhere around 1200 to 1400 pounds depending on your tire.. You will be lucky to get 5 or 6ooo miles out of it at that pressure...You should be running about 34 psi...Plus it will make the ride much more enjoyable...

quadancer Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:57 pm

What they said and this:
Manufacturer''s recommendations have nothing to do with OUR application with the tire. If the sidewall doesn't flex, you won't have
that half of the tread on the road in a curve. We find our personal sweet spot which is dictated by handling. The handling is, of course,
affected by rider(s) weight, particular bike, front tire, shock oil weight, bushings, shock settings, and amount of coffee that was drank.
After all that comes pressures.
Wallows in the sweepers - air is low
Follows ridges, ruts, grooves - air is high
Acts great all around - sweet.
I fear that some riders are so afraid of cornering that they never will find out what is too low pressure. Just something I wonder about. Shrug

vtxcandyred Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:18 pm

quadancer wrote:What they said and this:
Manufacturer''s recommendations have nothing to do with OUR application with the tire. If the sidewall doesn't flex, you won't have
that half of the tread on the road in a curve. We find our personal sweet spot which is dictated by handling. The handling is, of course,
affected by rider(s) weight, particular bike, front tire, shock oil weight, bushings, shock settings, and amount of coffee that was drank.
After all that comes pressures.
Wallows in the sweepers - air is low
Follows ridges, ruts, grooves - air is high
Acts great all around - sweet.
I fear that some riders are so afraid of cornering that they never will find out what is too low pressure. Just something I wonder about.

Well, so far its been a good ride. It flows through the curves like a champ and even gets down to drag the pegs. Something which I had not done before. It doesn't seem to be affected by the tar snakes or grated bridge decks. I'll be riding the rest of the week so I air it down tomorrow and we'll see.

smokey2255 Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:35 pm

Most of the run flat guys are running 26-32 psi. There are quite a few that like it even lower. Very few riding in the higher pressure range like you are. All swear that the lower they take it the better the ride.

I am running 42 in my non run flat.

Welcome and enjoy.

See you out there
Smokey

vtxcandyred Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:22 pm

smokey2255 wrote:Most of the run flat guys are running 26-32 psi. There are quite a few that like it even lower. Very few riding in the higher pressure range like you are. All swear that the lower they take it the better the ride.

I am running 42 in my non run flat.

Welcome and enjoy.

See you out there
Smokey

We'll see. I'll air it down tonight before I leave work and leave it like that for the forseeable future and see what happens. If its as good or better it will stay the same.

quadancer Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:52 pm

I'll bet you'll love it. 36 for the Comtrac and the Austones seems to be universal so far. I imagine it's less for the RF's due to stiffer sidewalls.
You want flex.

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Run flat and the rain and or the gravel roads.

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