New tires & pads making a difference?

duncanpage · Scooby Slapper Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Karma :

I've just fitted new tires & pads to my gpz500s. I've only passed my test on 9th jan so not much riding experience on this bike. It feels like the new additions have already made a difference (same day), is it just my confidence making me ride better or will they have made much difference.
My old tires were quite worn but the pads had enough life left in them. My jack up kit didnt feel to inspiring in corners on the old tires but now the bike seems more settled.

Or am i just convincing myself that my £170 all inc was well spent?!

stinkwheel · Bovine Proctologist Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Karma :

They go dead twitchy on a worn front tyre. Don't actually do anything untoward but they feel like they might. A rear-end jack-up kit will exascerbate this feeling.

To my mind, if the tread on the front gets much under 2mm, you should start to consider changing it.

If they're BT45s, after covering about 100 miles or so on them you'll notice that the bike starts to feel really skittish. This goes away again after about another 50 miles. I have no idea why this happens.

0ddball · World Chat Champion Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Karma :

No, it will have made a genuine difference. Your old tyres were probably squared off and slightly out of balance.

On my gpz a new rear tyre felt pretty much the same as an old one but i noticed a big improvement with a new front tyre. The steering felt lighter and more positive and it leaned into bends better.

duncanpage · Scooby Slapper Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Karma :

spadge · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

I have a gpz 500s and have the same buzz/vibration at 4500 rpm. I read somewhere when researching the bike that this is very common with this bike so as long as you check that nothing has come loose then i wouldn't worry about it. great commuting bike isnt it!

duncanpage · Scooby Slapper Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Karma :

The buzzing only started after i dropped the bike. I first thought it was due to the steering (I had to loosen the yoke & align the wheel & bars). I'll try putting the original bar ends back on to see if it makes a difference, i wonder if the damaged bar end isn't doing it's job to stop the engine frequency coming through the handle bars.

spadge · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

Yea sorry i re-read that it only started buzzing after you dropped it after my post. By the way what is a jack up kit?

duncanpage · Scooby Slapper Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Karma :

Shortened tie rods (dogbones) to lower the swing arm, it lifts the bike up when off the stand. It feels like its shifted the weight forward slightly making the bike turn into corners quicker. I'm not an experienced rider but the bike feels more confident in corners after i fitted the jack-up kit.

spadge · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

Ah right. Thanks
well if it improves confidence then it's all good.

Jebus · Brolly Dolly Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Karma :

a bit off topic, but when i got the new tires on my dt its a lot easier 2 push around since they are fake trialy tires more proper road ones, and it feels more stable and nice overall, cant really try it out up here snow makes it erm slow and wobbly time
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krebsy · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Karma :

I changed the rear on the ZZR for a new BT-020 when I got a nail through the rear and the front felt really skittish for about 300 miles or so (If I released pressure on the bars I could feel the front start to get stronger and stronger oscilations in the bars) and I initilly thought that they'd done a YTS job getting the rear back on.

Sorted itself out and the bike's settled down now.

K.
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