Ok guys please be gentle with me ,had a stressful....ish day. Hope you can understand my ramblings,had a few to calm me down, Went to the garage this morning to get the old girl ( Sprint 900) ready for a run to the Borders Classic bike show in Cleobury Mortimer. It was peeing down all night ,the mrs didnt want me to go on the bike but i wasnt going in the car again and I had missed the last 2 years . Put 2 lb in both tyres, I usually run a couple above factory settings. An hour and a quarter thanks to my fone satnav and a botched up charger and headphones and I get there,no issues at all, really happy with the old girl. Go round the show, not a lot there,not many people either, so after an hour or so of looking at the same stuff over and over I decide to go for home. It is still peeing down and I am really enjoying the run,it is mainly A456 Kidderminster,Hagley etc back to Birmingham,easy stuff. There is a lot of shimmering on the surface of the road,from dropped oil or fuel, and i am trying to keep out of it as much as I can,I come to an island and the back end steps out,my heart stops but I keep going, although a bit slower. Every time I need to brake slightly or change direction the bike feels disjointed,my speed drops to nothing , the front slides, the rear slides round islands, I would say it was like riding on ice but I used to do that in the old days and it was no problem. I think the tyre pressures have gone. I pull over , the pressures feel ok ( no gauge ), I think maybe the tyre pressures were too high so drop a little in both. I rode back the last 15 or so miles with really weird feeling from the bike, Got back home,thank you God, and checked the pressures in my tyres, both just slightly under recommended ( due to me letting some out) at 34 and 40 instead of 36 and 41. Checked the tread and I have a fraction under 2mm front and rear, still legal. The tyres are PR2s made in 2011,fitted in early 2012. OK they theoretically have life left in them still but in your opinion, are they shot???? Am I turning into a wuss was thinking about buying a speed triple 955i but maybe an Ariel 3 would be better for me,lol. I am changing them anyway now, no confidence in them in the wet,just want the Oracle' s opinions . Anyone in here recommend a company in Birmingham who does ride in ride out while you wait at a fair price,looking at PR3s due to cost.
once you get it in your head that the bikes not handing right... it handles worse! when i got my speed triples suspension set up, the guy said the factory tyre pressure recommendations are all way to high..he dropped my rear pressure by 10 psi !!! and to begin with i was wary, but it handles great now much more rear grip,i would imagine in the wet the lower the pressure the better..more contact with the road surface. tyres pumped up too much will reduce the grip..sorry cant help with anyone in Birmingham should be plenty places though
That's probably the going rate for supply and fitted,I'm going to change to them the next time ,although the Angel gts have been great i just want to compare the pr4s,i had them on a previous bike and they were great
Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback. If I could get PR4s for £260 fitted locally I would go down that route. I paid £250 for the PR2s when I had them done.
Thanx mate. Just shows theres no fool like an old fool, the tread looked good to me. Thinking about it now there may well have been a good mm of water on the road,add that to the oil haze and I was on the slickest of slicks. How the F*** do the motogp guys get by when they race on slicks in the wet????? Jeez
