T time!

Life with Bad Girl Lola, the 790 Duke has been pretty darned good.  It makes me grin every time I ride it, quietly whispering in my ear to misbehave.  I can ignore those whisperings..... mostly.  Goes like heck, sounds fantastic and handles like a dream..... but now winter's here, something needs my urgent attention.

The OEM tyres are Maxxis brand pure sport, designed especially for the Duke.  They've done about 3500 km and probably have another 1500 km in them before replacement.  Up to now, they've gripped pretty well, even in the wet on warm days.  However, pure sport tyres need heat to maximise grip and that's hard to achieve once the mercury starts to dip into low single figures Celsius.

Winter in NZ - equipped with the OEM Maxxis pure sport tyres

I was going to replace them with a longer-lasting sport touring tyre anyway when they were closer to being worn out but an IAM coaching ride last weekend suggested that I'd better do something pronto.  Towards the southern end of our peninsula, some stretches of the twisty main road get little or no sun for a few weeks.  Things can get a little slimy on the surface and on a really cold day, maybe even a touch of frost.

A bit of prudence is required at those spots and with low single digit C air temperatures, I was riding accordingly.  Rounding one corner, the front end started washing out, then gripped.  It wasn't a trouser-soiling moment but it certainly got my attention!  For anyone who had lost the front end on a bike, it's not a pleasant sensation.  Easing back even more, I stuck the bike in rain mode to get maximum traction.  No more incidents thank goodness but even on dry roads, wasn't game to really push because the steering felt slightly vague on corners when I upped the pace.  It was only when temperatures climbed to around 10 degrees or thereabouts that I felt comfortable.  With more winter rides coming up, it was time to do something.

With my IAM responsibilities, I don't always get to choose the conditions I ride in, so a sport touring tyre makes a lot of sense.  Sport touring tyres warm up quickly, disperse rain well and give excellent grip in marginal conditions.  They last a sight longer than pure sport tyres too.  First thought was to fit Michelin Road 5's like I had on the GSX-S1000.  A fantastic tyre in all respects with one slight worry hanging over them.  On the Suzuki, I had 3 punctures in 4 months last summer on the Road 5's and in one case, the rear tyre was a write-off.  It may have been sheer bad luck, a susceptibility due to the conditions and road surfaces I normally ride on, or a combination of both.  Living a long way from a source of new tyres or professional permanent repairs, getting stranded somewhere is a real concern, even with a decent repair kit on board.

Whatever the reason for the punctures, it's left me slightly gun-shy of Road 5's so started looking at alternatives.  Without going through all the options I looked at, the one which stood out on all the road tests was the Bridgestone T31.  I've never used the Bridgestone brand before but the T31's stood out, both when fanging it and in adverse conditions.  A mate had also tried them on his Hayabusa and was glowing in his praise.  The rain groove pattern isn't as radical as the Road 5's but any innovative work on the carcass or compound is well out of sight anyway.

Bridgestone T31 sport touring tyres

Arriving at the Drury Performance Centre in south Auckland, the bike was put straight on the hoist for the changeover.

No mucking about - 2 minutes after I arrived

Rear fitted with new rubber

The front away being balanced

Less than an hour after arriving, I was on my way again, having also been given freshly-made coffee, a new neck warmer and a polishing cloth - excellent service.  I use two dealers for tyres, both about the same distance from home.  Both of them give terrific service so I tend to use them alternately. 

Took it fairly steady for most of the trip home as it wouldn't be a good look to bin a bike with new tyres.  The roads were also damp and distinctly green in places where the sun doesn't reach.  Even so, the T31's felt really good, with a nice, progressive roll-in into corners.  A proper evaluation will have to wait until later, but no anxious moments at all.

Something else happened on the low temperature ride last week which triggered the thoughts of getting new tyres pronto.  Leaving home early in the morning, the air temperature according to the instrumentation was 9 degrees Celsius.  Heading south, it progressively dropped and looking down at the instrument at one stage, it had gone completely white with a large snowflake icon!  The words "Ice Warning" were clearly displayed.  The digital speedo km/hr readout was the only other data showing at that stage and even that was displayed in much smaller font.  

It was all a bit of a surprise and as the lack of other data irritated me, I started prodding various buttons until the normal display returned. Even then, it had a small lit warning triangle displayed until temperatures climbed somewhat.  Went through the 790 manual on my return and it's not a listed feature.  However, I went on line to do a bit of research and it's listed in the PDF manual for the 790 adventure model.

I'm not really one for adding stuff to the bike for aesthetics alone but I broke that rule the other day.  The original KTM brake and clutch levers are pretty basic-looking and finished in matte black.  On eBay, I saw some levers with a titanium and black finish which are fully adjustable in terms of both hand span and length.  They looked good, weren't hideously expensive so decided to take a punt.  They arrived a couple of days ago and are beautifully made.  Took less than 30 minutes to fit the pair.

Cool-looking levers

I also fitted a non-reflective film to the instrument face as it's hard to see when the sun is reflecting off it.  Have yet to test how effective it is.  The only other modification on the cards is to spray the rear face of my mini-screen matte black.  The LED headlight reflects some light onto the inside of the screen.  It's absolutely fine in daylight but when riding at night, it can be a bit distracting.  A matte finish should take care of that.

To end on a non-motorcycling note, winter is the time when various birds come into the garden looking for a bit of supplemental food.  The succulent shown in the top photo weeps nectar and attracts Tui, a songbird a little larger than a blackbird.  In sunlight, their plumage is a spectacular dark metallic green-blue.  Here's a photo I took a few days ago.

The Tui (also known as a Parson Bird because of the white ruff)

The most spectacular bird in the garden is the NZ native pigeon.  About twice the size of a European pigeon, the plumage is stunning.  Pigeons come into the garden to feast on Kowhai tree leaves and in a few weeks, on the Kowhai flowers. They don't show much fear of humans and allowed me to get pretty close for the following photo.  Gorgeous, isn't it?

NZ native pigeon

A slight problem and a bit of innovation

The phrase "silly bugger" isn't one that springs to mind as an endearment from one's lifetime love although most males the world over would have been on the receiving end of similar words at one time or another.  However, in this instance, I must agree that Jennie's words were well-chosen.

Last week, I was getting ready to waterblast the top of our neighbour's driveway as it gets mossy and slippery with the absence of winter sun. I retrieved the waterblaster from the workshop and squeezed past the rear of our 4x4.  In a moment of stupid inattention, my calf connected with some force on the end of the towbar.  When I could speak again, the air turned blue.

I knew I was in trouble when the leg began to swell with a big haematoma starting to appear.  Having had an internal leg bleed a few years ago, it was straight into the RICE routine with an ice pack and sitting on the settee with my leg up.

The next few days were purgatory, not being able to do much - can't abide sitting about and I always seemed to be in Jennie's way.  The pain wasn't too bad but the swelling made things a bit stiff, especially with the technicolour bruising starting to come out.

Owwww....

As per the Joni Mitchell lyrics "You don't know what you've got until it's gone....", not being out on two wheels or doing anything else productive was causing some intense frustration bordering on depression in the darker moments as the weather has been pretty good.  As I'd already had to cancel some ride coaching and with August and September looking as busy as heck, getting back on the bike was a priority.  More well-chosen words from Jennie but when you're passionate about something......

Gingerly getting on the bike for an experimental sit went fine.  A bit of stiffness getting my foot on the peg but relatively comfortable.  However, the real worry was accidentally knocking the haematoma and making making the damage a whole lot worse. What to do?  Some form of good protection was needed, with various ideas being considered and rejected.  The degree of eye-rolling by one's wife is a good litmus test of practicality.  Then bingo!  Went rummaging in the closet for an old riding jacket and pulled the CE elbow armour from one of the sleeves.  An absolutely perfect fit over my calf and only minor eye-rolling from the boss.  How about this.......

Made for the job!

The question of securing it in place still needed resolving.  Direct taping to the leg wasn't a good option as the screams from pulling duct tape off a hairy leg would be heard in the next town.  Solution - tape it to a pair of long johns!  With the problem solved, it was time to kit up and give it a try.  I must admit that I was quite apprehensive for a while and my riding wasn't particularly fluid for the first 20 minutes or so.  After that, muscle memory overtook the apprehension and enjoying the beautiful sunny day along the coast road became the overriding emotion.

Parking up for a few minutes after around 40 minutes of riding, it was a pleasant surprise to find that I hadn't stiffened up and wasn't in any real discomfort - awesome!  Same at the end of the ride home.

Bike, sun and sparkling water - doesn't get much better than this

Not another person in sight!

Jennie thinks I'm stupid to be riding so soon and she may have a point.  However, it raises an interesting question about the positive impact of mental well-being on physical recovery as long as it's not taken to extremes.  The ride certainly lifted my mental state.  On the other hand, ageing does have an effect on the rate that the body heals so maybe over the next year, it will be time to retire from IAM and just do some social riding on a different sort of bike.  At least I've got a fall-back position in terms of our boat and travel to keep occupied if I cut down or stop altogether.

To finish on a different note, regular readers will have seen various tyre end of life reviews on this blog.  The Suzuki came equipped with Japanese-developed 50 profile Dunlop D214 Sportmax pure sport tyres.  Horrible things.  Grip was ok in hot, dry conditions but in cooler conditions or in the wet they were lethal.  At the most sensitive traction control setting, the TC light was always coming on in corners, even in the dry.  The rear tyre only lasted 3700 km and it was a relief to replace them.  Many owners went for one of the big brand sport touring tyres to get more life and 55 profile to get a better rate of turn-in and a larger contact patch when leaned over.  

The anticipated gains were achieved and the traction control light rarely, if ever comes on.  It bothered me a bit in case going to a different profile tyre had inadvertently affected the TC calibration so belatedly, I recently emailed Suzuki NZ to query the effect.  They responded quite quickly saying that tyre profile made no difference as the traction control had a self-checking function every time the ignition was turned on.  This confirms that the 55 profile sport touring tyres which many riders fitted do give better grip.  However, at the end of the reply from Suzuki, they gave the standard "corporate-speak" (or arse-covering if you prefer) caution about the adverse impact of fitting non-standard tyres.  I don't really have too much of an issue with them doing this for legal reasons but is supplying a new bike from a Japan with a set of tyres (D214's) which are manifestly "unfit for purpose" in many parts of the world where weather conditions are so variable a less responsible thing to do?   I did email back politely querying this and predictably didn't get a response as it's a difficult topic bound up with corporate supply policies.  I suppose that the moral of the story is to do as much research as you're able with respect to tyre choices as you won't necessarily get the full story from your bike or tyre supplier.  

This doesn't mean that Suzuki NZ are by any means deaf to their customers.  Readers may remember that when I first got the bike, it snatched badly at low throttle openings.  When I got in touch about the problem, Suzuki replaced the ECU with another type at their cost which solved the problem.  They even offered to let me have a trackday ride on the GSX-S 1000 race bike which they prepared for visiting US journalist Don Canet.  As generous as the offer was, that was a bridge too far for me!

Addendum:

A 400 km outing today to take a rider out for his Roadcraft Advanced Test.  The rider passed and I completed the ride pretty comfortably with the armour protection in place.  Need to take sensible precautions but yayyyyyy....... I can ride again!

A smiling Blair, who passed his Advanced Test today!

Motorcycle tyre performance in the real world

If ever there's a subject guaranteed to raise blood pressure and provoke circular (no pun intended) argument, look no further than tyres!  Anyone incautious enough to ask on a forum "What's a good tyre?" will not only get conflicting results, most of the feedback will contain plenty of hot air and stuff-all in the way of qualitative facts.  Motorcycle magazines are only marginally better - lap times with the same bike using different tyres but how representative is that of the real world either?

In terms of main brand modern motorcycle road tyres, there's probably little difference between them in the performance envelope that most of us operate in, although there's no question that overall, tyre performance has improved markedly over the years.  Good news for all of us given the critical role they play in keeping us safe.

It's that old question about "fitness for purpose" because the term performance means different things to different people. Basically, sports tyres give incredible grip but (relatively) limited life and at the other end of the scale, touring tyres give longer life but a bit less grip. Manufacturers now try to blur these distinctions with additional options and we as consumers have seemingly endless permutations whilst trying to decide what's acceptable for the type of riding we do.

I wonder what others think about the subject of tyres?  Here's some personal experiences over the last few years that have marked the quest for tyres that fit my purpose.

Acquiring the Blackbird in 2001 was the first foray into riding what might be termed "hyperbikes" for want of a better word.  Enormous horsepower, heavy with a forward weight bias and conservative steering geometry that "pushes" the front end - those factors are an extreme test for any tyre.  It came equipped with Michelin 90X radials.  For the first few weeks, it could have had sugar-coated doughnuts on the rims and would have still been safe because I rode like a complete granny whilst getting used to it.  As confidence grew, a bit more power was applied, particularly whilst leaned over driving out of corners and the first limitations became apparent - the rear would spin up with little provocation in all but perfect road conditions.  The Michelins would have lasted forever because they were a pretty hard compound but in terms of grip, they struggled to cope with the new generation of performance bikes.  After 6 months of ownership, the tread depth had hardly dropped at all but they had to go because I'd lost confidence in them.  In wet weather, they were a nightmare.

The replacements were Dunlop D220's.  Better in terms of grip but as confidence grew in them and they were pushed a little harder, another problem manifested itself.  Have a look at the picture, particularly towards the bottom of the tyre:

As distance on them increased, the front tyre developed a terrible profile with big flats (almost concave in fact) from just off the centre line of the tyre running out towards the edge.  An under-inflated tyre could exhibit similar symptoms but it wasn't that as I was anal about pressures. The handling was horrible with it wanting to flop into corners. Fortunately, there was a lot of collected experience on the 2 major Blackbird websites and there was a strong body of opinion that most tyres simply weren't up to supporting the dynamic loads generated by heavy, powerful bikes when cornering and were almost certainly deflecting badly under load.  As already mentioned, the standard Blackbird has fairly conservative steering geometry with a weight forward bias.  To drive it quickly through corners requires a fair bit of countersteering and that exacerbates the problem.

Some manufacturers clearly recognised the problem and Avon brought out the Azaro "B" specification tyre which had additional reinforcing to reduce carcass deflection.  When the Hayabusa was released, Michelin shod it with the HPX, another reinforced tyre, for the same reason.  As soon as the Azaro "B" was released, I put a set on the Blackbird and the alarming front profile wear pattern disappeared.  Overall grip was pretty good too.  Clearly, the weight component and less extreme steering geometry compared with pure sports bikes had created their own particular set of issues.

Avon then released the Storm sport-touring tyre which was a further development of the Azaro "B".  This proved to be a real winner among sport-touring bike owners and is the Blackbird tyre of choice in the UK and NZ as well as with a lot of SV650/1000 and Hayabusa owners world-wide. I've had several of these tyres and whilst the good dry weather grip is probably on par with other major competing brands, the wet weather performance is the best I've ever encountered.  The other thing I like about Storms is that they keep their profile through a large percentage of their life, which means that handling remains uncompromised for longer.  Life was around 7500 km from a rear Storm which mainly consisted of spirited riding rather than touring or they would have lasted longer. Front Storms lasted nearly half as long again.  Overall, not bad for a heavy performance bike being pushed on grippy surfaces. Tyre life comparisons without replicating the exact road and road temperature conditions are pointless.  Where we lived pre-retirement had less-twisty roads with smoother surfaces and lower temperatures.  It is noticeable that the tyres lasted longer than where we live now.  This is a photo of a Storm rear:

Superb tread pattern for clearing water!

Mind you, new tyre development isn't always smooth sailing.  Four of us with Blackbirds fitted the newly-released Storms in readiness for a South Island tour in early 2007.  All of us experienced a low speed front end shimmy, two of them so severe that even rebalancing had no impact whatever.  A bit of networking both in NZ and around the world revealed quite a number of other cases and Blackbirds seemed to be particularly affected.  To cut a long story short, we worked with the NZ importer to gather data as well as with overseas users and Avon were able to identify an intermittent manufacturing issue and addressed it promptly. Far from the fault putting me off Avon tyres, it actually gave me confidence that here was a company that was willing and able to respond quickly to feedback.

Working with the NZ importer had a useful spin-off and I was subsequently approached in 2009 to formally evaluate a new pure sports tyre, the Avon VP2. It was a new generation tyre with a radical carcass construction to increase contact area when leaned over and had an overlay of 3 different types of rubber plus grip additives for wet weather.  I had severe doubts as to whether a pure sport tyre on a heavy bike was a smart idea but was pretty surprised at the outcome.  Firstly, the grip.  The VP2's were still effortlessly holding on long after my nerve had given out, both in wet and dry conditions.  They also had a great "feel", progressively rolling into corners rather than "dropping in" despite the aggressive profile (a high crown).  This was a clear example of just how good modern tyres are.  Most of us will never explore the outer limits of traction during normal riding but it's comforting to know it's there for those occasional "oh shit" moments!  Secondly, life.  The rear VP2 lasted for just over 5000 very hard kilometres which was a real surprise as I wasn't expecting much more than 3000km.  On a lighter pure sportsbike, the life would have been significantly greater.  I subsequently replaced the worn rear with a Storm sport-touring tyre, but kept the front VP2 on and it lasted for around 7500 km all up; a pretty good result considering that the 'bird tends to "push" the front end.  Had I kept the Blackbird, a Storm rear, VP2 front would have been the combination of choice for the type of riding I do.  The photo below shows the rear VP2 at 5000km.  The centre tread is down to the minimum depth indicator, yet there is no real indication of "squaring off" in the centre, a remarkable achievement by the manufacturer.  Carcass construction and the use of different rubber compounds for the centre and sides clearly have a significant influence in keeping a good profile for a big percentage of total tyre life.

VP2 profile has remained excellent over its life

Moving forward to recent times, the Street Triple came equipped with French-made Dunlop Qualifier pure sport tyres and I was prepared not to like them because of my past experience with the Dunlop D220's.  This proved not to be the case as dry weather grip far exceeded my modest abilities although in the wet, I didn't feel as confident with them compared to the Blackbird with Avons.  However, this is akin to comparing apples with oranges because of the differences in the 2 bikes - far too many variables to reach a meaningful conclusion.  At just over 6000 km, the rear tyre  needed replacing.  I was expecting a little more distance given that the Triple only weighs 167kg dry compared with the 230kg of the Blackbird but it's still ok for a pure sport tyre, especially given the type of roads where we live!  The front still had plenty of centre tread but it was developing flats on the sides and whilst the handling was still acceptable, the transition from upright to leaned right over was no longer linear in terms of "feel".  Here's a photo of the front profile and the flats are quite noticeable.

The following photo shows a different view of the front tyre wear.  Despite the high crown of sports front tyres, it also shows how far a bike can be comfortably leaned over in perfect safety.  The rear has no "chicken strips" at all and the high angles of lean weren't noticeable at the time because the bike felt so planted.

So what now?  A set of tyres that would last up to and beyond the forthcoming endurance ride in October were needed so the VP2 sports tyres I'd really like to have fitted might be pushing the boundaries of life until that time.  Besides, there aren't any in the country for a few more weeks and waiting that long wasn't an option. The new Pirelli Angels looked  interesting and early feedback seems very promising, but full-life evaluations over a whole range of conditions don't appear to exist yet.  However, Avon have recently released the Storm 2 Ultra based on the VP2 technology, only with sport-touring compounds so those are the ones I've just had fitted. Ok, so no-one has done a full-life evaluation on these either, but the purchase decision was based on the considerable experience mentioned above with the forerunners of this tyre.

In the dealer's workshop for new tyres

Far too early to comment on them other than saying that they feel very predictable and directional changes are rapid.  More performance comment to come in due course but for what it's worth, here's a  photo of the front hoop taken at the end of the delivery trip home.  As previously mentioned, the Storms have a deserved reputation for exceptional wet weather performance and that's a feature I'm particularly keen on!

Avon Storm 2 Ultra front tyre

From personal experience, its clear that all the major manufacturers are heavily investing in continuous improvement and that's great for us as consumers.  It probably doesn't matter at all what major brand you choose as long as it's matched to the type of riding you do and whether it's suitable for the bike in question; particularly whether carcass construction will adequately support the dynamic loads imposed by heavier bikes.  The real test is does it "feel" right and give you the confidence to ride in the conditions that you normally encounter.  For me, as previously mentioned; the decision to stick with Avons at least this time round, is largely based around my historical experience of their performance.  Incidentally, I was so used to the performance of the Avon Storms that it was possible to tell when tyre pressures were as little as 2 psi different from my normal settings!

I also mentioned earlier about being anal with tyre pressures.  This comes from bitter experience of gas station gauges which are notoriously inaccurate and correct pressures have such an impact on both grip and tyre life.  I carried an analogue AccuGage brand on the bike for some years.  These are bourdon tube devices constructed like a barometer and are very accurate.  Sadly, it slid off the seat at a gas station forecourt and that was the end of that!  I now have a reasonably expensive digital gauge which looks a bit more robust!

Whilst on the subject of tyres, some small CO2 cartridges and plugs for emergency repairs are normally carried.  Thankfully, they've never been used yet but I've always fretted about whether the 3 cartridges would be sufficient for a full inflation, especially when you're a long way from home.  They're no good of course for small pressure adjustments on the run either.  What I did recently was modify one of those cheap 12V compressors that you buy in automotive accessory shops.  They have large plastic cases which would be a pain to carry on a bike but the internals are very compact.  The case was removed and the accessory plug replaced with crocodile clips to attach directly to the bike battery.  Stick it in a plastic bag and instant air when needed!  The compressor gauge is ignored as it's just as inaccurate as those at gas stations.  My trusty digital gauge is in the photo too.

Mini-compressor for the bike

Finally, it's worth reiterating a comment from the earlier post on aftermarket suspension.  After the OEM Blackbird rear suspension was swapped for a top of the line Penske unit and the fork internals were replaced with upmarket components from the UK, the average improvement in tyre life was close to 2000km.  This is almost certainly a result of  the tyres having less dynamic stresses due to the suspension doing its job effectively.  Something else to ponder on!

Addendum: For an update on Michelin PR3 performance, click HERE