Almost Killed Myself Please Help

[turtlecreek]

so now we have possible SAG settings are incorrect, too much pressure in front and cold tires....sounds like a recipe for a push!!

Metzeler m3's!!! :wheel:

Just say no to PP's!!

JK/ PP's or M3's are the best performing tires, just get poor mileage.

[Guest]

I will look into those tires, stil no one has ever ridden Conti sport attacks or know someone who has? Looks like I may have to be the test dummy

[radar]

I will look into those tires, stil no one has ever ridden Conti sport attacks or know someone who has? Looks like I may have to be the test dummy

Not to sure about the sport attacks, but I love my road attacks, have been plenty sticky.

[jeremy556]

I will look into those tires, stil no one has ever ridden Conti sport attacks or know someone who has? Looks like I may have to be the test dummy

Anything you try will be a big improvement from the Roads.

[Guest]

Sounds like you're riding hard! if ya like twisties...gotta have a twisty capable tire. Pilot Powers are my fav but have had great luck with dunlops and no slippage. I always ran recommended pressures. the VFR will wear them out faster but I prefer replacing tires more often to not having grip.

My ONE and only front end scare was with a Metzler which was replaced promptly after that ride and never had an issue since.

[Guest]

I have heard so much good things about those PP's i am now starting to think....... :wheel: I just love some of the aspects of the Conti attacks! But still not a single VFR rider has claimed to ride on them, there may be a reason for that!

[Auspanglish]

To deal with the bouncy back end has to do with damping and not preload - you need to click the REBOUND setting on the bottom of the shock up one or two clicks, this is the little flat screw near the bottom of the shock - I think its on the right side - with a flat head screw driver. This will add a bit more damping to the upswing of the shock movement and stop some of that bouncyness your talking about. I suggest you set it back the way it was and deal with the rebound only for now, or go ahead and set your sag evenly reading the how to. Setting up a vfr is simple there are only 3 things you can adjust, shock preload, forkpreload and rebound - thats it. Set the preload evenly so your sagging evenly both front and back, that puts you 9/10ths the way there!

Nope, it's on the left, you have to negotiate the chain to get to this baby.

Ditto HS, tiene TODA la razón.

Possibly one of THE most important screws on the bike!! Play with it regularly but with caution until you get it just right. When you do, you'll eat twisties for breakfast, lunch and tea!! Stock setting is H (hard) all the way (clockwise), and then 1-1/4 (one and one quarter) turns back off (anti-clockwise). ALways do it like that, first Hard all the way and then back off to the desired setting. Why? you may ask. (Hehehe)

I weigh 90 kg and tend to have it backed off less, like about 1 turn. I may need even less. The sotck shocks aren't the worlds most advanced or effective and I find I have to adjust them often. Then they're sweet for a while, then I'm back to the drawing board... and so on.

I tend to enjoy curves myself, all varieties, and had a set of pilot roads on my 98 VFR-FIW and they're still there some 8000 km later. The song comes to mind:

"Slip sliiiiiidin' awaaaaayyyyy"

I now shoe my ride with Pilot Powers, although buddies swear by the pirelli diablo, others by the metzeler Z6 or Z3, I've tried them all and, for now, will stick with the PPs, but the new 2CT bi-rubber (now now, don't be thinkin'...) version. It's lasting a real thrashing: track day, all day, no groups, entry and pit-stopping at-will!!!! I had a lot of "will" that day!! Day commuter use since then and I thought they'd be gonners by now, but there are some off ramps and loops on my route to work that have proven that this rubber has soul!!

[TimC]

Anyone got any idea on a sporty tire for me, I am thinking the conti sport attack but not sure, you all are the subject matter experts so please let me know!

After wearing out my rear Conti Road Attack from the set I got earlier this year, I replaced the rear with a Sport Attack - kind of a matching tire for what's left on the front Road Attack. I figure the tires will now wear out about the same time, and I'll move on to a different kind of tire. Not b/c I didn't like the Road Attacks, but I just want to try another kind of tire next time.

So far so good on the rear Sport Attack. Definitely feels "lively" and I have yet to spin it, but I'm not the most aggressive rider. Turn in feels good and the rear feels well planted and not prone to slippage since I've had it on, including a day of nice riding in the twisties with Deathstar13 and TPierce(MP) last month.

Not to sure about the sport attacks, but I love my road attacks, have been plenty sticky.

+1. I loved my Road Attacks, and I'd buy another set with no reservations. If a matched set of Sport Attacks is at least as good as my Road Attacks were, I'd definitely recommend them.

My own opinion, sigsauer33? When you've worn out those Pilot Roads, replace them with real sport tires like Pilot Powers or something similar. If you've removed the peg feelers b/c you kept dragging them, it's time for better tires. I think you're taking a chance running sport-touring tires if you're going that hard in the corners. Just my $0.02.

[JETS]

The Freddie Spencer school runs Pilot Powers on all the bikes....600RR, 1000RR, and VFR's for two-ups. The mech there sets 37/37 for track classes. It's often warm there, so lower pressure for faster warm-up in clooler weather would make sense. I have used the PP's on my VFR and 600RR with great adhesion and quick warm-up. I think they wear pretty well on the road, too.

[The Phantom]

Sigsauer33, it does sound like you ride pretty hard.

The VFR's weight is forward-biased, due to the way the V4 carries its weight. They do have a tendency to 'push' the front during hard cornering - it's one of the main bugbears of the RC45 racebike. I've had numerous slides from mine, usually in the sort of corner you describe (35mph, or 60km/h) where you're turning tightly at low lean angles. You might be doing what I tend to do, using turning in to scrub off the last little bit of speed after you've come off the brakes. This sure as hell exacerbates the 'push' problem that the VFR has.

Pilot Roads are a reasonably sticky tyre - on the sport side of sport/tour - but 40psi in the front is generally going to be too much; that wouldn't have helped. But I'd say that regardless of your tyre choice you're likely to find the same problem again at some stage unless you slow down a little

I'm guessing you learned to ride fast on I4 race reps? They are a lot closer to 50:50 weight distribution than the VFR.

As for lean angle, don't worry too much about that, you can lean them till hard parts are dragging with no dramas. Just got to watch that front.

[Guest]

That is some awesome information, but what is "using turning in to scrub off the last little bit of speed after you've come off the brakes."

[Guest]

Sig,

First of all Semper Fi from a fellow devil dog. Keep doing the good job you and your fellow Marines are doing. It is making a difference.

Now, please inspect the road. Does the road have any tar lines on it near where your front wheel slipped? It could be just a problem of hitting the best line again and again with a tar line or patch of sand in it.

This sounds more like a road condition than a bike set up or riding problem. Since it does not happen every time, or so I gather, I would start there. Visit the road in the daylight when you have some time to look at the surface.

Thanks and Semper Fi

Slayor

Ex F/A-18 Field Rep for Boeing

[The Phantom]

That is some awesome information, but what is "using turning in to scrub off the last little bit of speed after you've come off the brakes."

You can either do all your braking before you start to turn in to the corner, which sort of means you're coming off the brakes and sitting on a constant (or closed) throttle to the apex, whereupon you open the throttle.

Or, you can still be braking as you turn in, and come off the brakes, at which point the lateral loading of the tyres (mainly the front) kicks in as an additional braking aid - to put it another way, the tyres *want* to continue straight ahead (basic physics, "a body in motion tends to remain in motion"), but as they are being directed/forced into the corner they sort of 'scrub' the sidewalls a bit - this is surprisingly effective as a braking aid. The suspension compression is a part of the equation and you really know it when the compression and scrub come together just right. But it's not for everybody You're kind of on a razors edge when you're riding like this, as your safety margin is fairly minimal if the tyre lets go (you can only really open the throttle and hope the front hooks up, luckily it always has for me - I had it happen a few times on my girl's Triumph TT600 too and crashing that would have been a really bad idea :wheel:

[Guest]

I will try and post some pictures of the turn tomorrow, I know that is has nothing ot do with my braking and my throttle control, I ride cruves all of the time with out any problems but with thease past few times I am not sure, and I know that I have not changed my riding stance at all!

[BusyLittleShop]

They do have a tendency to 'push' the front during hard cornering - it's one of the main bugbears of the RC45 racebike.

Mercy Phantom... after 50K miles in the saddle I'm qualified to say that a properly set up RC45

has no tendency to push the front during hard cornering... quite the contrary it sports the one of

the most confident front ends in the business...

Quote Superbike mag:

"Confidence is a big chuck of what makes the RC45 excellent. It feels so

super glued to the road it'd take a full time Gorilla on the gas to fatally

unstick it. and the RC45 gives that confidence without asking-on

other lesser pedestrain machines you have to go looking for it. For a

homologated racer on the road, the RC45 is incredibly civilised"

I'm guessing you learned to ride fast on I4 race reps? They are a lot closer to 50:50 weight distribution than the VFR.

You're guessing about the weight bias also... here are some hard numbers...

Honda 929 51% / 49% front to rear weight bias...

Front 222 lbs

Rear 215 lbs

Honda RC45 51% /49% front to rear weight bias...

Front 220 lbs

Rear 209 lbs

It's the rider that's the wild variable component here... Front end slides usually occur after too

much weight forces the tire past it's traction limit... The most likely cause is rider error... a rider

must get on the gas soon enough to transfer some weight from the front tire to the rear tire...

ideally you want a 40% 60% front to rear weight bias... far more front end slides have been

cured than started using this technique even on bikes that are poorly set up and with sketchy

tires...

Getting greasy is a gradual and progressive warning sign that a front tire is working beyond it's

temp range... it just don't slide all at once... street tires are designed to give a rider plenty of

warning that they have had enough whereas race tires give it up all at once...

[Guest]

OK so here is what I am looking at, had a friend that is a long time rider watch me take the turn a few times, on 2 attempts nothing happened, an the third.....Front tire with a mind of it's own..... from what my friend told me it seems that each time I went to hit the turn I would sit farther up on the tank because I knew I could hit it harder than the last, on the third try he said that it seemed like none of my butt was on the seat which he thinks hay be adding unnecessary weight to the front of the bike.

As well he said that he thinks that I am leaning the bike past the tires comfort zone. I actually felt myself tap the foot peg on the third run (if you do not know I took off the peg extenders because I was tired of hitting them and them making my bike stand up). I wish he would have taken a picture because that had to be really low! His advice was to slow down and stop acting like I am racing! What do you all think, is he way off or got some good ideas? Call me a SQUID but I love scrapping gravel!

[Birdman]

Okay, you asked for it. You're a squid! :goofy:

You sound like a hard-chargin' kind of rider. Get better tires. Case solved.

My own mistake made a couple times over the past year: missing a shift leading into a turn and breaking the rear tire loose ever so slightly. When I say "missing," I mean kind of getting my timing off and not blipping the throttle enough before releasing the clutch. I've never done it at great speed, but fast enough to know it was a goof. Anyway, that's my confession for the day. I ride PP's and they are a forgiving tire that can save your butt.

[BusyLittleShop]

What do you all think, is he way off or got some good ideas?

First thing you'll learn about a track day is that stock bikes have limited corner clearance for the

tires comfort zone... scrapes are the sounds of things to slow you down and not about brag

points...

[Rivcyko]

Had Road attacks, got 8,000 mi., out of them. Good tire for the price. Again the CorsaIII's are awesome.

[jeremy556]

What do you all think, is he way off or got some good ideas?

First thing you'll learn about a track day is that stock bikes have limited corner clearance for the

tires comfort zone... scrapes are the sounds of things to slow you down and not about brag

points...

+1. You will run out of ground clearance long before you run out of tire lean angle.

Did you drop your tire pressure?

If you are dragging pegs you need some better tires than the Roads, go buy a set of Powers and you will wonder how you ever used the roads.

I am thinking it may be a tight grip on the bars or tense arms. Moving around in the seat is not going to overload the front tire.

[Guest]

I think that you are right about the tight arms, every course that I have been to has told me to loosen my elbows!

[Rivcyko]

"If you're not thinking of not putting weight on the bars, you are".

[VFR4Lee]

New tires, no death grip on the bars, and slow down a basis point or 2 on the street. :goofy:

Can you say track day? Sure, I knew you could. :warranty:

[Guest]

I wish I could show you all what the Marine Corps is paying me now, then we can talk about a track day! thank you all for all for your input and advice, I really learned how jacked up my riding really is!

[VFR4Lee]

I could point you to a package deal of 6 track days at $100 each= $600 cash. Maybe charge, not sure. :D

Choose from 12 possible dates at Buttonwillow or Willow Springs. :goofy:

Left coast though. :warranty: