People really miss the point of this video with comments like “I’m more worried about gravel, grass clippings, potholes, etc” as if they can control those things. This video is for people who care enough about riding to find every advantage they can to stay on two wheels as they carve through turns. This is not a video about how to fill potholes. It’s about maximizing your tires for a better ride, and saving money, and maybe a life, in the process
@@PP-wz7mp yes he mentioned it through trail braking and back braking techniques without call too much specifically about it by name. But, since you’re already aware of you didn’t need additional schooling.
@@PP-wz7mp he’s produced many videos on suspension too. Great channel sharing a broad and detailed range of techniques, products and specs to consider. 🤓
I was blown away when I first saw that Tech Talk clip where Simon said race slicks were 10x harder than street tires. Made perfect sense when explained, but it was just one of those things I had never thought about.
He first said it during some free-practice and I was so excited someone else said it so I could quote it. I quickly took note so I could find it again. I was pretty delighted when he did the tech talk.
so many people would ride my bike and say it handles really well, when it's actually because I would always have my tires replaced before time. It can be expensive but it gives you so much confidence on the road.
I took a two hour ride here in Maine when we had a “warm” day in the mid 40s just a couple days ago. I spent just about the whole ride pondering the temperature and grip of my tires in those conditions. This answers all the questions I came up with!
Making informative motorcycle content that doesn't put people to sleep but has plenty of detail is so hard and your videos always do it so well. Bravo 👌🏻
Always believed in good quality rubber. Can’t say I was diligent enough in monitoring my tire pressures when I was young and bombing back roads on a CBR-600F. Now, however, in my second wave of riding, after about a 14 year hiatus, I check pressures and tire condition before every ride; even the short ones.
I just bought a Yamaha MT15 here in the Philippines for roaming around. The tires that were on it were off brand and worn. The handling was "greasy". That lasted a week. I replaced with Pirelli Diablo Rosso Sports. What a huge difference. I run them at 32.5 & 36.2 psi.
I’m an old guy that went from my big 965 lb Yamaha tourer to a ninja Xr1000 mainly because my wife doesn’t ride anymore and I love to lean into the turns, to me that’s what I love about riding. This was an excellent video,as I remember coming off a wet cloverleaf and my back tire kicked out on an oil snake that I failed to avoid and it definitely woke me up! I was overconfident in my tires at that time and probably riding too fast, I believe about 50 into the curve and this was with my touring bike. So I still lean hard for my age lol but am definitely more cautious. Thanks again for your input!
after a highside where I broke both bones in forearm, it's trust in my right hand not being too heavy in a turn I have to trust. Elementary mistake sadly. good video.
Dude, you make the BEST videos. I just started riding three years ago, and I'll hit 30,000 miles this summer. A great majority of what I've learned about riding in the last three years has come from you. Thanks for the constant enlightenment!
I change my tire pressure from ride to ride depending on how cold/hot it is or how the road felt when riding. Usually during Swedish spring I ride with 29/29 psi and as it gets towards summer I increase it to 36/36 psi, but on my other bike "with bigger tires" I have 32/32 during early spring and closer to 40/40 during peak summer. If I'm loading up for travel and not doing much hard braking, I ride with less in front and more in back "32/38 or something" so I still get the same grip in the front when the back gets hotter from accelerating or having more load on the back. usually on my bike riding with 29 psi gets the most grip but the lifetime of the tire is cut shorter and if I do longer slower rides I set a higher 38 psi for a harder and less grippy tire so it lasts longer, because if the ride doesn't call for me to use much grip the tire doesn't need to be grippy enough for a race pace. Or if I ride slower pace during cold spring/autumn I lower the pressure as the tire gets colder otherwise and stiff if I ride the normal summer pressure. I can just feel the tire being deformed and cold after a winter sleep so warming the tires up and learning to feel it through the bike and trough the hands is really nice to have learned that early on, feeling how much grip I have.
@@cibsim I agree for most of the world but that is only for the summer pressure that is stated on the bike. If you ride during winter the summer pressure will be too hard for any safe riding and therefore you lower the pressure so you increase heat and increase tire grip that is what everyone does if they don't run spiked tires. If I ride 30 psi in the artic circle that is the same pressure grip/heat index as riding summer pressure in italy at 41 psi. You need to take into account which country you ride in, Period. I would instead follow the air pressure recommended on the tire itself and the recommended tire pressures for the country I am in also. if you take a bottle and fill it with 30 psi of artic cirle air and you fly that bottle to italy that bottle will now read as 41 psi. The tire itself will have the same heat/grip index and hardness in both places, simple as that.
The Bridgestone s21 is the best street tire I have ever used. Hot or cold these tires have never let me down. I am a fair weather rider, so I can't say how well they perform in wet conditions. The few times I have had to ride on wet roads they seemed to work fine , I just don't ride fast when its wet out. If you do ride a lot in foul weather, Michelin makes some of the best rain tires out where.
In 2019 the S22's came out and now recently the S23's, you should try them, you will be surprised about how an already excellent product became even better
Thanks for this! Its something I still struggle with. I know the bike/tires are far more than capable than I am, but something inside me always leaves doubt
@@CanyonChasers I'm going to do some advanced road training and some track training to level up my riding ability. Thanks for taking time to reply! Enjoy the videos!
I had my first fall yesterday after a year of riding, I stupidly went through a country lane after a week of heavy rain and I took a bend only to be met with a large wet mud pile, my bike literally disappeared from under me, it was a split second and all grip was gone from under my bike. Ride safe everyone and my advice is always take the safer route even if it takes longer 👍 🏍
I just got a set of Michelin Road Classics for my Moto Guzzi V7. I couldn't believe the difference they made compared to the stock Dunlops. The bike holds lines so much better and no longer tracks into every little road imperfection.
The Michelin road classics are great on my Moto Guzzi. I have Michelin Pilots on my BMW. Great handling, great cold weather and wet weather traction. The Pilot’s downside is the siping contributes to wear between blocks on the edges of the tire with a lot of mountain riding
What blows my mind is how many people seem to be stuck on dunlop lately, i guess with the q series sport tires maybe they've improved, but every dunlop or bridgestone ive had for that has...made a good bike feel bad. Tried different pressures, tried a lot of things. Switched to a pirelli diablo or supercorsa and bam. Bike goes from tracking into every imperfection to feeling more predictable on acceleration and entering corners. Maybe some guys just prefer that jittery, feels every imperfection in the pavement type of experience. Putting down close to 200 horsepower, id rather have something that feels predictable. Shoot, i tried continental race attacks and they lasted longer than my bridgestone and dunlops, but they gripped a bit better leaving the hole. Never had a tire last 5,000 miles + a track day... Those continentals did, somehow. Still cant figure out how but eh. They did. Heard a lot of guys like the michelins and that they last a long time as well. Dad complained about dunlops a long time ago on his sport touring bikes too, not really sure whats up with that. Lots of dunlop complaints with peopls i ride with and know... Maybe tread design or carcass design? Lots of harley guys use dunlops though. Maybe it depends on what a manufacturer specializes in as to whether they make a good tire for your application...or your bike in general. I know michelin continental and pirelli all make good touring and trackday tires. Probably going to stick to those unless i find something or learn something else
Excellent video. The name of the game is really go easy on the controls. I couldn’t agree more. I keep the same brand on front and rear but for the past 20 or so years I’ve been using a sport touring on the back and a stickier supersport on the front of my CBR1000RR. I have only had the front slip once in my 33 years of riding on a CBR600F4 (not a good feeling) with matching tires. I find correcting from a rear slide (because of harder compound tire) is much easier (and sometimes almost fun) than correcting from a front slide. The reason I go for a harder rear is, lets face it, the 1000s like to chew them fast. I get around 15,000 kilometres (9,000 miles) on the rear with my MICHELIN Road 5 or 6 on my CBR1000RR. POWER GP on the front. I also installed FOBO Bike 2 sensors on metal valve stems that give me the temperature and tire pressure in real time directly on my phone on the Ram Mount. Those sensors are absolutely AMAZING!!! Been running them 4-5 years now. Never failed. I highly recommend them. Temperature & pressure. LIVE. While rolling. Of course also before you leave. 😉
That used to be a much more common practice than it is now. I did the same thing for years. You'll be happy to know that some manufacturers are actually doing that by design. Pirelli/Metzelers work really well where we live and I find the front tire wears out at the same rate as the rear.
@@CanyonChasers The Michelin Road 5 or 6 dual compound is the longest lasting rear tire I have ever used on my CBR. Before I was using Road 3-4. Of course, if I lived in a super curvy area, I may opt to go with stickier compounds but for a good amount of strait line riding (unfortunately) to get to the curves, the sport touring is still my go to for the rear. On the front, well, that’s where sticky matters. Keep up the good work. 👍🏼
Another excellent educational video, keep it up , something we sometimes neglect to do or consider due to our impatience to get on the bike wether for pleasure or work ,cheers Uk 🇬🇧
Fantastic. Loved this going to school inside look on tyre composites. Learnt some new words too. I am so wary of my tyres and the road, just for the confidence when in town or city riding. The roads in S.E. UK are pretty bad, but anywhere can get slippery when it begins to rain, particularly if the weather has been dry for a while. So I changed up to Cobra Chrome wet weather tyres for all weather riding. Never skimp on tyres. Thanks so much for this.
Dude great vid. I've been riding for years and always took what the manufacturer said but never thought about temps in the middle and edge on longer straights. So obvious now. Given me more confidence thank you
HI Dave, An excellent video as ever. Packed full of sense and wisdom. Thank you. On a more general note, I wanted to say thank you for producing all the material you have to date. Working in media myself, I have a pretty good understanding of the number of hours that go into crafting each one from concept to scripting, shot lists to editing. It's a time sink hole. I have watched all your videos more than once and I refer back to them when I'm struggling with an aspect of my riding. They always work and help me to improve. The point I wanted to make is that the work you do matters. It makes a difference. There is a lot of information on how to ride on UA-cam, but yours combines knowledge with humility which is rare among your peers. Yours is a channel I have grown to trust since happening upon it a year or so ago and one that I have recommended to many others as the no BS, science based, step by step guides to improving riding. Its evident that you love to ride and to share your experience. I was wondering why you had stopped posting for a while, but am happy and relieved that you are back again and look forward to enjoying and learning from your content into the future, both from the new videos you produce and from the older ones that serve as such a valuable reference for me and I'm sure many other of your subscribers. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much! This is probably one of the nicest comments I've ever recieved! It does indeed take a long time to make a good video! My wife knows all too well. Haha.
I got a second hand bike and had some 2018 Metzler on it, race tech rr , they were barely used but had visible dry cracks on the sides, long story shot I blamed the bike for the lack of confidence I had in turns, but then I changed to new power 5 and BOM! I really love the bike now and I think is paranormal now, that big the difference was.
The phrase verify before you trust, can't be overstated at all.... I wish I had access to tutelage such as this, when I started out - many moons ago. I'm gonna pass this forward. Many many thanks!!!
@@CanyonChasers absolutely. Thanks for your response. I still revert to old school riding - muscle memory. Trail braking is better without a doubt, but doesn't come naturally. I ride a Tiger 800, and a Interceptor 650. Suprisingly, the Interceptor responds better to trail braking!
Another really useful video. Thanks . I was given a piece of advice years ago by a friend's dad. Don't scrimp on tires and brakes. One stops you. The other holds you to the road while you stop. (Correct usage allowing)
2 years ago I had a low speed tip over from what I’m sure were cold tires on a fairly cold day. I had just rounded my block to a stop sign where I then turned right. When I turned, I did so with my bike tipped fairly low and I accelerated a bit harder than I normally would. As I did so I felt the rear tire wash out making me and my bike do a 180 laying on the ground. Edit: Cold tires along with my abrupt input.
I slipped in a corner and broke my collarbone, left with a small fear for corners but I'm improving again🥰 thanks for the video, it really helped to ease my fear!
I was taking a right hand corner at just above 20mph (around December, no ice or snow), a few years ago - my rear whipped out which felt like 30 degrees, sent me into a violent tank-slapper, which made me mentally prepared that I might fall from my bike! Rolled off the throttle and pulled the clutch in and the bike settled. Was nervous about cornering for a few months after. I’m guessing there was diesel or oil on the that part of the road perhaps
Thank you for yet another straightforward and "to-the-point" explanation. 56 years old - got my drivers licens for MC 3 years ago. All the good input from your site, have provided me with much more than I could have imagined. Every little piece of advise about being proactive, being prepared, being calm has been a great part of my 3 seasons on 2 wheels so far. Keep doing your great, well explained and beautifully produced instructions. I bet others in my position see it worth while too. 👍
Michelin Road 6 GT, set at Suzuki PSI spec. 2008 Suzuki Bandit 1250SA, Dale Walker stage 2 tune. I ride everyday to work, with weekends for fun, solo and two up. Incredible grip on dry and wet. Reducing air pressure for the street is a fallacy, you’ll never get the tire so hot on the road to matter, like you would on a track. High quality road tires will have very little difference is “softness, from cold to warm, in normal weather.
What a informative video! Just one thing I would like to add (since you didn’t really spoke it out) is that you always check pressure with cold tires! Warm air expands so warm tires will read higher pressures as you said already.
Wish we had the rubber you guys have today on my rg 500. Tip to folks. If you start power sliding Don’t let off the throttle you will high side and get launched
This is my first winter on my bike since i started riding in may, i use road 5's and noticed the rear started slipping at almost every corner. Im gonna try these tips and hopefully it will be a big help!
I recently had a set of Dunlop Mutants installed. It's my first set of dual-compound tires and I'm really impressed. The bike tips-in so easily and feels so sure-footed in curves that it makes me wonder why I didn't try these tires earlier.
Great video. My tyres don’t match. My tyres aren’t new. I haven’t checked the pressures recently. It’s the simple stuff we need reminding about! Thankyou
I gained confidence in the tires of my track bike by racing a mini-moto with cheap tires. Went down like 3 times (over the course of 6 hours) by riding the way I normally ride on the track.
I ride an adventure bike but I do not are down for off-road I keep the tires pressures the same street or dirt and I like to warm up my tires before I start pushing them and once again you've done an awesome job job
I have found that when riding on public roads, if I ride around curves at the recommended speed limit, or say no more than 5mph over it, I almost never lean more than 20-25 degrees and with that, unless there is sand, rocks or ice or some liquids, the chance of having the bike slide out is nil. Save the need to lean at 45 degrees and higher for the track.
Ive been riding for 6 years now, started on a 125 (europe) And am now riding a 750 Ive ridden about 30k miles or so In normal conditions ive never had any incidents . Ive had a few crashes in snow/in the icy months, but nothing where i couldnt keep driving. All that you talked about in the video sums up the physical properties of tires pretty well But still, personally i have issues with going into the corners fast enough, still dont trust the tires, had enough Slips ive recovered, but im still just way too worried about sliding/lowsiding A friend of mine can go up some passes in the alps faster than me on my 750 with his 125
Brilliant upload and summary. Thank You. Been riding for 45years and been trying to explain all of this to other riders. This just puts it all in a 'nut shell'. Will point people to your vlog. Cheers Tyre pressure monitors are a god send, have them on both my bike and track car, helps so much, and I know when to push or back off.
Switching my stock Dunlop Sportmax 2's with Michelin GP2s in my Ninja 650 to get ready for my first track day. I low sided on the Sportmax2's when trying to drag a knee in a parking lot and do not trust them for any knee dragging nor quick cornering. Then I found out those are not meant for the track only the street. Just subscribed!
I have a Yamaha super tenere and when I first got it I could lean it so hard I would drag my foot in the corners, a construction company was working on a road near my house and left a ridiculous amount of gravel in the road with no signage. I didn't hit it very hard but it was enough to break the front tire loose and give me that "oh shit" moment when it almost came out from under me. It's been quite a while now and I still can't get my confidence in the corners back.
In motorcycling, "fearless" is an insult. It's good to be a little bit nervous. It encourages the "trust but verfiy" idea. It encourages us to be smooth with that first and last 5% of a control.
I own a 2014 Monster, purchased new and it was fitted with Pirelli Diablo Rosso II. On about 5 occasions the rear tyre lost tractionwithout warn AND without feeling like oil. I tried to work with them but the multi compound sidewalls were chilling. Swapped the rear to a Bridgestone and have love the feedback I get. Also the Pirelli front is fantastic, I've never doubted the tyre or had any reason to. Crazy how the same brand could be so different front to rear (I tried different pressures and suspension setting but nothing improved it).
What you explained is what many riders know but the question is whether they put it in practice. I plause your insistence that these very basic principles should always be followed. Like everyone, there were times when I went riding without checking tire pressure and I was always riding with the worry of the pressure being wrong. When at some point I checked the pressure, most of the time it was spot on but there were times when it was very wrong.
Great video, my congrats! You have really every important detail in your content. Very very professionally produced, first class, never seen that before. Here a former rubber and suspension engineer, 15 years Super Bike racer on the similar brand, motor bike coach, 47y of sportive motor bike riding. I check the pressure every time in the morning - it makes the difference!
Didn't have an issue with my front tire, bike I bought used didn't have much on it, was a 2015 honda cb500f. Replaced that rear with a Michelin road 4, and man, those road tires from michelin are worth every penny. Idk how big a difference changing the front would have made, but having that tire in the rain was all the confidence needed. I had my rear slip out half a second, recovered perfectly, that's the trust your tire you need. The bike wants to go straight, spend more on the thing that CONNECTS YOU to the ground. Awesome video topic. I love the emphasis on proper PSI and pressure in general.
I always really soft tires on my bikes. I started on a super Moto with scrambler tires, then switched to a small ADV, and now to a 1200GS. The all always had some 70/30 Tires on them, which were really soft, so soft in fact, they all even carried M+S markings and were legal as winter tires here in Germany. They all felt great to me, with the Pirelli Scorpion STR being the best tire I have ever ridden. They allowed me to take long rides in the alps and I never had any problems riding in colder weather like 0-3°C. Fast forward to Spring last year, and I find myself on a Project at work, that requires me to drive to another work location about 400km from my home once a month and stay there for a week. This was also when I reached the limit of what I am comfortable with when it comes to tire wear. So I made the decision, that I wanted to make some of those trips with my GS, and I would take a dedicated Street touring tire this time, so it has more longevity for these longer trips. They are quite a bit harder then the tires I ran usually, and naturally do not have M+S markings. In summer, they were fine. And even through a couple of those highway trips, the hard center held up really nicely. But starting with autumn last year, those tires lost all favors with me. Starting in like 5°C, I feel the front tire slip ever so slightly. Not in a way that would cause me to lose traction all together and they are fine in easy corners, but its not helping in feeling confidently in colder weather, which was never an issue for me before. So this winter was the first winter ever, where I had my bike stored in the back of the garage, because I refused to ride it, and even commuted the 30km to my usual work place with my car in 5°C weather. When it gets warmer, I will start commuting with my bike again, and I plan to take a long vacation this summer and tour through southern europe at the Mediterranean in hopes that I can exhaust those tires this year, and have them replaced by a softer pair next autumn/winter.
Some ppl crash because they are more trusting the tires then they could handle the situation.. maybe the lack of experience.. too much on the brake or on the gas while leaning etc... Be one with the tire.. Feel what your tire does in the situation and learn from it.. I almost had 2 highsiders last year but i didnt fall.. being on the edge of what your tire can do is a great feeling I learned my tires on a 600.. when mastering, learning and trusting the tires i upped to a gixxer 1000.. my midcornerspeed is as fast as with a 600.. Many people buy a 1000 too early.. and with the lack of experience they end up with crashes etc..
In winter here in NZ, especially after dark, black ice and a wet road look pretty much the same. I learned to blip the throttle a little from time to time. Rear wheel spin indicates black ice, in which case you can't use the brakes and even engine braking will break loose the rear tire. Cornering can only be very slow, steering with no lean with the bars like a kids trike. The grippiest tires you can buy make very little difference.
Can you do a video on finding the right tire pressure for street tires for how you ride? Is it just keep lowering pressure until you get to 120-150F? What if i do a bunch of highway before i get to the mountains? Should i keep them hot on thr highway or just warm on the highway?
@@CanyonChasers ::: That's a question worth investigating. I live in a dense city and I have to do straight up riding before getting to the "ride". I missed you as much as a bag of sea salt potato chips, so you know you've been missed!
I don't trust tires everytime l put new one, until l tried it, and push it to the limit. I found that different brand, or same brand, with different series has different characteristic. Some like to be abused, some just hate it. We both getting to know eatch other, then we trusting each other.
Hey Dave, Thanks a bunch for this. There's much I've been able to learn from your videos that gets employed on my everyday motorcycle riding. Very grateful for that. Beyond this, I do have a question that I haven't been able to truly answer - How does one feel grip? We all know what grip feels like under your feet but how does one quantify or measure the felt grip on a motorcycle?
Excellent tutorial on tires! I always strive to remind myself to exercise caution when taking turns and going around curves. I can't say how many times this has saved me because it allowed me to make corrections before a mishap could happen. Your video reassures me that I have been doing the right thing. I have practiced caution with turning and cornering even with good tires and correct tire pressure under what others may perceive as optimum road conditions for tire grip. Overconfidence in turns and cornering... kills. Listening to what your bike and tires are telling allows you more control and time to make necessary corrections when required.
A lot of great points. The tires I question the most are adventure and dual sport tires. I accept the compromise if the ride I set out on is mixed surfaces but if my days ride is just pavement I hate the compromise. I'd rather have multiple small bikes with an assortment of tires suitable for different trips than one big powerful adventure bike with compromise tires that suck on the road, in the dirt or in both places. The motorcycle math tells me I need more bikes. Have to trust the math.
My old '91 kwacka has very low pressure specs, but tires have come a long way. My new michelin road 6's have a much higher recommendation. Gues I'll scrub them in at recommended and then experiment.
That’s a tough one because your bike probably came with bias ply tires. If michelin lists a pressure recommendation for your bike, I’d be inclined to start with that number.
Great video, I ride in the PNW, with cool, wet roads most of the time I run a softer tire. It has helped my confidence in corners, this particular type of tire has been reported to me to not hold up well in the heat and the road conditions of the the SW. Quality tires area a great starting point for good traction, again great video! Thank you!
I think "the correct tire pressure" is a very broad understanding. If you compare the bike manual, tire manufacturer specs and all the rider recommendations for a particular bike you get like a 100 different results.
My GSXR750 on Pirellis sticks like a gecko, but I'm always afraid to explore the limit of them. Hopefully a track day at Brainerd will help me talk to it more directly. I try to leave a 30% overhead for safety on the road. Lots of debris and unpredictability!
I just bought my kawasaki 650 and to be honest im scared to do corners because i felt like my tires will slipped,so after watching your video i think i have to trust my bike from now on
Always top quality content! Always makes me learn stuff. Everytime I go out to ride which is weekends I change my tire pressure. On weekdays its the standard set for the R3 which is 29f - 36r, but when I go out to ride i change it to for the Pirelli Diablo Rosso III i Found 27f to be best and 34r gives me all the confidence. But when i switched to Shinko, it would be -3 which is 26f and 33r. Setting it before going out to ride the twisties is really confidence inspiring.
Excellent explanation about importance’s of the riders thinking and input to gain confidence. I shall be incorporating this into my delivery of training to instructors and students. Thank you.
On my first bike, 2018 sv650 i remember hearing everyone complain about the factory Dunlop roadsmart iii tires. I had it in my head that i needed a spicy tire, so the next spring, I got a set of Dunlop q3+. I gave the barely used roadsmart iii to a friend who was riding on worn and weather cracked tires. That season, we rode together several times, and my old tires did everything I did and more as they had great overall behavior. The q3+ were awful in the cold, when cold and especially damp and wore out quickly. I didn't have the skills to use the performance they were capable of.
Such a shame because the Roadsmart 3s are great sports touring tires. I actually specifically got these on my SV because mine came with shitty Dunlop Qualifiers from the factory. (Weird, was also a '18)
Your channel should be recommended viewing for any new biker. How you do anything is how you do everything. You provide so many helpful insights that are easy to implement when you're still getting familiar with your own bike. You should seriously consider making a ten chapter Udemy course about how to ride your first bike, covering maintenance, safety and handling etc. I'm sure many people would pay money to know they're starting the relationship with their bike on a good note.
You know it's amazing how the pressure fluctuates in the winter and summer! I always check ✅ for the correct pressure. And a good set of Michelin Road 's makes me feel very secure in the Twisties!
Could you possibly do a short video on how to properly set the tire pressure? Like when to do it, how to do it, etc.? There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about that, whether we are talking about motorcycle tires or car tires. I used to work for a motorcycle tire manufacturer and you would not believe how many phone calls and e-mails we got about that.
I agree, but just properly checking the TP that you are preparing to ride, is not enough, as you can pickup nails and cuts within a few miles after starting your trip
@@LeeVeness What does this even mean? How does the possibility of picking up nails and cuts within a few miles after starting your trip have anything to do with properly checking the TP before preparing to ride? You say it's 'not enough'. What specific action(s) am I supposed to take before preparing to ride to deal with the possibility of these rogue nails and cuts that I might pickup within a few miles of starting my trip? How is that not a possibility at any time in the trip? Or not more likely when the tire is warm later in the trip than when it is cold early in the trip and will likely repel debris rather than conform to it? I've had a flat halfway through an 800 mile straight through trip. Now the hole was probably there before because my pressure had been constantly going low over the few months prior. If you mean you should check your tire for nails and cuts prior to starting a trip (and at the same time as you check pressure (logically speaking)), it would make sense, mostly because you could have picked these things up on your last trip. Even so, unless you're having unexplained pressure drops, you're probably more safe than not. But saying just checking you're pressure (properly) is 'not enough' because some future possibility of tire damage that you can't do anything about before you encounter the possibility is nonsense. It comes off like you have some special knowledge that no one else knows. If that's the case, why wouldn't you share and explain what things we need to do that will 'be enough'? Unless I'm unlearned that some magical time in the first few miles of my trip makes me susceptible to picking up nails and cuts and that I'm not susceptible to that at all times (and the magical prior action(s) I need to take that will prevent it, even though it is either chance or an in moment action that would actually prevent it) 🤷
I have been riding for many years. I'm pretty picky when it comes to tires, I'm also very careful with the pressure I personally use... many brands of tires have been on my bikes. Pirelli Diablo Rosso 4 's are Bliss!! For me when I go through the Twisties, these tires do it for me!
At 12:45 when you make the comparison "to verify if the tires are listening" is an excellent metaphor. I like that. Also, the wide shot of the three of you on the canyon road; do you usually ride at a sane pace like that? I have a Z900 which is capable of things I can't do, but I do like a quick pace sometimes. Thanks for the video.
This is a great video. Thank you. For me, looking back to my racing days (basically all of the 80’s, working up to the Australian Superbike Series). Initially, I didn’t know a lot about tyres, I simply had faith in how my team set the bike up purely based on feedback. In the initial category I raced in was purely production 250 cc, where you raced on street legal tyres. Brands etc didn’t mean anything to me. I just focused on getting the quickest lap times as I could possibly achieve. Looking back I also was somewhat blind that when starting out I’d use a set well past when they should’ve been replaced. Today, perhaps it’s a mental thing as I pay more attention to this and perhaps if I did back then I possibly wouldn’t have been as quick as I wouldn’t have had that blind faith.
paraphrasing, but a great takeaway for me: we need to be having a conversation with our bike, not an argument. smooth, controlled, intentional. not abrupt or aggressive. that’s my new riding motto, conversation not an argument. hell it works for real life too!
@@CanyonChasers I am requesting one more time as I did before too. Can your buddy share the mp3 file of the tune. I will make it my phone tune as well as popularize it in India 😀. Looking forward to
I've got a Kawasaki Z400 with stock tires (thet being something by Dunlop) a couple of years ago, felt a couple of times my rear wheel slipping away on corners or when making a turn over tram rails. During the first service complained about this to my mechanic and he suggested to replace them with tires from Michelin (not an add, just personal experience), and boy, they're definitely gripping far better in my noob opinion.
I don't normally use my front brake in a corner. I'll try to do it more, but there is the complications of the throttle and the front brake on the same control. I've also had the front tire slide or wash out when you don't want it to.
People really miss the point of this video with comments like “I’m more worried about gravel, grass clippings, potholes, etc” as if they can control those things. This video is for people who care enough about riding to find every advantage they can to stay on two wheels as they carve through turns. This is not a video about how to fill potholes. It’s about maximizing your tires for a better ride, and saving money, and maybe a life, in the process
My friend! I am pinning this comment! Thank you!!
My tyres feel too hard
My dad used to say that he'd ride a bad bike with good tires before a good bike with bad tires. Thanks for the video!
Your dad had a lot of wise things to say about this kind of thing!
yea but if he had bad brakes he would be screwed anyway :)
💯
@@46rrodriguez😂
@@46rrodriguezYeah, the best brakes are nothing without good tires anyway.
I/we appreciate your style of presentation. No hype, no fluff, no preaching. Just solid information given in a tone that keeps things calm.
Utter bullshit....suspension is a part that he didn't mention...
@@PP-wz7mp yes he mentioned it through trail braking and back braking techniques without call too much specifically about it by name. But, since you’re already aware of you didn’t need additional schooling.
We?
@@TTGTanner We, the thoughtful, respectful, intelligent people who appreciate what it takes to produce good content in interesting ways.
@@PP-wz7mp he’s produced many videos on suspension too. Great channel sharing a broad and detailed range of techniques, products and specs to consider. 🤓
I was blown away when I first saw that Tech Talk clip where Simon said race slicks were 10x harder than street tires. Made perfect sense when explained, but it was just one of those things I had never thought about.
He first said it during some free-practice and I was so excited someone else said it so I could quote it. I quickly took note so I could find it again. I was pretty delighted when he did the tech talk.
@@CanyonChasers what's the link to this clip please?
Exactly! I seriously thought it was the opposite and wondered why on some bikes I could never get it right.
so many people would ride my bike and say it handles really well, when it's actually because I would always have my tires replaced before time. It can be expensive but it gives you so much confidence on the road.
Agree
Agree
I need new tires every 8-10 months. I don't wanna replace them "early."
I do the same. I replace them while the still have a couple of thousands kilometers or more left
Agreed. I try to accelerate hardest around corners to keep wear even.
I am no expert, but I have a lot of sport-bike/ road riding experience. and I feel that everything presented in this video is spot on.
Thank you!
I took a two hour ride here in Maine when we had a “warm” day in the mid 40s just a couple days ago. I spent just about the whole ride pondering the temperature and grip of my tires in those conditions. This answers all the questions I came up with!
Thats awesome! These things are all clues to help us make better riding decisions!
LoL. We must have been out on the same day. I live in Central Maine! And yes, I was thinking about my tires too!
Making informative motorcycle content that doesn't put people to sleep but has plenty of detail is so hard and your videos always do it so well. Bravo 👌🏻
Always believed in good quality rubber. Can’t say I was diligent enough in monitoring my tire pressures when I was young and bombing back roads on a CBR-600F. Now, however, in my second wave of riding, after about a 14 year hiatus, I check pressures and tire condition before every ride; even the short ones.
I just bought a Yamaha MT15 here in the Philippines for roaming around. The tires that were on it were off brand and worn. The handling was "greasy". That lasted a week. I replaced with Pirelli Diablo Rosso Sports. What a huge difference. I run them at 32.5 & 36.2 psi.
Hi mate love my pirelli sports demons for our old Kats
I used to have pirelli diablos on my gsxs150 but they wear out rather quickly. Switched to michelin pilot street.
What brand of tires does the MT15 come with?
I’m an old guy that went from my big 965 lb Yamaha tourer to a ninja Xr1000 mainly because my wife doesn’t ride anymore and I love to lean into the turns, to me that’s what I love about riding. This was an excellent video,as I remember coming off a wet cloverleaf and my back tire kicked out on an oil snake that I failed to avoid and it definitely woke me up! I was overconfident in my tires at that time and probably riding too fast, I believe about 50 into the curve and this was with my touring bike. So I still lean hard for my age lol but am definitely more cautious. Thanks again for your input!
after a highside where I broke both bones in forearm, it's trust in my right hand not being too heavy in a turn I have to trust. Elementary mistake sadly. good video.
Dude, you make the BEST videos. I just started riding three years ago, and I'll hit 30,000 miles this summer. A great majority of what I've learned about riding in the last three years has come from you. Thanks for the constant enlightenment!
Deadpan humour is strong in this one 😂 Love to see you back! Right on time, me and the boys are getting all amped up for the season! 💪
Haha! Thank you!!
I change my tire pressure from ride to ride depending on how cold/hot it is or how the road felt when riding. Usually during Swedish spring I ride with 29/29 psi and as it gets towards summer I increase it to 36/36 psi, but on my other bike "with bigger tires" I have 32/32 during early spring and closer to 40/40 during peak summer. If I'm loading up for travel and not doing much hard braking, I ride with less in front and more in back "32/38 or something" so I still get the same grip in the front when the back gets hotter from accelerating or having more load on the back.
usually on my bike riding with 29 psi gets the most grip but the lifetime of the tire is cut shorter and if I do longer slower rides I set a higher 38 psi for a harder and less grippy tire so it lasts longer, because if the ride doesn't call for me to use much grip the tire doesn't need to be grippy enough for a race pace. Or if I ride slower pace during cold spring/autumn I lower the pressure as the tire gets colder otherwise and stiff if I ride the normal summer pressure. I can just feel the tire being deformed and cold after a winter sleep so warming the tires up and learning to feel it through the bike and trough the hands is really nice to have learned that early on, feeling how much grip I have.
Following the air pressure recommended by the manufacturer of your bike is simpler and safer. Period. Take care!
@@cibsim I agree for most of the world but that is only for the summer pressure that is stated on the bike. If you ride during winter the summer pressure will be too hard for any safe riding and therefore you lower the pressure so you increase heat and increase tire grip that is what everyone does if they don't run spiked tires.
If I ride 30 psi in the artic circle that is the same pressure grip/heat index as riding summer pressure in italy at 41 psi. You need to take into account which country you ride in, Period. I would instead follow the air pressure recommended on the tire itself and the recommended tire pressures for the country I am in also.
if you take a bottle and fill it with 30 psi of artic cirle air and you fly that bottle to italy that bottle will now read as 41 psi. The tire itself will have the same heat/grip index and hardness in both places, simple as that.
It's not the tires im worried about. It's the Shitty roads my tax dollars don't seem to be maintaining
You must live in Maine! 😂
Got the exact same problem in the UK regarding potholes
@@oliverv305 True mate, sucks here. Can't trust corners cos you can assume there's an Olympic pool sized pothole waiting on you
Same for Colorado. Roads just suck.
Pennsylvania has entered the chat...
The Bridgestone s21 is the best street tire I have ever used. Hot or cold these tires have never let me down. I am a fair weather rider, so I can't say how well they perform in wet conditions. The few times I have had to ride on wet roads they seemed to work fine , I just don't ride fast when its wet out. If you do ride a lot in foul weather, Michelin makes some of the best rain tires out where.
Exactly on point.
I am a Michelin man!
@@mansolo1756
How much do you weight , then ? 😅
In 2019 the S22's came out and now recently the S23's, you should try them, you will be surprised about how an already excellent product became even better
My ZH2 is getting a new set of S23s this Saturday.
Been riding for over two decades now but am impressed by what I could learn from your professional advice. Thx.
Wow! Thank you!
Thanks for this! Its something I still struggle with. I know the bike/tires are far more than capable than I am, but something inside me always leaves doubt
Better safe than sorry, the road is not a Race track, in this way you have margin in case something unexpected happens
It's okay to have doubts - but also, it's good to set yourself up for success to quell as many doubts as we can.
@@CanyonChasers I'm going to do some advanced road training and some track training to level up my riding ability. Thanks for taking time to reply! Enjoy the videos!
I had my first fall yesterday after a year of riding, I stupidly went through a country lane after a week of heavy rain and I took a bend only to be met with a large wet mud pile, my bike literally disappeared from under me, it was a split second and all grip was gone from under my bike.
Ride safe everyone and my advice is always take the safer route even if it takes longer 👍 🏍
I just got a set of Michelin Road Classics for my Moto Guzzi V7. I couldn't believe the difference they made compared to the stock Dunlops. The bike holds lines so much better and no longer tracks into every little road imperfection.
The Michelin road classics are great on my Moto Guzzi. I have Michelin Pilots on my BMW. Great handling, great cold weather and wet weather traction. The Pilot’s downside is the siping contributes to wear between blocks on the edges of the tire with a lot of mountain riding
What blows my mind is how many people seem to be stuck on dunlop lately, i guess with the q series sport tires maybe they've improved, but every dunlop or bridgestone ive had for that has...made a good bike feel bad. Tried different pressures, tried a lot of things.
Switched to a pirelli diablo or supercorsa and bam. Bike goes from tracking into every imperfection to feeling more predictable on acceleration and entering corners.
Maybe some guys just prefer that jittery, feels every imperfection in the pavement type of experience.
Putting down close to 200 horsepower, id rather have something that feels predictable. Shoot, i tried continental race attacks and they lasted longer than my bridgestone and dunlops, but they gripped a bit better leaving the hole. Never had a tire last 5,000 miles + a track day... Those continentals did, somehow. Still cant figure out how but eh. They did.
Heard a lot of guys like the michelins and that they last a long time as well.
Dad complained about dunlops a long time ago on his sport touring bikes too, not really sure whats up with that. Lots of dunlop complaints with peopls i ride with and know... Maybe tread design or carcass design?
Lots of harley guys use dunlops though. Maybe it depends on what a manufacturer specializes in as to whether they make a good tire for your application...or your bike in general. I know michelin continental and pirelli all make good touring and trackday tires. Probably going to stick to those unless i find something or learn something else
Excellent video. The name of the game is really go easy on the controls. I couldn’t agree more. I keep the same brand on front and rear but for the past 20 or so years I’ve been using a sport touring on the back and a stickier supersport on the front of my CBR1000RR.
I have only had the front slip once in my 33 years of riding on a CBR600F4 (not a good feeling) with matching tires.
I find correcting from a rear slide (because of harder compound tire) is much easier (and sometimes almost fun) than correcting from a front slide.
The reason I go for a harder rear is, lets face it, the 1000s like to chew them fast.
I get around 15,000 kilometres (9,000 miles) on the rear with my MICHELIN Road 5 or 6 on my CBR1000RR.
POWER GP on the front.
I also installed FOBO Bike 2 sensors on metal valve stems that give me the temperature and tire pressure in real time directly on my phone on the Ram Mount.
Those sensors are absolutely AMAZING!!!
Been running them 4-5 years now. Never failed. I highly recommend them.
Temperature & pressure. LIVE. While rolling.
Of course also before you leave. 😉
That used to be a much more common practice than it is now. I did the same thing for years. You'll be happy to know that some manufacturers are actually doing that by design. Pirelli/Metzelers work really well where we live and I find the front tire wears out at the same rate as the rear.
@@CanyonChasers
The Michelin Road 5 or 6 dual compound is the longest lasting rear tire I have ever used on my CBR. Before I was using Road 3-4.
Of course, if I lived in a super curvy area, I may opt to go with stickier compounds but for a good amount of strait line riding (unfortunately) to get to the curves, the sport touring is still my go to for the rear.
On the front, well, that’s where sticky matters.
Keep up the good work. 👍🏼
Funny, I only get 4000 miles out of the Road 6 on my Multistrada 1200. We have some rough roads around here, chip sealed pavement.
You made me realized I made a mistake with the mileage. It’s 15,000 kms which translate to roughly 9,000 miles. Sorry about that.
My goto bike is pre historic guzzi. Fiitted with bt46 tires, in the twisties its an absolute monster.
Le mans 850 III.
one of the best steering bikes ever.
Another excellent educational video, keep it up , something we sometimes neglect to do or consider due to our impatience to get on the bike wether for pleasure or work ,cheers Uk 🇬🇧
Cheers, UK. We love visiting you guys!
Good stuff! Was excited to see a new Canyon Chasers video. :)
Thank you!!
Fantastic. Loved this going to school inside look on tyre composites. Learnt some new words too. I am so wary of my tyres and the road, just for the confidence when in town or city riding. The roads in S.E. UK are pretty bad, but anywhere can get slippery when it begins to rain, particularly if the weather has been dry for a while. So I changed up to Cobra Chrome wet weather tyres for all weather riding. Never skimp on tyres. Thanks so much for this.
I adore the UK! Your single track roads with passing places sure keep you on your toes. Add in some rain and it gets really exciting!
@@CanyonChasers sounds like my standard commute! rural uk is beautiful but hazardous for riding
Dude great vid. I've been riding for years and always took what the manufacturer said but never thought about temps in the middle and edge on longer straights. So obvious now.
Given me more confidence thank you
Right on!
Great video, i can attest that just having good tires with the right air pressure and smooth inputs makes a world of a difference. Smooth is fast
HI Dave, An excellent video as ever. Packed full of sense and wisdom. Thank you. On a more general note, I wanted to say thank you for producing all the material you have to date. Working in media myself, I have a pretty good understanding of the number of hours that go into crafting each one from concept to scripting, shot lists to editing. It's a time sink hole. I have watched all your videos more than once and I refer back to them when I'm struggling with an aspect of my riding. They always work and help me to improve. The point I wanted to make is that the work you do matters. It makes a difference. There is a lot of information on how to ride on UA-cam, but yours combines knowledge with humility which is rare among your peers. Yours is a channel I have grown to trust since happening upon it a year or so ago and one that I have recommended to many others as the no BS, science based, step by step guides to improving riding. Its evident that you love to ride and to share your experience. I was wondering why you had stopped posting for a while, but am happy and relieved that you are back again and look forward to enjoying and learning from your content into the future, both from the new videos you produce and from the older ones that serve as such a valuable reference for me and I'm sure many other of your subscribers. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much! This is probably one of the nicest comments I've ever recieved! It does indeed take a long time to make a good video! My wife knows all too well. Haha.
I got a second hand bike and had some 2018 Metzler on it, race tech rr , they were barely used but had visible dry cracks on the sides, long story shot I blamed the bike for the lack of confidence I had in turns, but then I changed to new power 5 and BOM! I really love the bike now and I think is paranormal now, that big the difference was.
The phrase verify before you trust, can't be overstated at all.... I wish I had access to tutelage such as this, when I started out - many moons ago.
I'm gonna pass this forward. Many many thanks!!!
Thank you and yeah, thats the whole game right? It's why we sneak into our control. We don't grab, whack, stab, smash, etc.
@@CanyonChasers absolutely. Thanks for your response. I still revert to old school riding - muscle memory. Trail braking is better without a doubt, but doesn't come naturally. I ride a Tiger 800, and a Interceptor 650. Suprisingly, the Interceptor responds better to trail braking!
The amount of lives that this channel has saved is probably a lot! Great content!
Another really useful video. Thanks . I was given a piece of advice years ago by a friend's dad. Don't scrimp on tires and brakes. One stops you. The other holds you to the road while you stop. (Correct usage allowing)
2 years ago I had a low speed tip over from what I’m sure were cold tires on a fairly cold day. I had just rounded my block to a stop sign where I then turned right. When I turned, I did so with my bike tipped fairly low and I accelerated a bit harder than I normally would. As I did so I felt the rear tire wash out making me and my bike do a 180 laying on the ground.
Edit: Cold tires along with my abrupt input.
My Honda CB650R is due for new tires and this video is full of good information. Perfect timing!Thanks!!
I just purchased my 5th bike . I learned more from this video in the short time & will now Oder new tires. Thank you
Ps I’m 79 & this bigger than I wanted. Now I’m more determined to ride it safely. Age is just a number.
I slipped in a corner and broke my collarbone, left with a small fear for corners but I'm improving again🥰 thanks for the video, it really helped to ease my fear!
I was taking a right hand corner at just above 20mph (around December, no ice or snow), a few years ago - my rear whipped out which felt like 30 degrees, sent me into a violent tank-slapper, which made me mentally prepared that I might fall from my bike! Rolled off the throttle and pulled the clutch in and the bike settled. Was nervous about cornering for a few months after. I’m guessing there was diesel or oil on the that part of the road perhaps
Thanks!
Thank you so much!!
Thank you for yet another straightforward and "to-the-point" explanation. 56 years old - got my drivers licens for MC 3 years ago. All the good input from your site, have provided me with much more than I could have imagined. Every little piece of advise about being proactive, being prepared, being calm has been a great part of my 3 seasons on 2 wheels so far. Keep doing your great, well explained and beautifully produced instructions. I bet others in my position see it worth while too. 👍
Thanks!
Thank you 🙏. Much appreciated!!
Michelin Road 6 GT, set at Suzuki PSI spec. 2008 Suzuki Bandit 1250SA, Dale Walker stage 2 tune. I ride everyday to work, with weekends for fun, solo and two up. Incredible grip on dry and wet. Reducing air pressure for the street is a fallacy, you’ll never get the tire so hot on the road to matter, like you would on a track. High quality road tires will have very little difference is “softness, from cold to warm, in normal weather.
What a informative video! Just one thing I would like to add (since you didn’t really spoke it out) is that you always check pressure with cold tires! Warm air expands so warm tires will read higher pressures as you said already.
Wish we had the rubber you guys have today on my rg 500. Tip to folks. If you start power sliding Don’t let off the throttle you will high side and get launched
This is my first winter on my bike since i started riding in may, i use road 5's and noticed the rear started slipping at almost every corner. Im gonna try these tips and hopefully it will be a big help!
I recently had a set of Dunlop Mutants installed. It's my first set of dual-compound tires and I'm really impressed. The bike tips-in so easily and feels so sure-footed in curves that it makes me wonder why I didn't try these tires earlier.
Great video.
My tyres don’t match.
My tyres aren’t new.
I haven’t checked the pressures recently.
It’s the simple stuff we need reminding about!
Thankyou
I gained confidence in the tires of my track bike by racing a mini-moto with cheap tires. Went down like 3 times (over the course of 6 hours) by riding the way I normally ride on the track.
7:46 When F1 cars still sounded great with the V10 engines.
Great video!
Subscribed to your channel.
Greetings from Romania. 🤘🏻
I ride an adventure bike but I do not are down for off-road I keep the tires pressures the same street or dirt and I like to warm up my tires before I start pushing them and once again you've done an awesome job job
I have found that when riding on public roads, if I ride around curves at the recommended speed limit, or say no more than 5mph over it, I almost never lean more than 20-25 degrees and with that, unless there is sand, rocks or ice or some liquids, the chance of having the bike slide out is nil. Save the need to lean at 45 degrees and higher for the track.
my friend sent me this video after i dropped my bike leaving my garage turning on icy leaves.
very calm and informative, thank you.
Ive been riding for 6 years now, started on a 125 (europe)
And am now riding a 750
Ive ridden about 30k miles or so
In normal conditions ive never had any incidents . Ive had a few crashes in snow/in the icy months, but nothing where i couldnt keep driving.
All that you talked about in the video sums up the physical properties of tires pretty well
But still, personally i have issues with going into the corners fast enough, still dont trust the tires, had enough Slips ive recovered, but im still just way too worried about sliding/lowsiding
A friend of mine can go up some passes in the alps faster than me on my 750 with his 125
Brilliant upload and summary. Thank You.
Been riding for 45years and been trying to explain all of this to other riders. This just puts it all in a 'nut shell'. Will point people to your vlog. Cheers
Tyre pressure monitors are a god send, have them on both my bike and track car, helps so much, and I know when to push or back off.
Switching my stock Dunlop Sportmax 2's with Michelin GP2s in my Ninja 650 to get ready for my first track day. I low sided on the Sportmax2's when trying to drag a knee in a parking lot and do not trust them for any knee dragging nor quick cornering. Then I found out those are not meant for the track only the street. Just subscribed!
I have a Yamaha super tenere and when I first got it I could lean it so hard I would drag my foot in the corners, a construction company was working on a road near my house and left a ridiculous amount of gravel in the road with no signage. I didn't hit it very hard but it was enough to break the front tire loose and give me that "oh shit" moment when it almost came out from under me. It's been quite a while now and I still can't get my confidence in the corners back.
In motorcycling, "fearless" is an insult. It's good to be a little bit nervous. It encourages the "trust but verfiy" idea. It encourages us to be smooth with that first and last 5% of a control.
I own a 2014 Monster, purchased new and it was fitted with Pirelli Diablo Rosso II. On about 5 occasions the rear tyre lost tractionwithout warn AND without feeling like oil. I tried to work with them but the multi compound sidewalls were chilling. Swapped the rear to a Bridgestone and have love the feedback I get. Also the Pirelli front is fantastic, I've never doubted the tyre or had any reason to.
Crazy how the same brand could be so different front to rear (I tried different pressures and suspension setting but nothing improved it).
What you explained is what many riders know but the question is whether they put it in practice. I plause your insistence that these very basic principles should always be followed.
Like everyone, there were times when I went riding without checking tire pressure and I was always riding with the worry of the pressure being wrong. When at some point I checked the pressure, most of the time it was spot on but there were times when it was very wrong.
Thx for sharing, I'm getting my first bike (I am 50 yo). Your teaching helps me a lot.
Great video, my congrats! You have really every important detail in your content. Very very professionally produced, first class, never seen that before. Here a former rubber and suspension engineer, 15 years Super Bike racer on the similar brand, motor bike coach, 47y of sportive motor bike riding. I check the pressure every time in the morning - it makes the difference!
Didn't have an issue with my front tire, bike I bought used didn't have much on it, was a 2015 honda cb500f. Replaced that rear with a Michelin road 4, and man, those road tires from michelin are worth every penny. Idk how big a difference changing the front would have made, but having that tire in the rain was all the confidence needed. I had my rear slip out half a second, recovered perfectly, that's the trust your tire you need. The bike wants to go straight, spend more on the thing that CONNECTS YOU to the ground. Awesome video topic. I love the emphasis on proper PSI and pressure in general.
I always really soft tires on my bikes. I started on a super Moto with scrambler tires, then switched to a small ADV, and now to a 1200GS. The all always had some 70/30 Tires on them, which were really soft, so soft in fact, they all even carried M+S markings and were legal as winter tires here in Germany. They all felt great to me, with the Pirelli Scorpion STR being the best tire I have ever ridden. They allowed me to take long rides in the alps and I never had any problems riding in colder weather like 0-3°C. Fast forward to Spring last year, and I find myself on a Project at work, that requires me to drive to another work location about 400km from my home once a month and stay there for a week. This was also when I reached the limit of what I am comfortable with when it comes to tire wear. So I made the decision, that I wanted to make some of those trips with my GS, and I would take a dedicated Street touring tire this time, so it has more longevity for these longer trips. They are quite a bit harder then the tires I ran usually, and naturally do not have M+S markings. In summer, they were fine. And even through a couple of those highway trips, the hard center held up really nicely. But starting with autumn last year, those tires lost all favors with me. Starting in like 5°C, I feel the front tire slip ever so slightly. Not in a way that would cause me to lose traction all together and they are fine in easy corners, but its not helping in feeling confidently in colder weather, which was never an issue for me before. So this winter was the first winter ever, where I had my bike stored in the back of the garage, because I refused to ride it, and even commuted the 30km to my usual work place with my car in 5°C weather. When it gets warmer, I will start commuting with my bike again, and I plan to take a long vacation this summer and tour through southern europe at the Mediterranean in hopes that I can exhaust those tires this year, and have them replaced by a softer pair next autumn/winter.
Some ppl crash because they are more trusting the tires then they could handle the situation.. maybe the lack of experience.. too much on the brake or on the gas while leaning etc...
Be one with the tire..
Feel what your tire does in the situation and learn from it..
I almost had 2 highsiders last year but i didnt fall.. being on the edge of what your tire can do is a great feeling
I learned my tires on a 600.. when mastering, learning and trusting the tires i upped to a gixxer 1000.. my midcornerspeed is as fast as with a 600..
Many people buy a 1000 too early.. and with the lack of experience they end up with crashes etc..
In winter here in NZ, especially after dark, black ice and a wet road look pretty much the same. I learned to blip the throttle a little from time to time. Rear wheel spin indicates black ice, in which case you can't use the brakes and even engine braking will break loose the rear tire. Cornering can only be very slow, steering with no lean with the bars like a kids trike. The grippiest tires you can buy make very little difference.
Can you do a video on finding the right tire pressure for street tires for how you ride? Is it just keep lowering pressure until you get to 120-150F? What if i do a bunch of highway before i get to the mountains? Should i keep them hot on thr highway or just warm on the highway?
That’s a great idea!
@@CanyonChasers ::: That's a question worth investigating. I live in a dense city and I have to do straight up riding before getting to the "ride". I missed you as much as a bag of sea salt potato chips, so you know you've been missed!
Thank you for the lesson man. We appreciate it! Ride safely out there!
I don't trust tires everytime l put new one, until l tried it, and push it to the limit. I found that different brand, or same brand, with different series has different characteristic. Some like to be abused, some just hate it. We both getting to know eatch other, then we trusting each other.
Learned a great deal in this video Dave. Thank you for taking the time to educate us.
Hey Dave, Thanks a bunch for this. There's much I've been able to learn from your videos that gets employed on my everyday motorcycle riding. Very grateful for that.
Beyond this, I do have a question that I haven't been able to truly answer - How does one feel grip? We all know what grip feels like under your feet but how does one quantify or measure the felt grip on a motorcycle?
Guess who's question just got added to the list to get it's own video!
@ Looking forward to this! Means much.
Excellent tutorial on tires! I always strive to remind myself to exercise caution when taking turns and going around curves. I can't say how many times this has saved me because it allowed me to make corrections before a mishap could happen.
Your video reassures me that I have been doing the right thing. I have practiced caution with turning and cornering even with good tires and correct tire pressure under what others may perceive as optimum road conditions for tire grip.
Overconfidence in turns and cornering... kills. Listening to what your bike and tires are telling allows you more control and time to make necessary corrections when required.
A lot of great points. The tires I question the most are adventure and dual sport tires. I accept the compromise if the ride I set out on is mixed surfaces but if my days ride is just pavement I hate the compromise. I'd rather have multiple small bikes with an assortment of tires suitable for different trips than one big powerful adventure bike with compromise tires that suck on the road, in the dirt or in both places. The motorcycle math tells me I need more bikes. Have to trust the math.
My old '91 kwacka has very low pressure specs, but tires have come a long way. My new michelin road 6's have a much higher recommendation. Gues I'll scrub them in at recommended and then experiment.
That’s a tough one because your bike probably came with bias ply tires. If michelin lists a pressure recommendation for your bike, I’d be inclined to start with that number.
@@CanyonChasers thanks, that might be a good idea!
Great video, I ride in the PNW, with cool, wet roads most of the time I run a softer tire. It has helped my confidence in corners, this particular type of tire has been reported to me to not hold up well in the heat and the road conditions of the the SW.
Quality tires area a great starting point for good traction, again great video! Thank you!
Awesome video! Very informative and well presented. Best!
Glad you liked it!
Everyone pay attention. This message was explained very well. Good job! Great video!
I think "the correct tire pressure" is a very broad understanding. If you compare the bike manual, tire manufacturer specs and all the rider recommendations for a particular bike you get like a 100 different results.
I’m double dark side on my Goldwing and love it! That really gets most riders worked up.
My GSXR750 on Pirellis sticks like a gecko, but I'm always afraid to explore the limit of them. Hopefully a track day at Brainerd will help me talk to it more directly. I try to leave a 30% overhead for safety on the road. Lots of debris and unpredictability!
I read the book 📖 you recommended for track and street lessons, made me such a more confident rider
What's the book?
I just bought my kawasaki 650 and to be honest im scared to do corners because i felt like my tires will slipped,so after watching your video i think i have to trust my bike from now on
Always top quality content! Always makes me learn stuff. Everytime I go out to ride which is weekends I change my tire pressure. On weekdays its the standard set for the R3 which is 29f - 36r, but when I go out to ride i change it to for the Pirelli Diablo Rosso III i Found 27f to be best and 34r gives me all the confidence. But when i switched to Shinko, it would be -3 which is 26f and 33r. Setting it before going out to ride the twisties is really confidence inspiring.
Excellent explanation about importance’s of the riders thinking and input to gain confidence. I shall be incorporating this into my delivery of training to instructors and students. Thank you.
On my first bike, 2018 sv650 i remember hearing everyone complain about the factory Dunlop roadsmart iii tires. I had it in my head that i needed a spicy tire, so the next spring, I got a set of Dunlop q3+.
I gave the barely used roadsmart iii to a friend who was riding on worn and weather cracked tires. That season, we rode together several times, and my old tires did everything I did and more as they had great overall behavior. The q3+ were awful in the cold, when cold and especially damp and wore out quickly. I didn't have the skills to use the performance they were capable of.
Such a shame because the Roadsmart 3s are great sports touring tires. I actually specifically got these on my SV because mine came with shitty Dunlop Qualifiers from the factory. (Weird, was also a '18)
@@bhok1971 I put Roadsmart iii on my VFR800 that replaced my sv.
New street rider, appreciate the info. Thanks for taking the time to make the video.
Good content. Always enjoy your stuff.
I appreciate that!
Your channel should be recommended viewing for any new biker. How you do anything is how you do everything. You provide so many helpful insights that are easy to implement when you're still getting familiar with your own bike.
You should seriously consider making a ten chapter Udemy course about how to ride your first bike, covering maintenance, safety and handling etc. I'm sure many people would pay money to know they're starting the relationship with their bike on a good note.
You know it's amazing how the pressure fluctuates in the winter and summer! I always check ✅ for the correct pressure. And a good set of Michelin Road 's makes me feel very secure in the Twisties!
Could you possibly do a short video on how to properly set the tire pressure? Like when to do it, how to do it, etc.? There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about that, whether we are talking about motorcycle tires or car tires. I used to work for a motorcycle tire manufacturer and you would not believe how many phone calls and e-mails we got about that.
I agree, but just properly checking the TP that you are preparing to ride, is not enough, as you can pickup nails and cuts within a few miles after starting your trip
@@LeeVeness What does this even mean? How does the possibility of picking up nails and cuts within a few miles after starting your trip have anything to do with properly checking the TP before preparing to ride?
You say it's 'not enough'. What specific action(s) am I supposed to take before preparing to ride to deal with the possibility of these rogue nails and cuts that I might pickup within a few miles of starting my trip? How is that not a possibility at any time in the trip? Or not more likely when the tire is warm later in the trip than when it is cold early in the trip and will likely repel debris rather than conform to it?
I've had a flat halfway through an 800 mile straight through trip. Now the hole was probably there before because my pressure had been constantly going low over the few months prior. If you mean you should check your tire for nails and cuts prior to starting a trip (and at the same time as you check pressure (logically speaking)), it would make sense, mostly because you could have picked these things up on your last trip. Even so, unless you're having unexplained pressure drops, you're probably more safe than not. But saying just checking you're pressure (properly) is 'not enough' because some future possibility of tire damage that you can't do anything about before you encounter the possibility is nonsense.
It comes off like you have some special knowledge that no one else knows. If that's the case, why wouldn't you share and explain what things we need to do that will 'be enough'?
Unless I'm unlearned that some magical time in the first few miles of my trip makes me susceptible to picking up nails and cuts and that I'm not susceptible to that at all times (and the magical prior action(s) I need to take that will prevent it, even though it is either chance or an in moment action that would actually prevent it) 🤷
I have been riding for many years. I'm pretty picky when it comes to tires, I'm also very careful with the pressure I personally use... many brands of tires have been on my bikes. Pirelli Diablo Rosso 4 's are Bliss!!
For me when I go through the Twisties, these tires do it for me!
Can't argue with you. I'm a huge fan of those tires myself.
I agree with the Rosso 4
Awesome information as usual! Great info and refresher!
At 12:45 when you make the comparison "to verify if the tires are listening" is an excellent metaphor. I like that. Also, the wide shot of the three of you on the canyon road; do you usually ride at a sane pace like that? I have a Z900 which is capable of things I can't do, but I do like a quick pace sometimes. Thanks for the video.
Excellent presentation that makes a whole lot of sense thanks Man
This is a great video. Thank you. For me, looking back to my racing days (basically all of the 80’s, working up to the Australian Superbike Series). Initially, I didn’t know a lot about tyres, I simply had faith in how my team set the bike up purely based on feedback. In the initial category I raced in was purely production 250 cc, where you raced on street legal tyres. Brands etc didn’t mean anything to me. I just focused on getting the quickest lap times as I could possibly achieve. Looking back I also was somewhat blind that when starting out I’d use a set well past when they should’ve been replaced. Today, perhaps it’s a mental thing as I pay more attention to this and perhaps if I did back then I possibly wouldn’t have been as quick as I wouldn’t have had that blind faith.
paraphrasing, but a great takeaway for me: we need to be having a conversation with our bike, not an argument. smooth, controlled, intentional. not abrupt or aggressive.
that’s my new riding motto, conversation not an argument. hell it works for real life too!
Une bonne philosophie. !
Real informative stuff. I got myself updated. Thanks.
As always I enjoy the tune (although it plays for a short while) at the end of the video.
Everytime I try a new music bit, folks complain they want the old one back. Haha!
@@CanyonChasers What's the name of the tune?
No name. It was something a buddy did for us in our early days of UA-cam. Maybe 2009 or something.
@@CanyonChasers I am requesting one more time as I did before too. Can your buddy share the mp3 file of the tune. I will make it my phone tune as well as popularize it in India 😀. Looking forward to
I've got a Kawasaki Z400 with stock tires (thet being something by Dunlop) a couple of years ago, felt a couple of times my rear wheel slipping away on corners or when making a turn over tram rails. During the first service complained about this to my mechanic and he suggested to replace them with tires from Michelin (not an add, just personal experience), and boy, they're definitely gripping far better in my noob opinion.
5:45 I did this in a PC shop but I fix and build PC's as a side gig so it wasn't out of arrogance but I know what I am doing
Superbly informative video as always buddy. Keep em coming and keep saving lives. Respect. Steve UK.
Your explanations are as good as they get. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
I don't normally use my front brake in a corner. I'll try to do it more, but there is the complications of the throttle and the front brake on the same control. I've also had the front tire slide or wash out when you don't want it to.
So much great information. I love learning from your videos! Great job brother, looking forward to the next one.