Squirlley through turns

[Ridgerunner1061]

Thank you all for responding. There is a lot of useful information in this thread. Today is Veteran's Day and I dropped the bike off at the shop to have Power Pilot 2ct's installed along with a couple of other things. It will be Thanksgiving weekend before I can ride again to dial in the suspension. I do like the idea of hitting some of these turns in second and 11,000 r's. Uusually I will hit them in about third, maybe 4th not paying attention to the r's. I choose the Michellin's because they are supposed to be ok cold and since I am a mountain/canyon rider heading into winter it seemed like the best choice. If they last one season and I can have great rides through the mountains I will be happy.

It probably won't happen until March but I am looking forward to taking hwy 38 to 138 to the 2 in Southern California. Right now 2 is still shutdown from the station fire.

Thanks again everyone for your help. Very much aprreciated.


I have a 2006 FZ 6 with 19,000 miles on it. Over the past three rides the rear tire has tried to was out on me through some long sweeping turns.

I am running on Metzler Roadtec z6 tires with 45 pounds in the back and 36 pounds of air in the front and the tires have 2,000 miles on it. The back ends slides out so often I am loosing confidence in the bike. Any ideas on a cure?

 

[Kilbane83]

45lbs in the rear is really high. Depending on how much baggage you're carrying, I'd drop it down to ~33front/36 rear. That's about what I run and I'm 255lbs. Also, again depending on your weight stiffen up the rear shock. I run mine at 6. Do both of those and you'll feel a HUGE difference.

Btw Welcome to the forum :thumbup:

 

[ozzieboy]

I have a 2006 FZ 6 with 19,000 miles on it. Over the past three rides the rear tire has tried to was out on me through some long sweeping turns.

I am running on Metzler Roadtec z6 tires with 45 pounds in the back and 36 pounds of air in the front and the tires have 2,000 miles on it. The back ends slides out so often I am loosing confidence in the bike. Any ideas on a cure?

G'day mate. :welcome: to the forum

I'm 100kg, and my cold pressures are 34 front/ 38 rear.

If you are lighter (80kg-ish) you might like to drop the front pressures a pound or so and the rear half a pound from these numbers.

The only time I change mine is for the track, where I drop the pressures 'cause they're gonna warm up more anyhow.

Hope this helps. :thumbup:

Cheers
Mike

 

[CCHOUSEKY]

To the OP, funny you ask this question.

On Wednesday of this past week, I had a set of Metzeler Z6 takeoffs put on my bike. They'd been used for two trackdays and one summer of riding, so about 2000 miles or so of use. They've still got more than 50% of the tread left.

Now, to the part that concerns you. The person that previously used these tires (a VERY good rider) asked what pressures I usually ran my tires on my FZ6 at. I told them, varying on conditions and load, anywhere in the recommended range of 33-36 lbs front, 36-42 rear. I'm a heavier rider (235 lbs), so I usually ran my tires in the upper part of this range. FYI, my rear shock is set to the stiffest setting (7).

She ran these tires on her 1st Gen FZ1 and said in order to get them to warm up to her liking, she would run them around 28 lbs front, 28-30 lbs rear. So, when we installed them on my bike, I set them slightly higher, at 32 lbs front, 33 lbs rear. I haven't gotten to ride on them much, but that seems to be a good range.

My point is, as previously mentioned, you are running the Z6's at WAY too high of pressures. I'd recommend you drop them back to the recommended range of the bike (again, 33-36 lbs front, 36-42 rear) and try it then. These are fairly hard tires and take a little while to warm up, so maybe try the low end of the range (33 front, 36 rear).

I think you'll find it makes a WORLD of difference. And just so you know, the problem you're experiencing is definitely related to the tire pressures and has nothing to do with the bike.

Try that and let us know how it feels. I'm really interested to see what your response is!

:thumbup:

*edit* Oh, and mine's a '06 with ~16,000 miles.

 

[RJ2112]

Just to make sure everything is tied to the same point of view... all these tire pressures are being quoted with the tires cold; as in less than a mile of riding. If you have the tire set to 45 psi cold, riding it will increase the pressure as the tire warms up and warm the air within... probably near 50 psi.

That balloon is stretched so tight, you probably have half the contact patch you're supposed to have.....

 

[Ridgerunner1061]

Thank you for the responses. This is great!!

I tooked the bike out for an 80 mile run through the Southern California mountains. The bike handled better but still went away on the return trip. I kept the tires warm but on the return trip the bike still tried to wash out.

I dropped the tire pressure to 37 pounds in the back and 33 pounds in the front. Also moved the shock setting from 8 to 5. I weigh 192 lbs and drive extensively through the mountains and cayons in California.

Is it possible that the tires have had to many heat cycles and are just stiffening up after riding for awhile??

 

[Wavex]

+1 on too high a tire pressure originally, but you should look at what the manufacturer's recommended pressure is for your tire/weight and start there. If it still slides around after that, you can try to lower it a bit, maybe 1-3psi, but if still no improvement, I'd start looking at your throttle control and form You might simply be pushing "it", and yourself a bit too much... slowing down always works

 

[RJ2112]

Thank you for the responses. This is great!!.................I dropped the tire pressure to 37 pounds in the back and 33 pounds in the front. Also moved the shock setting from 8 to 5. I weigh 192 lbs and drive extensively through the mountains and cayons in California............................

Ridgerunner..... where are you getting that many shock settings? As I recall it, the FZ6 has shock preload only, on a ramped collar that you can adjust. I remember there being 6 possible settings.

If you have the OEM rear shock, set it 'full hard'. I really think the development team thought everyone who will ride this bike weighs 120 lbs. I weight a bit more than you, varying between 190 and 210... and the suspension on the FZ6 was pretty lame before I had it worked on.

How many miles are on the tires?

Handling on a bike is a combination of the tires, and the suspension. Rider input can have a big effect on the results, too. The smoother the rider, the less action from the suspension, and the more time you spend going the way you want to.

If the back is still slithering around a bit, take your time and do your experiments one thing at a time. Figure out what improves the ride, and concentrate on improving on that.

Get us a photo of your tires..... what you see as pretty good may not be.:thumbup: If you have any oil on the sidewalls of your tire, that will definitely make things 'interesting' when you are leaned over, too.....

 

[DefyInertia]

Can you state what your throttle position, gear, and RPM were when this happened?

For example, WFO!, 2, 11,000. I'm assuming you were corning hard.