The "Today I did something to my bike" thread

Wonda-Boy

I was a PR tyre man all my biking life....until I got the Metzeler Roadtec 01s. I found them much better then the pr4 and pr5.

Give them a try.

The Nutty M

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

I was a PR tyre man all my biking life....until I got the Metzeler Roadtec 01s. I found them much better then the pr4 and pr5.

Give them a try.

I'd a bad experience with a Z8 on the old busa so they wouldn't be for me. But as again it's down to personal preference and confidence.
If the confidence is not there in a corner then you're goosed.

zubair

The Nutty M wrote: »

I'd a bad experience with a Z8 on the old busa so they wouldn't be for me. But as again it's down to personal preference and confidence.
If the confidence is not there in a corner then you're goosed.

Similar experience for me, won't buy metz again, they're probably fine and the 01 is well reviewed but I was done with them. Don't get me started on Bridgestones.

Best tyres going for normal riding and wet weather are the pr4, r5 and dunlop rs3.

Wonda-Boy

Reason I went with metz is that every single generation of PR tyre after the 2s scallop on the front (its a weird groove ingrained the more you ride) It's a known problem as they get the compound softer...was talking to the rep at the NEC bike show and he knew exactly what I was on about.

But yeah Bridgestone I would not ever get.

I am impressed by the Pirelli Scorpions on the KTM they heat up really fast and so far grip has been very good.... Need more rain riding to really see how they handle but all things considered statistically you only lose 3-4% grip in the wet (not counting diesel and wet man hole covers etc) so id say I am good.

listermint

zubair wrote: »

Similar experience for me, won't buy metz again, they're probably fine and the 01 is well reviewed but I was done with them. Don't get me started on Bridgestones.

Best tyres going for normal riding and wet weather are the pr4, r5 and dunlop rs3.

Riding Bridgestones 3 years now and they give me acres of confidence after terrible experience with Michelin anakees.

I think tyres can be entirely personal as can be demonstrated from above comments.

My next set will be Bridgestone again. I drive all year round all conditions and the BTs have never let me down

zubair

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

Reason I went with metz is that every single generation of PR tyre after the 2s scallop on the front

I find a lot of fronts scallop on me. probably because of all the straight line riding. PR4s scallop the worst, even the Dunlops scalloped but the R5s seem fine so far and are squaring, I think they'll be down to TWI before they scallop but that's more down to being a softer tyre with a shorter lifespan. I'd take that over scalloping.

listermint wrote: »

Riding Bridgestones 3 years now and they give me acres of confidence after terrible experience with Michelin anakees.

I think tyres can be entirely personal as can be demonstrated from above comments.

My next set will be Bridgestone again. I drive all year round all conditions and the BTs have never let me down

I wonder if the difference is because they are adventure tyres.

listermint

zubair wrote: »

I find a lot of fronts scallop on me. probably because of all the straight line riding. PR4s scallop the worst, even the Dunlops scalloped but the R5s seem fine so far and are squaring, I think they'll be down to TWI before they scallop but that's more down to being a softer tyre with a shorter lifespan. I'd take that over scalloping.




I wonder if the difference is because they are adventure tyres.

Bridgestone BT would be classified as touring not adventure. That obviously means road tyre so I don't believe that's the reason if you look at the profile etc nothing about it says adventure

zubair

But the Anakees are adventure tyres aren't they? So are you comparing adventure tyres to road/ touring?

Emmersonn

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

I am impressed by the Pirelli Scorpions on the KTM they heat up really fast and so far grip has been very good.... Need more rain riding to really see how they handle but all things considered statistically you only lose 3-4% grip in the wet (not counting diesel and wet man hole covers etc) so id say I am good.

Have to agree with you on the Scorpions. I'm on my second set of these on a Super Tenere. Changed them at just shy of 8000 kms . More grip than I need wet or dry. I was a committed Tourance user until they started coming from China and the quality dropped off.(and no it was not in my head) I usually put up around 30k per year and am doing that for longer than i will admit. LOL. On my FJR I am using Angel GTs and again I am very happy with them. Usually change them between 7 and 8k Klm.

listermint

zubair wrote: »

But the Anakees are adventure tyres aren't they? So are you comparing adventure tyres to road/ touring?

The anakees came with the bike. Theyre a road tyre with adventure capabilities. They're not a straight up off road tyre.

They are ****e though

To be clear I'm comparing the BTs to the two sets of BTS before them. Grip for days. Never an issue and as I said I drive entire year round. Mix of rural L roads N roads and motorways.

I don't see the problem with Bridgestones to be frank. I put about 25k plus km on the bike per year and not granddad miles.

Blanchy90

I put a new led headlight on my bike last week an the new saddle arrived today, I'll get some pics up when its on

Wonda-Boy

Crash bars and new saddle en route.....order placed for new exhaust....think I am done then.

blade1

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

think I am done then.

I recall saying something similar 30 years ago

D3V!L

I spent a day pulling my Ultra Limited apart to install a GPS tracker. It's time consuming but very simple and straight forward. The great thing about the different model ranges from HD is they all follow the same basic design.

H_Lime

D3V!L wrote: »

I spent a day pulling my Ultra Limited apart to install a GPS tracker. It's time consuming but very simple and straight forward. The great thing about the different model ranges from HD is they all follow the same basic design.

Cool. How does the tracker work?

D3V!L

H_Lime wrote: »

Cool. How does the tracker work?

It's a Biketrac, its using GPS, radio and phone networks. Costs €12 a month and is well worth it.

zubair

D3V!L wrote: »

It's a Biketrac, its using GPS, radio and phone networks. Costs €12 a month and is well worth it.

Link plx!

Also, spotted this today and it gave me a chuckle. :-)

D3V!L

They have a UK and Irish site. https://biketrac.ie/ . The live monitoring is very well done. You're called within seconds of an event.

"Betsy the Bus" aka my Ultra Limited is on a diet this week because she's too fat. I'll post pics later

D3V!L

Seems I'm on garage duty this week. My wife hasn't even turned on her R Nine T let alone driven it in about 6 weeks and guess what ?? The battery is so dead it won't take a charge.

The process for removing the battery is about 90 minutes of dismantling !! I honestly don't know how BMW decided this was a good idea. I'll post a pick of the very stripped down bike later. It's terrifying.

H_Lime

Anyone running the michelin road 5 trail?
In comparison to the pr4' s who have behaved A1 is there any negatives? Profile similar? Turn in any sharper?

All this talk of scalloping has me jittery. 10k kms on pr4's has the rear a couple hundred ks away from the indicator. Could get away with keeping the front (basic wear nothing untoward) but these days I don't rack up miles and change as a set.

Wonda-Boy

KTM Powerparts saddle and crash bars on....seat does make a difference alright but its wider and taller. Really would not want to be vertically challenged on the 1290 I tell ya.

Glad I got the orange it ties in well with the front as the black bars would have done nothing for the bike.

[URL="[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb4F4a][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48684282507_17d4f54b02_h.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb4F4a]KTM 1290[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/wonda3oy/]Gary L[/url], on Flickr"][/url]KTM 1290 by Gary L, on Flickr

[URL="[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb3NZm][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48684114086_9d5ee45d9b_h.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb3NZm]KTM 1290[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/wonda3oy/]Gary L[/url], on Flickr"][/url]KTM 1290 by Gary L, on Flickr

[URL="[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb3PKu][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48684116646_f90b7c286e_h.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb3PKu]KTM 1290[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/wonda3oy/]Gary L[/url], on Flickr"][/url]KTM 1290 by Gary L, on Flickr

[URL="[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb3Ngx][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48684111661_a1f4c612a0_h.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hb3Ngx]KTM 1290[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/wonda3oy/]Gary L[/url], on Flickr"][/url]KTM 1290 by Gary L, on Flickr

listermint

D3V!L wrote: »

Seems I'm on garage duty this week. My wife hasn't even turned on her R Nine T let alone driven it in about 6 weeks and guess what ?? The battery is so dead it won't take a charge.

The process for removing the battery is about 90 minutes of dismantling !! I honestly don't know how BMW decided this was a good idea. I'll post a pick of the very stripped down bike later. It's terrifying.

Why don't you have a trickle charge line installed in it .


Seems ridiculous not to if the bike gets infrequent use

D3V!L

listermint wrote: »

Why don't you have a trickle charge line installed in it .


Seems ridiculous not to if the bike gets infrequent use

It's a new garage and theres no power in it yet. Lesson learned I think . €80 for a new battery.

scudster

D3V!L wrote: »

It's a new garage and theres no power in it yet. Lesson learned I think . €80 for a new battery.

Just hook another battery to it for a while to get some charge back into it. Then try the charger again.

Wonda-Boy

scudster wrote: »

Just hook another battery to it for a while to get some charge back into it. Then try the charger again.

Depending on the battery type if it gets discharged too much there is no way back from the flat state no matter what you do.

D3V!L

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

Depending on the battery type if it gets discharged too much there is no way back from the flat state no matter what you do.

Yep , it was beyond charging. It wasn't even registering with one of the chargers .

Hotblack Desiato

These so-called "smart" chargers need a minimum voltage level to charge.
So you could have a battery which can be recovered, but the "smart" charger refuses to charge it (unless it has a sulphated battery recovery mode)

Otherwise you're better off with a good old fashioned transformer-based dumb charger in this scenario

I'm sure someone mentioned here before about connecting a 6V sealed lead acid battery they had lying around in series with their bike battery. This brought the voltage up enough to convince the "smart" charger to start doing its bloody job and after a while they could disconnect the 6V battery

D3V!L

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

These so-called "smart" chargers need a minimum voltage level to charge.
So you could have a battery which can be recovered, but the "smart" charger refuses to charge it (unless it has a sulphated battery recovery mode)

Otherwise you're better off with a good old fashioned transformer-based dumb charger in this scenario

I'm sure someone mentioned here before about connecting a 6V sealed lead acid battery they had lying around in series with their bike battery. This brought the voltage up enough to convince the "smart" charger to start doing its bloody job and after a while they could disconnect the 6V battery

We have a couple of "smart chargers" , they did nothing. Then I connected it up to old faithful, my 12 year old Saito charger. It was left on overnight and nothing.

Herself picked up a new battery from Battery World and it'll be dropped into the bike this weekend. The R Nine T is up for sale at the moment because she doesn't use it.

Hotblack Desiato

I can offer four grand, cash *spits on hand* :pac:

listermint

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

I can offer four grand, cash *spits on hand* :pac:

I can drive it for free and wash it. I can return it each weekend.


free wash, whats not to like.