Air Pressure?

[Guiness63]

I have an 09 XB12SS. I was in a hard, off the bike lean the other day and the front tire got pretty squirley in the corner. I was able to save it but it was shaking back and forth in the corner. I am 6' 200 lbs, I am running bout 36lbs in front and rear on pilot power 2ct's. I was wondering what air pressure to run or if it's a suspension thing?

 

[Miami78]

Sounds right for the pressure, have you tuned the suspension for your weight yet?

 

[Guiness63]

Miami, I thought i had it dialed in until the other day. My "chicken scratch" is all but gone on the rear. This was def. the deepest lean yet though.

 

[Miami78]

Maybe it was just a fluke then...inconsistency in the surface of the road or small debris or something along those lines...

If it keeps happening I'd start with adjustments to the suspension.

 

[Guiness63]

Thanks Miami. I will try some different road and see what happens.

 

[bttrfngrz]

i would stiffen up your rebound and your compression dampening, it doesn't make for a very comfortable ride but at least your stable in the corners

this is a chart i tune my bike by.
http://www.steveturnbull.co.uk/buell/thexbpages/xbhandling.htm

this is also a good thread for suspension fine tuning
gator buell has a great write up.

http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-Forum/Do-It-Yourself-Buell-Mods/Suspension-fine-tunning-guide

 

[bttrfngrz]

also a steering dampener might be your answer,

i race my buell on a flat race track and i experience intro and exit-corner head shake and i've got my suspension dialed in. and that can only get fixed by a dampener.

 

[delta one]

I have started to have this happen as well

suspension is dialed in and pressures are all proper (I run 40/42 when school is in session because of all the extra crap I carry with me on the bike I'm close to 300lbs with books gear and my fat ass, last semester I had over 65lbs of college gear to commute with),
what changed was how hard I was riding.
this year I have gotten very comfortable and confident in the 'ol girl so I have been starting to push much harder in the corners.

my cure? pilot power pure!
the road 2's just took way to long to get warm (my commute was nearly over by the time they got up to temp but in reality it was only about 10 min) not enough braking traction when cold (I have the cold cracking to prove it)

but for a high millage tire I cannot complain one bit, 6,000+ miles and still lots of tread left. not to mention the best tire I have ever used in the wet, and that's by a massive margin.

 

[bttrfngrz]

hmm i was under the influnce Pilot Power2ct's have the same side compound as pure's side compound

oh and btw i dont like pilot roads they do take forever to warm up. the cool thing about pilot powers and power pure's is they have fantastic cold grip.

 

[delta one]

my single compound powers seemed to bite as hard or harder than the road 2's
but I don't think I was riding them quite as hard.

my issue with the power 2ct's is that have a very narrow section of soft compound on them, narrow enough I wouldn't put it to proper use on the street.

I chose the road 2's for wet grip and a wide second compound but warm up time killed me with my commute. the powers were great in the dry but when it got wet they just SUCK especially down town where there is a larger amount of oil on the roads.

so I went with the pure's this time around, I'll have them mounted some time this week.

 

[bttrfngrz]

you know the second compound is something like only 15 percent on each side on the rear and a bit more for the front. but i am getting pures next cuz i've been riding pilot race slicks around and i've maybe gotten 500 miles out of them and the tread indacators are gone already. incredible traction but not a very long life. at all.

 

[kalifornia]

shaking back and forth

a wee bit vague, but try a different road

 

[Guiness63]

bttrfngrz, thanks for the thread post. the headshake you were experiancing is quite similar to what i was. my entry into the corner was solid but the headshake started bout midway through. i'm def gonna toy with the suspension. worst case if i need to i'll get a dampener so i can take the corners like i want to.

 

[delta one]

you know the second compound is something like only 15 percent on each side on the rear and a bit more for the front.

via the Michelin web page

road 2's 40% rear 20% front

power 2ct 11% rear 10% front

pure 40% rear 25% front

 

[bttrfngrz]

see thats why pures are badass. i knew i shouldn't be making memory calls that late at night.

 

[delta one]

I am told the pures will also wear in nice and fast too. It was about 600 miles before I lost the greasy feeling on the road 2's even with a big fat section of dual compound on the shoulder.

I forgot to tell you to check your steering head bearings too.

 

[Fock347]

had the same problem , had my bike tuned for my weight. turned out i had a blown fork seal that was barly leaking but enough over time to cause all the fluid to empty out. good thing to do is check the fork oil level. if youve tried everything else

 

[delta one]

whats the fastest and most simple way to check the fork fluid? I have been worried about a leak ever since I saw a small puddle under my forks but never saw any fluid again so most tell me its fine, but I want to be sure.

 

[TooFst]

You would know if u had a leak cuz there would be puddles by your front tire. Anyway sounds to me like your suspension might b too stiff and your front tire was hopping around the corner. 35-36 psi is perfect.

 

[delta one]

you are right on mine, I backed out compression damping and had a little better tracking but I still have tire adhesion issues. the two tire drift I had with everything dialed in followed by a low frequency wobble at corner exit was all the tires.

the pressures are up that high because when they are lower the front tire starts to cup and the steering gets heavy. backpacks trow everything way off.