Any Input On Front And Rear Tire Pressure??

[SMC]

I guess I am more cautious then most and pretty much stuck to the manual and keep my front @ 36 psi and my rear @ 42 psi

 

[Bounce]

I guess I am more cautious then most and pretty much stuck to the manual and keep my front @ 36 psi and my rear @ 42 psi

The mfgr recommendations are when you're running OEM tires. If you switch to a different tire change PSI for the different design.

 

[leebunyard]

Running 42/42 psi on the Avons on my '04 FJR. Currently approaching 13,000 miles on the tires, estimate will get around 13,500 miles before fully hitting wear bars front and rear. VERY minor cupping on front tire. New Avons already in garage ready to go on shortly. OEM Bridgestone BT-020's went 10,745 miles running at 40/40 psi. Replaced before fully hitting wear bars.

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California

 

[twowheelnut]

Currently approaching 13,000 miles on the tires, estimate will get around 13,500 miles before fully hitting wear bars front and rear. 

How the hell do you get that kinda mileage? My Avons were toast at 6,500 miles and I don't ride that hard... Your roads felt covered or sumpin' up in the mountains?

 

[Shadowfax]

I'm running Metzeler Z4 and use 36f/38r. Two track days at Road America and 8300 miles and the rear is almost to the center wear indicator. Front looks new, but I don't have an actual new one to compare to.

 

[madmike2]

Currently approaching 13,000 miles on the tires, estimate will get around 13,500 miles before fully hitting wear bars front and rear. 

How the hell do you get that kinda mileage? My Avons were toast at 6,500 miles and I don't ride that hard... Your roads felt covered or sumpin' up in the mountains?

I wonder if it has something to do with the helium he fills his tires with? And he may not carry the loads our bikes do (well, mine anyway, considering my present, er, ah, ahem, girth.).

 

[rogdeb]

When I installed my 1st set of Avons I called Avon about their recommended pressures for the FJR.

Quoted me 36f 40r for solo

38f 42r 2 up ---------- up to 43r with a full load in the bags.

This is just me saying what I was quoted by the Avon tire guy. B)

10,500 on the last set of tires.

 

[shuswaper]

Currently approaching 13,000 miles on the tires, estimate will get around 13,500 miles before fully hitting wear bars front and rear. 

How the hell do you get that kinda mileage? My Avons were toast at 6,500 miles and I don't ride that hard... Your roads felt covered or sumpin' up in the mountains?

...c`mon guys, if I can get 20,000 kms out of a set of stones (@max air pressure), I`m sure Leebun. can get 13.5k miles on his Avons. It`s not rocket science! :assasin:

 

[odot]

I run 32 in the front and 28 in the back. So I can brag about not having any chicken strips.

 

[leebunyard]

"Currently approaching 13,000 miles on the tires, estimate will get around 13,500 miles before fully hitting wear bars front and rear."

How the hell do you get that kinda mileage? My Avons were toast at 6,500 miles and I don't ride that hard... Your roads felt covered or sumpin' up in the mountains?

LOL. I got 10,745 miles out of the OEM Bridgestones and they were not fully at the wear bars when I replaced them, probably could have gone at least 11,500 miles. 99% of my FJR riding is solo, so that's probably a big factor in getting high mileage on the tires (my wife prefers to ride on my GL1200 when we plan to ride two up). Only about 10% of my FJR riding is city stop and go, about 60% is high speed highway and the other 30% is mountain twisties. My son and I also have GSXR sportbikes and we consistently get much better tire wear mileage than most of our other sportbike riding friends, even though we ride more aggressively than most of them. My son and I have done a lot of amateur road racing and off road dirtbike racing where there's a lot of emphasis placed on smooth throttle control--that's probably the biggest factor. No jackrabbit starts or stops, just aggressive riding with very smooth throttle input. We also ride a lot on asphalt roads, which, according to an article I read awhile back, are the least wearing road surfaces for tires, with concrete roads being among the worst. Probably all of those are factors in getting high tire wear mileage.

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California

 

[Grumpy]

Seems to me that there are really two factors not considered here, namely rider weight and type of aggregate used in the pavement. As a "heavyweight" who rides 2 up about 1/2 the time, I rarely get more than 7,000 miles out of a rear tire regardless of brand. Of course the local roads here in Western North Carolina usually use crushed granite as the aggregate which is great for wet traction, but hard on tire life.....motorcycle or car.

Jim

 

[twowheelnut]

Hmmm, thanks Lee. Your racing background prolly 'splains most. I don't ride two-up on the FJR - yet, as I can't convince the SO that she'll be as comfy as on the GL1800. I ain't the lightest guy around, prolly 225 lbs, suited... Must be the ambient road temp down hear that melts the rubber faster... :dntknw:

 

[rogdeb]

Must be the ambient road temp down hear that melts the rubber faster... :dntknw:

Yeah!!

That's it

 

[gr8eyes]

I did a track day at Barber, Reg Pridmore school, on the FJR. It certainly isn't a track bike but I was trying to learn how to be a better street rider. The track seemed a good place to do that. I had a blast, but of course I wasn't "racing". Several of us surprized alot of the guys on liter bikes and 600cc bikes though. There were 4-5 of us there on FJR's.

Speaking of tire pressures Reg made us lower the pressures to 32-34 cold.

I'm assuming to get a larger contact patch and better grip.

Glenn

 

[weekend rider]

What pressure do you run if you use helium???

 

[madmike2]

It depends on how light you want the bike! :blink:

 

[MrT]

I'd have to agree with the 'nut' -- Reading these kinds of high mileage figures makes my FJR purchase sound more valuable. On my former 750cc running Pirelli Sport Demons (PSI: 38f - 42r), average mileage was only 3,000 to 3,500 miles. It seems my buddies on Honda sport bikes are getting about the same or slightly more. Maybe it's our Pennysylvania/West Virginia roads, or as someone mentioned, uneven throttle control. Sounds like everyone in this thread is pretty close on running about 42 psi in the back (at least for heavier riders) so the main issue becomes front tire pressure.

No one said very much about the stickiness of various tire compounds -- a friend steered me to high mileage cold caps on a pickup truck years ago, but the first time a panic stop was required on a wet road the tires didn't have any traction. Fortunately I braked early.

No one said anything about tires losing one to two pounds of pressure per month, so frequent checks are especially important for those who like to just get on and go.

 

[Fastfar]

Feh! I ride 80% twisties 10% city 10% slab, and I ride a consistant brisk pace. I get about 4000 miles on the Avon front - ground the shoulders down on mountain chip-and-seal roads, going to make 5k on the Avon rear with the center wearing slightly ahead of the shoulders.

38F - 40R feels great on the tight and gritty roads I frequent (see avatar pic) and I know I am trading mileage for stiction... but it's a fair trade. k:

And as for taking an FJR to the track...why the heck not??? I would take the bags off though.

 

[MrT]

Roads we ride tend to be slightly more improved 2-lanes than the one in the photo, but we do ride some country roads here and there as well.