TKC80 dreadful handling at speed

[Kenny]

OK..I'm slightly stumped here.....I have fitted new correctly sized TKC 80's to my R100GS para....and now have a dreadful wave at 75 mph

Tyre pressures are 32F 36R and they have were balanced when fitted.

Only done 100 miles but they really are unerving ( should have listened to Rob). Tyres handle superbly up to the 70 mph mark.
Had them fitted to my previous two R80g/s and they were brilliant tyres without any problems at all

I had Conti Trail Attacks on this bike before the TKC80's were fitted and the bike ran superbly and wobble free at any speed !!

Heading back to the tyre fitters ( hopefully tomorrow ) to have the front wheel fitting/balancing re-checked.....but spinning the wheel shows the tyre is fitted well and at lower speeds I can easily ride the bike without holding onto the handlebars....it is just when I take the speed up to 75 mph that the dreadfull weave appears

 

[VAL. H.]

Kenny,

I run both the 100Gs and the 1200GS 27 psi front and 34 rear on road and lower off.

Don't forget to check the usual suspects ie; Steering, swing arm & para bearings.

Also, before you head off to the tyre fitter, it might be worth giving them 'and you' the chance to bed in. The fronts can feel very odd at first, as they give the initial impression of being very light.


Val.

PS: Jill's 100 has TKC's and there's no problems with weave, even with a hi front mudguard.

 

[mikyh]

Legal off road tires

What do you expect.
I had them for a long time in the past, and payed with uneasy jittery at high speed, enjoyed great traction off road.
Now I have Metzler Enduro 3 fitted, I can go up to 170 Kph (true digital) and still feel safe.

 

[Timpo]

Stay off the race track then Kenny..... they are fine at 70mph.

 

[brassmonkey001]

I've had the same in the past, it goes away after a few miles of use.

 

[Flipfly]

Listen to Val, tyre pressures are too high Kenny

 

[Rob Farmer]

Sounds like perfectly normal behaviour for TKCs if ride past 70 MPH.

BTW Kenny 70 IS the national speed limit

 

[bumpmuncher]

ah finally the truth about tkc's. they are great offroad and ok on the road unless you like making good progress on the motorway. so i take it from this a laden GS with tkc's at fast motorway speed is not a good idea ( well more of not a good idea than normal)

 

[Wookie]

On my 800gs i found these dreadful for the first 200miles. After that they wore down enough to be fine upto 80mph

steve

 

[JPR]

Checked your tyre pressure guage?

 

[England-Kev]

Nothing wrong with tyres, it's the inferior bike they are fitted too

 

[(RIP) maverick]

Been using TKC's for years and initially feels like you all over the road but it goes away. I pump the tyres just under the max pressure as it states on the sidewall off the tyre what ever the PSI is on there and when cold.

Rear tyres always gave me 6k miles or more and front up to 12k Some people get on with them others not at all.

 

[Michael R1150GS Adventure]

Been using TKC's for years and initially feels like you all over the road but it goes away. I pump the tyres just under the max pressure as it states on the sidewall off the tyre what ever the PSI is on there and when cold.

Rear tyres always gave me 6k miles or more and front up to 12k Some people get on with them others not at all.

Interesting - max psi?
Never tried that - will do that this weekend.

Yeah as everyone is saying, cant expect an off road tyre to behave normally on road!
Mine go wibbly at abotu 75mph fully loaded, at 80mph the biek is a freak and at 90mph I get off it.

 

[(RIP) maverick]

Interesting - max psi?
Never tried that - will do that this weekend.

Yeah as everyone is saying, cant expect an off road tyre to behave normally on road!
Mine go wibbly at abotu 75mph fully loaded, at 80mph the biek is a freak and at 90mph I get off it.

You know where it says maximum 38 PSI on the sidewall when cold. That is what I pump it to normally just below say 37.5 PSI. Never had a problem even on the HP2 at over 100mph

I think the harder the tyre is the longer it takes to wear as well. This is just how it worked for me over the past 6 years riding on TKC's. Might not be everyone's cup of tea

 

[Kenny]

Thanks Val...already checked everything ( well except fork oil ) before badgering the tyre fitter again
Took the pressure up to 36F 42R ( at their recommendation - same as my Fireblade) and that seems to have helped a little ( bleedin' traffic kept holding me up but havn't given her the full bifters yet...seems very high to me for 'knobblies' !! Went out on the 1100GS instead

 

[Shep]

The tyres won't have bedded in yet give them a chance

 

[Kenny]

My tyres have been on longer than your bodywork !!!

I know what you are saying, but the feckers are just not right and are trying to kill me...

 

[cookie]

you've got wobbly tyres on a bendy bike. doesn't seem too much of a surprise that they lower the speed at which the bike misbehaves

 

[(RIP) pastyman]

Kenny,when I had tkc,s on bertha I ran with 32 and 36 psi with no problems. I thing the anbswer lies elsewhwere.
I have a tape we used at the driving school showing a variety of bikes suffering weave at high speed. One was a 90s. They used tw riders, one a lightweight and the other a heavier guy. The lighter one always got weave while the other didnt. different tyres made little difference. some of the weave was dramatic and could only be controlled by the rider lying down on the tank and then slowing down. strapping a divers weight belt to the lighter ridser also eliminated the weave. As you are not in the heavyweight league I would suggest thgat you try this out. Get to the poiunt of the weave starting and lie down on the tank,see what happens. if it strops then try weighting up the bike, a passenger will do. If no weave then it is just your weight and you will probably have to either slow down or change tyres.
let me know if you would like a copy of the tape, on cd, its very interesting

 

[Rob Farmer]

Put Vern on it then you'll have tried both extremes of rider weight