Shep
Shep of the Dessert
Just thought i'd drop a line about tyre history on my 12gs
I picked up the bike (Ex demo 4000mls) it had Trailwings fitted,
I found out pretty quickly that I needed to keep the tyres warm to achieve any level of grip in the wet this caused a few problems as riding hard in the wet was never one of my strong points, they also cool down very quickly, even when stopped in traffic for any length of time.
In the dry the tyres were OK at best, a bit unstable at hi speed, on fast (100+) bends I suffered from slight understeer leading to a few heartstopping moments initially but once I got used to it it never caused a problem.
At 7000 miles I fitted a new rear (again a Trailwing to match the front) DISASTER!!!. Handling went totally to pieces, unstable in all departments, I stopped, checked tyre pressures, security of fasteners etc. but found nothing wrong. Put it down to the new tyre needing bedding in, this took about 1500mls when all of a sudden (over 2-300 miles) the handling returned the bike then behaved very well.
Yesterday 9200 miles I decided to replace the set as the front was starting to wear a bit too much to be ignored, i didn't fancy the trailwings again, so I fitted 020's.
What a difference! Totally stable in all departments so far, better on the brakes ( I could get the trailwings to skip even with gradually increasing pressure on the brakes, but with the 020's I have to snatch the brakes to bring the ABS in, not the way I ride normally, you understand, just for testing!) 5-50mph corners much improved with the bike showing a marked increase in speed of turn in. I had't thought of the 1200 as a slouch in the handling dept., but it just goes to show that you get used to what you've got!
High speed corners are now a pleasure with smooth, accurate progress more evident.
These first few hundred miles have been wet/greasy so I cant wait for the dry!
I'll report on wear rates in the future
Merry christmas too you all
See ya soon Shep
I picked up the bike (Ex demo 4000mls) it had Trailwings fitted,
I found out pretty quickly that I needed to keep the tyres warm to achieve any level of grip in the wet this caused a few problems as riding hard in the wet was never one of my strong points, they also cool down very quickly, even when stopped in traffic for any length of time.
In the dry the tyres were OK at best, a bit unstable at hi speed, on fast (100+) bends I suffered from slight understeer leading to a few heartstopping moments initially but once I got used to it it never caused a problem.
At 7000 miles I fitted a new rear (again a Trailwing to match the front) DISASTER!!!. Handling went totally to pieces, unstable in all departments, I stopped, checked tyre pressures, security of fasteners etc. but found nothing wrong. Put it down to the new tyre needing bedding in, this took about 1500mls when all of a sudden (over 2-300 miles) the handling returned the bike then behaved very well.
Yesterday 9200 miles I decided to replace the set as the front was starting to wear a bit too much to be ignored, i didn't fancy the trailwings again, so I fitted 020's.
What a difference! Totally stable in all departments so far, better on the brakes ( I could get the trailwings to skip even with gradually increasing pressure on the brakes, but with the 020's I have to snatch the brakes to bring the ABS in, not the way I ride normally, you understand, just for testing!) 5-50mph corners much improved with the bike showing a marked increase in speed of turn in. I had't thought of the 1200 as a slouch in the handling dept., but it just goes to show that you get used to what you've got!
High speed corners are now a pleasure with smooth, accurate progress more evident.
These first few hundred miles have been wet/greasy so I cant wait for the dry!
I'll report on wear rates in the future
Merry christmas too you all
See ya soon Shep
