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dad -> RE: Figured out the slow steering 96 CBR (7/27/2006 1:25:58 AM)
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The handling will be fine and so will the braking.... up until you brake so hard that the front wants to lock. At that point you'll not have the tire traction to match the braking and it WILL lock... on dry pavement... and with a howl that you'd swear could only come from a tractor trailer. Better be quick with that brake hand at that point 'cause you don't get time to ponder what to do when the front locks. Drop the pressure down and you can lighten the rear enough to lift the tire off the ground. To quote the infamous Ron White, "I know... I seen me do it!"[:D] Both lock it, from overinflated by 2 PSI trying to get additional mileage on a highway trip, and then lift it at or slightly below Honda recommended pressures.
And if you really want to stop the thing, most decent street rubber can be dropped to about 32. (Unless they're Diablo Corsa's, then 34, or Michelin Pilot Races where you can go all of the way down to the 20's.)[:o] They don't overheat at those lowered pressures but do wear faster and would only be necessary if you're riding like you never should on the street. For the street, Honda's recommendations are actually a pretty darn good balance of performance and optimum wear. Go figure.[;)]
A track tire vendor can tell you what will work best with the brands he sells and yes, they will be even lower than the factory recommended, and yes, they stick much better. And also, I DO use a tire pyrometer to measure my temps at the track and have done it on the street just to prove out a few things for myself. This IS something I have some experience with that exceeds the average bear.
And for the record, thirty-seven years street riding, twenty to twenty-five thousand miles a year typical, and over 120,000 miles on exactly one of these bikes (1990) running the wheels off it all over the country on the street, and occasionally on the track.
Additionally for the record, my preferred tire on this bike is a Diablo Corsa, inflated to 36 front and 42 rear on the street, and 34 front and 36 rear on the track. For street only, Diablo's are pretty nice, too. On the old Dunlop 207's which I used to run, I used to drop 3 pounds each end on the street for a hard twisty ride to stop the slides I was experiencing, standard otherwise, but 32 front and 34 rear on the track. And that was because that was what performed best all around. (You can drop a little more on a lighter bike.) And when Dunlop quit the 207's and went to the 208's, I went as low as 30/30 at the track on my one and only set of those, and when they still didn't work well, just melted, I quit running Dunlops.
There's a load of stuff I wasn't going to get into but I felt compelled.[;)] I can do more.[:D]
Bonus points: Guess at what temperature a Diablo Corsa gets greasy. It'll probably surprise you. It still amazes me what these things take.
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