Grooved freeways suck!

Ok I did all this work to make my bike better. Tires, springs, GV, head bearings. Rides great everywhere but on the dam freeway with those groves cut for water. My new tires are Avon Roadrider, by all accounts one of the best Bias plyes out there. MY old tires were Avon super venoms the older design. But man the old tires didn't wander no way near as bad as these new ones do. Is it the stiffer front end making it seem worse or the new soft compound tires(old ones were hard as rock). If my head bearings aren't tight enough would that compound the problem, show up more on those grooves? I only have 50 miles on the new rubber, might they get better after a few heat cycles? Any one else dealt with this? I heard a fork brace might help, guess I'll be ordering one Monday.

I know radials would be much better, but I'm not ready to do that swap yet.
Thanks guys

 

Yonan:

Totally normal, and some tyres are worse than others.

BZ

 

Yes, have to agree with Bubba, have to say that the Avon Road Riders are more prone to this, than my previous tyres BT 45's.
Going to try some others next time round maybe Continentals or Pirelli Sport Demons.
Will keep you posted
Cheers

 

Sport Demons do it to (wife's hawk gt has them).

As do both my cars. I just relax my grip, not fight it much, and let the odd nudges left/right happen.

So long as it's not trying to get unstable, you're fine. But remember that with the grooves, you have less pavement gripping the tires when you go to stop, and the grooves will tug even more when you're braking hard, so leave yourself extra room with the cars ahead.

 

Grooves suck but aquaplaning sucks worse.

 

You got that right! I've always used Dunlop tires(K81,590?,591). So when time came I bought a set of GT501's seeing they don't make K591's anymore(Great tire) I was on a trip and had to make big time getting there. I was doing about 90mph in the rain. (highway) I pulled out to pass a car and when I came back in I hit some of those longitudinal tar strips. Well the front tire went nut's with head shake so bad it woke me up big time! The previous tires never did that.

The 501 has a center groove and the side sipes only come to within about 1/4" from it. Which makes it slick like for about a 5/8" area across the center of the tread face. Center grooved tires suck period for this reason alone. No cross grip. The rear tire doesn't have a CG and the sipes cross the center line and works great. To bad they didn't make the front that way.

Myself and another guy from this site have to get tires for our 83,84 bikes. We were looking at the Avon's because of the abbreviated curved center lines. Seems like it acts just like a center grooved tire. So they're out for me. The next will most likely be the BT45's. I hope they have grip and work in the rain. But the front also has a curved center line.

Any other ideas for a bias ply that fits our bikes?

 

My .02 - its probrably worse now because NOW you actually have some traction with the new softer (NOT ROCK HARD) tires. Traction in this case is working against you.... sort of. Make sense ?

 

+1. The sticky rubber is grabbing everything it touches. Surprised you didn't crash on your old tires.

 

Passing in the rain at 90? Eeek!

Try some of the major tire websites for recommendations. Then again I am biased.

 

I think California freeeways suck anyway, HWY101 from ventura down to thousand oaks has that stupid groove bullsh*t. I havent taken the VFR on it yet but the old Suzuki wandered all over(in the lane I was in) I just let it go and kept as much control of it as I could. It wakes you up when your suddenly on the otherside of the lane!!!!

 

I had the Conti Road Attacks, and they grabbed all the grooves on the road. I now have the Mich. Pilot Road 2 tires. Hardly ever notice the grooves in the roads. Downside, they are a bit more expensive then most.

 

Even worse than grooves...I used to havea daily commute on Hwy 26 in Portland, OR where thay allow studded tires in the winter. You would have two major depression ground into the road from studded tires. It rains a lot here, and those would fill up with water. Not fun on a bike. Driving in a cage up that hwy, you could literally get your tires in the two depressions and take your hands off the stearing wheel and you stay in them around curves and such. It can be like auto pilot.

 

I have GT501s, and they wander as well (center stripe). I'll take a bit of wandering vs. a lot more traction in the rain. They other big advantage to the grooves I've noticed is they really cut down on the spray lifted by tires, making visibility a lot better.

Freeways are for boring riding, anyway... :biggrin:

 

My thoughts exactly, definitely stickier rubber compared to my old tires.

Guess I'll just sucked it up and ride:thumbsup:

 

A bridge with a steel-grate bed in the wet beats all for pucker factor.

 

wet leaves or pine-needles...

or even better, when the redwood trees around here drop their needles in late summer, they get ground to a fine powder, which when wet is akin to wet clay on the road.

Let's just say I'm a fairweather rider not because I don't like being wet/cold but because my road is downright deadly in the wet. (20% grade, too).