Planning on putting new tire on the VFR800ABS just for my own piece of mind. I really want to put a set of Connie Road Attacks, but when i checked MOM to find out the sizes it has a list of recommend tire and a warning not to use tire not on the list because it can affect the performance of the ABS system. How can this be??? Dan
I'm not home right now so I can't check my manual to be sure but I seem to recall the warning pertaining to the tire sizes as opposed to the manufacturer and model. I can see how putting tires with different than stock size could affect the ABS because it would see different rotational speeds than it would expect.
OK, I went and found an online manual for a 2007 and in the ABS section it does say to follow the tire recommendations listed later in the book. The actual tire recommendation page says "Always use the size and type of tires recommended in this owner’s manual." and that page does list specific tire models. I still think it's more important that you stick with the stock size than the actual tire brand and models listed as tires of a given size should be pretty close to the same standard dimension. There has to be a bit of fudge factor built into the system to account for tire wear.
Use whatever brand-Model that suits your riding needs. The only thing that needs to be consistent is the size. For example, my OEM tire on my FZ1 is a Pilot Road 190-50. I put a Pilot Road II on there, 190-50 and there's no negative impact whatsoever, other than my tire lasts to long so I don't feel like I'm riding it hard enough. :thumbsup:
I saw that in my manual too. My guess was those are the tire models they tested on the bike. Other tires might work too but maybe since they didn't test them they won't recommend them?
It's a CYA disclaimer. If you crashed the bike because you lost traction (of course you're a perfect rider who never rides faster than your wit and machine can handle) the manufacturer can just say "You road a non-standard tire that was not tested or endorsed by us, we share no liability" If you happened to be using an OEM tire they'll probably just say you werent running the correct PSI, the terrain wasn't appropriate for the type of riding, you don't know how to ride, you didn't warm the tire up etc.
What ABS systems, that I know of, do is measure the number of rotations of the wheel and then convert to wheel speed. A sudden change tells the computer the wheel is sliding and kicks in the ABS. Using a tire with a different circumference from what the system is calibrated for MAY confuse the computer. In reality I doubt that most systems are that sensitive as changes in tyre pressure, acceleration, braking etc also temporarily change the tyre circumference. My guess is the manufactures are being very conservative for liablity reasons. Tyre type doesn't really matter.
One of my cars is really picky about tire diameters and ABS. If they get too different in ratio from it's expectations, it goes wonky in turns and fires when it shouldn't (full active stability/yaw control). I'd make sure the revs per mile of each tire are pretty close to stock tires, or that the ratios of the front and rear tires' revs per mile is very close.
