tires at 55 mph plus?

Hi guys, I have had my WR for about a year now. It came with street tires so no knobbies but I don't remember riding it above 50 mph with the street tires. Now I have Dunlop 606 tires on the front and rear. I wanted the bike for trails but it turns out most of my riding is on the street. My question is do you feel comfortable riding your WR at 55 mph and faster? I rode the bike at 55 mph for a couple miles yesterday and the front tire seemed like it was (not always tracking straight) in other words did not feel totally planted or wandering a little. I wish I had ridden the bike this fast for a few miles with the old street tires but that's hard to do in winter time!  To me if feels like some wind would blow this bike all over the road at 55 mph and faster....  

I don't have experience riding other bikes so I can't compare to anything else... I don't have any complaints with the rear tire it feels planted.

*I would say at 40 mph and slower I feel totally comfortable riding the bike but not 55 mph plus.....

Does this bike tend to not feel planed at 55 mph and above? Is it too light of a bike to feel comfortable at these speeds?

Thanks,

Just a new rider trying to learn all I can!

Brandon

Same experience as you, but in reverse. Bought bike with knobbies, original Bridgestones. Very squirrelly on the roads. Changed to Shinko street tires ant ride was totally improved.
As far as speeds, 70 is comfortable on pavement but slower on gravel.

Not that I am a pro but go back to street tire and don't worry about speed. The only question would be if you have changed sprockets, then the speed could be a problem. I am running stock sprockets the ratio is good for street riding.

If the tires feel instable, my guesses are either air pressure is blown up as hard as a rock or the wheels are not balanced, or both.

Also, your past experiences have much to do with your perspective.
When I had my WR250R, I rode that bike on the street with full-on Bridgestone M22/M23 knobbies with no problems whatsoever, except the tire tread did not lost long doing that.
With those tires, I'd run them at a compromise 14 psi for dual-purpose riding (off-road only, I run 12 front and 10 rear).

I also has the original Bridgestone Trail Wing tires on that bike and with those tires, I rode it on the street like it was my 250cc sport bike on twisty roads. Never a problem with traction, stability, or anything. In fact, the only thing that got my attention was how well they worked doing that.
My wheels were balanced and I ran about 18 psi in those tires.

Thanks for info! Well I am currently running around 18-20 psi in front tire and 28 psi in the rear. I wonder if lowering psi in front a little will help the front? The other issue is on corners I don't feel as safe pushing it leaning. I don't have other bikes to compare it to / experience so I can't say at what point the tires would let go in a corner and I don't want to find out! My biggest issue is really 55 mph plus. 40 mph and below I can hardly tell I have knobbies there great...... Probably not very safe on wet paved roads though.......

I have run D606, and although they tend to wander a bit, I would never call them unstable; I would typically take them to 75+ mph on the interstate without any problems.

The first thing I would check is whether the tyres have been installed correctly, by making sure that the sidewalls are uniformly spaced from the rim.

Secondly, check the balance, especially if rim locks have been installed.

Lastly, you're running very high pressures; I would never go above 18 in front or 22 in the rear.

I've got TKC80s F/R and am comfortable riding street with them at 55+ mph. I'm comfortable leaning all the way over to the edges of the knobs.
Assuming your tires in are in good shape and installed right, adjust your psi. That's a big factor. Yours is set kinda high.

I'll set at 15 sometimes drop a few to preference when offroad.

Thanks for info I'll have to try lowering psi. I am taking it up north to my parents to try some trail-riding! Hope all goes well!!!!!!!

Happy 4th....

Well, I have now figured out highway tire pressure the front seems to like 16-18 psi on the street. However, I went down a few dirt roads today with fairly fresh dirt/ rocks not packed at all. I could feel the front floating back and forth slightly but the big change for me was I could feel the rear tire floating back and forth. It made me feel like the bike could sway out from underneath but it did not happen. (I am guessing this is normal for a dirt road with a ton of fresh rocks rolling around under the tires) I rode about 15 miles on dirt roads..... THen about 30miles on blacktop with no issues....

* My biggest issue was having to make corners on fresh dirt roads with no packing (all loose rocks) turning felt extremely unstable. I was going around 40 mph on loose dirt. Then I had to slow down to 20 mph sometimes less to go around corners. I am guessing this is also normal? Leaning seemed like certain death on this road......

Thanks happy trails.....

So what happened on asphalt roads with the new tyre pressures? Is the bike still unstable over 55?

For dirt, you're overinflated: start with 14 psi in front, 13 psi back, and then go slowly down until you find the sweet spot.

I can't picture how a tyre can float back and forth when the bike is moving forwards; maybe you mean side-to-side movement?

Is tire pressure the new oil thread?
I rarely run mine in the teens and ride a LOT of gravel roads. There's always a certain amount of 'floating' on gravel. 40 can be pretty fast on gravel but it really depends on the road. I don't take many corners at 40
Get some miles on the thing and see if it starts feeling better.

Hello John, Asphalt is all good now I posted this above: "Well, I have now figured out highway tire pressure the front seems to like 16-18 psi on the street." so 55 mph is no problem with lower psi in front. Yes "side to side" is a good description for the feeling on dirt roads with loose gravel or freshly graded road.....

Thanks!

BrandonA. wrote:

Well, I have now figured out highway tire pressure the front seems to like 16-18 psi on the street.

I didn't realise that the above statement meant that the problem had been completely resolved. To be honest, it is remarkable that just 2 psi in the front was all it took to go from "bike completely unstable over 55" to "no problem doing 75 now", even though I was the one to suggest lowering the pressure.

The side-to-side movement in the dirt is completely normal; drop your pressure a bit and it will get better, but don't expect the bike to be as stable on dirt as it is on the road.

As far as turning goes, hopefully you're not leaning with the bike, right? When riding dirt you need to lean the bike under you, because if the bike slides, you may be able to correct it with a foot down, or if it slides completely, you at least remain upright.