Friendly reminder: cold tires = lowside

Was out calibrating my speedo with the 12 o'clock labs setup and was reminded while making a left turn through an intersection that cold supermoto tires have really crappy traction. Just a 15 mph lowside and no cars were behind me so no big deal. Only damage was a scraped up handguard and axle slider, and a couple scuffs on my riding gear. It was probably 30 degrees out, and the tires were maybe a touch higher than factory psi.

Glad your ok. Good tip ... I never even considered this.

Gundy wrote:

Was out calibrating my speedo with the 12 o'clock labs setup and was reminded while making a left turn through an intersection that cold supermoto tires have really crappy traction. Just a 15 mph lowside and no cars were behind me so no big deal. Only damage was a scraped up handguard and axle slider, and a couple scuffs on my riding gear. It was probably 30 degrees out, and the tires were maybe a touch higher than factory psi.

What's "factory psi"?

What tires?

Pirelli diablo rosso IIs. At 30 front, 33 rear. Admittedly the suspension could be set up better, but at these temps the tires should have been a bit warmer before taking the turn more aggressively.

Gundy wrote:

Pirelli diablo rosso IIs. At 30 front, 33 rear. Admittedly the suspension could be set up better, but at these temps the tires should have been a bit warmer before taking the turn more aggressively.

That's pretty darn high psi for such a light (relative) street bike and cold temps.

Also sportbike tires really don't work well in the cold. Heck, sport touring tires would have more grip at those temps.

Roger. Shinko 705s are slippery in the cold as well ;)

Glad to hear you came out alright. Makes you glad you didn't buy a crotch rocket right? You'd be in for a few hundred bucks in new fairings right now.

Arkmage wrote:

Roger. Shinko 705s are slippery in the cold as well ;)

Glad to hear you came out alright. Makes you glad you didn't buy a crotch rocket right? You'd be in for a few hundred bucks in new fairings right now.

Thats a huge reason for why I ride only dualsports....plastic is cheap :)

As a side note, I also ride my KLR with Shinko 244s at low temps and have never felt the front end come loose, probably because the knobs give a little more and also warm up quicker with all the flexion. Wet pavement is another story as is coming off a muddy trail on to road....more on that another time

yup figured that out my self in the fall... now I know