Well I will ask it: Rider experience, I have found that most of our bikes are fast as we need and turn in just fine, with the sag set up, for normal street and canyon ridding.

If you are looking for more than I ask where are you trying to flick your bake at 120 mph.
If you are on the street God help you because you are riding in the wrong place.

What russ has said is true and the adjustment s are more tailored toward track riding and racing. The lighter wheels that evil recommends are correct too. It is purely mathematics there. BTW evils new rims are sick and I wish I had a pair.

Bottom line is most bikes are more than nimble enough for street riding, and I had a bike set up for the track or racing I would not want to bang it around on the street and f-it up.

JMO and ride safe

 

I guess it's just me coming from a 16" front wheel with real handlebars to this bike with 17" and clip-ons (old bike was a '85 interceptor). I was just wondering if there was something easy. And yes the lack of riding is probably the real issue. I rode it for like 2 hours on some twisties and paid for that with 3 weeks of knee pain. I get to see my doctor in a few weeks about my prepatellar knee bursitis and it has just got to get fixed.

 

You may just not be pushing hard enough on the bars when entering a turn. I still think I am pushing as hard as the bike will allow and fools are turning in way faster than I am.

It is all about practicing and knowing your bike. At Ca speed way turn 2 and 3 is a S and taken at a pretty high rate of speed, a hard push on the left and than a quick hard push on the right and you can get through it fast. I can not flick that fast though, the level 3 riders get though quick and flick there bikes well.Ssome foos have some hella skills out there.

If you have bad knees sport bikes can be hard on them.

 

yea, I may have to slip back to something like an interceptor. That would be OK. Even when it's not my knees it's something bugging me on these supersports. I guess I had to try one so I would know they aren't for me.

 

The speedo is signalled by the countershaft sprocket and not the front wheel so the MPH will not be affected. The bumps you may or may not feel are negligable. xrider, since you want the cheapest & quickest result, lowering the front end is the way to go. Later when you replace the front tire, go with the 60 series and you may want to raise the front end back to where it was. And if you can swing it, even better would be what Evil636 has done especially with the 60 or 65 series front tire. Different aspect ratio tire will affect how quick a motorcycle turns. A 70 series will turn slower (Less flickable) than a 65 or 60 series tire. Just like a 16" front wheel will turn quicker than a 17". And that is why most magazine testers either raise or lower the front end depending on which tire they use.

 

Amen to the bad knees. Mine aren't horrible but they are definitely sore when I'm done riding.

My 1 cent since I'm not going to get into the politics of bike set up since I know very little. From what I do understand, you can get a bike that flicks too easily and could cause more headaches (literally) than you want.

I agree, if you aren't very experienced then you should just not mess with set up. Personally my bike is still set from the factory (which is roughly for a 150lb person) and I'm pushing 130 with all my gear, because I don't know enough to change it. I'm just now playing with the idea of changing for the one track I go to because it's so bumpy and my bike is too stiff for it.

[sm=smiley20.gif] to russ about the tire dimension even if the "size" (180, 190 etc) are the same.

 

I agree with russ also.

That is true. I have a Bridgestone BT58R 180/55-70 and it's as wide as a 190 (3/4" wider than the same size Michelin Power Race). It's even wider than my BT014 180. Even within the same Manufacturer, the sizes aren't consistent between different model tires. Also the profiles are different between Dunlop and Michelin. Some are rounder profile and some more triangulated.

 

Nice [sm=badbadbad.gif] sorry I had to racedoll

 

The quicker the steering is, the less stable the bike is and vice-versa. If you want the quicker steering, you'd better get a steering damper if you don't have one already.

 

Well I took the bike out last night for a few minutes. The slow steering feeling was gone, I must have stayed adjusted from my ride over a month a go. Sorry about all the fuse.

My knees felt OK later but that was only a few minute ride. I also iced them when I got back just to make sure.

Racedoll, I am only 150 and the stock setting on the '06 636 was really pretty harsh on the street. I went with the '05 adjustments recommended by SR and like them a lot.

They are at this link: https://www.kawasakiforums.com/m_26412/tm.htm