New Tires!

Inspired by CycleRob, this section is devoted to all flavors of the F800.

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CycleRob
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Re: New Tires!

Post by CycleRob »

I confess to being forgetful and lazy when it comes to routinely checking my tire pressures. I have an accurate hand-held digital TP gauge always carried in the Givi tail trunk. There's a 2.6 gallon 1 cylinder direct drive oil bath air compressor (similar to This ONE) in my garage ready to roar . . . but unraveling the hose in it's crowded location means I end up re-inflating all 10 tires (car/truck/bike) about once every 1--2 months and the 2 space saver 60 psi spare tires every 8 months or so. Even though some readers would guess I'm one of those guys that checks his tire pressures at least once a week, I'm not. I can go for 2 months or more before the the 5 psi loss starts degrading the bike's willingness to corner. F800ST becomes Honda 1100 Shadow. Well this time the cooler weather accelerated the front tire's pressure loss from 38 to 30 psi !! That's bad and the bike's chopper-like handling proved it! The alternative for riders not willing, able or motivated enough to own their own plug-in-the-wall air compressor is a small 12V powered tankless air compressor. They work to varying degrees and their hoses and/or tire valve connector don't seem to last very long. When carried along, they do provide roadside pressure adjustments and tire inflation after a tire plugging.

The handling degradation with the completely normal very slow tire pressure loss over time goes unnoticed (by certain people) until you notice the sluggishness in the bike's handling and worsening instantaneous MPG reading getting worse on the long uphill stretch of road I always check it on. My new pledge is to check the bike's TPs the 1st and 15th of every month with the 4 wheelers included in the 1st of the month. I'll do my best. How about you?
`09 F800ST

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OU812
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Re: New Tires!

Post by OU812 »

Every time I ride or every month.
Which ever comes 1st!
RIDE TOO PRETEND, PRETEND TOO RIDE. :)
89 Oldwing, 07 WR250R, 14 KX250F
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