Breaking in a new darksider and tire

[MP]

I just put a Michelin Hydroedge 205-65-16 on my Valk.  I then proceeded to ride it 795 miles one way, in one day, to the Prairie du Chien ride in sponsored by TAZ.  2125 miles round trip in 4 days.  I wanted to give it a good test, before deciding if I liked it or not.
Left home with it at 34# pressure.  The first 16 miles, my road is VERY uneven, with very low ruts in the asphalt from trucks.  It tended to jump around quite a bit, and I was not liking it.  If I had just gone the 16 miles into town, and home again, after the 32 mile ride, I would have taken it off.

We put on several hundred miles on some of Iowa's and Wisconsin's finest twisties around the Mississippi River over the weekend. I dropped the rear pressure to 30#. I was very comfortable in the corners.  I kept up with the guys ahead of me, and they said they were dragging parts at times, although I never did. Mine is a 65 series, and theirs were 60's.  Also dropped my rpm 2-300 at speed. Once it starts dragging steel, that is as good as you can get with the tire.  And, it felt VERY good doing it.

Coming back home, the last 16 miles again with the ruts, I got 10 miles into them before I remembered I was going to check the handling!  Still a little jumpy, but the Avon's I had had before were a little jumpy too, on those ruts.  The Avon rear had very good tread left on it too, so it was not worn out at all.

So, I am very happy with the car tire.  Handled great in the rain also.  Felt much more secure in the rain than the mc tire did.

So, if going darkside, get a quality tire, and then give it a while to break in before passing judgement.  Remember, I would have taken it off, and said it was no good, if I had only gone for a short ride.

MP

[TAZ]

Good to hearMP, now coming from you with being new to the VALK that really tells me something.  So what i get from your message is that any tire in ruts is going to jump around as my avon does in the Chicago in the ruts and elsewhere and once out on halfway good to real good roads it is tame as a lap dog on a sunday afternoon watching a good football game, or saturday if your more into college football up North there.  I think that 65 series is a good one to look into as well.  Next time after my new Avon Cobra runs its course I might try it.  I do however love this new Avon Cobra, great tire!

[Russian Concussion]

Melvin, glad you liked it! I have a 65 Pirelli and took it for a 1,000+ mile test ride to Canada and back the next day after it went on the Red Dragon. The first miles felt weird and then I knew I wasn't going back to an MC tire again. I have almost 10K miles on it now (some from the MD-IZ-MD ride) and it looks and rides great. I put at least 70 miles on it almost daily! Ride safe and ENJOY!

[MP]

I am liking it more and more.  It is a little jumpier in the ruts, but like I said, the MC jumps too.  The CT is just a little more.  Tradeoffs everywhere.  I feel the advantages  outweight the disadvantages.  Others may feel different.  That is great.  I am surely not here to push CT's.  Just give my experiences.
MP

[timk519]

I experienced the same "jumpiness" in ruts, but dropping the tire pressure a bit made the bike a lot tamer when ruts came 'a callin'.

[mrflamewerks]

I'm at 26 psi with a Goodyear TT 205/60R16 and I'm still having tracking issues in pavement grooving that is noticeably stronger than a MT on the same piece of road. How low of a pressure can be run and remain within "safe limits"? My concern is that below some pressure threshold the bead will let loose in a turn.

[Valker]

I sure wouldn't go much lower than the 26. That is what I run also in my HydroEdge. You will never lose ALL the rut following, but that is more an issue of the wideness than the car tire. A bike running a 240 or 300 width rear motorcycle tire will do the same thing.