I've just ruined my bike!!

[doublevodka]

yesterday afternoon at about 15.30 I turned into my road from a main road , about 8-10 mph, slight front brake pressure and.........whooooosh, earth sky earth sky, brand new bike laying on its side and me on the floor.
bone dry road, lovely hot day, sticky road surface never had this happen before I can only blame the tyres that come with the bike, Trailwings. think I'm going to go back to Tourance as my BMW loved em!

Hope you and the bike are OK after the tumble, the trailwings do have a bit of a reputation.... saying that I've not had a problem yet with the front (crosses everything)  

[jonH]

I've ridden my trailwings in the snow, OK it was a bit slippy but I survived   I'm astounded by how different everyone's experiences are with them
there was a lot of talk on here a while back about avon distanzias, and now it's all gone quiet.. no longer fashionable?

[Hutchie]

sorry to hear about your fall , hope you and the bike just dusted yourselves off and carried on.

What you described there is exactly what the trailwings were like on my bike (before I got shot of them)
Fine at speed really , but when going slow, especially moving off, the bike would just let go, like the tyres were on diesel or gravel.

Loads of people rave about Distanzias. My only experience of them is that there is one on the back of my old xt600, has been on there forever, will stay on there forever. Worse than trailwing, however, that is because I reckon the bike is too light for the tyre, if that makes sense. Sufficiently nasty feeling that I wouldn't put them on any bike ever, but I reckon that for anyone else they would prob be fine on the stroms.

Tellin you , Tourances are brilliant, my bike is right over on roundabouts etc. (I go round and round some nice ones near my work, at lunchtime, just out playing.) Totally predictable, never slip or slide, can get the rear to the edge if needed. I love the things. Only going to get rid (probably) because I fancy more aggressive offroad tyres)

[MR TiGGer]

Tourances are very good in the dry after crawling through reviews, It's the wet they struggle and the 'Battle' wings are better in that regard

[Quoman]

thanks for the remarks, yea I'm OK bruise on the foot to die for and obviously a damaged machine.
dead right about the trail wings they let go at such slow speed it was ridiculous  more so when you consider the bloody tarmac was at melting point! I have been told that the wings are very hard wearing so that will make them a hard tyre, no good for us then. the tourance on the bm was bloody brill, could nearly lay the bike down on them so I'm going to fit a couple to this one and see what happens

[MR TiGGer]

Before you do, recommend you check the reviews for the Anakee 2's. Rated high for dry grip and top flight for wet grip.

As always a humble opinion

[GrahamT]

yesterday afternoon at about 15.30 I turned into my road from a main road , about 8-10 mph, slight front brake pressure and.........whooooosh, earth sky earth sky, brand new bike laying on its side and me on the floor.
bone dry road, lovely hot day, sticky road surface never had this happen before I can only blame the tyres that come with the bike, Trailwings. think I'm going to go back to Tourance as my BMW loved em!

I thought this just me. I have had 3 offs when braking at lowish speed over the last year. The last time on Piccadilly Circus. I have given up commuting by bike because of it. Twice this was when the tyres were well up to temperature, though once was in the wet. The front wheel just locks and turns in - bang - low side and another new left indicator/clutch lever needed. In similar circumstances on a CBR600 (BT020s) and Diversion (Avon RoadRunners) the front stayed in line and the bike upright - and no bruises. I feel the suspension and the tyres both play a part.
It sticks in my throat to throw away newish tyres with lots of life left, but until I can afford some new ones, my bike stays on the drive. I don't trust it any more.

[MR TiGGer]

I'll preface this by stating this is a discussion forum and just chucking in a couple of pennies worth and not trying to sound like a muppet and anger anyone

In similar circumstances on a CBR600 (BT020s) and Diversion (Avon RoadRunners) the front stayed in line and the bike upright - and no bruises. I feel the suspension and the tyres both play a part.
It sticks in my throat to throw away newish tyres with lots of life left, but until I can afford some new ones, my bike stays on the drive. I don't trust it any more.

Sorry mate but everything you've put says it's not the bike, the suspension let alone the Tyres.

The fact you've locked the front not just on a Strom but other bikes makes me think about the basics of braking. You snap the brake lever to full brakes then you'll lock any bike, however if you close it over a second from open to full on this allows the weight to transfer over the front tyre massively increasing the braking force before the front could ever lock and in fairness if done correctly the back wheel will come up a couple of feet if done properly at speed. Except for ABS all bikes with correct tyre pressures, at operating temps and a fearless approach to motorbikes any bike can do a stoppie if the brakes are strong enough.

Exclusions ...... one time I ever managed to lock the front on my Vee was less than half a mile from my house 70 mph and lights caught me out forcing me to slam on but forgot I had stone cold Tyres it locked so I had to pump the hell out of it, plus the rear and engine to stop. Shcoolboy error forgetting that for me

Stay safe bloke

EDIT: When I bought the Wee after the Vee it had brand new Pirelli Scorpion M/T's which are fine in the dry but dog poop in the wet and I hated them but who can chuck £250 in the bin so I persevered and think it improved my riding, working with the flaws rather than avoiding them.
Scorpion was a perfect name cos they are really fecking deadly Grrrrrrrr

[anevol]

I can understand where you are coming from regarding new Tourances. I have also recently made the same mistake on my DL1000 k2. My bike was 7 years old with 6k miles and original tyres, 3mm (frt), 2 mm (rr) when I bought it.  I went on holiday in France and covered 2k without any tyre issues sun, rain and strong cross winds, bike very stable at all speeds in all conditions, ever at max speed 118mph (GPS) 130 speedo, which I maintained for 45mins until I need to refuel 20 mpg!!!  When I returned home checked tyres no noticable wear, begining to think these old tyres would last forever, then I  got a puncture in rear tyre, so considering age of tyres and another 2k mile trip to Ireland on the horizon I wrongly decided to change tyres, and after alot of research and £200 the Tourances went on Big mistake!
I did everything right short runs (40-50miles)slowly running tyres in, different pressures 36(frt) 42(rr) seems best for 20 stone lump with soft luggage. Anyway off to Ireland and bike now feels so unstable, scary at anything over 90mph, and when slowing down wobbles between 50-30mph and it's aweful on white lines. I've been riding for over 30 years and I have never exprianced such a transformation in a bike from just fitting tyres, all I know is that Tourances don,t suit my DL1000, and spoilt what should have been a good riding holiday in Ireland, just a shame I had that punture, as I would still be grinning from ear to ear, like I was when I returned from France, had I not fitted these bloody awful tyres.
OK they are not all bad, very good traction on full throttle, quicker turn in, makes the bike feel alot better around town, much more grip in wet, and very strong braking wet and dry. But even with all the plus points the high speed instabilitity has ruined what was a great bike.

[jonyboy247]

afternoon all,

havnt got a storm (yet) but have alot of experiance with the tourances
used to have a GS1200 and went through about 4 sets of them on that bike, and to be fair, for that type of bike, yiou really can't get a better tyre.

the only thing that I noticed with them was that they take a while to "bed in", to get all the oil and crap out of the new tyre, but ounce they where sorted, I could quite happily go getting my knee down on the old BMW bus, and I'm no riding god! far from it, I've a bit if a pansy to be fair, had to many offs and to many metal plates!

tyres are very subjective and a personal choice, what one bloke lokes, the other is going to hate, but in ref to your bike riding and feeling like poo, that's something more than the tyres, sounds to me like one of the wheels ain't true and the pressures are out, either that or you just don't like em!

cheers
jon

[meathead]

thank god I'm not the only one who has noticed the HUGE ride differance changing to tourance,. only had em on three days and my god its like a differant bike, the steering wobble when I let go of the handlebars to pull my coat down etc. has gone. its straight as a dye, (not that I do that alot). It does however feel wierd going into a corner, almost as if the back end isn't put together properly (which it is). double checked everything and am running at 36psi on each as per usual, feels very grippy just differant, hope I get the hang of it hahaha...

[650vstromer]

Before you do, recommend you check the reviews for the Anakee 2's. Rated high for dry grip and top flight for wet grip.

As always a humble opinion

I have a 650 and have not had a problem with the standard tyres, am just lucky ?

[neltek]

yesterday afternoon at about 15.30 I turned into my road from a main road , about 8-10 mph, slight front brake pressure and.........whooooosh, earth sky earth sky, brand new bike laying on its side and me on the floor.
bone dry road, lovely hot day, sticky road surface never had this happen before I can only blame the tyres that come with the bike, Trailwings. think I'm going to go back to Tourance as my BMW loved em!

Which Trailwings were they
I gather from ADVRider there are many different ones ?

[Pheonix62]

Hi all,

I know this is an ongoing discussion with very different views on makes of tyres, bike set-ups, riding styles and ability's, I thought I would share my own personal view, I'll keep it short!!

I have been riding for 32yrs legally on the road and 10yrs prior to that from my earliest Schoolboy Scrambling days, (the word Motocross hadn't been invented). I have had many offs in that time, with a few broken bones wrecked bikes although mainly off-road.  

I currently have a Vee k6 that had almost new Tourance tyres on it when I bought it from my local Suzuki Dealer, I had just part-ex'd my Honda VFR800 V-Tech running on Metz Roadtec's, I loved this bike but for health reasons  :limp:  I had to change styles, Knackered hip, knee, fat-pack etc, so going back to almost enduro/dual purpose type of machine.  
After doing extensive research I decided on the Vee, this has turned out to be the best decision I have probably ever made, One month into ownership and 1,372 miles as it was put to bed last night.

I have had no issues whatsoever with the Tourance tyres, I can enter/exit twisty's and roundabouts at all speeds in all weather conditions with no ar@e gripping, and I upset the Sunday Straight Road Brigade after they fly pass me on their Blades GXR's etc, and I under or over take them through the twisty's with my 'V' signal proudly displayed!!

I belong to the BMW club and have weekly ride-outs with the members on GS's etc, they mainly run on Tourance and swear by them, they are amazed at the capabilities of the Vee.

Now for the Negative,
 
I do however get an exciting front-end wobble when de-accelerating at approx 50-40mph, (I kind of like it) but this is only when my hands are off the bars and I am leaning back to have a good stretch, I would put this down to the geometry and shifted weight and not the tyres. I will be fitting a fork brace that should cure this, the forks do have allot of travel in them and the OEM are quite soft, there are stiffer spring replacements available that will help to alleviate this although a change of oil type can improve this also. Have you ever just sat on the bike without the engine running, then with your hands on the bars shake the steering quite hard from side to side, you really can feel the front wheel catching you up!!

So as I was saying in my honest opinion I think the Tourance tyres are fantastic and matched well to the Strom, I will certainly be replacing them with new Tourance when needed.

Thanks for bearing with me on this one!!  

Regards Vince  

[neltek]

Thanks Vince that was very helpful.

My situation is that I have just changed bikes from a SV650 K6 (naked). Had it from new and put 13,000 miles on it - some here commuting and visiting girlfriend (now wife) down the M1, and most touring Europe once each year.

I only passed test in 2006 and CBT 2 years earlier.
The first CBT put the fear of God in me about how I will die if it is wet (including lines like "go over the L of "SLOW" so less white paint is under the tyres!).

Having said this I have ridden in rain many times.

This year I came back from France, and 2 days later set off to Leeds in the wet - 1st junction (left turn) out of my village and bike hit the tarmac - ambulance, broken thumb, disloacted finger, mashed knee etc.
Bike was written off cosmetically. AA man said was diesel and lots of metal covers on the corner. Was slow speed as ended up trapped under bike and still on my side of road.

Just bought a new 2010 Wee GT.
As I rode it off the dealer said be careful in the wet - these tyres aren't as good as on a sports bike for dispersing water!
THANKS A LOT  

So am interested in getting best grip in wet and dry.
Half my logic for a Wee was that it should handle gravel and wet better than the SV...

I don't ride fast - even slower now.

I have read Battlewings are better than Trailwings.
Trailwings are OK on road
Tourance are good (this thread)
Anakee II are much better and best in wet but wear out quickly

So well confused and a little worried about stories of dropped bikes at slow speed above

 

[jonH]

I still can't help but think the stories above involved a bit of front brake when turning

I don't like my trailwings, I'm not super confident on them and at 11.5k miles, it won't be long before they're gone for good, but they've only slipped twice in the wet and both were due to me riding faster than I should have been, given the surface conditions at the time.

I'm still of the opinion that the trailwings will only give you trouble if you ask for it  

[MR TiGGer]

I'm still of the opinion that the trailwings will only give you trouble if you ask for it  

About spot on way of describing the bridgestones

[Juvecu]

I'd have thought that dual sport type tyres are better at dispersing water compared to sportsbike tyres? They have wide, deep grooves which leave plenty of space for water to go to so the rubber can get down for grip.

[neltek]

I think it is supposed to be the pattern of the tread that doesn't disperse the water so well.?

I.e. cuts through the water but doesn't eject it away from the trye so well

but I know not a lot

[73bm73]

I do however get an exciting front-end wobble when de-accelerating at approx 50-40mph, (I kind of like it) but this is only when my hands are off the bars and I am leaning back to have a good stretch, I would put this down to the geometry and shifted weight and not the tyres. I will be fitting a fork brace that should cure this, the forks do have allot of travel in them and the OEM are quite soft, there are stiffer spring replacements available that will help to alleviate this although a change of oil type can improve this also. Have you ever just sat on the bike without the engine running, then with your hands on the bars shake the steering quite hard from side to side, you really can feel the front wheel catching you up!!

A fork brace doesn't solve the shimmy-problem!!!!!! It helps against high speed waveing, among other duties.
Shimmy is definitely a matter of tyres! Use another tyre with same fork oil, same springs (OEM), same geometry and setup,... and you will see, your problem is solved. Try it!