Well as many of you know I have gone dark and to tell you the truth I was completely apprehensive at best. I was one of those that said you had to be half nuts to put a car tire on a Motorcycle. I thought that there was no way it would turn in as easy and the smaller contact patch would definitely make it a hazard when it came to cornering!! Other than going in a straight line it was worthless.
I was not going to change easy and was willing to spend the $105 to prove a few of my riding buddies wrong. OK when I changed to the CT. I put 35 psi in it and took of for a quick 200 mile ride that was mostly slab riding! I was not overly impressed and found if there was any unsettling of the suspension while in a curve was an extremely bad thing. It was not a confidence inspiring event! (if you know what I mean) I was almost ready to switch back to a MC tire when I got home!! I didn?t, but rather played with suspension settings and adjusted tire pressures. I have now found what I call my sweet spot.
What I have done to try to prove to my friends that this CT is a bad Idea. I have ridden at speeds in excess of the speed limit... Like twice the limit!. And this tire just goes along for the ride. It feels like it is on a rail and is very stable at speed and weight on the bike doesn?t seem to matter much.. But straight line is one thing and I didn?t buy the ST to go straight and pass up the curves..
Curves with a CT was something I could not understand. It seems so contrary to what I would think a big flat CT would do.. I took the bike to MNSTOC. The roads there was mostly medium to high speed sweepers. There was a few good good tighter roads also but I was looking for Medium Sweepers. This is my kind of riding! This tire performed Much Much Much better than I ever thought.. I followed a fellow rider that I consider better than I and to my surprise I was able to keep up and didn't have any troubles. (I asked him if he was running slower than normal. He explained that he was running as hard as he normally does!!!)He and I were Impressed and as I thought about the ride. I did not feel that there was a lot of difference from a MC tire. Tip in was not lighting fast but was not overly slow ether. Grip was as good or better than with a MC tire.. Yep.. I was totally impressed but not totally sold but very close..
Closed course Advanced riding class/track class.
I was worried it they would even allow me to use this on the track with a CT. I didn?t ask and figured It was easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. So with the intro and pre-ride of the course I was becoming somewhat worried if this was a good idea!! I figured What the heck.. I was going to try this and take it slow but continue to go faster as the day went along. The plan was good but keeping the speed down was hard due to the fact I am competitive and don?t like to be passed. The adrenalin took over and before I knew about it I was running along at a much faster clip than I thought I would be going and this CT was running GREAT!!! many of the other riders had to reduce their tire pressures to keep their grip in the corners but I kept it at the same level I normally run on the street!!! No problems with grip in a corner, NONE!! I was dragging parts and twisting the throttle hard in the corner and there were no signs of any issues what so ever.. The pace I was going here at the track was far in excess of what I would ever consider to run on the street!!
So with my unscientific testing complete. I can not say this is a bad Idea! I will run this tire until I need to replace it with another..
This is just my opinion and is not a guarantee of like performance!!
I was not going to change easy and was willing to spend the $105 to prove a few of my riding buddies wrong. OK when I changed to the CT. I put 35 psi in it and took of for a quick 200 mile ride that was mostly slab riding! I was not overly impressed and found if there was any unsettling of the suspension while in a curve was an extremely bad thing. It was not a confidence inspiring event! (if you know what I mean) I was almost ready to switch back to a MC tire when I got home!! I didn?t, but rather played with suspension settings and adjusted tire pressures. I have now found what I call my sweet spot.
What I have done to try to prove to my friends that this CT is a bad Idea. I have ridden at speeds in excess of the speed limit... Like twice the limit!. And this tire just goes along for the ride. It feels like it is on a rail and is very stable at speed and weight on the bike doesn?t seem to matter much.. But straight line is one thing and I didn?t buy the ST to go straight and pass up the curves..
Curves with a CT was something I could not understand. It seems so contrary to what I would think a big flat CT would do.. I took the bike to MNSTOC. The roads there was mostly medium to high speed sweepers. There was a few good good tighter roads also but I was looking for Medium Sweepers. This is my kind of riding! This tire performed Much Much Much better than I ever thought.. I followed a fellow rider that I consider better than I and to my surprise I was able to keep up and didn't have any troubles. (I asked him if he was running slower than normal. He explained that he was running as hard as he normally does!!!)He and I were Impressed and as I thought about the ride. I did not feel that there was a lot of difference from a MC tire. Tip in was not lighting fast but was not overly slow ether. Grip was as good or better than with a MC tire.. Yep.. I was totally impressed but not totally sold but very close..
Closed course Advanced riding class/track class.
I was worried it they would even allow me to use this on the track with a CT. I didn?t ask and figured It was easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. So with the intro and pre-ride of the course I was becoming somewhat worried if this was a good idea!! I figured What the heck.. I was going to try this and take it slow but continue to go faster as the day went along. The plan was good but keeping the speed down was hard due to the fact I am competitive and don?t like to be passed. The adrenalin took over and before I knew about it I was running along at a much faster clip than I thought I would be going and this CT was running GREAT!!! many of the other riders had to reduce their tire pressures to keep their grip in the corners but I kept it at the same level I normally run on the street!!! No problems with grip in a corner, NONE!! I was dragging parts and twisting the throttle hard in the corner and there were no signs of any issues what so ever.. The pace I was going here at the track was far in excess of what I would ever consider to run on the street!!
So with my unscientific testing complete. I can not say this is a bad Idea! I will run this tire until I need to replace it with another..
This is just my opinion and is not a guarantee of like performance!!
