First ride impression of hankook

Tom Mac 04a

Tom Mac 04a

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Location
LI , New York
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04 ST1300a
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8347
Ok... finally got the first ride on the Hankook today. Bad weather and new grandchild ( so I was watching a 2yr old terror ) was in the mix.

Was two up , temp about 45f when starting, running rear @36 and front f020 @ 42. ( 55f at end of run )

First, pulling out of drvway, it felt a bit weird... sort of under inflated tire.... straight on no problem. (matter of fact, its great at stop sign as I can fully stop without feet down... ie, easy to balance. )
The first few turn at slow speed, less than 10mph, felt the same, weird ...like to much flex in tire from low pressure.

But I moved on, to a parkway, steady speed @ 60 and it felt fine... some slow sweepers and no problem either. In all did about 50 miles, then moved on to s bit of tighter turns. In all the tighter turns felt no problem when gentle on gas... but one time it was a trottle shutdown ( due to car) and got the weird squiggly again.

So nothing overly bad, I didn't explode, tire isn't broken in yet as many say... And I'll ride it out for a while as I'm still thinking of pulling a trailer... Time will tell but it will be at least 5k before I pull it.

PS.. had about 1/2' of chicken strp room left to edging of tire... some good tight turns and it felt planted
 
Tom Mac 04a said:
In all the tighter turns felt no problem when gentle on gas... but one time it was a trottle shutdown ( due to car) and got the weird squiggly again.
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I often felt a squiggle when getting on the gas coming out of a corner. A bump in the air pressure seemed to help a bit but then it affected other things.

Ultimately fixed it for me by going GYTT. Stiffer sidewall and stiffer price. But the Hankook is a great starter for trying DS. The extra braking power and more rubber on the ground when you are pulling the trailer will be an extra bonus for you. With my trailer I also went to the EBC HH pads for maximum stop grip.
 
Well, its been 300 plus miles on the Hankook with about 50-50 single double. ( running 36 lbs cold )

Still getting the squiggle feel at times and tho I don't worry about it , it still makes me think like the tire is under inflated. Will say that the tire works well in sand/dirt road ! When on the slab doing 75 ( maybe 55, :) ) I can't feel a bit of difference in the tire. It just takes a bit more to start a turn, most of the time feels stable in turn as long as you don't chop the power. At slower speeds it seems to feel off certain times with potholes.

Going to pump up the tire to 38 lbs for the next few hundred (so I can get at least 800 miles on before the Cooperstown run ).

After Cooperstown, I'll make a decision to pull it, run it at a higher pressure till worn out, or switch over to the Goodyear tire.
(*** which btw if anyone can give me the specs on and clearance compared to the hankook , thks )


Still planning a trailer trip in future so one of the two should work.
 
Tom Mac 04a said:
which btw if anyone can give me the specs on and clearance compared to the hankook , thks
Click to expand...

Had a similar issue with the squirm. I got used to it but never really liked it, but didn't dislike it enough to pull the tire off before I wore it out.

GYTT is a little wider. On my '05 I had no issue mounting up the Hankook, did have a slight rub from the GYTT. Just a bit of shaving with a 4" angle grinder on the sides of the swingarm and all was good.

To find the high spots I put some chainsaw bar oil on the edge of the tire and spun it. But in retrospect, I could of probably just let it rub... rubber vs aluminium... bet I know which one wins in the durability category.
 
T_C said:
GYTT is a little wider. On my '05 I had no issue mounting up the Hankook, did have a slight rub from the GYTT. Just a bit of shaving with a 4" angle grinder on the sides of the swingarm and all was good.
.
Click to expand...

Thanks... I went and read about 20 pages of the old thread... I see that the old model of tire fit fine (aa540) but the new design (aa640) is a tad wider and a couple had to grind the seam off a little.
I was just out at the bike ( its still been cool here in the 50s ) a few mins ago... Fiq, I bump the tire up to 40lbs (from 36) now and ride it for the next few hundred miles like that... time will tell.
Only have one solid planned trip so far , prob total 1k... I'll know for sure when i get back what I'll do.... like you prob just go up in pressure and wear it out.
At least i can change it out easy enough with the NoMar and irons...Blocks and ties seem to work well.
 
Good to hear its working Tom!!!
I got used to the squirmy feel. I'm running 36psi. Time will tell but you will forget after a bit that its a car tire.

Jay
 
I've been all around on the tire pressures. I'm at 30-32 PSI. After a couple 14,000 miles on my hankook, I don't notice the squirming around anymore.. It does, but it doesn't bother me. What your feeling is the rubber torquing up and unloading due to the bike either driving the tire or braking it.
I've road mainly solo. I noticed that with too much pressure, center does wear more the edges. since I've moved to 30 -32 PSi it appears even wear.

I've pushed that bike hard in the turns (not planned). I'm more comfortable with its abilities than the motorcycle tire.. I like its grip in the corners where there is gravel on the road. or over paint lines.. way much better traction. I feel a little vibration in the upper speeds, +80, however doesn't appear to be a problem...
 
OhioDeere said:
snip... I like its grip in the corners where there is gravel on the road. or over paint lines.. way much better traction. I feel a little vibration in the upper speeds, +80, however doesn't appear to be a problem...
Click to expand...

yes, it's fine for me in turns, I've got about 1/2" "chicken strips" on the rubber edge... but more I get use to it, I'll push it a bit more. No vibration at all. My tire was <1/4oz on the static balance.
Will also say no notice of tar snakes, but then again they're not living up to their full potential yet till the weather hits +80.

I went up to the 40lbs to see how it feels and since most of my rides are 2 up also... this is a plan in motion still, again going here for a possible trailer on the bike.

BTW, I want to thank all that went before me and have supplied great info
 
Just keep running it Tom, you'll come to love it. A few have gone back to a MT, but the majority of us wouldn't think about it. I need to order up another GYTT, my Yoko is getting thin.
 
I have to admit, it is different than on my Goldwing. It seemed to be a bit squirrelier in the curves. I had pretty much decided to go back to the MC. However, I hung in there and have become more comfortable and can't see switching back. I will be changing 2 fronts before I change my rear CT.
 
Now that you are running at 40 psi. Try dropping it down to 25 psi for a few days. You will find that the "edge feeling" of the car tire will disappear. It will be easier to put it into a turn. The ride will be super smooth. It will feel like a different machine. It will still feel mushy but you will get use to that. I had mine down to 15 psi but I started to notice the tire had slipped on the rim. I had started at 40 psi and dropped it down in 5 psi increments. I notice the biggest change when I went below 30 psi. That is why I recommend that you go straight to 25 psi and give it a go. I am currently running 28 psi on my Hankook which now has 21,000 miles. 5000 miles at 25 psi and 11,000 miles at 28 psi. It is about 2/3's gone so it will be worn out when my new third front tire is done... the wear looks even. I commute every day. Oh the best part, one week I noticed that I was loosing air. So I pumped it up and kept riding. A week later the tire was low again. When I went to put air back in the tire I saw two shiny spots in the middle of my tread. They were what was left of a heavy duty electrical staple. The strap part of the staple had been ground off. I had driven over 1000 miles with a punctured tire! I pulled the tire and got it patched. A motorcycle tire would have been an ugly story. That was about 5000 miles ago. I will never go back to a motorcycle tire...
 
Thanks... I will try a lower pressure too. But, the 'rolling off edge' isn't a problem for me, not prob getting it to turn just a bit more input needed. It's the mushy feeling I don't like.
(btw, I did mark the tire / rim with a dot of nail polish to see if any slipping )

I plan to run at 40 for a while then try working back down...
To be honest, I'd have prob stayed with MC tires as they last me the whole season @ 7-8k. But I am planning/looking into two long trips with at least one pulling a trailer. My friend( with a trailer ) was telling me that the MC prob wouldn't hold up as well pulling a load / 2up /slabbing... others felt the same. Thinking even if the Hankook only makes 2x the MC, its a win for me.
 
Thanks guys for the comments. I don't like squirrelly in the corners, think I'll stay MC.
 
For what it is worth. Years ago I was running a Pirelli radial car tire on a bike that I had built. Granted tire technology has changed a bunch since then but I found that running low pressure caused the bike to go into fierce tank slapper at 60 mph. I was doing a left hand sweeper and the front tire caught a groove in the pavement which threw the bike in to the most wild tank slapper until I stopped. I cannot remember the pressure in the tire but that was the only thing I found that would cause that to happen. I bumped the pressure back up to what was on the side of the tire and it never happened again.

Back then radial tires had very weak sidewalls and the low pressure would allow for a lot of movement side to side. Kind of like Jello. Not a whole lot of fun. I put around 20k on that tire and never had another issue.
 
I would not necessarily put the blame on the car tire. Tank slapping is a well documented condition of not enough weight on the front tire. you said that you built the bike. What was it? Check out this old video of bikes being unstable with regular MC tires. the key is that by adding weight to the rider or the rider just leans forward the Shake stops. I drive the the LA cement slabs and the grooves between lanes have always been spooky crossing them (in a curve) with both MC tires and Car tire (at 40psi). Since I dropped my CT air down to 28 psi I now just float over those grooves. Also todays car tire are amazingly better than they were only a few years ago. Something about putting silica into the mix. It gives more traction and longer wear.

link to old bike stability video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3OQTU-kE2s
 
And if I remember right, the ST had a high speed weave problem too back when... mostly PD bikes with the mounting of gear/tailboxes

But,back to the Hankook;
I've have tried to hit every small pothole, road groove, mesh bridge roadway with the Hankook in turns and straight, slow and hi-speed. It's been 300 miles+ of testing so far.
So far, there are only two times I can say at 36 lbs it felt funny... when going slow, < 10mph, at driveway ridge / small ridges and when cutting power hard in a turn.
Tho neither felt out of control or a problem... just a bit like a low inflated tire.

Now at 40# and that feeling is a lot less, it seems more stable. I guess it's vs tire life, but double my regular tire is fine with me and all I need for planned trips.
 
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Interesting video. Thanks for posting. I've been losing weight, but now I think a donut is in order. :D

I wish they would have added a fork brace to test the effects. I did not know the front suspension behaved like that in a weave.

spiderman302 said:
I would not necessarily put the blame on the car tire. Tank slapping is a well documented condition of not enough weight on the front tire. you said that you built the bike. What was it? Check out this old video of bikes being unstable with regular MC tires. the key is that by adding weight to the rider or the rider just leans forward the Shake stops. I drive the the LA cement slabs and the grooves between lanes have always been spooky crossing them (in a curve) with both MC tires and Car tire (at 40psi). Since I dropped my CT air down to 28 psi I now just float over those grooves. Also todays car tire are amazingly better than they were only a few years ago. Something about putting silica into the mix. It gives more traction and longer wear.

link to old bike stability video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3OQTU-kE2s
Click to expand...
 
It is interesting how many thing can cause the weave. From something as simple as tire pressure, to improper loading, to more serious things such as worn suspension parts, misaligned wheels, or a combination that just makes it a bad day when it happens.

I also found it interesting that redistributing the weight to the front when this happens lessens or eliminates the weave. But more importantly what was the initial cause!!
 
Well, it's just a good thing for us, nobody goes over the posted speed limit in this group. So all we need to remember is to grab the bars,,,,
 
This is the end result of testing a DS Hankook... at about 1000 miles total

I ran it at a few diff pressures, never felt like the tire was going to make me spontaneously combust into flames, never felt unsafe in turns or wet roads.
But, I never really got use to the squiggle now and then , nor the problem of the car tire wanting to climb out of a road groove to left or right ( the hollow from heavy trucks ).

So, I will say it worked well enough for me to get another rim and leave it mounted to swap out for the future trailer; which was the reason for testing in first place.
I put on order a new set of PR4 GTs and have a friend with a contact for a rear rim... when both are here, the PR4s will be on the bike until a trailer makes its apperance.

A short dark side life till next chapter
 
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