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Front tire washing out

D

d86d

Big Wheel
Hi all,
I'm new to the site and I found this site a few weeks ago, but haven't been able to get back to it.  I have a serious safety issue that a search didn't come up with anything on.  I'm a new Connie owner.  I have had it about a month.  It's an 11 C14.  I have had the front tire wash out on me 3 times already.  The first time I thought it was just because of new tires.  That was around 200 miles in.  It happened again at around 500 and yet again at about 850 miles.  Has anyone else had this problem?  It is really starting to affect my confidence in cornering which I believe will bring other issues about.  All 3 of these incidents were simple easy turns.  Each time I inspected the tire to make sure there was no oil on it and I went back to where it occured and made sure the road didn't have anything on it.  I really LOVE this bike, but this has me a bit shaken.
 
Yes quite a few different people reported problems like this. I take it your bike has the OEM Bridgestone BT-021 tires? More than likely, replacing the tires with better tires, will cure the problem.
 
d86d said:
That's a drag.  Thanks bob.  I guess i'll get to reading more about tires then.
Click to expand...

Mine never washed out with the Brickstones, but I never did grind the pegs with them on there either.  I never felt any real confidence in the tires, so I didn't push it.  The front started feathering after only 1500 miles.  It was feathering badly after 4500 miles, so a few days before I planned to replace them, I raised the air pressure in the front to 45PSI or more (don't remember exactly now).  I was surprised at how much better and confident it felt to me.

Of course, it didn't stop me from putting the Angle ST's on a few days later.  With them, I hit both pegs several times.

I wore out the Angles, and now have the Pilot Road 2's on.  I've hit the pegs with the PR2s also.

I recommend either of those tires.  The Angles stick like glue, but if you do a lot of straight line highway riding, the centers will wear out quickly.  Don't have enough miles on the PR2s yet to say how they will wear, but all reports on them have been that they are the best for longevity without compromising traction.

Once the PR2's are toast, I'll be testing the PR3's.  :motonoises:
 
It's those Stock Tires,I just changed tires on my new 09 with 2500 miles on them because I had the same problem,  The stock tires just don't stick very well and I didn't trust them.
 
I could not stand the OEM 'stones, before 1k miles on the clock, I went Michelin. Just like on my other bikes, car and truck. I call oem tires breakin tires. When the motor has broke in, dump the crap oem tires...
 
The '08 Concours that I picked up a couple of months ago still has the OEM tires on it. 4200 miles on them as of now.  I have had no wear issues as of yet.  I however have felt the front tire slip on 2 separate occasions in turns.  Both times I checked the tire pressure afterwards and found it to be low.  The tire pressure monitoring system is really cool but it has not been very accurate so far.  I am running 45lbs in the front tire now and have had zero issues since.  Good luck and be safe out there.
 
d86d said:
Hi all,
I'm new to the site and I found this site a few weeks ago, but haven't been able to get back to it.  I have a serious safety issue that a search didn't come up with anything on.  I'm a new Connie owner.  I have had it about a month.  It's an 11 C14.  I have had the front tire wash out on me 3 times already.  The first time I thought it was just because of new tires.  That was around 200 miles in.  It happened again at around 500 and yet again at about 850 miles.  Has anyone else had this problem?  It is really starting to affect my confidence in cornering which I believe will bring other issues about.  All 3 of these incidents were simple easy turns.  Each time I inspected the tire to make sure there was no oil on it and I went back to where it occured and made sure the road didn't have anything on it.  I really LOVE this bike, but this has me a bit shaken.
Click to expand...

iNTERESTING
washing out 3 times within the first 1,000 miles of buying the bike, has me thinking you need to be getting a bit more in tune with the bike....as i seriously cannot believe you can blame it on those tires at that point in thir life....maybe aft5er 4k miles on them, but not when they are soo new.. Riding over the capability of the tires and expecting miracles of modern marvel is common, especially when you consider the capabilities of this bike in it's stock form.  Do you have risers installed?, Did you lower the bike?? or alter it in any manner?
I think this happened because of poor riding technique, combined with overzealous throttle, and beliefs that you can ride to this bikes limits..... I don't know a lot of people that when riding properly, ever will see the limits of the bike in the first 1000 miles...
sorry.
 
MAN OF BLUES said:
d86d said:
Hi all,
I'm new to the site and I found this site a few weeks ago, but haven't been able to get back to it.  I have a serious safety issue that a search didn't come up with anything on.  I'm a new Connie owner.  I have had it about a month.  It's an 11 C14.  I have had the front tire wash out on me 3 times already.  The first time I thought it was just because of new tires.  That was around 200 miles in.  It happened again at around 500 and yet again at about 850 miles.  Has anyone else had this problem?  It is really starting to affect my confidence in cornering which I believe will bring other issues about.  All 3 of these incidents were simple easy turns.  Each time I inspected the tire to make sure there was no oil on it and I went back to where it occured and made sure the road didn't have anything on it.  I really LOVE this bike, but this has me a bit shaken.
Click to expand...

iNTERESTING
washing out 3 times within the first 1,000 miles of buying the bike, has me thinking you need to be getting a bit more in tune with the bike....as i seriously cannot believe you can blame it on those tires at that point in thir life....maybe aft5er 4k miles on them, but not when they are soo new.. Riding over the capability of the tires and expecting miracles of modern marvel is common, especially when you consider the capabilities of this bike in it's stock form.  Do you have risers installed?, Did you lower the bike?? or alter it in any manner?
I think this happened because of poor riding technique, combined with overzealous throttle, and beliefs that you can ride to this bikes limits..... I don't know a lot of people that when riding properly, ever will see the limits of the bike in the first 1000 miles...
sorry.
Click to expand...

i have to agree, i have also tried to ride this bike to the limits, but found my own skills limited. this is a pretty serious bike with the weight and power, touring suspension setup, and additional weight hanging from the side (bags installed) i am not comfortable taking high speed turns on this bike (anything @95mph+) in the tight corners. i have taken turns at 120+ on certain roadways and the bike felt like it was on rails, but these were sweeping turns on super-slabs. when it comes to the tight twisties my skills are limited. this is not a bike to jump onto and throw into the corners without miles in the saddle. but thats my opinion, ive only been riding for @ 11 years, and 2.5years, 25000miles on my c14.

high speeds are fun, however i challenge riders to turn figure 8s in the space of 4 parking spaces, u-turns in two, and master the key hole. thats the measure of a rider, imo  :motonoises:
 
I don't necessarily agree. Anything is possible, but I would tend to believe a new rider to the bike may be more Conservative than someone with a lot of miles on the bike. I found the BT-021's to suck on the C14. All the problems that they exhibited went away when Pirelli's went on. I never felt tires that might slide slightly (especially in the damp), and push terrible from the start and got worse as time went, like the BT0021's. They absolutely sucked!
Then when I traded the C14 for the FJR (which also came with BT-021's). The probelms with the tires came back within a few hundred miles. They were so bad, I junked them at about 1,400 miles. And again the Pirelli's fixed every problem that the Bridgestones exhibited.
So I'm willing to give a rider the benefit of the doubt when he says the front slides. I'm sure they could tell or admit if they were pushing a little hard and had it happen. So why does it have to be them? I stand by my statement. The BT-021's suck. Replace them  with a good quality tire and I bet the problem will go away (without you having to learn how to ride a bike!)!!!!!  :))
 
while a new owner MAY tend to be conservative, I feel they will underestimate the needs of the bike greatly, and think it is an end all uber machine, able to counteract someones poor techniques, judgments on safe speeds, and aprehensive evasive quirks and manuvers. I never questioned my 08 ever untill the BT's hit 4k miles, and never had a slide out. Once they began to wear out, yes, I agree they went crapper fast, and then the PR's went on. There are too many variables to spend on conjecture from our safe seats here, to preclude that setup on this bike @ a mere 1,000 mile mark, is optimal, or the riders skill set is not to blame. I tend to lay the burden on someone riding over thier head when they make notations as the o/p has,  after putting the miles on this beast for 4 solid years, both stag, and 2 up, that I have.
 
d86d said:
Hi all,
I'm new to the site and I found this site a few weeks ago, but haven't been able to get back to it.  I have a serious safety issue that a search didn't come up with anything on.  I'm a new Connie owner.  I have had it about a month.  It's an 11 C14.  I have had the front tire wash out on me 3 times already.  The first time I thought it was just because of new tires.  That was around 200 miles in.  It happened again at around 500 and yet again at about 850 miles.  Has anyone else had this problem?  It is really starting to affect my confidence in cornering which I believe will bring other issues about.  All 3 of these incidents were simple easy turns.  Each time I inspected the tire to make sure there was no oil on it and I went back to where it occured and made sure the road didn't have anything on it.  I really LOVE this bike, but this has me a bit shaken.
Click to expand...

I love my '09 and have put 21,800  on the her in the last 15 months and I have had the same concerns as you.  My '09 came with BT-21's and they were trash in 4,000 miles.  I believe your '11 came with BT-23's and those tires were supposed to be Bridgestone's answer to all the handling problems the earlier C14's had.  I got 12,000 miles on a set of Michelin PR2's then tried Metzeler Z8's but the front had severe cupping within 800 miles.  Now I riding a Dunlop Road Smart on the front until the Z8 rear wears out.

The biggest problem I found is that the C14's are setup by the factory for a 150# rider and I'm a bit heavier than that plus I ride 2-up frequently.  Here are the solutions that worked for me include:
1. Check your tire pressure until you find that works best for your riding.  To get that 12,000 miles on the PR2's I used 45psi cold front and rear that gave me 48 psi front and rear warm using a tire pressure gauge not the TPS readout. If I used the factory recommended 42psi front and rear, the warm pressure was 47psi but I liked the wear pattern with the 45psi cold better. To verify the tire pressures, measure the tire pressures with a tire pressure gauge while the tires are cold then ride your C14 about 1/2 hr, stop and check the tire pressure while the tires are warms.  If you use the kill switch to kill the engine BUT LEAVE THE IGNITION ON, the tps readout will stay active so you can compare the tps readout to the tire gauge.  On my C14, the tps reads 3psi lower than the tire gauge. Ideally, you would like the tire pressure warm to be between 3-5 lbs higher than the cold pressure.  Once you've got a handle on the tire pressures, you will be able to feel the difference a 1psi change in the cold tire pressure makes in the handling.

2. Adjust the suspension.  When my '09 was brand new, I  noticed I had a lot of nose dive under braking so I increased the spring preload and added a couple of clicks to the rebound adjustment both front and rear.  With the extra spring preload, extra shock rebound clicks, and the higher tire pressures, I'm amazed at how smooth and comfortable the ride is.

3. Check the preload on the steering spindle bearings.

If you haven't bought one and you plan on doing you own wrenching, be sure you buy the factory service manual because it is very well written and absolutely worth the price.

Once you've got the sweet spot dialed into you C14, the smile on your face will be worth the extra effort you made to make the C14 your bike.

Have fun


 
I didn't read any of the other replies yet but my guess is you are not completely off the front brake when you enter the turn.  Get all your braking done before you lean in and actually add just a bit of throttle to settle the bike through the turn, then you can throttle up as you come out.  Every bit of brake you have on at the apex of the turn steals traction.  If that is not it then you are just coming in to hot.  Well or the tires suck.
 
^-^


New to the C14 (just picked up my K11) but NOT new to bikes nor the B021's and I have had the same issue, not just on my bike but on a friends as well. In saying that they (021's) are OEM on the Triumph ST1050 and I had the same issue plus on the FRJ1300A when I had that (owner put 021's on cuz they were cheap)

It is a case of too hard a compound tire for any real sports riding in any of these bikes; consider weight, lean and power aspects and they 'just get by' IMHO

I'm about to put Conti RA2 on my baby (only 4,000 klms on it) cuz I have had enough of these tires, not worth anything but protection for your rims

Cheers
Poddy
 
d86d said:
I have had the front tire wash out on me 3 times already.
Click to expand...

Umm... You aren't trying to trail brake in the corner are you?  It occurs to me that you could have some bad habits that're getting you into trouble with the linked brakes.
 
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