5 September 1999

Latest update 5 / 9 / 1999 : TYRE PRESSURES.

When I checked the tyre pressures prior to adjusting the suspension I realized I had made a horrible mistake.  I had set the pressures too low ! 38 psi as opposed to 42 psi.  Hence I can’t do any suspension adjustments until I’ve gotten used to the new pressures.  I had been riding around for at least 4 weeks on under inflated tyres.  Why ? I don’t know what made me believe that the pressures were correct.   Anyway  it makes a HUGE difference to the handling of the bike,  No longer does it feel unconnected in the corners, personally its quite sporty.  However there is definitely a wobble in the front most certainly caused by the rear tyre.  It’s not noticeable unless you take your hand of the bar.

The front tyre does have a good amount of feel and the back with the new rear tyre feels really really good.  The bike doesn’t run wide at a fast cornering speeds anymore and very willing to turn in.  In essence the handling has gone from reasonable to exceeding expectations on such a big bike I must admit its very cool !  I can now fully understand the rave reviews.  Don’t forget that I’ve only had the Suzuki Hayabusa for about 2 months.  Now I’m not sure whether suspension adjustments are really needed ?

Lastly forget what I said about tyre wear,   With new pressures, the tyre seems fine apart from noticeable more wear on the edges of the tyre. (From too much fun) With all the straight roads in the NT the tyre certainly doesn’t seem to wear as much as the J spec.   Regardless I would certainly replace the tyre with a J spec as soon as one’s available.

The front settings are near perfect I reckon.  Lack of outright feel but planted nonetheless, due to the steering damper ?  The steering damper is hidden away behind the headlight !  The rear is different, not what you’d call plush but on the soft side of sporty.  For Australian roads I think it could be a tad softer.  I also think that the front has a slight wobble since the change of tyre but I can’t be sure whether it has always been there.

Next week I’ll have the front damping set to soft to see what happens and I may have some pics developed ! (Update: In 1999 Digital cameras were still very expensive and had shocking image quality)