Brakes; tires

11 Kawasaki W800 discussion forum:


Brakes; tires

Brakes; tires 
Griff said 2011-06-13 08:05 
 
Hi guys (& gals?)

I´m partially retired and live in Switzerland. I´m a novice motorbike rider (only previous experience: three weeks on rentals) though I was a fairly avid road cyclist at one time.

Last Monday (six days ago now), I took delivery of a new W800, and it´s even better´n I´d imagined. It´s a blast running it up the pass roads that I used to do years ago on the cycle -- and very soon I´ll be past the first run-in phase, which means that I can pile on a few more revs.

As of this writing, I have managed to keep the dirty side down for almost 1000 km. Knock on wood (Ow!) that it´ll stay that way. However, there are a couple of things about the stock bike that don´t help.

First (and this is hearsay), the BRAKES. For a German reviewer (experienced tuner Ulf Penner), they didn´t pass muster. He recommended replacing the OEM brake line with stainless steel braided line; and the OEM pads with the ones Kawasaki uses in the GPZ 1100.

Sounded good to me, and the dealer installed the SS brake line before I picked up the bike; he was fresh out of the pads, though. Result: no complaints, even without the pads. Braking seems as crisp as with the rental bike (BMW F650GS). If there´s any news worth telling after the pads are installed next week, I´ll let you know.

However, there´s an unexpected issue with the rear TIRE. Even after run-in, the rear end fishtails a bit, or floats, when it encounters a lengthwise unevenness in the asphalt: a joint, for example, or even a pavement marking. The bike does not feel solid at those moments, and though the rear may not break out, it can turn me into a real ´fraidy-cat when it happens going into a downhill corner.

Well, so try the simple stuff first, right? The dealer put 36 PSI into the rear, the correct value for the upper load range (above 215 lbs). But at 200 lbs, I´m still in the low-load range, and dropping the pressure accordingly to 32 PSI (only 4 PSI!) brought considerable improvement ...

... though it didn´t solve the problem. What´s up with this thing? Could the deep center groove in the tread be \ 
 
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