Tyre sliding around under straight line acceleration.

[moanthebairns]

CypSIdders said:

Having owned and ridden the same bike, on 36, 42 tyre pressures, in far war warmer conditions than the OP's, I've never experienced the poblems he's highlighted. I would say you can rule out tyre pressures as the cause!
Other than dust on the road, the only thing that caused wheelspin for me, was riding over those tarmac snakes that seem to be the norm for repairing cracked road surfaces, in hotter climes!

Did you have the exact same tyres and condition of them as the OP?

[dannyintenerife]

Oil off chain if recently lubricated?

[CypSIdders]

moanthebairns said:

Did you have the exact same tyres and condition of them as the OP?

I used a succesion of, questionable, BT21's, 23's & 16's, all of which, according to the DOT codes, had been sitting in the shop for years, becaise that was all that was available at the time.
In the 4 years of using that bike, in very hot conditions, I can't recall, ever, spinning the rear, under normal acceleration, unless there were adverse road conditions, ie dust or cracked road surface repairs, using liquid tar poured into the cracks.

[roboR]

Since there seems to be a load of different opinions I'm just going to take it to a garage this week and get it looked at. Another friend said my chain could be loose. I don't think it's the frame since it's only been dropped once and that was stationary (stepped in some oil), never crashed.

Going to take it to a friends garage and see what it is. At least it makes me feel it's not me being super ham fisted or something. Thanks everyone

[Willy Nilly]

I have the same bike, mine is black which makes it faster. Anyway, it will spin the tyre up in 3rd when the roads are wet and surprisingly high speeds. In the dry, no chance. You might have oil on the tyre or it might be that the tarmac is very hot and melting which would make the bike spin the back wheel.

[Biker's Nemesis]

Just say you're awesome like the rest on here as to the reason why your tyres is sliding.

[drdel]

You'll need grip on the rear if you want to wheelie. If the backend feels loose I'd check your rear suspension bushes and the shocker.

[roboR]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Just say you're awesome like the rest on here as to the reason why your tyres is sliding.

Oh of course that must be it, I'm backing it in... on the straights

drdel said:

You'll need grip on the rear if you want to wheelie. If the backend feels loose I'd check your rear suspension bushes and the shocker.

Well doing a wheelie isn't my goal, just brisk acceleration. Although a wheelie would still be preferable to the back sliding out!

[Glade]

Whenever I've had a hire car on a Mediterranean island I always thought the roads were quite polished and a bit slippery... maybe a factor?

[civiclegend]

Its the tarmac, highly polished, sun-abused and rarely resurfaced. Greece is the same, you can get squirly on a 125 cc step-through if you gas it coming out of a corner too hard, absolutely hopeless, and a nightmare if it rains. Alway remember seeing a guy riding a ZX12 on Rhodes, and you could hear the rear refusing to hook up on that polished surface. Lower pressures will help, but realistically just take it easy on the lean angle, especially combined with lots of throttle.

[roboR]

civiclegend said:

Its the tarmac, highly polished, sun-abused and rarely resurfaced. Greece is the same, you can get squirly on a 125 cc step-through if you gas it coming out of a corner too hard, absolutely hopeless, and a nightmare if it rains. Alway remember seeing a guy riding a ZX12 on Rhodes, and you could hear the rear refusing to hook up on that polished surface. Lower pressures will help, but realistically just take it easy on the lean angle, especially combined with lots of throttle.

Happens to me on the straights

[graham22]

roboR said:

civiclegend said:

Its the tarmac, highly polished, sun-abused and rarely resurfaced. Greece is the same, you can get squirly on a 125 cc step-through if you gas it coming out of a corner too hard, absolutely hopeless, and a nightmare if it rains. Alway remember seeing a guy riding a ZX12 on Rhodes, and you could hear the rear refusing to hook up on that polished surface. Lower pressures will help, but realistically just take it easy on the lean angle, especially combined with lots of throttle.

Happens to me on the straights

Seen exactly the same in Crete, rider on a Blackbird, slight whiff of throttle in a straight line & you could see/hear it spin. Most the roads there are polished tar with the stones long gone.

Probably best to find a new Euro-funded road in the middle of nowhere and have some fun on that.

[Hooli]

Get some studded tyres, they'll dig into the soft tar surface & get grip

[Prof Prolapse]

I'm with Fastdruid. Unless he's going like the clappers it sounds a bit dramatic for tyre pressures.

I think you're doing the right thing by throwing it into the garage. Even if they bounce it back and say they can't find anything you'll feel more confident in the bike. Then you can piss around with pressures.

[Hooli]

Check your rear wheel bearings. Just grab the tyre & try to shove it side to side with the bike on the side stand.

I had a few mm of movement in a worn bearing on my RF600 years ago, felt like I was riding on ice as the wheel flopped about.

[CypSIdders]

Any news on this, OP?

[foxsasha]

I hired a R1200RT in Spain. Had the whole bike slide sideways in the bone dry going round a small mini roundabout whilst travelling at a brisk but sensible pace. From that point on I was oh so aware of how shiny and polished many of the road surfaces were. Very little grip in places.

[roboR]

CypSIdders said:

Any news on this, OP?

Sadly been so busy with work I've not had a change to take the bike in! I've been doing the European thing and borrowed my mums 125cc scooter for the time being!

Next week I'm going to take it round (hopefully Monday morning).

[roboR]

UPDATE

So it went to the garage fella this morning. He confirmed bearings, chain and tyre wear is all fine. He said it's... tyre pressures.

Well strictly speaking he said it could be a few others things also but running on 36/42 in Gibraltar is too high. He comes well recommended from bikers here (owned 47 CBR's, had his garage for 15+ years etc) so I'm going to go with what he said.

He booked me in for next Wednesday for a proper check on the full bike. In the meantime he charged me nothing for looking at it quickly, and he dropped my pressures to what he recommends (30 front and 35 rear). He told me to drive it around till next week and if it seems fine to call up and cancel the booking. If it keeps happening then to come in and have his mechanics check everything.

Seems almost too good to be true, but since he didn't charge me anything and told me to cancel the booking if it rides fine the rest of the week then he's definitely being honest with what he thinks it is at least.

None of his mechanics batted an eyelid at lowering the pressure so I guess it might be fairly common here.

TL/DR: High tyre pressure and I can't ride a bike very well.

Edit: Kinda funny also that he said around corners it could be because of the chicken strips Said you can see I've been out to the edges a few times, but mainly ride around the middle few inches

I said I'd just got the bike pretty recently (Dec/Jan) and was building up more confidence, then summer hit and I started sliding everywhere so became like a granny hah.

Edited by roboR on Wednesday 29th July 12:56

[moanthebairns]

so we had, loose chain, chain lube, shockwaves from the Pompeii eruption, aftermarket levers, dust on the road from halley's comet, brakes binding, bent frame, the glare from the Aurora Borealis glazing the pads....