Triumphrat

uzidzit

just for the size issue. This bike is pretty forgiving (ok read slow handling) It can be made to handle very very well, but it will not Feel light like a sportbike while it is actually running a really responsive setup.

When mine was hit it would do a u turn between the lines of a single lane no sweat. (running stock size demons, 1" up on the tubes and 1" up on the shocks)

yes you probably snookered yourself when you upped the preload, that raised the ride height a little and shortened the wheel base and that is good in this case.

a few things when the tire is on a rim that is too narrow:

They get larger in dia., which slows handling.

They get a hump in the middle cross section of the tire, which leads to rapid wear in the center and development of an edge transition between center and the further out leaned area quicker.

A lot of times the profile toward the edge, actually gets flatter which make the tire feel slower toward the edge (this can be good to a degree).

you lose hard cornering stability (profile is distorted), and you work the sidewall harder as it is trying to roll off the rim.

How the conti should feel (and this is from several bikes, bmwk100, vstrom650, and new bmw k1200 lt),

Road Attack mini review if any wants to know (this tire should be the bees knees for a road only for the tiger, and they are the bomb on the sprint)

The road attack is usually very light feeling at the first part of the push when you start a turn ( the inital push to lean the bike), they actually make the bike feel like it is falling into the turn, they then will give you more resistance the further you lean right to the edge of the tire.

On the straights on the interstates they can feel jut a bit weavy, they do not white line at all but they are so responsive that ANY imput by the rider gets results. The last thing about the road attack that you will either love or hate is that it is Telepathic, it will talk to you all the time about the road, and how much grip it has. if the road asphalt texture changes you will feel it, and it tells you how it is sticking. And that is great the road attack will not surprise you like a pilot road or avon venom by just letting go without notice (the bt45 is really bad about that as well), when you near the limit the conti will feel lighter and "dancy" after it had been getting firmer in the turn up to that point. These tires will not surprise you if you pay attention.

They also warm up really quick, and the rear should last 6-8k mi the front ought to do about 12k. there is a little trade off, and Conti warns you about this they say this tire has a little less grip below 40f degrees on wet roads than it does at above 40f on wet roads. Conti says it has a little trouble maintaining its heat under those conditions, I have ridden these in monsoon rains and 30-50mph winds at 52f degrees and they griped better than I expected, I hit a few spots where they should have hydorplaned by all rights and they did not.

In a nut shell, these are a great sport touring type of tire, with moderate-good life and sportbike rubber like grip, that give some of the best feed back to the rider you could ask for.


all that said the tire for the bonnie at the moment is the sport demon, or the tourance, or maybe the tc-80 if you want to get wild on the scram.

__________________
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