Narrow Front Tire?

[craigatcsi]

I need to replace my tires and have read a lot of the posts on tires on this board.

 

The one thing I didn't find is any negative effects of going with a narrower front tire.

 

I like the idea of better low speed handling, but don't know what I might be giving up.

 

Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

craigr

 

(edit) - BTW, you folks have sold me on Avons. All I need to do is figure out the sizes.

[flb_78]

I went with the narrower front tire and it does handle better at parking lot speeds, but at highway speeds, it tended to follow the road grooves a lot more then the std size.

[V7Goose]

Lots of detail here:

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20815&highlight=narrower

Goose

[loehring]

Craigr, just think about your riding. Where and what speed do you spend most of your time? If it's in parking lots or at very low speed get a narrow tire. If it's on the highway, stay with a wider more stable tire. For me it's a no brainer. For every mile I spend in a parking lot I probably spend 750 milkes on the highway.

 

As a Ride Captain with the PGR I think I can speak from a lot of 'low speed' experience and I'll be honest, you can learn to handle low speeds with just a little practice with low speed principals. (friction zone clutch and trail braking) I'm only 5'10", 195 lbs so if I can do it anyone can. Don't sacrifice your riding comfort for the odd parking lot.

 

My .02

[CMIKE]

I need to replace my tires and have read a lot of the posts on tires on this board.

 

The one thing I didn't find is any negative effects of going with a narrower front tire.

 

I like the idea of better low speed handling, but don't know what I might be giving up.

 

Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

craigr

 

(edit) - BTW, you folks have sold me on Avons. All I need to do is figure out the sizes.

 

IF you are replacing the stock 404's...here is my 2 cents

I just replaced the both front and rear Stock 404's on my 07 Midnight. I thought a lot about going to the smaller front tire just like you due to the clumsiness at parking lot speeds. I went with the Dunlop E3's in the stock sizes and did notice improvement in parking lot speed handling. Also better handling on the road. I would also recommend staying with stock front tire. I never imagined a tire could make such a difference in the handling of a bike. Although I have never run an Avon but I think either the Avon or E3 will be a good choice and you will feel the difference over the 404's. I was sold on both of them and the E3's were a little cheaper at the time I made the purchase. That is the only reason I have an E3 and not an Avon. I am very satisfied with the E3 and looking forward to many miles on this set. I do not think you can go wrong with either in stock sizes.

[Seaking]

I need to replace my tires and have read a lot of the posts on tires on this board.

The one thing I didn't find is any negative effects of going with a narrower front tire.

I like the idea of better low speed handling, but don't know what I might be giving up.

Anyone have any ideas on this?

craigr

(edit) - BTW, you folks have sold me on Avons. All I need to do is figure out the sizes.

 

I have an 06 Midnight and I replaced the OEM Dunslop D404 with the Elite3 (E3) tires and wotta diff these tires make..

 

Personally, I would not recommend a narrow tire on this bike for several reasons.. The E3 will give you a better response than the D404, and a narrow tire will, as others have suggested, follow the bad lines of a road..

 

Imagine going down the road and your wheel wants to follow all those road snakes, you know what I mean, those long tar lines used to fill in pavement cracks.. how annoying of a feeling THAT can be.. With the E3 tire, I hardly notice them.. And when they scrape the top layer of pavement on road improvements, you will sail over the long grooves instead of the groves steering you..

 

My recent trip to New England saw us riding through some of those conditions on the I290 and my buddy's Venture has the Dunlop D404 and those scrape lines tossed him from side to side while I hardly noticed them.. I didn't know why he had slowed down to a crawl on that segment of road but it was bad enough to slow him down..

 

A properly inflated E3 will allow you to properly maneuver in slow speeds etc