The rear chicken-strips are obviously correlated to how far the bike has been leaned over to scrub off the tire-wax. But what about front chicken-strips?

They seem to wear a lot less quickly. Are they indicative of anything about the rider/riding style, though? Are they also lean indicators? Or do they indicate how fast the bike has been steered?

:dunno

I would also like to know, I think it has something to do with lean angle and countersteering and corrective countersteering in corners while leaning.

:corn

 

Front wear has a lot to do with rider, tire profile,, the bike, the bikes geometry etc. Not necessarily skill or balls. Most bikes, tires, conditions make it quite difficult to get rid of chicken strips on the front tire.

 

Counter steering. Some tracks you lower the front also

 

I agree. It's largely about the motorcycle's geometry, and less about the steering input or ability of the rider.

When I monitor tire wear, I consider the unused portion of the tire in my rake/trail adjustments. Very close to the edge; minor if any adjustment. Plenty of room; I can pull the forks up through the triples to decrease trail and make the rake angle slightly more steep.

 

Hmmm, I've got to say that it is a function of the tire profile, pressure and the amount of lean used, just like the rear tire.

I don't see the connection between geometry and this. In the same way that changing the swingarm angle wouldn't affect your rear chicken strips...

 

I don't see the connection between geometry and this. In the same way that changing the swingarm angle wouldn't affect your rear chicken strips...

An FJR, R1 and Motard will all run the front tire with different weights, angles and inputs from the rider. The FJR puts a lot of weight on the front tire, as does the Connie 14(Zx-14's ST brother). Bikes with wide handle bars like the Motards can wear a front tire further than your average Sportbike.

I'm sure the geomety has something to do with it. Not a whole lot of experience with any of this(although I've seen some folks wear a front tire further than I ever have)....just remember reading about it in some mag.

 

depends on the rider.
i ride w my girl most the time, so i dont really get a chance to let her rip and wear off all the shickenstrips on the back, nevermind the front hahaha

But, i can see the difference b/w motard and R1 wearing differently

 

High performance sport riding will place a lot more weight, stress and pressure on the front as you mash it into the ground entering corners, then you countersteer properly so you are leaning that tyre. In normal, average street riding you will never scrub a front like a rear. Like others have said there are some other factors with geometry of the bike that effect it, but seriously, WHO CARES. I for one do not stand around looking at other bike tyres comparing front and rear, "ooh this one's got an inch of strips on the front, he must be a noob rider". Shit, I've seen guys at trackdays on the advanced group come off with a majorly shredded front and rear and the front will have like 2mm of strip. Strips mean NOTHING.

 

DanQ is correct about front geometry, and tire wear can be used as one indicator.. ie, if you're already using the front tire to the edge, and you lower the front some more(or raise the rear for that matter), you're in for some pain... it isn't the be all and end all by any means, but it can be used as an indicator when deciding on geometry changes..

I have 2 ZX10r racebikes, exactly the same except... one is set up aggressively weighted forward... the other not so much... for different tracks and conditions... all other the same.. one uses all the front tire... the other has about 3-5mm's of strip on the front.. the rears are all used on both..

Strips dont, however, give an indicator of balls... I have no strips, and I get beat all the time...

 

Just do a trackday that will get rid of them quick. But seriously it doesn't matter about them.

 

The front tire wear has to do with corner entry speed. If going into a corner hot, you can scrub off excess speed on the front tire. If somebody has no strips on the front end as a street rider, they are really pushing the envelope and asking for an accident. On the racetrack or during a track day, you can push the front and use all the tire. Also, that is partially why most race bikes have a nose down, tail up attitude, to add weight to the front end.

Frank

 

:flex:

 

There was a guy a the track on an sv that had no strips on the front and 1/4th inch or so in the back. He didn't know how that's happening, I think he had a 160 rear.

 

too much fork compression on braking :dunno

 

Stock SV forks'll do that. :dunno

Thanks for the input, guys. I was talking to some buddies about it and they seemed to think that wearing down the front strips really showed something about the rider...I wasn't so sure.

I haven't done any track-days yet, but on the street, I try to use as little brake as possible. I locked the front at Deals last year braking hard into a corner and it wasn't a pleasant experience. :crash

 

the front is narrow and high profile .
the rear is wide and lower profile .

for same lean angle the rear will reach the edge much earlier.

the front wear is also effected by trail .

 

Here how about this one for the "Trail vs Front Strip" guys.

My team mate has about a 10mm strip on the left side of his front tire and a 4mm strip on the right.
How does he adjust his trail/geometry to even those out?

Could it be he is more comfortable with right handers? (he openly states this)
or did we miss his set up so bad that his forks are uneven. lol..

For most;
They quit leaning the bike when they start losing a feel for what the front is doing (same as you quit twisting the throttle based on rear tire feel). Trail can play a role as well as spring rate and proper click settings.

 

My team mate has about a 10mm strip on the left side of his front tire and a 4mm strip on the right.
How does he adjust his trail/geometry to even those out?

Could it be he is more comfortable with right handers? (he openly states this)
.

I found that most riders, (when they first start going fast) tend to favor right or left. I don't know if it's a right handed
thing / left handed??

 

It's a number of factors

Among those being suspension set up. But in general as someone else above mentioned the wear on the front is an indication of corner entry speed, counter-steering force and braking on turn-in. You can get asymmetric wear at a given track due to different corner characteristics. I have a tendency to be hard on my fronts at a track I think due to late braking and trail braking. I looked at the fronts on my street bike the other day and noted far less edge wear than the backs. Obviously this is due to the much more careful riding style.

 

Among those being suspension set up. But in general as someone else above mentioned the wear on the front is an indication of corner entry speed, counter-steering force and braking on turn-in. You can get asymmetric wear at a given track due to different corner characteristics. I have a tendency to be hard on my fronts at a track I think due to late braking and trail braking. I looked at the fronts on my street bike the other day and noted far less edge wear than the backs. Obviously this is due to the much more careful riding style.

1st corner entry is generally from straight up to about 45 degrees, then trail braking till apex. I doubt either causes much tire edge wear compared to the engine pushing the front tire through the turn. One easy way to prove this is what happens when you let off the gas mid-turn at full lean, the bike tends to stand up and go wide because one we stand up the bike due to a lack of grip leaning. If it had grip due to braking than the bike should be more controllable at lean under braking but we know this ends in a low-slide. Or another example, going into an uphill turn faster than a downhill turn of the same radius. The front is sticking better because of the rear pushing down on the forks into the hill. If you try with a softer rear tire than the front, I did this accidentally. You can shred up a front in no time because now the rear is pushing the front so much harder.

 

Hey that was a personal attack, stop it.

 

:secretsst kangaroo.
When you lift the bike should stay down or turn in tighter not lift.
Gas or front brake lifts the bike (pushes up or slows front). Lifting off the gas drags the rear tire and turns the bike in tighter like dragging the back brake..


Fella's I am trying to stay with you on the geo thing but your just not connecting the dots for me. I know how to push the front, and I understand how you can see where that causes "wear".

But the topic is "Front chicken strips" not just wearing it down, but scarring all the way to the edge. The best set bike will not clear those strips unless some one can lean her,,,, it takes the rider to bend that thing over.

And as for each track causes a different wear:
Yes that is true but again we are not talking about the rear,, where this is more prevalent. The front "barely" shows a difference in this aspect. And is still not the true topic. Strips guys, Strips. No matter what track you still try to lean her over all the way at some point.

Keep going though, maybe I am just missing something.:crash

 

Definitely you are correct, that when you let off the gas, the bike will tighten up the turning but that is because you are now falling. The front tire turns into the turn as well as now your bike is out of balance and trying to compensate for the lack of acceleration that provided the outward force of the bike but this is to stand the bike up. :fact And yes as a rider you can keep the bike down with incremental changes like a smooth roll off of throttle but anymore and you're risking a crash.

But we're talking about the force on the front tire, meaning grip, when you let off the gas, the forks decompress because the bike is now not pushing the forks to turn. Less force then means less lean angle which eventually pushes the bike wide. This is the counter intuitive example a lot of riders get caught on. When you come to a decreasing radius turn, the actual safe thing to do is gas and lean more. Anything else is bad.

 

You can't look at a tire's "size" and make any determination about its profile. The aspect ratio is a VERY loose indicator of how tall the center of the tire is, but the manufacturer can make the sidewalls whatever size they want. This means that there are an infinite number of profile shapes for a given size.

For example, Dunlop specs the 195/65-17 slick at 656mm in diameter. Subtract 431.8mm for the wheel, divide by 2 and the tire height is 112.1mm. If you take 65% of 195mm, you get 126.75mm

 

It was used as a rough example and BTW I'm agreeing with what you first wrote fooker. :finger

Thank God we got the math lesson out of the way.

Zip it Jamaal :finger

 

Thank God we got the math lesson out of the way.

 

Time fo some book learnin bish!

 

:dundun:...Okay not I'm so lost it ain't even funny. I'm reading everything I can in preperation of my first track day on June 19th. at jennings. What do the pics. below tell you guys about my settings? I'm 5'11" and 225# running Pirelli Diablo's with my pressure set at 30 psi front and 29 psi rear with 33 mm's of sag in the rear and factory settings at the front. Any help from you fast guys will greatly be appreciated. :thumbup

 

Nothing to really tell based off your tire. I would double check your free sag and total sag in the front.

 

Looking at the second pic, I'd say your focal length setting is a little off. Other than that.... can't tell much.

 

I'd suggest get better tires...

 

and how much in the back?