This is a Pirelli MT16 rear tire.
The tire is the black round thing.
The thing behind the tire in my Fender electric guitar amplifier, something I haven't used regularly in a few years, now.
Want to buy it?
I went for yet another Pachaug rock n' roll pile ride yesterday after another Saturday morning freebee at jerk.
I hit the trail about 12 noon and had a good time out there.
I felt good, the bike felt good, it ran flawlessly, the suspension felt good, and I enjoyed the feel of two new tires:
Bridgestone M23 front and M604 rear.
On the way back to the start/end of the trail loop, I had to come to a stop in order to allow a train of idiots going in the opposite direction room to pass by.
This sucked for three reasons, and the third reason is one of the things that concerns me about the longevity of the Pachaug Enduro Loop.
1) I had a good pace going, and seeing these retards coming was a bummer since I knew I'd be the one stopping to make room.
Why was I stopping and not them?
It was because of reason number three.
2) The guy leading the parade of three 4-wheeled ATVs and one pickup truck was a guy I worked with for a (thank God) short time in the late 1990s, and he is the brother of another guy I also worked with during the same time period and also later at another place (both motorcycle dealerships).
The leading guy is a goddamned dimwit.
I mean stupid to the nth degree, folks, complete with low IQ and an ugly face to match.
I did not feel good seeing him again.
3) ATV are not allowed out on the Pachaug trails or anywhere within the Pachaug state forest.
Period.
End of story.
Not under any circumstance, no matter what kind of ATV or off-road registration you may have for it, and I wonder if retards like this will speed-up the closing-down of the Pachaug Enduro motorcycle loop, something that environmental wackos and horse lovers and posy sniffers and leaf watchers would love to see happen.
Having to stop for this guy and his band of idiots, who shouldn't have been there according to the Pachaug forest rules that I have to play by in order to ride my CRF-450X9 out there, was the only sucky part of the whole ride.
Of course, the smug look on this retard's face was one of, "Ug. Here come man on bike. I no slow down because Korg king of forest. I show him. Ug."
Yes, folks, seeing the smug (and hideously ugly) look on this caveman's ugly face said it all and reminded me all too much of how it sucked working in the same building as him all those years ago.
Damn, and I'd just about forgotten about him up until yesterday, too. ;)
The tire in the picture above is a Pirelli MT16 rear tire.
I tried this on a 42-mile Pachaug ride after jerk a few days ago on a whim because it looked like a beefy tire, I'd heard so many good comments about it from local riders and Internet forums, and also because curiosity got the better of me.
My verdict?
Traction on most ground surfaces was good to excellent with enough outright grip on the ground to hoist the front tire up into a wheelie without trying while under acceleration, accelerating at points of the trail loop where the tires I usually use wouldn't do that (they'd just accelerate with a solidly hooked-up feeling).
Also, much to my delight, the shower of roost coming off the rear tire while doing this throttle twisting was a fine sight to behold, and the tire basically lived up to it's visual impression of being a bad-ass Earth muncher.
Environmentalist (AKA brainwashed fanatics) are probably shedding a tear right now.
Either that, or reaching for a fresh box of tree spikes and piano wire. ;)
The down side to this MT16 tire was mainly the added sidewall height, or how much the back end of the bike felt jacked-up compared to my usual Bridgestones, the M22 and M604.
While all three of these tires are listed as being 110/100 - 18, the same size that the bike came with as original equipment, not all 110/100 - 18 tires from all tire manufacturers will actually measure-out the same, and this is one of those situations.
The back of the bike was about 1/2 of an inch taller, and this is a big deal in bike feel, folks.
This threw the balance of the bike off for me, and it was bugging me the whole ride.
The rear felt too high, the front felt too low, the bike's excellent straight line stability felt reduced and I felt that I had to use more bodily energy to steer the bike as needed.
In other words, the good feel of the chassis setup seemed ruined.
It just didn't feel right to me.
Too bad, because I liked the feel and traction of this tire everywhere except on the hardest conditions (AKA the rocks), and I was willing to put up with it's tall and squishy-feeling sidewall in the numerous rocky sections in order to experience the Earth-munching traction from this very old school tire (looks like it comes from the mid-1970s).
But, the tall-feeling rear won out and I removed it after that one ride.
Without a rear ride height adjustment feature on the rear suspension (which would basically shorten the length of the shock or move it's mounting point upward), the only way to reduce ride height would be to reduce spring preload and allow more than the recommended 100mm of rear suspension sag (with me sitting on the seat).
I can't even do that with the stock shock spring because, believe it or not, the Owner's Manual says I can turn the preload adjuster out a mere 3/4 of a turn (!!) before the spring becomes too long, and therefor too loosely preloaded.
Hmmm.
I will probably be going with the next softest springs both front and rear since the stock springs are meant for a 180 lb. rider, and I weigh 150 lbs.
I decided to try this before I tried the MT16 tire, and who knows, maybe with the new springs I'll be able to dial-in the rear ride height to where it's acceptable without resorting to too much rear rider sag or too loose of a spring preload setting.
We will see.
-John
No comments:
Post a Comment