cmurphy84

I was out in the country working on some basics and practicing stopping quickly. Under heavy braking, the front just wants to slide. On my bro-in-law's 600rr, it just does stoppies, but on my 919, it just wants to dive and slide.

So...is this a flaw, better than a stoppie, or what? I'd almost rather go into a stoppie as opposed to the front locking and sliding.

zookmor

try some fork springs to increase the strength of the front end to avoid serious diving. or if you have the money send the forks off to get reworked.

Basspiece919

Hmmm... I have 20k miles on my forks and they are way mushy (not for long Racetechs en route) but I have absolutely no problem doing stoppies... What kind of tires do you have on it?

Grantizzle

and a new front tire?


mine stoppies....... really well.

HondaJim

Keep practicing. You need to modulate the front until the nose dives, transfer your weight forward, and then you can add more front brake. It's sliding because there's not enough weight on it and too much front brake.

You'll also learn to let off the brake real quick when the front starts to lock, or you'll find yourself tucking the front and posting about used parts available.

cmurphy84

Pilot Road 2 are my current tires. It seems like the front wants to slide more and the rear wants to spin more than the Pilot Power tires I took off.

I'm learning when the front want to try to lock out in the boonies so I hopefully don't do that in a real emergency situation.

soundman

Check your pressures. A lot also depends on road surface, temp, are you progressively applying or just grabbing a handful. One thing about brakes is that their consistency is inconsistent.

Pacojerte

you are driving on asphalt and not dirt roads??? right???

cmurphy84

Air pressure is checked almost every day and kept at 34 PSI front and 39 PSI rear. I tried a few "oh crap" grab a hand full and that is when it slid. When applying a little more smoothly, the front seems to load up and just stop. But man does this thing dive hard. Obviously not a surprise to anyone who has an unmodified '02 or '03 front end.

I might not have teeth or wear shoes, but at least our wagon trails are paved.

scrat

my niner has never been too fond of stoppies...it will do it, but takes some pushin and carefull squeezing. the RC on the other hand seems to want to throw me over the front all the time... it's pretty crazy. i'm going to go put my new BIGGER BRAKES on it now

919Rider

maybe you should make air pressure lower

Jeef

Its no suprise its locking up, grabbing a large hand full of brake is never advised, you need to modulate it on, as the weight moves forward the more pressure you can put on the lever.

Pacojerte

dude ... put a set of racetech springs on the front i guarantee stoppies....

those springs make the brakes work scary good...

Shaughnessy

I would say you are running with old rubber. My Road 2's held up great until the last 1,000 miles and felt greasy. I would say you are either high on mileage, had them on for about 3 years, or they were manufactured more than 3 years ago. Rubber, especially soft compound rubber like motorcycle tires, has only a 3 year shelf life before the rubber starts to harden and does not stick as well.

Pacojerte

i guess i better check the date on that big box of condoms then....

The Shadow

Better to modulate than never...

cmurphy84

I checked the date codes on the tires and they are good. Front was made the 39th week of '08 and the rear was made the 40th week of '08. I mounted the front when it was only 4 or 5 months old. the rear was about 10 months.

The 919 must have just so much power and torque that it will melt a rear tire. No wonder it's easy to beat a 600RR.

The two times it slid, I just grabbed a handful. By modulate, do you mean grab progressively larger amounts of front brake or pulse them?

drewvir

sqeeze don't grab you gotta let the forks dive a 'bit b4 really gettin' on them.kinda hard to describe

btw helps if the jewels are on the tank.

3dcycle

helps what? that has never helped me do anything

drewvir

if he sits up by the tank it'll change the weight distribution

Jeef

yeah that, you should notice as the front end loads up and weight shifts forward you can keep adding more and more pressure to the lever. Thats actually why MSF teaches to not cover the brake lever, to keep you from grabbing a gaint handfull.

touring919

Wouldn't one grab a big handfull when they are actually grabing for it as apossed to having one finger already there than can squeeze. And even if it doesn "grab" the brakes, one finger isn't going to do much until its friends join in latter after some weight transfer as already occurred. Just being the devels advocate on this one, I rarely cover my brakes. Only in city traffic when i see something I don't trust do I cover.

Mine locks up alot. Depends on the what road, if the forks bottom out and of coarse that particular roads conditions and how settled the chassis is before I really start pulling on that lever.

Getting it to stopie is easy enough if you move your weight in a way that instigates a stopie.

The 919 is more prone to slide than an RR but way less than any cruiser. Or sport tourer. Its just the nature of this particular beast.