Stoppies re-visited.
 

For the longest time I couldn't stoppie my VTR.

Friday, I put a pair of Pilot Powers on the bike.

Now, she stoppies effortlessly.

I think it's all in the tires.
My last set of Slipstones wouldn't grab enough to allow a stoppie.

These Pilot Powers are nice and grippy.

Now I can't stop doing stoppies.


Help


rob

Flippin' cool news! I just put my set on last week - well that was the last week before it started raining here. I don't think I have more than two or three miles on them. What pressures are you starting out at. They feel quite firm to me but part of that may be my front end settings. Very sticky though - even to touch them - very unusual compound. These are going to be fun getting hot and some reports are huge mileage - 8k per set?

Yes, they are fantastic on the VTR.
I had a set for Deals Gap. Never slipped once. Crazy lean angles.

Pilot Powers are fantastic tires.

I just broke these in up in the Northern country for the Sport Bike Rally.

Nice roads to break in a nice set of tires.

rob

You'd be surprised at the tires you can do stoppies with. I used to have an old CB650 with Kenda or some other off-brand tires and I could do little stoppies with it. I used to do stoppies with the crap stock D204s on the Superhawk too. It's all in the technique. The key is NOT to GRAB the front brake. Once the front is loaded you just squeeze progressively until the rear lifts.

Stock tires on my VTR would stoppie.

Bridgestones just skidded like hell.

Everyone knows Bridgestones suck, but don't tell Casey Stoner.

I been riding bikes a long time and I have NEVER tried a stoppie. It looks very cool, and it looks like fun...but it also looks a lot like road rash to me and my VTR.

How does one take baby steps without getting one hurt?

My I can try before I get a new paint job?:oops:

/S

You can start from as slowly as 12mph. DO NOT GRAB the front brake. That is what causes front wheel skids. Always look straight ahead when you do them or the back of the bike may go to one side.

+1 on the mileage thing.. I've been running a set. Bike had them on it when I bought it with 6k.. around 8-9k put new shoes on her.. now @ 16k and getting time for more..

I dont like stoppies cause of the slam when you come down.. Wheelies you can feather the throttle to lower the bike easier.. Stoppies just BANG! down.

That's for folks who don't know how to end them properly. If you squeeze in on the brake as you're coming down, you can finesse the bike into a soft landing.

with proper brake modulation you can smoothly lower or raise the rear tire during the stoppie and even roll out the end of the stoppie so that you never actually stop. really talented folks can set the rear tire down smooth and loft the front right away. now that looks good!

Ya my buddy back in VA can do all that, and more.

And I just tossed on some Diablo III's, and so far I love them alot!

Im gonna post a question about my brake system in a new thread, which keeps me from doing endos or stoppies

Stock brakes on the VTR are rather squishy aren't they.

rob

Well, really, you won't know, until you've had better; and then it becomes obvious. Nonetheless, "squishy" could describe it.

I got my VTR new. I didn't really test the brakes after a few, silent, front-tire slides. A couple weeks later, I did HH pads, s/s lines, and springs and GV, pretty much at the same time. I felt much more confident braking, with the 204's, but I still didn't trust 'em. They responded well enough to counter-countersteering, but slipped way too much (I coulda had fun drifting on two wheels through turns, hoping for no normally unavoidable hazards. The tires were fairly predictable when accelerating, but I need more dirt-riding time for all that.) A week or two later, I threw on Sportec's.

I guess I'm kinda curious about how well the bike would stop with the forks done up and a sticky front tire and stock brakes. Actually.. there were a few times, when the bike was completely stock... One in particular, I had to slow down from about 120, just as I was catching up to the group...

Suddenly, at hill crest, we have to make a right, which is, like, maybe an eighth of a mile down the road. The road was smooth, but it's slope changed from level to 30 degrees downward, over the course of braking. I kept the front end as bottomed as it could be. The front tire stuck. But nearing the turn, when I really had to brake hard to not blow the turn (and/or hit somebody), more squeezing did not mean more braking. Some extra rear-braking ended up saving the day, after scaring me twice by sliding.

Now, that was some squishiness, from those rubber lines expanding, and I did not care for it. But even that is better than boiling, brake fluid and zero stopping power. That did flash across my mind at the time, but I concentrated, instead, on stopping as fast as I could without skidding the front tire, while in the back of my mind trying to feel comfortable enough to apply a significant amount of rear brake at the same time without losing traction. With all that, plus recognizing that the tires, brakes and suspension are all stock and basically unacceptable, I'm basically just hoping for the best at that point... It was a close one.. and was much of what prompted the rush to upgrade.

Crap.. How'd that soapbox get there?!? :bs2: :bs2: :bs: