Sudden front slip: scared!

[ugocon]

Ciao.
That's what happened last weekend.
Just a normal curve at a normal speed.
Clean an dry road, no oil, no gravel, no dirt...
You know, a Street Bob cannot lean that much...:s
Well, all of a sudden, my front wheel slipped!
It lasted just for a moment, then the grip was regained...
But it scared the......EDIT.... out of me!
(Note: EDIT stands for terror and fear and shivering body :s)

The tyre is stock Dunlop and the pressure was correct.
I have about 9.000 km on it (about 5.500 miles).
I was planning to change my tyres at 12.000 km, and replacing them with Dunlop again.
Now I'm no longer sure about that: are Dunlop tyres of a lower quality???

I need grip more than duration: whats the best tyre to get?

Metzeler? Pirelli? Michelin?

Safety first! :s

Ciao
Ugo

 

[59Panhead]

metzlers 880 grip better but wear a little sooner! Michelin Commanders are also a great tire

go look at them at motorcycle superstore.com

 

[jaceddie]

Ciao.
That's what happened last weekend.
Just a normal curve at a normal speed.
Clean an dry road, no oil, no gravel, no dirt...
You know, a Street Bob cannot lean that much...:s
Well, all of a sudden, my front wheel slipped!
It lasted just for a moment, then the grip was regained...
But it scared the......EDIT.... out of me!
(Note: EDIT stands for terror and fear and shivering body :s)

The tyre is stock Dunlop and the pressure was correct.
I have about 9.000 km on it (about 5.500 miles).
I was planning to change my tyres at 12.000 km, and replacing them with Dunlop again.
Now I'm no longer sure about that: are Dunlop tyres of a lower quality???

I need grip more than duration: whats the best tyre to get?

Metzeler? Pirelli? Michelin?

Safety first! :s

Ciao
Ugo

I hit a tar snake (a tar patch to fill a crack) and had the same feeling. Not good!

 

[Bud White]

Hit a Tar snake this weekend on the Fatboy cooking though a corner im sure the whole bike slipped 6" there was a lot fo pucker factor there..

As to dunlops being a inferior tire i believe they are the handling on my RKC felt mushy at best with them and i had rapid wear .. Switched to michelin commanders and havent looked back got 12 or 13k on them still looking like new and ride excellent lot better feeling and control that dunlops ..

other will say the dunlops are great best thing since sliced bread this is up to you to decide

 

[Hoople]

Ciao.

Clean an dry road, no oil, no gravel, no dirt...

It lasted just for a moment, then the grip was regained...

Ciao
Ugo

There had to be something on the road. Antifreeze, oil, water something. Once you loose the coefficient of friction between the rubber and pavement, you would Not be able to regain it once again unless the speed between the two surfaces was dramatically reduced, and I can't see that happening,, Especially on a lateral slide.
A tar snake is different. There are two coefficients involved. One for tar and one for the pavement.

It is just a physical property between objects that are sliding against each other.

 

[HDDon]

Had the same feeling on my Avons a couple of weeks ago. Went back to look at what had caused it (no tar snake) and found a tree limb about 3/4" dia. and about 8" long. I must have hit it just right as I never felt any bump just a slight slide to the left. Ugocon you need to go to the tire section to see what other riders here are using.

 

[Dr. Dolittle]

I agree with most of the folks who are suspicious of something in the road that you just didn't see. I seriously doubt if properly maintained Dunlops would just randomly do this to you. Can you go back and ride the same section of road again? Has it happened since that one time?

 

[Breeze3at]

I agree with others that it was something in the road you did not see. It happened to me several times in the mountains 3 weeks ago. Some I saw, others I didn't, but the tire took a small "jump" to the side, unnerving at least.
It only takes a small rock, hit exactly right (or wrong)
I'm not gonna get into tire recommendations.:newsmile030:

 

[janrick]

My son had the same thing happen on his 06 Nightrain. Looking at the tire real close he found a small diameter piece of wire sticking into the sidewall. Not big enough to cause a leak. Pulled it out. End of problem.

 

[sjr56]

There had to be something on the road. Antifreeze, oil, water something. Once you loose the coefficient of friction between the rubber and pavement, you would Not be able to regain it once again unless the speed between the two surfaces was dramatically reduced, and I can't see that happening,, Especially on a lateral slide.
A tar snake is different. There are two coefficients involved. One for tar and one for the pavement.

It is just a physical property between objects that are sliding against each other.

I mostly agee it was something on the road. Ran Dunlops a long time and lost traction on alot of different tires, but it generaly take some hard riding to get there on good pavement. As far as not bring able to regain traction, you scrub speed as you slide and can save it.