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Tire recommendations, Cold starting, gas/octane

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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I have had my 80 GS850L now 6 weeks and ridden 600 miles as of this morning. I am looking for some advice/opinions on several questions.

1. It will be needing new tires next year - any opinions on the the "best value" tire? My riding is about: 60% country back roads at 55 mph or less; 30% city streets stop-n-go at 40 mph or less; and 10% freeway at 65 mph.

2. The last several weeks it has been 30F to 35F in the morning when I ride to work. The bike starts and warms up just fine, but it seems to make a "choof" sound intermittently through the exhaust only at low riding rpm or idle (I don't know how else to describe the noise - it sounds like a backfire coming through the mufflers). It only seems to be doing it when it's cold out (air temp 30 - 35 ish). Other possibly pertinent info: bike seems to have a pretty strong gas exhaust smell when warming up with choke and I'm getting about 35 mpg for my combined city/hwy riding. I haven't looked at any plugs yet. My thought was that it seemed to be running rich.

3. Does anyone have sound advice on gas octane to use and whether or not to avoid 10% ethanol fuels? The manual seems to be of little help in this regard.

Thanks for your help.

David
 
Dunlops are a good all purpose tire, good price and long lasting. The 'choof' you describe when idling/low speed is engine leaning out/frosting during cold weather. Dirty carbs are a suspect item. As for Octane, 87 regular is fine. Try to stay away from 10% ethanol fuels if possible.
 
You shouldn't need to leave the choke on more than 60 seconds, even when it's cold. Even at 40 degrees, I fire it up, idle for about 15 seconds, and hit the road. I shut off the choke before I even leave my addition.

For the price of one Dunlop, you can get a set of Cheng Shin HiMax tires. I ride very quickly and lean over very far every chance I get, with lots of interstate commuting miles mixed in, and I've been very happy with the grip and longevity of my last three sets of CS tires. They're cheap enough that I can replace them when they first start to square off (about 7,000 to 8,000 miles usually), instead of trying to scrape every last mile out of an outlandishly priced set of tires.

I've tried Bridgestone Spitfires, and while they had decent grip, they were toast within 3,000 miles. The mega-$$$ Metzelers I tried quickly developed odd wear patterns and heavy vibrations despite being repeatedly re-balanced and checked carefully for roundness.

If the money isn't that big an issue, you'll never go wrong with Dunlops. Probably the best money can buy.

Don't forget to upgrade your fork springs and shocks, if you haven't already! New rubber's no good if the bike still handles like a rubber pig.
 
I concur with the advice above about using the choke.

I think Dunlop K491 Elites are the best tire for what you describe. They wear well, stick well both dry and wet, and come in sizes to fit our bikes.

Shop around, you'll find discount prices for any tire you may looking for.
 
If the 850 doesn't run well on regular 87 octane, there's something else wrong with it. I assume it's a stock engine. I'd stay away from ethanol also.

I suspect dirty carbs. This is not unusual on recently bought GS bikes, as the bikes are neglected and allowed to sit with stale gas in carbs. My advice is to have them professionally cleaned by someone who knows what he's doing. See article by yours truly in this site: http://www.thegsresources.com/stories/gs_lowincometouring.htm . Once the carbs are cleaned and synchronized, the valves adjusted, fresh plugs, clean air cleaner element, the bike will run like a totally different and improved animal.

Nick
 
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