V11 Stock Tire Geometry

[skunkmonkey]

I’m a new rider, so I’m curious what others think. After riding my V11 for a couple of months now, I’m starting to think the V11 tire geometry is bad. Probably due to the prominent central ridge.

What I have noticed is that the V11 is super stable as long as I am constantly carving, but if I ever stop then the stability is less certain, and it seems to occasionally pick up minor wobbles that are easily corrected, but are annoying nonetheless.

I think what is happening is that I’m riding on that tiny central ridge, and if conditions (like bumps) cause me to go on and off that ridge rapidly then this causes an imbalance, and introduces a wobble.

I have my tire inflated to only 33psi which is below the stamped pressure.

[skunkmonkey]

Well I found another workaround that seems to work just as well. I just changed my stance. I used to let the EUC float loosely between my legs, but now I loosely place my knees against both sides of the EUC, and I haven't had a wobble since. I know not to grip it tightly because that can cause instabilities, but just lightly touching it doesn't seem to cause that issue.

[Tep]

The stock CST 1488 certainly have bad geometry, the rubber strip in the middle makes the wheel wants to go perfectly straight, left or right, there's not really an inbetween. Not to mention it wears out very quickly.

Unfortunately, Inmotion somewhat made the V11 around that tire, so tire clearance is tight for almost anything better. I have a Michelin Pilot Street 2 on mine and it works fine except some minor rubbing (tire clearance requires perfect alignment for no rubbing.) Having a good tire on V11 makes it a lot more enjoyable. Kenda K262 also works as a knobby option, but again, it's a tight fit. 

[dwagelaar]

I only managed to get rid of the speed wobbles on my V11 when I switched to another tyre: the Heidenau K66 80/80 14. It doesn't rub like the 80/90, and is slightly narrower than the stock tyre. It does completely change the ride characteristics of the V11, and makes it much easier to lean over the wheel into corners. It also requires more lean for the same turn rate, and makes it behave a bit more like smaller wheels (e.g. V8). Most importantly, the wheel no longer tries to "jump" out of single-track trails, which tend to be hollowed out, and you can just follow the trail. In other words, no more tram-tracking.

The sidewalls of the K66 are much stiffer, and the tyre wall is thicker overall. That means you need to run it with less pressure than the stock tyre, and the tyre is more stable at high speeds.

I did have a bit of trouble installing the tyre, as the stock tube is a bit too small to fit inside. You really have to push in the tube to distribute it evenly within the tyre, or you're going to have a folded tube inside the tyre. Finally, because the rim is not designed to perfectly fit a motorcycle tyre, you have to spend some time on aligning the tyre on the rim such that it runs smoothly.