you're gonna get mixed response here about chix strips. especially if you have an inch+, which is pretty big.

my thoughts... they can be a gauge of riding style, BUT as soon as you build up better confidence and body position they become less important. so focus on staying relaxed, and keeping a steady line through corners.

your front to back difference... i dunno, its usually the other way around. my guess would be some sort of suspension madness. somebody else will give a better answer.

as for the left/right dif, i can say that its your body position. being more comfortable with left is normal, and it means that you are sitting in a way(hanging off more maybe) that requires less angle through a turn, however with the mental impression that you are leaning farther. this is a good thing. on the rights you are prob sitting more upright and therefor leaning the bike farther. again, this is normal because a right turn will always have less visibility than a left and forces you to become more nervous.

also, it only takes ONE turn to scrub the shine off, so the strips arent an accurate measure of your riding. use the actual wear to analyze your riding.

chix strips do vary between tires. no experience with the roadsmarts, but i have found sport touring tires to have less of an angle to the edges than high performance rubber. for example, power pures and the new dunlop q2 are almost vertical at the edges. by the time i got to the edge of the pures my pegs were hitting (though on the z1000 which has low pegs). track oriented tires are designed like this so you dont run off the edge. but when i ran pirelli angel sport tourings, the edges came prob 10deg sooner.


btw, i think its funny that many of the tire manufacturers are including chix strip "gauges" these days! pirelli has the trident, metzeler has the elephant nonsense, and mich pures have three lines.

 

I've got no stip at all in the rear and about 3/8" in the front.

What size of tires are you running?

 

Bikedude thanks for the in depth response, Geek I am running a 120/70 front and a 190/50 on the rear. Could my PSI be effecting the lean angle from front to rear? What if I lowered my PSI in the rear, would that give me a larger contact patch allowing me to use more of the tire?

 

yea, your front might be too low causing it to squash down too far. dont lower the rear though, or you might make the handling all weird.

 

forget chicken strips unless you're after fast food

For one better body position puts the bike more upright so you can have two guys at the same speed in a corner and one guy with 1" strips and one with none. The guy with the strips has better riding style, is safer, and has the potential to go much faster then the other guy if he picks his speed up as his position is better. Worrying/working on chicken strips are a great way to meet the pavement. Work on body position, braking, accelerating, suspension, stability, etc instead.

 

forget chicken strips unless you're after fast food

For one better body position puts the bike more upright so you can have two guys at the same speed in a corner and one guy with 1" strips and one with none. The guy with the strips has better riding style, is safer, and has the potential to go much faster then the other guy if he picks his speed up as his position is better. Worrying/working on chicken strips are a great way to meet the pavement. Work on body position, braking, accelerating, suspension, stability, etc instead.

Perfect answer.

It would be possible to ride in a parking lot at 40mph turning the bike like a dirtbike (pushing the bike underneath you instead on you leaning off) and get rid of chicken Strips. The only thing they can tell you is how far the bike has been leaned over. It cannot tell you anything about how it was being ridden, how the riders form is, speed, psi, etc......

 

I was always under the impression that the back always hit the edge of the tread before the front did. I'm a little puzzled why he's using all the front but not the rear. I'm sure the 190 has something to do with it, but it might be a geometry issue too. I'm not sure, so I hope this thread teaches me something too....

 

check your psi with another gauge or what not...

 

I like mine with ranch...

 

:nono I'll like em spicy from Popeye's or just regular with no sauce! Matter of fact this thread made me want some for lunch today! :woot

 

Thanks for all the response guys! I don't think I am running too little PSI because I am right at what is suggested on the tires. I do feel confident in what I have been doing so far. I have applied what I have been taught in a car as far as braking points, speed into a corner and acceleration through the apex. I was just puzzled how I am using more of the front tire than the rear...

 

what they write on the tires is MAX psi you should run, not what is recommended or optimal.

 

i really hope you are not running the pressures indicated on the tires... those are the max pressures to put in when seating the bead of the tire, not what you should run when riding.

and it is not uncommon to have un-used tire in the front while the rear is used to the edge. it takes a lot of lean angle to get rid of the chicken strips on the front tire, lean angle not commonly found during street riding.

 

Understood about the PSI, I was responding to the guy who said I might have too little air in the tires. Also I am puzzled how am using more of the FRONT tire compared to the rear. It has been suggested it may be a suspension thing.

 

i agree with anthony D! im more of a stunter but i like the twisties every now and then too! if you wanna lose all the chicken strips then go to the track and get off the street!

 

Strange to have that much unused tread on the rear (especially on a 190/50 which is a pretty flat profile tire and easy to run right up the the edge on).

The only thing I can think of is that you at not properly countersteering while in the corner and kind of forcing the front tire into the ground, by turning the bars into the corner instead of the opposite.

 

When I went from home to my work on GSX-R1100 (about 4 miles) I had about 1/2" chicken strips on the rear (180/55). Going a bit faster and I had no strips at all. But after small work on my body position and switching to the new bike (K3 1000) my strips on the rear (190/50) become wider (about 1") despite I ride a bit faster than I did on 1100. Getting rid of the strips requires either riding faster (I don't think it's safe way on public roads and especially on the road I use) or some "countrer balancing" (that isn't safe way too cause you are leaning more than you can so you'll have less grip). Go to the track!

 

I've noticed that guys who ride with straight arms and poor body positioning (putting too much weight on their bars) have the same kind of chicken strips as you do. Small/no strips in the front and big ones in the rear. You're pushing your front tire harder than you need to because you need to loosen up your grip, bend your elbows, and support your weight with your legs/core.

 

I just got back from hitting the twisties yesterday and these roads are alot better than what I have near me. My chicken strips in the rear is about one inch, maybe an inch and a quarter. My front on the left is about a half inch and the right in about a quarter of an inch. My questions are how can I be leaning lower in the front and not the rear? Also I feel more comfortable leaning to my left then I do on my right but it seems as if I am getting lower on the right as there is less of a strip. What gives?


BTW I'm using Dunlop Roadsmarts 36/42 PSI

Lower that rear a tad.. I usually run 36-38 rear, and 34-36 front for the street.

B-Stone Battlax BT-021 front and rear, probably 3/8 strips in front, and none on the back.

 

Move your butt back in the seat and get your balls off the tank, loosen the grip on the bars, relax your arms, bend your elbows, hold your upper body with your legs and stomach muscles. Grip the tank with your knees. Steady throttle through the apex then smoothly accelerate out of the turn. Look through the turn. This will better position you on the bike allowing for good weight distribution front to rear and allow your front end to work. When you get it right your rear view mirrors will be in your face.

Don't obsess with hanging your a$$ off the bike and scraping your knee. 1/2 a cheek to the side will do. You aren't going fast enough or leaning the bike anywhere near the limits to have to move your weight that far inside the turn.

Forget about how much tire you have not cleaned and focus on what is going on around you.

BT016 180/55 40psi rear no strip, balled up edges 120/70 35psi front 1/4" strip on the street.