hello folks, thought this might be useful if you are not enjoying your OE suspension. As an interim "fix" I had my bike at a suspension specialist who dropped the standard pressures of 36/42 PSI on Pirelli Rosso III's to 32/36 PSI. A big difference. In fact he questioned why manufacturers quoted such high pressure. He said he regarded the pressures as "nearly dangerous." The bike now feels properly balanced and the front wheel no longer feeling like a shopping trolley wheel at the 1st bump on undulation at any speed. (Rear pre-load on 3, 103kg rider)
I don't know why Triumph only quote high pressure on the rear, its obviously to accommodate a pillion but the majority of bikes are ridden solo. Some manufacturers quote 2 pressures on the rear, one for solo and one for pillion/luggage. Usually 36 solo and 42 pillion for the rear.
Thanks for that Stramasher some useful info, I wondered why the pressure was so different to my thruxston considering the speed twin is actually lighter. I mainly ride two up but will be adjusting that rear tyre down with the front to what you said. And give it a try. You said you are 103 kg in old money that is around 16 stone, with my wife on the the back we are only 6 stone more than that combined, and pre load also on third notch. Thanks again very useful info.
I should re-iterate that was solo on a Speed Twin. I also tried dropping the pressure from 42PSI to 38PSI rear on my Crosstourer... and was straight into the 1st garage to put air in! Horrible! "If it ain't broke..."
I am trying 32 front and 38 rear, shock pre load 3 notch . Not sure at the moment, tried on Sunday but did not get chance to test properly.
To be honest I haven’t had any issues with the manufacturer recommended pressures, but I’ll definitely give this a try and see how it feels.
Thanks for the info. Give it a try last night and must say the front definitely feels more planted. It give me more confidence to lean the bike over
I also tried reducing both front and back and the bike is markedly less skittish in rougher corners - haven't noticed any downside yet...
I have a T120 and the bike is slow to stear and follows every groove or line in the road I read that this is the pereli tyres fitted as standard but yesterday I thought I would try the tyre presures that every other bike I have owed uses 36/42 and its like a new bike turns faster and doesnt follow lines in the road so the low presures Triumph recomend make the T120 feel like it has flat tyres
I think the moral of this story is if you have sports tyres and you want them to be less twitchy reduce your presures and if you have cruiser tyres and you want them to turn faster increase your presures
