I have just changed back from the quicker steering head angle on my 996.
I like to run with a real quick/flickable bike but the trade off with it was that it had a twitchy front end when really ragging it. ( Not a problem as I like it like that!!!)
I used to run rennsports and found then to be really good and I think that as they are a very stable tyre, they allowed me to set up my bike to be like this. ( I wasnt using the different swing arm and yokes etc )
I changed to bridgestone 014 for the winter and found that the bike handled like a bag of pooh all of a sudden. Tried changing susp settings and tyre pressures, no joy.
I changed the head angle back to the slower setting and wallop, the bike now handles good again.
Thats the thing I love about my 996. They are really a race bike on the road.
They have so many ways of setting them up that you learn so much about the bike. Thing is that I fine tuned mine so much when it had the rennsports on that when I changed tyres, the bike changed as well. Perhaps not such a good idea on the road?
So its horses for courses really. And yes, you do loose a lot of turning circle.
Not knocking the 014 either. They are a good tyre. Just a lot different from the rennsports that I was used to. Perhaps riding at this time of year is a lot different from sunny afternoons in the summer????  |