Dilemma

[Bunson]

I recently asked for comparisons between the Kenda Kanine and Kuhmo tires. The reason I ask that specific comparison is I have a situation with a Vredestein tire. I went with Vredestein all the way around. The fronts have been great (175/55). The rear (205/65) are rubbing when going over a fairly big bump. I do have the mudflap which is mostly where it rubs. But there is some rubber on the actual fender. On occasion there is a slight burnt rubber smell also. I'm running 18psi.
The auto leveling system is working fine. Whenever I check the air pressure after a ride it is within 5lbs of what the chart says for the manual system. One up or two up.
When I look at my friends bike with stock tires it is very noticeable the gap between the fender/mudflap. He has substantially more clearance.
I'm looking to put a 205/60 Vredestein on but I'm not confident that will give me the clearance. The stock size would hence the question Kanine vs Kuhmo.
Thoughts????

 

[EdMat]

Several of us are running the 205/65R-15 Vredestein on the rear with no problems. Great tire for this purpose. Wonder what is different about your setup?

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I recently asked for comparisons between the Kenda Kanine and Kuhmo tires. The reason I ask that specific comparison is I have a situation with a Vredestein tire. I went with Vredestein all the way around. The fronts have been great (175/55). The rear (205/65) are rubbing when going over a fairly big bump. I do have the mudflap which is mostly where it rubs. But there is some rubber on the actual fender. On occasion there is a slight burnt rubber smell also. I'm running 18psi.
The auto leveling system is working fine. Whenever I check the air pressure after a ride it is within 5lbs of what the chart says for the manual system. One up or two up.
When I look at my friends bike with stock tires it is very noticeable the gap between the fender/mudflap. He has substantially more clearance.
I'm looking to put a 205/60 Vredestein on but I'm not confident that will give me the clearance. The stock size would hence the question Kanine vs Kuhmo.
Thoughts????

Something is not right here .... and it's not the Brand or the actual size of the tire ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[Peter Aawen]

Something is not right here .... and it's not the Brand or the actual size of the tire ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:

:agree: . And if you're running 18psi in a 205/65R15 Vredestein, I really doubt that it's going to be over-inflation contributing to the tire expanding more than expected?!?

So I'd suggest you might want to look a little closer into that auto levelling system & your Spyder's static ride height! . Do so knowing that that a variation of 5 psi in the tiny air bag under these things can make for a fairly significant difference in ride height - so can just 1 psi for that matter! :shocked: . Just cos the pressure you see is close to the psi suggested for the manual system doesn't mean that pressure is sufficient to keep your Spyder at an appropriate ride height!! :lecturef_smilie: . Do you know how much load you're adding to the Spyder with you, any pillion, all your gear?? :dontknow:

I'd reckon you should look into getting that ACS & your Spyder's static ride height re-calibrated to suit YOUR specific max loadings &/or your Spyder's general loaded riding condition, rather than going by an arbitrary 'one size fits most' figure that's been derived from who knows what & may not have ever been set correctly anyway!

Good Luck! :cheers:

 

[Bunson]

The ACS was calibrated last fall with a Kenda on the wheel. The ACS would keep about 15lbs less in the bag than it does now after calibrating.
It seems that once you get up to 50lbs or so the ride height doesn't change very much compared to going from 20 to 50lbs. It seems that the air bag is just getting harder more so than expanding. The rebound of the shock is terrible with less than 30lbs in the bag. It comes up slow and doesn't seem smooth. With 60 or 70lbs it works great.
I weigh 190 w/o gear and the wife is 145.

 

[EdMat]

Bunson, here is a pic of my 19 RTL with tire in question. No rubbing anywhere and the air bag has 29 PSI in it at the moment. Sorry for the dirt, its muddy this morning.

 

[Bunson]

That looks about the same as mine. I'm wondering with the shock behavior noted above that the shock is the problem.

 

[Steve W.]

I'm also in the camp of "it's not the tire that is the problem".

I also put Vredesteins on my wife's '17 RTS, then installed my own mudflap after painting the fender. I have not bothered to measure the clearance, but we have never noticed any aromas coming from the rear.

I was going to offer some measurements, then remembered that the bike is in the shop right now, so they can diagnose (and fix) an error code.

If, for some reason, you did want to change brands, I believe there are some Kuhmo followers here, but almost everyone will say "anything BUT Kenda".

.