Going to a lower sidewall question

[Nmexico]

I run the stock tires at currently run 120 70 17 and 160 60 17.

If I change to 120 60 17 and 150 60 17 will it change to a lower center of gravity feel? Will giving the bike less sidewall make it a bit less top heavy. My feeling is no but its worth a thought.

 

[Marthy]

Don't do it! I ordered a 120/60 front tire by mistake once, handling totally sucks. Tire is a bit more flat... less responsive and harder to lean.

 

[Chucker]

The bike is designed to be run with the stock sizes. Changing tire sizes doesn't usually improve handling. Might change it, but not necessarily for the better.

 

[Bert-Aus]

Practice your throttle control & counter steering skills.
Greater throttle inputs helps stand the bike up.
Counter steering tips it over.

The FZ6R/ XJ6 is sizeable for the displacement but still flick-able

 

[alaskanflyboy]

The top-heaviness is more a function of center of gravity than of tire contact. If you make a shallower curve on the tire, you'll still have the same high CG point with the same arm length to the ground. If you want to make it less top-heavy then lead bricks strapped to the underside of the exhaust is about the only way to lower that CG.

 

[RoadTrip]

Riding a motorcycle or even a bicycle is a strange sensation for sure, it can take a long time for the brain to accept the gyroscopic phenomena that keeps them going upright when moving. Like Bert said, though, the things we do can make the bike less stable, really it takes very little input to make the bike stable and happy. The bike needs to lean at speed to carve out an arc for a turn, the counter steer puts the bike into the lean, but once in the lean it can remain balanced there with only minor input to maintain the arc, again due to gyroscopic force. I think of a frisbee rolling on its edge at an angle with the wind pushing it along and it continues to roll and not fall over, that is kinda what a lean in a turn feels like to me, its a balance of forces and your brain discovers it and learns to accept it, and then you just set the bike up as you enter a turn and throttle smoothly through it, and you smile real big. Just keep riding and learning, it takes time, and it just gets better and better.

 

[ksanbon]

If you're serious about lowering the CG, you can remove weight from the top of your bike. The easy fixes are to remove the passenger grab bar, replace the stock battery w/ a lithiom ion battery, remove the fairings, and keep the fuel level low.

Here's the link to the weight reduction list. Some of the items, like replacing the exhaust, won't lower the CG.
http://www.600cc.org/forum/f89/fz6r...-25715/index3.html?highlight=weight+reduction

 

[98Deathmage]

I run the stock tires at currently run 120 70 17 and 160 60 17.

If I change to 120 60 17 and 150 60 17 will it change to a lower center of gravity feel? Will giving the bike less sidewall make it a bit less top heavy. My feeling is no but its worth a thought.

If you want better performance, change the tire to a different brand and model of the same size specs. Do not change the tire sizes. It will put you at risk since there are only two tires on the ground instead of 4. I use Michelin Pilot Road 4s. They are phenomenal tires and would recommend them. I am eyeing the Perelli Angel GTs in the season after this. Still have lots of tread on my tires from 5k of use.