Keemez Posted January 4, 2012 Share #1 Posted January 4, 2012 I looked around in various areas on the site but didn't find the answer to my question. Does anybody happen to know the approximate weight/load bias on these bikes (in my case 1genMK2)? I'm real curious what % is up front vs. out back. I suppose I'd be interested in knowing both without a rider(s) and with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted January 4, 2012 Share #2 Posted January 4, 2012 I looked around in various areas on the site but didn't find the answer to my question. Does anybody happen to know the approximate weight/load bias on these bikes (in my case 1genMK2)? I'm real curious what % is up front vs. out back. I suppose I'd be interested in knowing both without a rider(s) and with. Planning to put some one up on the handle bars are you? Maybe carry that 8 pt back to the house strapped to the front or something? :rotf: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keemez Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share #3 Posted January 4, 2012 Planning to put some one up on the handle bars are you? Maybe carry that 8 pt back to the house strapped to the front or something? :rotf: Gotta be able to keep the front wheel down SOMEhow, right? Nah, I'm just wondering how badly overloaded I've been at times with a total rider&gear load of somewhere in the 600 lbs range. Furthermore how close to the 908lb weight limit (loadrange 77) on the rear tire that I was at or over, if applicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playboy Posted January 4, 2012 Share #4 Posted January 4, 2012 I have three Load Cells on my truck but I don't think they will help you. Have you considered going to a set of truck scales or public scales "CAT" cost you about $8 bucks. You can pull the front tire on and get a weight, whole bike with and without rider or riders, pull off and leave rear wheel on scale etc... not sure where you live but a lot of sawmills, feed mills, and rock quarries have scales and would probably do it for nothing just go in and talk to the scaler and tell them what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiCarl Posted January 4, 2012 Share #5 Posted January 4, 2012 Here is how I estimated the answer on a MKII: Since the bike is petty close to perfectly balanced on the center stand I measured from the point the center stand touches the ground to both of the tire contact patches. Using the weight of the bike from the book I was able to calculate how much weight on each tire for an unloaded bike. Rider weight is right over center stand so I split my weight 50/50 front/rear. SWMBO sits over the rear wheel - all her weight goes on back. Saddle bags at the rear wheel so their contents all fall on the back wheel. Since the trunk is behind the axle it'll actually transfer a bit of weight from the front to the rear wheel. It's weight capacity is low and it doesn't have much leverage so I didn't worry about it. Besides, we store our lids in there so it's pretty much empty when we ride the motorcycle. When it was all said and done I figured we were REAL close to 900 lbs. on the rear tire. I didn't keep any of the numbers, but you should be able to grab a measuring tape and figure it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted January 4, 2012 Share #6 Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Use a standard bathroom scale... Just build two ramps and have the scales/board/pipe setup perpendicular to the bike... then roll portion of the bike you want to weigh over the center mark on board... http://www.curtmfg.com/index.cfm?event=pageview&contentpieceid=1347 Edited January 4, 2012 by CaptainJoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted January 4, 2012 Share #7 Posted January 4, 2012 Here is how I estimated the answer on a MKII: Since the bike is petty close to perfectly balanced on the center stand I measured from the point the center stand touches the ground to both of the tire contact patches. Using the weight of the bike from the book I was able to calculate how much weight on each tire for an unloaded bike. Rider weight is right over center stand so I split my weight 50/50 front/rear. SWMBO sits over the rear wheel - all her weight goes on back. Saddle bags at the rear wheel so their contents all fall on the back wheel. Since the trunk is behind the axle it'll actually transfer a bit of weight from the front to the rear wheel. It's weight capacity is low and it doesn't have much leverage so I didn't worry about it. Besides, we store our lids in there so it's pretty much empty when we ride the motorcycle. When it was all said and done I figured we were REAL close to 900 lbs. on the rear tire. I didn't keep any of the numbers, but you should be able to grab a measuring tape and figure it yourself. Seems logical to me. Beats strapping a deer to the headlight and throwing ma and the dog on back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiCarl Posted January 4, 2012 Share #8 Posted January 4, 2012 Since it was a good excuse to touch the bike I did some measuring. With oil and full fuel tank and nothing in the bags it looks like there is about 305.5 lbs. on front and 477.5 lbs on rear. Rider sits back a bit from the center stand contact point. Looks to me like rider weight is 30% front, 70% rear. Cargo and passenger is all on the rear wheel. So my numbers: With gear I weigh about 260. That's 182 rear and 78 front. That puts me at 659.5 rear and 383.5 front without cargo or wife. My rear Kenda Kruz is a 77H, rated for 908 lbs. 908-659.5 = 248.5 lbs. available on the rear tire. SWMBO manages to bring along about 40 lbs. of stuff. 248.5 - 40 = 208.5 available. I do not know what SWMBO weighs. I suspect that with gear she's close to 200 lbs. 208.5 - 200 leaves me 8.5 lbs. for error. ********** All this explains why, unless you're Japanese and subsisting on rice and fish, you should probably keep your rear tire inflated to its maximum pressure. It also explains why D404s (74H=827lbs.) don't tend to last long on our bikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keemez Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share #9 Posted January 4, 2012 Now that there was some pretty useful info. Looks like 39% front 61% rear, unloaded. Think I could twist your arm into repeating same under both other conditions (single rider, dual rider), just for grins? I'm a little AR about details like these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiCarl Posted January 5, 2012 Share #10 Posted January 5, 2012 Not without their weights I can't, but you can do it: Add rider at 30% front, 70% rear. Add passenger and contents of bags 0 front, 100% rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playboy Posted January 5, 2012 Share #11 Posted January 5, 2012 Yeah those are some good Ideas but my way you get to go for a ride just saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keemez Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share #12 Posted January 5, 2012 Not without their weights I can't, but you can do it: Add rider at 30% front, 70% rear. Add passenger and contents of bags 0 front, 100% rear. My only issue with this is that it's estimated/approximate instead of irrefutably measured/proven. It'd be interesting to see how close your calculations are to actual. As for riding- no can do. Bike's stashed away for the next 4-5 months (don't really care to ride in subfreezing temps... that's what snowmobiles are for. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozlander Posted January 5, 2012 Share #13 Posted January 5, 2012 The passenger is in front of the rear wheel. I'd call it 10% front, 90% rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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