How wheels affect handling
Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:41 pm
Holy crap!!!
I got fed up waiting to use the 16\" rims I recently picked up (so I could save my 17\" R888 for the track), and finally got them onto the 5. Wow... the difference they make is incredible... certainly a lot more noticable than one would otherwise think an 1\" would make.
These are just my observations and may not hold true for other wheels/tyres/suspension/mojo or whatever other reason you care to think of.
The SE comes with 17\" Racing Hart rims... nice though they look, they are heavier than the 16\" OEM jobbies that the 2000+ came with (also weaker too by the many accounts of bent rims).
This is some of what I've noticed with the new 16\" OEM slanted 5 spokers running 205/45R16 Conti SportContact2 (as compared to the OEM 17\" running 205/40R17XL Conti SportContact2):
1) The throttle response is more immediate (I suppose it's because of less rotating mass)... awesome... I've just found new joy of stepping on the gas...
2) Initial bite from the brakes has increased (same as point 1). Incidentally... I found when i swapped to a light er front wheel on my bike, everything improved and that was just 0.5kg difference. I'd like to know what the weight difference is between the OEM 17\" (7.5-8kg???) and the OEM 16\" (7kg) is...
3) There is a split second delay in steering response... it's almost like it is hesitating before it changes direction.
4) It has a new tendency to shimmy (sideways) on mid corner bumps... even minor ones... It's almost as if the front will dive to the outside of the corner and a split second later the rear dives out leaving the front pointing in too far into the corner... quite scary the first time but I'm slowly getting used to this behaviour. They've obviously tuned the Bilsteins to the 17\" rims because it never did that before (no matter how big the bump).
5) Did I mention acceleration has been improved???? 
6) Bumps on straight line travel have been damped and road noise has decreased (especially those road joins)... Unfortunately it also dulls the feel through the wheel of what the tyres are doing. Before I guage precisely when I was rolling over even a tiny pebble... now it kinda doesn't get transmitted through the wheel anymore. Was especially useful when punting up something like Mac Pass and you can feel gravel that's been swept onto the apex... (not always visible)
Man, if a drop of 1\" can make such a noticable difference, I can't wait to get 15\" on it with the semi slicks!!! Some of them are as low as 4.5kg in weight!!!!!!!
Ping Rain902... did you find out if your wheels will fit over the SE brakes???
RDM
I got fed up waiting to use the 16\" rims I recently picked up (so I could save my 17\" R888 for the track), and finally got them onto the 5. Wow... the difference they make is incredible... certainly a lot more noticable than one would otherwise think an 1\" would make.
These are just my observations and may not hold true for other wheels/tyres/suspension/mojo or whatever other reason you care to think of.
The SE comes with 17\" Racing Hart rims... nice though they look, they are heavier than the 16\" OEM jobbies that the 2000+ came with (also weaker too by the many accounts of bent rims).
This is some of what I've noticed with the new 16\" OEM slanted 5 spokers running 205/45R16 Conti SportContact2 (as compared to the OEM 17\" running 205/40R17XL Conti SportContact2):
1) The throttle response is more immediate (I suppose it's because of less rotating mass)... awesome... I've just found new joy of stepping on the gas...
2) Initial bite from the brakes has increased (same as point 1). Incidentally... I found when i swapped to a light er front wheel on my bike, everything improved and that was just 0.5kg difference. I'd like to know what the weight difference is between the OEM 17\" (7.5-8kg???) and the OEM 16\" (7kg) is...
3) There is a split second delay in steering response... it's almost like it is hesitating before it changes direction.
4) It has a new tendency to shimmy (sideways) on mid corner bumps... even minor ones... It's almost as if the front will dive to the outside of the corner and a split second later the rear dives out leaving the front pointing in too far into the corner... quite scary the first time but I'm slowly getting used to this behaviour. They've obviously tuned the Bilsteins to the 17\" rims because it never did that before (no matter how big the bump).
5) Did I mention acceleration has been improved????
6) Bumps on straight line travel have been damped and road noise has decreased (especially those road joins)... Unfortunately it also dulls the feel through the wheel of what the tyres are doing. Before I guage precisely when I was rolling over even a tiny pebble... now it kinda doesn't get transmitted through the wheel anymore. Was especially useful when punting up something like Mac Pass and you can feel gravel that's been swept onto the apex... (not always visible)
Man, if a drop of 1\" can make such a noticable difference, I can't wait to get 15\" on it with the semi slicks!!! Some of them are as low as 4.5kg in weight!!!!!!!
Ping Rain902... did you find out if your wheels will fit over the SE brakes???
RDM
