Tire pressures - current consensus?

[Art Johnson]

>From my racing daze, initial cold tyre pressure(F&R) set to 40+/- psi before going on the trac and measure again after a few hot laps. the idea was to see a +5psi rise, to then be in the right range. tyre needs enough pressure to get hot for sticky traction when worked hard.

Kawasaki and the tyre manufacturers may have different ideas about initial type pressures. I'd tend to go with the tyre supplier rating as the GPZ info is getting old vs. newer tyre tech.
That said its also a balance between what Kawi sez and the tyre guys. i.e. Use Kawi as low end and tyre markings as high end.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Philip Hamm" <philbike20 at hotmail.com>
To: "Art Johnson" <art-j at shaw.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 2:28:33 PM
Subject: Tire pressures - current consensus?


I know this has probably been beaten to death, but what is the current consensus on tire pressures on the GPZ?  I've always used the pressures recommended in the book, which I believe is 36 front 41 rear.  I just replaced my rear tire and I want to get the most life that I can out of my new sport tire.  
 
I usually use sport-touring or more recently touring tread tires, but this time I had to replace the tire unexpectedly due to my existing tire, a Metzeler Marathon, being punctured by a big nasty Phillips Head screw.  When I went to the shop expecting to have to order a tire and wait, they happended to have a Dunlop Sportmax Qualifier tire in the GPZ size 170/60ZR17 in stock and on sale for $120.  Since I'm spending a lot of time travelling on business and I wanted to ride that Sunday (coupled with the discontinued price of the old tire - they don't make it in our size any more), I decided to put the sport tire on the back.  (I ended up riding about 200 miles in northern Virginia - through Fort Valley, over Thornton Gap, between The Plains and Middleburg - it was fantastic, an incredible riding day and the new rear tire felt great with my slighly cupped Marathon front.)
 
Anyway, in the interest in maximizing the short life of this sport tire, is the 41psi overly hard on the back?  Would I be better off with a different pressure?
 
The front pressure I won't change, because my bike with me on it has the unusual effect of causing the bars to vibrate annoyingly at lower pressures.  It's like an automatic tire guage built in to my body and the bike, when the pressure gets down to 33 or 34 the bars buzz my hands.
 
-Phil Hamm 		 	   		  
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