Low speed stability?

[mojobreakfast]

I don't know if this is my imagination or not, and I can't find anything really relevant on Google, so here goes.

I get the distinct feeling that the low speed stability of my bike has been gradually declining. That is, very low speed, stop and go type traffic stuff where the bike feels more wobbly than when I first got it and also, in low speed corners (turning into parking spaces) the front wheel seems to want to "fall in" more than it used to.

My bike is minty fresh and runs great otherwise, never dropped, crashed, abused, curbed, wheelied.. absolutely nothing squidly-diddly... showroom mint. The only thing different between when I bought it last year and now, is the bike has 5600 miles and a flat area on the center of the rear tire tread (I slab commute on the bike).

Just my imagination? Tire wear? Just want to know if there is some secret motorcycle mojo I haven't been clued into yet.

[Degsy]

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Tire pressure or tires.

[Doc]

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Tire pressure or tires.

[mojobreakfast]

I check the pressure pretty often but will look at it in the morning. If it's not the pressure, it could be general tire wear? Are there fairly noticeable handling changes as tires wear, even in ordinary street riding?

[lrrs313]

I check the pressure pretty often but will look at it in the morning. If it's not the pressure, it could be general tire wear? Are there fairly noticeable handling changes as tires wear, even in ordinary street riding?

Yes. The "falling into turns" you're feeling is the bike leaning past the flat spot. Not usually really noticeable as the wear occurs, but when you put on a fresh set of tires, you'll notice a big difference.

[palanon]

Tires are the first thing. Besides pressure or scalloping, did you change the front to a higher profile tire?

If none of the above, I'd bet you need to tighten the head bearings.That slotted nut under your top triple.

[butcher bergs]

Boston Moto trackdays will help correct any and all tire wear issues.

[Hauptman]

tire wear fo sho

[Stan]

Most likely tire pressure.. It happened to me, I was low in the front pumped it up felt much better.

[Manny]

Dont go slow.

[akira700]

Dont go slow.

Good one!

[mojobreakfast]

Yes. The "falling into turns" you're feeling is the bike leaning past the flat spot. Not usually really noticeable as the wear occurs, but when you put on a fresh set of tires, you'll notice a big difference.

Cool. Thanks. I was hoping to milk the tires a little while longer, especially since I'm not a particularly hard rider, mostly a commuter and weekend leisure rides. But this stability issue is disconcerting enough to probably change them out at this point.

To answer the other questions.. tires have never been changed out, they are factory. And, as much as I would like to not have to go slow, sometimes reality intervenes.

Track days.. next year. Still learning (and broke).

[Jim]

wouldnt be anything with the stock damper, right?

[hefdukes23]

Dont go slow.

[mojobreakfast]

wouldnt be anything with the stock damper, right?

Interesting thought, and makes me kind of neurotic because come to think of it the twitchy low speed handling does remind me somewhat of my first bike, which did not have one - though on the Honda there is a lamp on the instrument cluster that is supposed to illuminate if there is a problem with it, but all seems fine.

I was also under the impression that the action of the system is progressive and dependent on input from speed sensor(s) (or the ECU - engine speed?), therefore normally it would not really be a factor in low speed stability. Could be wrong on that though. I'll keep it in mind but first thing I'm going to look at is tire pressure.

It's not bad enough to be a critical situation, but being a relatively new rider thought it was interesting and probably something worth researching and learning about. I'm hoping its just the tires.

[butcher bergs]

Jim is so cute when he's trying to play mechanic.

[Degsy]

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wouldnt be anything with the stock damper, right?

Sweet jesus save us

[DaSarge]

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Sweet jesus save us

[LowSider]

Tires are the first thing. Besides pressure or scalloping, did you change the front to a higher profile tire?

If none of the above, I'd bet you need to tighten the head bearings.That slotted nut under your top triple.

That's what my mind went to. In 5k miles on a new bike the bearings could have became a little loose. When you install new bearings you want to double check they did not loosen after a short period of time- they usually do. That will make the bars want to fall to the steering stops at low speeds.

You can check this by raising the front end (not with a front stand- you do not want the tripple tree to have any resistance) and see how easily the bars move from steering stop to stop. If you let go of the bars and it falls to one side and bounces off the stop, it is too loose. You want it to just fall on the stop and not bounce.

[Awesome]

Too many 'cooks'....

[The Crashing Tomato]

Doood your bike is junk and unfixable. sell it to me cheap and buy something that will not break down so quickly like a TANK wit steel tracks. you could commute for 100's of years on those babies.

[Wishbone]

Too many 'cooks'....

To many people preparing lunch will affect my low speed handling?

...go on

[OreoGaborio]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Lube.... Er, Glyde: Mozilla/5.0 440x240 Samsung SCH-U940 NetFront/3.4)

Too many 'cooks'....

To many people preparing lunch will affect my low speed handling?

...go on

Not enough waitresses.

[The Crashing Tomato]

orrrrr Sammiches ... gonna get me a sammich now

[Wishbone]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Lube.... Er, Glyde: Mozilla/5.0 440x240 Samsung SCH-U940 NetFront/3.4)



Not enough waitresses.

orrrrr Sammiches ... gonna get me a sammich now

I might be on the right track. But I had cheerios for breakfast. Will this affect my high speed handling?