| Author | Message | ||
     Xenops |
Help! I bought a used (5000 mi) 2008 XB12S about a month ago. I have not yet found the bike to be confidence-inspiring. I get minor wobbles/oscillations sometimes when I transition on and off throttle. When leaned in corners at speeds that would have been comfortable on my 1986 BMW, I have had losses of traction (both tires). I have brand new OEM Pirellis, run them at 42psi. I set the suspension for my weight from the manual and then from the "aggressive riding" settings I found here. The techs "checked out" my steering head bearings when they put on the tires and said that they seemed fine. I am not a knee-dragger. Based on what I have read about this bike, it should nave no problem with anything I have thrown at it. Does anyone have ideas about where I should look next to find the problem?? | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
42PSI is a bit high. Manual recommend 36 front 38 rear or vice versa (I can't remember). These are new tires you have? | ||
| Petebueller |
Your tire pressures are high. They should be Front 34psi rear 36 psi. My Firebolt is sensitive to tire pressure, so I bought a cheap inflation pump so I could do them at home. Try setting your front and rear preload for your weight and the rest of your suspension suspension to one below your weight rating. Check this out and then modify the settings one at a time slowly towards the higher weight. Checking each for better or worse in between. Maybe change one each week. You may go back if you don't like it. I've been told to do rebound before compression so I do that. I'm not claiming expertise. My bike was setup for someone 15kg (35lbs) lighter when I got it, and the handling was difficult. I now have it behaving exactly how I like it; I spent a bit of time working out how to get there. I don't have the same as the factory settings, but they were a good start. On the Firebolt I like higher preload on the front and less on the rear than spec. If you need to play with the preload, I would think at looking the other way on a Uly. I believe that this would push the weight distribution more to the front. Once you are set up they handle. | ||
| Iamarchangel |
Suspension: I took the advice of somebody here and went out to a known rough road. I took a screwdriver with me and just went up and down the road. Each time I assessed what had happened and made adjustments. I actually printed out the settings page and made notes. The preload didn't change but it is more weight dependent. The other two settings are more personal. I found that my settings were a lot softer than the recommendations. They were closer to the comfort settings which is odd, I'm considered to be a more aggressive rider. The recommended settings must be set for track, I figure. Forks: years ago, I had a used bike with a mystery problem. Turned out that it had been in a collision and the forks were slightly out of true. It was barely visible but it was the worst handling bike ever. | ||
| Nillaice |
42 psi is a bit too much for my fancy. i fell more comfy around 32 how tightly are you gripping the bars? | ||
| Xenops |
Thanks for all of the good advice. Since two of you found that the best settings were below those recommended in the manual, I may have gone the wrong direction in using the harder 'aggressive' settings. Thanks also for the tire pressure advice; I was using the recommended pressure on the sidewalls. but had seen lower recommendations elsewhere. Rick | ||
| Nillaice |
oh, and are your tires balanced? i had some experienced some wobblieness 'cuz the stealership didn't balance either of my tires. | ||
| Yardsale |
the tire pressures listed on the sidewall of a tire are not the recomended pressure for the vehicle. the pressure listed on the tire are the maximum cold pressure that tire will safely operate at. for proper tire pressures of ANY vehicle always check owners manuals. | ||
| Bombardier |
+1 Yardsale. | ||
| Spacewolf |
Xenops, the fellas are right. I also set the bike up to the book, and let the compression down about 1/4 of a turn, and it handles great. I also pissed off the stock tyres and went with a set of bridgestone battleax 015's, and the grip difference is amazing. | ||
| Swordsman |
I'm running the exact same suspension setup Spacewolf is... 1/4 turn BACK from the manual recommendations. No complaints at all when I get more assertive. I'd actually be afraid to try the "aggressive" settings after getting comfortable with my current setup. ~SM | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
My suspension setup was similar to what the other guys are reporting except I went about it a little differently. I set the suspension by the book to my weight, and then I gained about 20 pounds.  | ||
| Xenops |
Thanks for the continued feedback. Today, I adjusted everything to one weight category below mine and adjusted pressures to 34F/36R. It sure is more comfortable, but sometimes has some wallow on corner entrances. I am going to dial up all of the damping 1/4 turn and test tomorrow. There are two dealers in Austin, one that I trust..one I do not. The tires were installed by the one that I don't trust. I am going to visit the one that I trust more and have them check wheel balance. I am considering having them do a more elaborate inspection of steering head bearings. Does this make sense?? | ||
| Spacecapsule1 |
I have the wallowing problem too, xenops. Let me know how it goes, so i can fix mine! :-) | ||
| Ratbuell |
I'd go smaller increments than 1/4 turn. I've found differences are noticable in as small as 1/8 turn increments. Just remember to do only one adjustment at a time  | ||
| Xenops |
I sort of combined the advice of several of the people who responded to my post. Yesterday, I set everything to one weight category below mine and set tires to 34F/36R. Almost all of the shimmy in transition on and off of throttle went away, but it was now wallowing in corners...clearly not enough dampening. This morning, I put 1/4 turn more damping, both compression and rebound, at both ends. I then went out and rode about 200 mi in the Texas Hill Country. It was the best the bike has ever worked for me. I think I'll leave it like this for a while, then try to fine tune. |
