| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
Granted, I spend most of my time on my Uly and my S2...but I rode the CR to work today (DAMN that thing is fun!), and the handling is still...twitchy. Everything is tight. Axles/wheels don't have any play in them. I run the same PR3 tires that I have on my S2. But in a straightaway it just....feels nervous. Lay it into a turn, it's good and stable. Straight? Not so much. I'm going to try pulling some preload out of the rear before I head home today, if I have any clicks left. The forks are as far down in the trees as possible to try and raise the nose. Compression/damping are set to my weight, with minor preference adjustments to soften it a bit for my old bones (and the fact that public roads aren't track days). Any thoughts or suggestions? | ||
| Buell3some |
Have you checked you steering head bearings recently? My old 1125R starting handing poorly /twitchy and that's what it was. The steering head bearings were tight & notchy. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Twitchy handling, in my opinion, is usually caused by the suspension being set too stiff. This Spring i set my 1125r suspension almost all the way to the soft side, both forks and shock. Big improvement riding the crappy roads around the Midwest.  | ||
| 1_mike |
Mmmm, I don't know about a "soft" spring adjustment. I'd NOT do that. No matter, my CR, my XB or my EBR, ALL set up hard in the front AND rear. I've found a "soft" spring adjustment will cause wallowing when driven hard. If you just cruse around the city, soft may be ok, but for fun, or hard driving, firm is the only way to be to keep the handling stable. This is from MANY years, miles and many bikes worth of experience. Same with the tires. Full pressure recommended on the sidewall. A "full" tire may cause a little "twitchiness" as you describe. A full tire and grooved roads as we have here in SoCal will also cause SOME (not all) tires to constantly "hunt" in the rain grooves. That could be one of your problems. There may have been a slight change to the construction of the tires that you are using. Like I say, I've found both construction and pressure to cause "twitchy" handling. Mike | ||
| Ratbuell |
I don't plan to touch compression or rebound. I checked my rear preload, it's already at the lightest setting so no help there. I have about 1/4" of fork up above my top tree; thinking about dropping the forks in the trees to get the caps level with the upper tree. It behaves like the front end is too low, and the steering is just too quick off-center. I'm going to check wheel bearings tonight but I suspect they're fine since I can jiggle the bars while riding, and the bike doesn't wobble like anything is loose. I will check the neck bearings, though, thanks. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well...it's better. Had no power Sunday, so I couldn't use the lift...so, rear pit stand and a flat jack, and I adjusted the steering bearings in the driveway. I couldn't find my pull gauge - it's in the shop somewhere.... - so I loosened and retorqued the cap nut about six times, and based on my witness marks I got about 10 degrees out of it (tighter). Today was the first chance I had to ride it to work, and...it's better. But, I need to find that pull gauge. I suspect after 10k miles, the lower neck bearing has pressed itself further into the neck. I don't wheelie (unless I miss a shift), but there is a lot of force on that thing when I'm throttle-transitioning and braking, so it makes sense to me. At least it's a move in the right direction! | ||
| Stimbrell |
The bearing has a lip on it so it cannot press further in to the neck. I recommend you pull the top triple tree to expose the top bearing and pull the seal so you can see the ball bearings, my bet is you will find them dry and corroded at which point you need to replace both bearings. This happened to me and now I remove the seals and re-grease them each time I replace the front tyre. Good luck. |
