Belated ride report

[RadioHowie]

Tropical storm Alberto is now soaking Georgia and South Carolina, but thankfully it left Florida intact with only 3 days of hard rain as a memory.

However, that said, it was three days I wasn't able to scuff-up my new Avons, installed and aired-up on Saturday. But now, I've got a hundred-or-so miles on 'em, the "greasey-new" is worn off to the sidewalls and I've got a ride report I'd promised.

Soooooo.....THIS is what an FJR with good tires feels like? Thank you, Motorcycle Gods.

Without pushing new rubber too hard, these are some nice skins. Smooth as silk on the highway and confidence inspiring in the corners. The bike is a LOT easier to maneuver at walking speeds, but be careful...those rounded profiles compared to the old squared off profiles of my worn tires would make it very easy to drop at very slow speeds. MUST KEEP FEET OFF PEGS AT WALKING SPEEDS!

Now I can honestly say I know now why my FJR handled like a pig on roller skates and steered like a cow. Those damn wore-ass-out tires!

Now it handles like a pig on sneakers. (c'mon guys, it IS a 650+ pound, top-heavy Ukrainian farmgirl of a motorcycle)

Never expected it to handle like an R6, but at least now it doesn't take the combined strenght of two men and a boy to get it to turn in to a corner. Now my "Popeye" forearms can get some rest. Something about the old square profile versus the round profile of my new tires.

The one thing I'm glad is the new set of Avons didn't diminish the built-in 50mph decel headshake. And don't start with the "it's an Avon problem" replies, or "did you torque your stem nut". Plain and simple, FJRs shake their schnozzes when decelerating around 50mph. We've read about it time after time here in this forum. I've experienced it on an '03, my '04, a friends '04, a brand new '05 and it's being reported by '06 owners. If yours doesn't wobble around 50mph, then something is masking it, 'cause it's there, plain and simple. MamaYama designed it in to wake up dozing baggers whose aftermarket cruise controls have switched off.

:****:

Anyhow, the new skins went on at 33,488 miles. I'm gonna round that up in my memory to 33.5, an easier number to remember, so now I can shoot for 45k before needing new ones. 11.5k is a reasonable mileage to hope for based on reports of Avon owners here.

Oh, 42psi f & r if anyone wants to know.

 

[evil_henchman]

Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms? Sounds like a party, who brought the chips?

 

[GalaxyBlue]

Anyhow, the new skins went on at 33,488 miles. I'm gonna round that up in my memory to 33.5, an easier number to remember, so now I can shoot for 45k before needing new ones. 11.5k is a reasonable mileage to hope for based on reports of Avon owners here.

Here we go again! I wish i got that kind of mileage! I only get about 5k rear and 7k front.

 

[RadioHowie]

Anyhow, the new skins went on at 33,488 miles. I'm gonna round that up in my memory to 33.5, an easier number to remember, so now I can shoot for 45k before needing new ones. 11.5k is a reasonable mileage to hope for based on reports of Avon owners here.

Here we go again! I wish i got that kind of mileage! I only get about 5k rear and 7k front.

Might I suggest THIS?

Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms? Sounds like a party, who brought the chips?

Unfortunatley, the resize-for-avatar rules ruined the caption:

"Should be a convenience store, not a government agency"

 

[twowheelnut]

**** you Howie! Avons suck and Metzelers rule! :haha: :****:

As an aside, my '05 doesn't do the decel shake you describe. Never has. In MCN, they are discussing the Wings propensity to shake and they have put the blame on the head bearings. Seems switching from balls to tapered bearings is the fix. Care to be the forum guinea pig?

 

[daviddowns2000]

No head shake here.

 

[Scab]

My head shakes all the time. But it's in disgust of youse guys.

 

[sparky3008]

Anyhow, the new skins went on at 33,488 miles. I'm gonna round that up in my memory to 33.5, an easier number to remember, so now I can shoot for 45k before needing new ones. 11.5k is a reasonable mileage to hope for based on reports of Avon owners here.

Here we go again! I wish i got that kind of mileage! I only get about 5k rear and 7k front.

This is somewhat related so not a complete thread heist.

Anyway I am very convinced that thread life on tires is very related to the area of the country you live in.

Along with obvious riding differences too.

The roads in many different areas are just tar with gravel thrown down on top and no roller goes over it to press it down. This makes for a very good road for traction, snow, trucks etc but doesn't do well on tread life.

In colorado some sections goings through the Rockies is like this and is down right horrible.

When in Salt Lake I noticed a difference in roads compared to the East Coast.

Also since I ride mostly super slab and not so much twisties until late I have historically gotten high mileage.

I think the subject of tire life really has to be regionally asked.

Riding style.

Weight of rider/s

Temperatures of region. High sun/humidity.

Many numbers in this equation for anyone's experience to mean anything to anyone else...

Before any real numbers can relate to any other person/s.

 

[evil_henchman]

Much as I like my Pilot Sport, I'm convinced the headshake on my FJR is due to front tire choice. It never did that with the Metzler but the Metzler never handled as good either. I know how stupid that sounds, "my Pilot Sport handles great except for the occasional tank slapping". My head bearings are fine by the way. I think the more sport oriented the tire, the more likely you're going to get the shakes :blink: Especially if you're a big guy since (I believe) weight has everything to do with it.

 

[sparky3008]

Much as I like my Pilot Sport, I'm convinced the headshake on my FJR is due to front tire choice. It never did that with the Metzler but the Metzler never handled as good either. I know how stupid that sounds. My head bearings are fine by the way. I think the more sport oriented the tire, the more likely you're going to get the shakes :blink: Especially if you're a big guy since (I believe) weight has everything to do with it.

You put a sport on the tank fjr?

 

[twowheelnut]

Much as I like my Pilot Sport, I'm convinced the headshake on my FJR is due to front tire choice. It never did that with the Metzler but the Metzler never handled as good either. I know how stupid that sounds. My head bearings are fine by the way. I think the more sport oriented the tire, the more likely you're going to get the shakes :blink: Especially if you're a big guy since (I believe) weight has everything to do with it.

Hey, Howie! I think he just called you a tub-o-lard! BWAAAAAAAA!!!! :lol:

 

[evil_henchman]

Hey, Howie! I think he just called you a tub-o-lard! BWAAAAAAAA!!!!

Did Not!!

Much as I like my Pilot Sport, I'm convinced the headshake on my FJR is due to front tire choice. It never did that with the Metzler but the Metzler never handled as good either. I know how stupid that sounds. My head bearings are fine by the way. I think the more sport oriented the tire, the more likely you're going to get the shakes :blink: Especially if you're a big guy since (I believe) weight has everything to do with it.

You put a sport on the tank fjr?

No I put the sport on the end of the forks. Waddya think I am, stoopid? :dribble:

 

[Silverbullet]

I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that both my '03 and '04 FJR's were obviously seriously defective. They both had absolutely no headshake at any speed. I guess I'd better fire off a letter to Yamaha.

 

[RadioHowie]

**** you Howie! Avons suck and Metzelers rule! :haha: :****:
As an aside, my '05 doesn't do the decel shake you describe. Never has. In MCN, they are discussing the Wings propensity to shake and they have put the blame on the head bearings. Seems switching from balls to tapered bearings is the fix. Care to be the forum guinea pig?

I absolutely, positively believe you don't have a headshake problem. If EVERYONE'S FJR did the 50mph-front-end boogie, we'd all know about. However, there's enough anecdotal evidence on this forum alone to convince me that neither you nor I are the exception OR the rule...just that there's enough FJRs with headshake to lead me to believe it's a geometry/design problem, rather than an individual unit problem.

I'd like everyone, who is confident in their abilities to do so, to attempt this excercise: From a speed of around 60mph, on a clear, straight, traffic free road, while in 5th gear, let the throttle snap back to the closed position, take your hands OFF the grips, and let the bike naturally slow down to around 40mph while CAREFULLY observing the bars. As your speed, IN GEAR, slows down from around 55 to 45mph, is there ANY oscillation in your handlebar. ANY...even a couple of "wobbles"...and report back here on your individual findings.

With my old Metz front, and my new Avon front, if I do exactly what I just describe, the bars start doing the back-and-forth boogie around 53mph, and by the time speed has scrubbed off to around 47mph, the bars start oscillating to the point I'm grabbing the grips, fearing a full-fledge tankslapper is right around the corner. On the first FJR I ever drove, an '03 at the local dealer, the 50mph headshake manifested itself during accel, decel or steady-state driving almost exactly at the 50mph mark. Only during decel on my and the other 2 FJRs I've driven.

As far as being the forum guinea pig? Sure, why not! Radman's the forum *******, SkooterG is the forum gerbil stuffer, you're the forum Pain-In-The-Ass, so I guess I can be the forum guinea pig.

Who's gonna do the install for me? I ain't physically capable. Hell, I couldn't summon up enough strength to pry the beads over the rims on my Avon install.

Personally, I'd rather put a steering damper on the Feej than re-engineer the steering head, but point me at a replacement set of bearings and I'll look into it.

 

[sparky3008]

You put a sport on the tank fjr?

No I put the sport on the end of the forks. Waddya think I am, stoopid? :dribble:

Bunch of comedians.

Tank - A millitary weapon which weights a lot not the fuel tank.

Anyway what I was seriously trying to ask/say without seeming insulting was that I have always heard the sport sidewalls were a little weak for a bike the size of the fjr. Many felt the Roads were more suited for the FJR...

 

[twowheelnut]

I'll try that tonight. But you must be coming up on a steering head service soon, so why not see if tapered bearings would work, if you can find some that would fit the Feej. Either you're gonna do the work or you're gonna hafta pay someone to do it if you want the head serviced, no?

As far as the steering damper, Wilbers just came out with one, FWIW.

- FPITA :****:

 

[evil_henchman]

Anyway what I was seriously trying to ask/say without seeming insulting was that I have always heard the sport sidewalls were a little weak for a bike the size of the fjr. Many felt the Roads were more suited for the FJR...

Given my experience with the Sport I'm inclined to agree. :good:

 

[sparky3008]

Anyway what I was seriously trying to ask/say without seeming insulting was that I have always heard the sport sidewalls were a little weak for a bike the size of the fjr. Many felt the Roads were more suited for the FJR...

Given my experience with the Sport I'm inclined to agree. :good:

Sports on my present scoot so I was just wondering...

 

[SkooterG]

F'in Howie. Just cause you don't know how to maintain your FJR and you get headshake, then EVERY FJR must have it also. Care for some vagisil?

:****:



Here is my story. In, 68,000 miles the only time I experienced headshake with my FJR is when one of my front Avons became so worn after about 16,000 miles that it also cupped pretty bad. I then experienced a mild headshake in the 40-50 mph region on decel. Obviously, that was a worn/cupped tire issue.

Except...........................

My current front Avon that recently went on is driving me nuts! :angry2:

Right off the bat, a low-moderate vibration. Also, mild headshake at 50 mph, whether steady speed or decelerating. I mean I can take both hands off the bars, and it just gently goes back and forth ever so slightly. Never gets worse. No tankslapper or anything. Also the vibration did get less over the first 100 miles, but its still there. Still, I have had this tire up to 140mph and really, its not bad. Just more than any other tire I have had.

Well, I mount/balance my own tires, and never had any issues before. So I take off the wheel and put it on the balancer. I see no tire out of round or deformation issues. Bearings seem fine. What I do see is slight variations in lateral and radial run-out of the wheel. Don't think its enough to make a difference, but I don't have the tools to measure it, and according to the service manual, it don't take much to be out of spec and "replace the wheel". So I rebalance the tire, changing from my first balance by a whole 4g, or half a sticky weight. In other words, almost inconsequential.

Re-mount the wheel and now with the new balance vibration is less, but still slightly there. Good enough to now go run the Cal24 rally, which at the time was quckly approaching.

By the way, after re-torqueing my steering head bearings for the first time recently, I suspect they are loose. Looser than they were initially. Now I know why my local experienced Yammie wrench says not to F with them unless its really necessary. Got to go buy that damn spanner wrench and re-torque once again, which may solve SOME of the issue. Read on dear reader.

So I head off to the Cal24 this past weekend. Slight vibration the whole weekend, but not bad, and I was at some elevated speeds a lot of the time. Non-issue. But what I did notice while running the copious amount of tight twisties that rallybastard Tom Melchild had us do was that when the bike was leaned over to the left while running slow speed corners, there was a definite, pronounced vibration. Not there at higher speeds, not there at all at any speed when leaning to the right. Don't know exactly what that means, but I suspect a bad tire, or a bad wheel. Won't know for sure unitl I replace this tire with another one I guess, and re-torque those head bearings.