Bike Listing To The Right

[Fred W]

Kinda supports the tahr theory

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Bikes and cars alike often have really substandard rubber from the factory. That said, 2700 would be surprisingly early to have problems. Very well may be it though.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Seriously...Before you do ANYTHING, get that POS Bridgestone off your bike and replace it with a good tire. I'm betting Fred is right on. BTs suuuuuuuuuuuck!

 

[Redfish Hunter]

I thought I would never hate a motorcycle tire more than I hated the Bridgestone BT-021. I really only hated the front BT-021, though the back was at least acceptable. Now that I have a few miles on the Bridgestone BT-023 I realize that I hate them more. Well, the back anyway. The front is at least acceptable.

Honestly, before you get too disappointed in your FJR, get yourself some decent tires. I personally know that I will not be waiting for the OEM Bridgestones to wear out. I will be putting Michelins on soon.

 

[lnewlf]

BT-020 sucked more

 

[Bounce]

Wobble on decel with the hands off the bars is common on a lot of bikes. It's something about the weight and rake/trail. The solution is not to take your hands off the bars when weight is being transferred to the front wheel.

 

[rbentnail]

Check/retorque the steering bearings. More than a few guys on new bikes have found them a tad loose.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Not quite. When marked symptoms suddenly manifest on a 2 wheeled vehicle, you pay attention and find out what's causing it. If it had shown marked lean and required uneven bar pressure from the factory, I'd have simply returned it. A lot of bikes have a lot of traits. When they change over the course of a day or two, until you can isolate it to a non-safety related part (if there is such a thing on a motorcycle), it's a cause for concern.

I think it's a front end problem. While out of town this week, I realized that the fact that my throttle cable is no longer quite long enough (supposed to be plenty long when heli bridge installed and bars all the way back, now it binds the throttle at full right bar lock) might be related to the other symptoms. Will see.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Has anyone suddenly had their bike start consistently listing to one side, much as if one pannier were heavily loaded and the other empty? (tires good and inflated properly).
If you answered Yes to the above question, had you made any recent changes to the bike?

If you answered Yes to both of the above questions, had you recently replaced the windshield with an aftermarket replacement?......

23" CB. And now the bike wants to take a gentle right turn at speed. Interested if this has happened to others. At first I thought I was taking crazy pills. Going to swap back to the Yamaha Touring shield New Year's day and see if it goes away. Anything else I should be looking at?

Not quite. When marked symptoms suddenly manifest on a 2 wheeled vehicle, you pay attention and find out what's causing it. If it had shown marked lean and required uneven bar pressure from the factory, I'd have simply returned it. A lot of bikes have a lot of traits. When they change over the course of a day or two, until you can isolate it to a non-safety related part (if there is such a thing on a motorcycle), it's a cause for concern.I think it's a front end problem. While out of town this week, I realized that the fact that my throttle cable is no longer quite long enough (supposed to be plenty long when heli bridge installed and bars all the way back, now it binds the throttle at full right bar lock) might be related to the other symptoms. Will see.

Seriously? Really? You ask us if we think the windshield would cause a "List" or "Lean" because your bike is doing that and then 46 posts later you tell us that you also removed the top triple clamp to install a Heli-Bar bridge?

This would not bother me except that you seem rather contemptuous of some of the responses you received.

Bet you are missing that BMW about now. Good luck.

 

[RadioHowie]

Reminds me of the time I accidentally used DOT 5 in my clutch master cylinder and my bike starting listing to the left.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Has anyone suddenly had their bike start consistently listing to one side, much as if one pannier were heavily loaded and the other empty? (tires good and inflated properly). If you answered Yes to the above question, had you made any recent changes to the bike? If you answered Yes to both of the above questions, had you recently replaced the windshield with an aftermarket replacement?...... 23" CB. And now the bike wants to take a gentle right turn at speed. Interested if this has happened to others. At first I thought I was taking crazy pills. Going to swap back to the Yamaha Touring shield New Year's day and see if it goes away. Anything else I should be looking at?

Not quite. When marked symptoms suddenly manifest on a 2 wheeled vehicle, you pay attention and find out what's causing it. If it had shown marked lean and required uneven bar pressure from the factory, I'd have simply returned it. A lot of bikes have a lot of traits. When they change over the course of a day or two, until you can isolate it to a non-safety related part (if there is such a thing on a motorcycle), it's a cause for concern.I think it's a front end problem. While out of town this week, I realized that the fact that my throttle cable is no longer quite long enough (supposed to be plenty long when heli bridge installed and bars all the way back, now it binds the throttle at full right bar lock) might be related to the other symptoms. Will see.

Seriously? Really? You ask us if we think the windshield would cause a "List" or "Lean" because your bike is doing that and then 46 posts later you tell us that you also removed the top triple clamp to install a Heli-Bar bridge?This would not bother me except that you seem rather contemptuous of some of the responses you received.Bet you are missing that BMW about now. Good luck.

+1. Sheesh...

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I'm sorry if I have posted in an abrupt or insufficiently appreciative manner. Heli bridge was installed a week or so after purchase, about 2500 miles ago, and was posted about copiously here (several saints endured PM's with questions as well- thanks for your help at the time redfish.....). Since it wasnt a recent change (neither was the SR357 or givi), I did not revisit it. Hardly contemptuous. Grateful rather. What you guys suggest, I go do. Im lucky you haven't told me to change the blinker fluid, or it would have been changed. . Checked torque. It was to spec. Replacing tire second. As posted above, thanks for all replies. I bought the bike because of knowledge here, and have been helped a hundred times over by the membership here in the two months since my purchase. As always, thanks for all of your responses, advice and jabs alike.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Ok, have you rechecked that steering head? Since you sound like your on the road, I'm thinking not, but even torqued correctly, sometimes they come loose. The change in throttle cable slack is telling. Something is tweaked.

Looking at your post, you did recheck your torque and it was correct, or that torque check was at install. With the cable issue, something moved. Hit any big potholes lately?

 

[Bill Lumberg]

No sir. I'm back from Boston. Tested yesterday, checked torque today. No potholes or jars that I've noticed. Thank you for asking.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Okay, calm again.

It seems obvious that you have enough motorcycle knowledge to know about checking the obvious things. I recall that you had some help with the installation of the Heli-Bar Bridge and he had some "creative" ideas about cable routing. Did he route things his way or did he follow the instructions?

As I remember it, the top triple clamp does not want to go back on unless things are lined up pretty close to perfect. If things are not tightened up all the way and the bike gets ridden, you don't actually need to "hit something" to tweak the front end. The weight of the bike and rider coupled with the twisting forces of cornering and braking can tweak fork tube alignment if something is loose.

I do hope this story has a happy ending and that you let us know how it was resolved. Good luck.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Yes sir. Per your or someone else's tip, the install went much easier with someone managing the wheel/forks while the installer, well, installs. All went fine, every inch and piece according to mfr and heli instructions. And thank you for asking.

 

[Bounce]

This is starting to remind me of the thread here:

https://www.gixxer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226570

 

[cosmo]

From day one, my '06 has leaned to left, not steered, but leaned. Never understood, assumed heavy on left for some reason. I load more on right whenever adding weight, and if I sit right it corrects, but that is not an option. I have lived with it and mostly keep at least one hand on the bars,.....makes it harder to eat a burger!

 

[scorpa]

I't sounds like the right tube in the triple clamp has creped up and now is higher then the other. When the new bigger screen was added it really affected the bike.

Just a guess.

 

[Fred W]

When you finally go back and check that the forks are skewed in the triple clamps (caused by you having the top clamp off) I promise not to say "I told you so".