Bike Listing To The Right

[Bill Lumberg]

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?

 

[ionbeam]

On the same road, in the same lane location it suddenly starts to lean to one side?

Tire pressure check time.

Pull to one side maybe, but lean without pulling to one side, amazing. Sit centered on the seat.

 

[Fred W]

I think he is saying it steers (pulls) one way. I would suspect the forks are skewed somehow.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Correct Fred. Pressures good. Nothing happened to the bike except changing the windshield, in other words, no bumps, wrecks, tire changes, etc. Since only one environmental change was introduced, I know what I've got to check. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this.

 

[Fred W]

Bike will not pull to one side due to being loaded imbalanced.

It will pull to one side if the forks are skewed in the triple clamps or if one leg is bent. Had this on my '05.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

May be a terminology thing. I've never had a bike that didn't list or pull to one side when carrying a load on one side and not the other.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I have had no experience like what you have had.

I HAVE had the pulling to one side thing when over carrying tools in one bag, plus worn tires.

 

[wnyfjr]

Only time I get a 'list' to one side is when I try to run hands-off the bars. I then have to counter-lean off the right side of the bike to keep it from going left. Of course, I solve this problem by not letting go in the first place.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Well put. Bike feels slightly off balance, requiring just a little more pressure on one bar than the other. Precisely as you describe, with hands off, big time counter lean is necessary . Before, bike exhibited no balance issues, and tracked straight in any situation, to include, for illustrative purposes, hands off.

Only time I get a 'list' to one side is when I try to run hands-off the bars. I then have to counter-lean off the right side of the bike to keep it from going left. Of course, I solve this problem by not letting go in the first place.

 

[mcatrophy]

Check the symmetry of the screen. Either it, or its mountings, are cock-eyed.

 

[Geezer]

Does it 'list' at any speed?

Is there a crown on the road?

City streets, highway, or both?

Did you forget to put one boot on this morning?

(That last one was a feeble attempt at humor.)

 

[Bill Lumberg]

First day, I thought it was winter wind or I was going crazy. Now 2 days of commuting, not so much. Barely noticeable at very low speed. From moderate to highway, noticeable. Any road. Country lane to interstate. Boot count resulted in an even number, so that should be good. Of course, replacement tomorrow will tell. I don't have a problem believing in a warped shield or mount problem. But would be surprised if this hasn't happened to someone else.

 

[Enn]

Heavy wind form the left?

you managed to post just before mine in respect to wind

 

[Abercrombie FJR]

Bill

Last September, the morning I headed out to NAFO I installed my CB 23" for the first time. I wasn't more than 5 miles down the road before I was experiencing some crazy handling characteristics. I stopped, turned around to go home and replace the windshield and figured the feeling had to be in my head and decided to continue on to La Crosse. I was heading into about a 45 degree cross wind when I was feeling the sensations you’re talking about along with some head shake feelings. I only had 500 miles on the 14 and wasn’t sure if I was feeling things or if it was only in my head. I decided to continue onto La Crosse for NAFO with the Cee Bailey and don’t recall the feeling being as strong for the remainder of the trip once I got out of the wind.

Those wobbling feelings, along with the too large for my preference looks, caused me to sell the Cee Bailey at great loss because of my preference for the OEM touring shield.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Wow. You're a witch. I didn't mention head shake or weird wobbles in a crosswind at speed, because they're not consistent or repeatable (I sound crazy enough, didn't want to shotgun a bunch of different symptoms). But I've had those too. A couple of times enough to feel like a full on flat tire, except momentary. Sometimes feels like a fork-mounted fairing in high winds, if you've ever piloted one of those. I'm guessing at air spill. Most of this has been with the shield all the way up or almost all the way up. May not manifest at lower settings or with lower crosswinds. Will see. Love the look and the protection of this shield. With the shield barely lowered, it looks like what would have come from the factory if the bike had been designed for adults and touring, more Sport/Touring than the stock Sport/Touring. Everyone's mileage varies, as it should be. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Abercrombie FJR]

Wow. You're a witch. I didn't mention head shake or weird wobbles in a crosswind at speed, because they're not consistent or repeatable (I sound crazy enough, didn't want to shotgun a bunch of different symptoms). But I've had those too. A couple of times enough to feel like a full on flat tire, except momentary. Sometimes feels like a fork-mounted fairing in high winds, if you've ever piloted one of those. I'm guessing at air spill. Most of this has been with the shield all the way up or almost all the way up. May not manifest at lower settings or with lower crosswinds. Will see. Love the look and the protection of this shield. With the shield barely lowered, it looks like what would have come from the factory if the bike had been designed for adults and touring, more Sport/Touring than the stock Sport/Touring. Everyone's mileage varies, as it should be. Thanks for the replies.

Yep, my first thought was tire pressure and stopped to check it along the road although I had just checked it before leaving home for NAFO 20 minutes earlier. I have since purchased a Cee Bailey dark sport screen. It looks awesome and I will tell you how it works in a few months.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Wow. You're a witch. I didn't mention head shake or weird wobbles in a crosswind at speed, because they're not consistent or repeatable (I sound crazy enough, didn't want to shotgun a bunch of different symptoms). But I've had those too. A couple of times enough to feel like a full on flat tire, except momentary. Sometimes feels like a fork-mounted fairing in high winds, if you've ever piloted one of those. I'm guessing at air spill. Most of this has been with the shield all the way up or almost all the way up. May not manifest at lower settings or with lower crosswinds. Will see. Love the look and the protection of this shield. With the shield barely lowered, it looks like what would have come from the factory if the bike had been designed for adults and touring, more Sport/Touring than the stock Sport/Touring. Everyone's mileage varies, as it should be. Thanks for the replies.

Yep, my first thought was tire pressure and stopped to check it along the road although I had just checked it before leaving home for NAFO 20 minutes earlier. I have since purchased a Cee Bailey dark sport screen. It looks awesome and I will tell you how it works in a few months.

Yer gonna wait a few months? The suspens....ion is killing me!

 

[Bogus]

I have the Cee Bailey dark sport screen, and for me it is perfect and looks awesome too! My 08, and my 14 both exhibited a slight drift to the right with hands off the bar, but not enough to feel the extra slight pressure on the bar to keep it straight. In other words, with one or both hands on the bar it did not feel like it wanted to drift to the right. I attributed this to the fact that most roads around here have a slight crown for water drainage.

 

[Justin]

Swing arm bearing? I'd check it if you are listing and getting weird wobbles.