Pulling left

[fredbramble]

I have a 2007 FJR which started to pull left after approximately 2,500 miles. At any speed, if I sit up straight and take my hands off the bars, the bike immediately veers to the left. This is an abrupt change of direction. I can effectively ride round a long sweeping left hand bend by letting go of the bars and sitting upright. Alternatively, I have to work hard to hold the bike into a right hand bend as it wants to 'stand up'. Dealer thought it was caused by the tires cupping (I read the forum and now know to run the tires at 40+PSI to prevent cupping - thanks y'all) and both front & rear tires replaced. Same problem. Dealer rebuilt the forks. Same problem. Bike now has 5,000 miles. In 35 years of riding many different bikes I've never had this problem. Any ideas? Anyone else experienced this problem?

 

[Randy]

Do you have equal weight distribution in your side bags?

I've noticed a very very very slight shift in the seat to the right or left will make the bike veer 1 way or the other. Seems to be very sensitive.

 

[fjrrider]

Fred

Is your suspension set the same on both sides "compression and rebound"? are the forks the same height coming out of the top clamp? Is your dealer very familiar with suspensions at all?

 

[artistic rider]

Maybe its been done but check the suspension to make sure they are equally adjusted. Also I had "slightly" bent inner fork that caused the same problem but it wasn't as severe. If I removed my hands it wanted to slowly go left. It was better when I loosened the the upper and lower brackets and torqued them to specs but eventually was replaced. Just my 2 cents even tho it may not be worth that.

 

[wheatonFJR]

oh...never mind. Too easy.

 

[fredbramble]

I've tried moving my butt all over the seat, and even had a pillion rider do the same - makes no difference at all unless I really 'hang off' the right side of the seat. I even swapped out the Corbin seat back to the OEM seat. Also, I took all the suspension settings down to zero and counted the clicks on the way down, service manager in attendance. They were set at factory recommended settings. We then reset them according to the manual. I have ridden with and without the bags - no difference. I believe that the service manager at the dealer knows his stuff as he was once recruited by Yamaha to be a Regional Service Advisor (RSA). He is arranging for the current RSA to come and ride my bike so I have to applaud his efforts.

 

[artistic rider]

oh...never mind. Too easy.

No guts no glory! Now I'll have to go riding tonight to clear my head..."What was Mr. Wheaton going to say?" :lol:

 

[Geezer]

You can check the alignment of the front and rear tires.

Instructions on how to do that can be found here. Just scroll down a page or so and there is a section on wheel alignment.

I know that is intended for chain drive bikes where you can easily get the alignment out of whack from chain adjustments, but I think it's worth checking in your case. If it is out of alignment then you have a good clue to provide to the dealer.

 

[blk_hole 2]

I'll bite... what was Wheaton going to say??

Kevin

 

[kolonial72]

I think Wheaton was going to say, "Get a front-end alignment, dumbass!" But then he realized that it's not Friday yet.

 

[weekend rider]

What a problem to have.

How about your tire put on backwards? Bent forks? Triple tree bent? Wheel bearings defective? Bent steering head frame that goes to the triple tree?

 

[sullivan]

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...897&hl=left

A few of us talked about it this autumn. Hope it helps.

 

[fredbramble]

Thanks for all your input. I believe that Wheaton was going to say, "Get a front-end alignment" without the "dumbass!" suffix as he surely realises and accepts that we are not all mechanical geniuses. That said, however, front wheel alignment has been checked by the dealer. The link to the previous owner who also experienced this handling problem was most helpful. I'll contact him to see if he finally resolved the issue.

 

[fredbramble]

PS. As an educator, I believe that there is no such thing as a stupid question. They only stupidity is not asking the question.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I'll bite... what was Wheaton going to say??
Kevin

ahhh...jes some stupid "below the beltway" comment that I subsequently perceived to be even too low for this FJR thread. I'll wait for some other thread to unleash unholy spewings that will have no bearing on the thread whatsoever.

Good luck on the resolution of this issue.