Handling

[flymo]

its not that rare to be able to balance a wheel without weights, I've managed a few times when I must have been lucky with the tyre. Placing the heavy part of the tyre opposite the heaviest part of the bare wheel can sometimes just cancel everything out. Most of the time though it takes at least a small balance weight in my experience.

Nobby, did the guy balance them in front of you?

[Nobbylad]

Nope, left it with him on the Friday, picked it up Saturday. Gonna give it another blast tomorrow (weather permitting) or Thursday. Any more probs and I'll run it up there on Saturday.

[Nobbylad]

Took the bike out again last night, again, felt wierd, couldn't put my finger on it, but the front end didn't feel right, just something amiss with it.

Stayed out for a while, did some laps of a few roundabouts to help scrub the edges of the new Storms in, felt better, went home.

Nobbylass wanted to go for a ride, so we did and the bike felt a lot better with more weight on the back.

Anyway, this morning coming into work, I think I've found the source of my problem!

Following a blue pointy into Manchester and just as we hit the M602, I notice the bike feels funny again and the mirrors/screen start shaking, quite noticeably.

Grab hold of the top of the screen and the whole front fairing is wobbly!

Pull over to the hard shoulder, have a look around....and there's a bolt missing from where the fairing bracket bolts onto the frame!



God knows how this has come out?!?!

Anyway, tightened up the one remaining bolt and now need to get another from somewhere in Manchester city centre today at some point (or zip tie it through the hole until I can get a replacement).

[flymo]

So once this is tight you need to start over, reset and get a new impression of how it handles. Little niggles like this can play on your mind and make things feel worse than they really are.

I was thinking about the changes you've experienced. The rear tyre was very square and the fork springs before were slightly longer. Having a passenger on the back would put the bike closer to the attitude it was in before.

Next time you get a chance pop over and we can set up the suspension properly, measure the sag and adjust etc.

[Nobbylad]

Cheers Mike, will do. I think the loose fairing could have had 2 effects, the first obviously the handling would be affected at speed as it moves in the wind, the second is a more sub-conscious effect whereby the movement of the complete unit, even slight, probably gets picked up as something being different, but wasn't pronounced enough (until today) to register what was different.

Combined with the suspension/tyre changes, now wonder I wasn't happy!

Edit: BTW - I have less chicken strips on the Storms in the 1st 100 miles than I ever did with the stock tyres and whilst my riding is not aimed at pushing the limits, it shows how much more confident my cornering must be with the new rubber, even with the dodgy fairing!

[punyXpress]

[quote=Nobbylad;1942631]
I did notice on my first run with the new tyres that they tipped the bike into corners more readily, but as you say Mike, it took effort previously due to the squareness of the rear!

You may be still subconsiously putting that effort in with the new tyres & it's making the transition more jerky?

[Nobbylad]

Originally Posted by punyXpress

You may be still subconsiously putting that effort in with the new tyres & it's making the transition more jerky?

I know what you're saying, but to be honest, the front was the problem and I think I've gotten to the bottom of that now.