Handling/Steering/Front End Question... kinda important.. (Buddha?)

[Danny500]

After taking a break from riding the past month (too cold) I decided to go out for a quick ride today. I have changed NOTHING on the bike since I parked it and started to notice some very odd/scary things my bike was doing that I guess i just glazed over when I was riding her every day.

Here's how the bike is set up:

SV rear shock (rear raised about 2 inches over stock)
Michelin Pilot 110 'RACE' tire (came with the bike) front
Stock Battlax rear (stock size)

Everything is at proper pressure (tires) and there is nothing loose or non-stock in the front end.

Situation:

Every time I take a corner it feels like my bike wants to either drive OUT from under me or nose-dive and toss me off the front. Is this due to the raised rear shock, a stiffer rear shock, and the crappy stock front setup? Could the profile on the 'race' tire (pointed) be causing the bike to dip deeper into corners than the stock touring/road tire? My father rode it after me and he noticed the same thing saying that he did NOT want to take it through a corner if he had to...

Basically the way it rode scared the hell out of him and I just noticed it now...

Now, here are my thoughts for a fix:
Sonic Springs, 15w oil, and lower the shocks down further in the trees (as far as they'd go).

That, and/or... would using lowering links with the SV shocks actually lower the bike??? Or is the SV shock SO tall that it wouldn't matter... Because right now, I cannot use my center stand because the bike is so high in the ass-end. Would the only way to install the lowering links be to compress the spring even further... (Maybe Buddha will have an answer for that one).

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I am planning on getting CONTI Attacks for the front and rear very, very soon.. and the sonic springs are already ordered just because the front end is too sloshy for me to begin with.. but will these do the trick or is there something else??? Is the only other option to junk the SV shock put the  stock one back??

Dan

[coll0412]

Okay sounds like you feel like you are pushing the front, but you have some serious handling issues.

1. Raising the rear with the SV shock changes the bikes geometry. It puts more bias on the front tire, and give faster turn in. It also makes the rear of the bike more likely to spin up on exit of a corner(not a problem with the GS).

2. Do you know what profile the Pilot Race is, if its a "C" profile its almost triangular shaped and give a fast turn in as well. Running race tire on a street bike is a bad idea, because they will never get hot enough to stick. Race rubber when cold is very hard, and very slippery. Remember that race rubber is intended to stand up to extreme cornering forces, braking and acceleration. They design the rubber to take those forces and not shred itself. You basically want the opposite for a street tire.

3. You have a stock front end, which coupled with the raising of the rear and a stiffer shock put more demand on the front end. Put some heavier straight rate springs, and some 15W oil it will be much better then. Throw some cartridge emulators and that is about the best the GS front end will ever feel. You don't want to drop the forks in the triple tree, doing this just makes the raising of the rear ever more aggravated by dropping the front.

My recommendations, ditch the SV shock and get a Katana shock. Upgrade the front end with some springs and such, and grab a set of Pirelli Sport Daemons as they are probably the best bias ply for aggressive riding.


The stock front end is not that bad, its by no means good, but you can push the front pretty hard. This picture I am also rocking street tires(Bridgestone BT-016), katana shock, and a "fully upgraded" stock front end and you can't really tell but the front suspension is pretty compressed because I am loading the front tire heavily. You have to engine brake and slow as the corner is effectively a reducing radius corner.

[gsJack]

A radial front tire with a bias rear tire is a bad mix, actually illegal across the big pond to the east where they have inspections for such things.  A radial rear with a bias front can be OK.  You probably have a bad mix.

The Pilot Race front would be a radial and a stock Battlax rear would be a bias tire.  First thing I'd change would be the tires.

The 2" rise in the rear would certainly quicken the steering and make the situation worse.  I used a couple of 130/90 rear touring tires way back 8-9 years ago which raised the rear 1" and that was very noticeable.  Not dangerous by itself and I kind of liked the steering that way.

No reason why you can't use lowering links with the taller shock if the tires don't fix the problem.  Just put a piece of 2x6 or 2x8 board under the centerstand and you should get it up far enough to change links.  Better than trying to raise the front.

I put 10k miles on a RoadAttack rear with a Lasertec front and it worked great for me, I liked that combo.

[Danny500]

Wow, thanks for all the help guys that was way more than I expected.

I knew that Pilot in the front was a bad idea, and yes... it does have a "C" rating on it. The tire is almost triangular.

Now, the lowering links WILL work with the taller shock? I may want to do this first before swapping to a Katana shock (cheaper) and I like the SV for how I use it.

I thought of Pirelli Deamons as well but they are a touch out of my price range. Maybe I'll just save up a bit and go for them though... probably better than Continental road attacks anyway... hah.

Dan

[Bluehaze]

This it the reason i love this forum.. wow what great answers.

[ohgood]

without being completely worthless in my comment, i really dig this shot. looks like fun !