Straight tires...

[Rollin668]

Anyone have a quick easy method to ensure the rear tire is mounted straight?  

I put my rear wheel on after mounting a set of tires and I now am getting some rear brake drag.  Didn't notice it at first, but I do now.  I have the tire lined up using the marks on the swingarm, but if history is anything to go by, these marks are not accurate... and when I rotate the tire, it only seems to drag in one place on the wheel, not the whole wheel...


Thanks.


Rolly

[Kerry]

when I rotate the tire, [the rear brake] only seems to drag in one place on the wheel, not the whole wheel...

Hmm, that doesn't sound good.  I wonder if the rotor is warped a little bit?

No matter what method folks tell you to try (swingarm marks, string method, etc.) it will all come down to fiddling with one adjuster and then the other, and spinning the wheel to see if the dragging goes away.  Right?

You will also want to listen for sounds from the chain, to make sure that you don't throw it out of whack while fixing the brake rubbing problem.

[scratch]

The rear brake is "automatically" aligned by the axle through the caliper mount. Put the bike on the centerstand, loosen the axle and rotate it while spinning the rear wheel to see where the pads stop scrapping the rotor. Also, check the two caliper mounting bolts.

Alignment guidelines (not bible):

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5598&highlight=alignment

[500rider]

You might need to check the run-out.  Scraping in one spot would indicate runout problem not alignment.  See if you can set up your wheel on a couple of wood blocks by spanning the axle across them.  Borrow a dial indicator and check the runout.

Rob

[JamesG]

Brakes don't usually "drag" on one spot unless there is something wrong with the rotor.

Did you change the tire yourself?

If not (or maybe even if) I would suspect that maybe the rotor was bent in the changing process...

The problem is you can't really prove that it was done by the shop.
:dunno:

[johncam4]

tie a string up by the trees and run it down the center of the tank, seat, grab bar and use it as a guide to line the rear tire

[Rollin668]

I had a shop mount the tire onto the wheel, but I mounted the wheel onto the bike.  I took a closer look at it last night and it seems that the tire must be misaligned.  I was just spinning the tire with and using the brake stay arm as a guide.  I could see the tire wobbling a little bit.  Not sure how this would cause dragging on the rear brake.  I'm going to try 2 different "string" methods to try to get it lined up.



Rolly

[MarkusN]

Suzuki spec. for max rim runout (wobble) is 2 mm (~5/64") If the tire wobbles much more, the bead may not have been properly seated. But you should feel this as quite extreme vibration.

[Rollin668]

What do you consider extreme vibration.  It does viberate like hell, but it's kinda always done that.  More pronounced now, but I've been assuming that it was due to the track tires I'm running now.


Rolly

[richard]

cheap and questionably effective method:

Since the adjusters theoretically go through the bolt in the same place, I used one of Kerry's Calipers (sp?) that I had borrowed to measure the distance from the nut to the end of the bolt, it was a little off, so I adjusted 'til they were the same.  then checked with the little dashes to be sure, seems to be fine now. =]

Not 100% certain how effective this is, but it seems like it should work decently at least....

[MarkusN]

What do you consider extreme vibration.  It does viberate like hell, but it's kinda always done that.  More pronounced now, but I've been assuming that it was due to the track tires I'm running now.

Hm. Difficult to explain. The GS does vibrate, but that comes mainly from the motor and depends on RPM. Wheel vibration should be much lower frequency and dependent on speed, but independent of RPM. I.e., if you shift, the frequency of vibration should remain the same.

If you suspect an improperly seated bead, check for a marking line on the side of the tire. That line should be the same distance from the rim all round. If it goes closer to the rim in some spot, that's where the bead is not properly seated.