So I took my bike on the highway for the first time (I am a newbie). I got it up to about 70, which is the speed everyone was going at. The bike seemed to have a strange wiggle to it that was borderline uncomforting and dangerous feeling. Is this normal for bikes to feel this unstable at this speed? I spoke to one of my friends who has riden for years and he suggested that it may be the soft suspension that is causing the wiggling.
I am 170 pounds and running the stock springs. I am looking to replace them Nyways, but just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what this might be? Thanks.
Wobble coming from where?
First thing check tire pressures and that all your bolts are tightened securely. The bike should not be wobbly at 70 (or any speed for that matter)
Relax.
Were your hand(s) going numb from clinging onto bars?
First time i rode my bike on highway at 70, i thought the bike was going to wiggle itself apart. I seriously thought the bike was defective. I thought i was relaxed... but looking back, i was pretty scared and worried.
I have not changed anything on it, except the oil. It is pretty stable now. Only difference is i got use to riding a wee bit.
The wind hitting your shoulders makes your hands move a bit. Which in turn makes the bike 'wiggle'. Relax your grip, relax your hands, relax your arms, relax your shoulders, relax your abdomen/back a bit (roll your head around and crack your neck and think of something calming and whistle a tune to yourself). Grab bike with your knees a little bit if ya want. I have only been riding about 5k miles, so i still catch myself tensing up, and can feel the bike starting to wiggle; i just convince myself to relax and it goes away.
To try it out on purpose (edit: be careful): Ride down the road at about 40mph(not in traffic, etc for this test). Tense up your arms, and grip with your hands hard. Now wiggle your shoulders... there is that wiggle again (except it is probably going to be more pronounced, as now you'll we wiggling your shoulders a lot, don't wiggle shoulders too much) (or you could just purposely wiggle your hands and get similar effect, easy on the wiggling).
Just a little pressure on the controls makes the bike react.
P.S.: There could also be something wrong with your bike.
Tire pressure is good. I check it every time before I ride. I don't believe I was holding on that firmly, but I will try to loosen up next time and see if that works.
I just had new tires put on it, not sure if this has anything to do with it. Which bolts should I checking?
The bike sometimes catches grooves in the road, making it feel as though it's wiggling or wandering. Not an issue, just roll with it.
The first time I went 80mph on a motorcycle I thought I was going to die haha. Not to say there couldn't be anything wrong, but I'd just wait until you get a few more tries to make sure there's actually something going on. Even if you're not holding on too tight, you might've just assumed the bike would feel more stable than it does at 70mph. The bike has super light handling which is great on twisty roads, but not as nice on the highway when all you want to do is go in a straight line. Just don't want you to waste hours trying to fix something that isn't actually a problem.
Still though, you want to make sure everything on the front of the bike is tightened down well.... your axle, triple clamps, stem bearing adjustment...
Grooved pavement can make things feel strange. Worn pavement due to cars with studded tires can make things really feel odd.
around here on one part if I-5 the pavement is bumpy. Go a certain speed and you hit the bumps at the same resonant frequency of the bike. Talk about shaking and the feeling that all your tires just went flat.
Try the high speed on different highways and see if it feels the same. Probably won't. May have been due to the pavement or the wind.
Wobbles...
1 - tire wear
2 - tire balance (is the new weight still on, does it look like it has slide along the tire)
3 - tire pressure (front should be 33psi)
4 - grooves in road
5 - hard-to-detect road deformities
6 - gripping handlebars too tight
7 - arms too straight (6 & 7 can result in the bike wobbling from the small undulations of the road - bend your arms, keep them loose, loosen your grip and let the bike balance itself should fix it if this is the issue - oddly, grabbing a wobbling bar with force to stop it wobbling just makes it worse, depending on the cause, of course)
8 - misaligned wheel (put bike on center stand, have someone push down on back and Spin front wheel)
9 - tire deformity
10 - large screen attached to steering head make small adjustments due to wind harmonics going over the screen
Michael
New tires, check to make sure the beads are fully seated on both sides of the tires. Most tires have a line around them close to the rim and the line will be an equal distance from the rim all the way around if the tire is fully seated, if it isn't take it back to whoever replaced the tires to reseat. Just happened to a guy over at the EX500 forum and my first bike 26 years ago was delivered to me with a bead not seated on the rear tire and it went wobbling down the street.
Add:
11) Loose front end bearings (headset)
12) Misaligned rear wheel
To check misalignment of rear wheel I just measure screws in the back right?
Quote from: jfoley on May 03, 2011, 03:29:00 AM
To check misalignment of rear wheel I just measure screws in the back right?
I used a laser pointer. Just made sure the back wheel wasnt aimed into the front wheel on either side. :cheers:
I posted a thread about this a couple weeks ago. After getting on it again and doing the checks my brothers & sisters here at the forum told me about, I determined it was mainly the wind and holding on too tight. I was doing 90mph though.
I agree with the general opinion of the other posts. It is probably just your relative inexperience that is giving you the insecure feeling. Assuming that the bike is sound it is usually due to "external" influences. A couple of weeks ago I was up in the hills and as I rounded a long slow right hander I was sure that the rear tyre was going flat. It felt really strange! Immediately after the turn I stopped and checked the tyres. They were fine and the rest of the ride was fine too! It was just the road surface in that sweeper. Last Saturday I covered about 260k mostly on the freeway/highway and a couple of times the bike "got the wobbles" at speed. It was only when I was sitting a little too close to the car in front. The turbulence was pushing me around a lot! The best thing to do is just relax and let the bike do the work (or back off a bit). If the wind hits you at the wrong angle/speed it will really throw you around. Relax and enjoy, don't fight it! :D
thanks for the advice. ill give you an update when i get back on the highway. i got it up to 80 today but that was on the backroads, it felt fine.
Seems like most everything was covered today but I'll just add a wobble isn't normal. I had the pleasure of some awesome twisties this weekend (got a bit carried away as it was my second time out all season and did a full inspection of tires, sprockets, lights, etc this winter) and was zipping around between 50-85 in 3rd gear. The vibrations were definitely noticeable at higher rpm, but overall no wobble. I did get some wobble when the back tire almost locked twice on me :o I wasn't slamming on it at all think I may be do for new brake pads?
Quote from: Pelikan on May 02, 2011, 07:36:55 PM
The bike sometimes catches grooves in the road, making it feel as though it's wiggling or wandering. Not an issue, just roll with it.
They redid the tar snakes on the roads down here but didnt put enough tar so there's nice deep grooves everywhere. Always feels like te tire is slipping out from under me now- pretty annoying.