This is probably obvious but little help please? :)
Discussion
Here is the problem
Bike has been sitting around and only used on occasion for the past few months. Recently resurrected it (new battery, oil and filter).
For some reason, at lowish speeds (15- 25mph) when banking right, the bike feels "twitchy" like its not happy about leaning right. Leaning left, it feels absolutely fine.
At higher speeds, motorways, banking round larger sweeping bends, no problem at all.
Its an 02 Yamaha Fazer 600 with only 10k on the clock
I have checked -
- Tyre pressures correct (from cold) and symptoms persist after correct cold reading even when warmed up
- Fork seals, no oil coming up through the forks and the bike bounces fine, although they do have an ever ever so faint smell of oil if you rub your hand on the exposed fork part afterwards (suspect this is normal?)
- Forks and mountings all secure and look straight and fine
- Tyres are fine all the way round, no flat spots or perishing marks
- Rear shock spring looks fine and bounces fine
I will be replacing the downpipes this weekend, is there anything else I could be looking for? I would rather avoid being financially raped by a motorcycle garage if I can help it!
Cheers
Yamaha Fazer - 02 reg, 4 years old, 10,000 miles.
Bike has been sitting around and only used on occasion for the past few months. Recently resurrected it (new battery, oil and filter).
For some reason, at lowish speeds (15- 25mph) when banking right, the bike feels "twitchy" like its not happy about leaning right. Leaning left, it feels absolutely fine.
At higher speeds, motorways, banking round larger sweeping bends, no problem at all.
Its an 02 Yamaha Fazer 600 with only 10k on the clock
I have checked -
- Tyre pressures correct (from cold) and symptoms persist after correct cold reading even when warmed up
- Fork seals, no oil coming up through the forks and the bike bounces fine, although they do have an ever ever so faint smell of oil if you rub your hand on the exposed fork part afterwards (suspect this is normal?)
- Forks and mountings all secure and look straight and fine
- Tyres are fine all the way round, no flat spots or perishing marks
- Rear shock spring looks fine and bounces fine
I will be replacing the downpipes this weekend, is there anything else I could be looking for? I would rather avoid being financially raped by a motorcycle garage if I can help it!
Cheers
Yamaha Fazer - 02 reg, 4 years old, 10,000 miles.
Weird. Check your headrace bearings. Stick it on the center stand if you have one and lob something heavy on the back so that the front wheel is off the ground without you having to support it. Then move the bars through their full range of movement and see if you can detect any notchiness in the bearings or any other kind of resistance from cables and so on. Can't for the life of my think of anything else it could be.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Pistons in one of your calipers sticking(that cured my bikes reluctance to turn one way!)?Does your bike have a steering damper?Could be that!Steering head bearings as mentioned earlier,eh?Unequal settings in your front forks?You've got one arse cheek larger than the other?That's all i can think of for now.Good luck!.
rumpelstiltskin said:
Pistons in one of your calipers sticking(that cured my bikes reluctance to turn one way!)?Does your bike have a steering damper?Could be that!Steering head bearings as mentioned earlier,eh?Unequal settings in your front forks?You've got one arse cheek larger than the other?That's all i can think of for now.Good luck!.
Will check the piston on the right disc when I fix the bike - that sounds likely as the bike has had long periods of sitting around. Can these be cleaned or is it a replacement caliper job? Cleaned a car one before but the bike ones are much more compact...!Have measured my arse cheeks - they are both fecking enourmous but fairly level - so I can rule that out
rumpelstiltskin said:
Pistons in one of your calipers sticking(that cured my bikes reluctance to turn one way!
How does that work then? if it does then surely a single disc bike would veer to the side when brakes applied? 
I'd say look at the head bearings and also check your back wheel is in line with the front, have you adjusted the chain and got it further back one side?
dern said:
catso said:
I'd say look at the head bearings and also check your back wheel is in line with the front, have you adjusted the chain and got it further back one side?
Ah, good one... never overlook the simplest causes 
Also check bolts on swingarm/shocks/forks etc for tightness, I had a bike on which the swingarm pivot clamp bolts weren't tightened up properly and the swingarm pivot (tube) started slipping out whilst I was riding along the motorway, by the time I stopped to see what was wrong one side was fully out - the back did get a little wobbly...... 
Unlikely to happen on a modern bike but worth a look.
Unlikely to happen on a modern bike but worth a look.
I had a similar problem, but it was due to the asymetrical tread wear on the front tyre (Bridgestone). It was most noticable on left hand bends at speeds below 20mph, though wasn't as noticable on right hand bends. Admittedly it was a semi-off-road tyre on a BMW GS, I fitted another brand and everything was fine! Check that the tyre profile has no ridges, that is its nicely rounded, no flat surface on the centre line.
Do you keep the bike on the sidestand when not in use?
I have heard of front tyres being slightly deformed by the weight being on one half of the tyre when it is on the sidestand for a long time.
No idea how long it would take, and no idea of how heavy the bike would have to be.
Can you afford to change the tyres as a pair and see if it makes the difference?
Even if it doesn't help, you can always keep the old set and have them put back on again when the new ones wear out
I have heard of front tyres being slightly deformed by the weight being on one half of the tyre when it is on the sidestand for a long time.
No idea how long it would take, and no idea of how heavy the bike would have to be.
Can you afford to change the tyres as a pair and see if it makes the difference?
Even if it doesn't help, you can always keep the old set and have them put back on again when the new ones wear out
Got it booked in for Ride in Bike tyres at 9am Saturday for 2 new tyres - £200 fitted BT021 dual compounds. They are three years old and have been sitting a lot, and with 2 punctures in the rear as said on this thread, better safe than sorry.
Expensive things these motorbicycicleseses
Expensive things these motorbicycicleseses
catso said:
rumpelstiltskin said:
Pistons in one of your calipers sticking(that cured my bikes reluctance to turn one way!
How does that work then? if it does then surely a single disc bike would veer to the side when brakes applied? I'd say look at the head bearings and also check your back wheel is in line with the front, have you adjusted the chain and got it further back one side?
rumpelstiltskin said:
catso said:
rumpelstiltskin said:
Pistons in one of your calipers sticking(that cured my bikes reluctance to turn one way!
How does that work then? if it does then surely a single disc bike would veer to the side when brakes applied? I'd say look at the head bearings and also check your back wheel is in line with the front, have you adjusted the chain and got it further back one side?
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