| Author | Message | ||
     Deadprez08 |
Pushing about 100-110mph on my 03 XB9 I catch a little headshake and feel it getting worse the closer to the stop I open her up. Typical? Or is there something I should check out? | ||
| Punkid8888 |
First things to check is Steering Head Bearing, Tire balance and condition. If all that is good I would look into your body position on the bike as well as your hand position. Obviously you want to be as low as possible and as fwd as possible. Another thing is try keeping your hands as inward on the bars as possible. this will limit your leverage. If you got the cash A Steering Dampener will be your best friend | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Check the air pressure in the tire as well... Low pressure will cause head shake at certain speeds. | ||
| Glitch |
What Paint said, along with making sure your tires are in good or better condition, the suspension settings are very important as well. Although as y'all well know, I've never been above the posted speed limit, so my advise is to be taken with a grain of salt. | ||
| Jwhite601 |
I had the same issues, slapped on a set of new Diablo T's and it cured it. | ||
| Old_man |
Your tires; Shinko Advance Radials ??? | ||
| Cycleaddict |
i know this may be hard to think about but, relax your grip on the bars . the old death grip just makes it worse ! + what every body else has recommended above . | ||
| Deadprez08 |
haha yeah, my tires, entirely reasonable (I'm a broke high school kid... and sticky rubber is pricey) awesome turnaround for the response, I'll check through some things. I know for sure tire pressure and hand grip aren't the problems; what kind of suspension setup should I look for at the front? I'm a little stiffer than factory for my weight (180lb) and it feels perfect like that in the curves... | ||
| Mtg |
As the tires wear, if they cup at all, that will cause a headshake at a certain speed. Really, just any frequency input that's close to the natural "headshake" frequency can get the tank slapper going. Mine used to do that around 45 mph until I removed the shite Dunflops and replaced them. Maybe the tread blocks on your tires are larger than the Dunflops, which would require a higher speed to produce the same frequency vibration. I wouldn't just assume that a steering damper (not dampner, nor dampener; you're not spraying water on the forks) will be the correct solution. As you increase the headshake mode damping, I've read that it decreases the weave mode damping. So, a steering damper doesn't always make things better. Anyway, if you want to see what the weave mode does to a motorcycle, watch some Bonneville land speed record motorcycle crashes- those are almost always the weave mode. And they probably massively stiffen the steering damper to "get rid of" that problem. Woops, wrong direction. Here's a video of a bike crashing via the weave mode (yet incorrectly labled as the wobble, aka tank slapper): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1srcQMa_0 After ripping my XB9R around a couple track days, I don't really think an XB9R needs a steering damper. The only slight headshake I got was at full throttle still leaned over a little while cresting a hump (that's the exit of turn 4 for those familiar with Pueblo). Edit: I just realized that both of the tracks I've had my Buell on are at about 4000 feet of elevation. Maybe lower elevations, where it makes more power, could produce more corner exit headshake. (Message edited by mtg on October 21, 2007) (Message edited by mtg on October 21, 2007) | ||
| Chihuahua_stud |
"Although as y'all well know, I've never been above the posted speed limit, so my advise is to be taken with a grain of salt."  } | ||
| Zac4mac |
Deadprez - the big question since you're a "broke HS kid" isn't what kind of tire, reviews look OK for that, but did you have them(esp the front) high speed balanced? If not, don't plan on going triple digits without wiggle/bounce. spin em smooth, both. My 03 9r got smoother the faster she went. I ran out of huevos at 135... Z | ||
| Deadprez08 |
yah, the shinko's have rated out pretty well (they're generally drag tires so that seems like it wouldn't become a problem) Anyway, I did a little field testing today and the actual problem seemed to be some weave, not some wobble -- nothing through the handlebars -- and I did a little rear sus tweaking and ran the same road and pushed her up to 122 without any problems... other than that major pain in my neck from going so damn fast without a fairing... much thanks for the replies folks | ||
| Mtg |
What did you tweak on the rear suspension to get rid of the problem? | ||
| Glitch |
More pre-load? | ||
| Paint_shaker |
"Although as y'all well know, I've never been above the posted speed limit, so my advise is to be taken with a grain of salt." Glitch........................ Didn't your momma tell you not to lie???? LOL | ||
| Beachbuell |
I can get to 140mph and she is smooooth. Head bearings, tires pressure and condition all come into play. | ||
| Glitch |
 | ||
| Deadprez08 |
Actually, I played with compression a bit; the comp helped a little, though I'm not sure why that's the case... (but the 120 or so run along the same old road was proof enough for me at the time). My rear is starting to thin just a bit but I've got nearly 5200 hard miles on her, for a $200 set of tires I'm not at all upset about that. | ||
| M1combat |
Try Metzeler MEZ6's. I've scraped the pegs of an SCG with them after they were warmed up and they've so far lasted about 4K miles. I fully expect to get another 4K out of them. I have a feeling you aren't relaxed on the bars. Be gentle. | ||
| Glitch |
Thanks M1. Is the profile anything like the M1s? I really liked those tires, and have been looking for a long lasting tire. The Diablos I used last, lasted a good long time, but nowhere near 8K. | ||
| M1combat |
Yes it is. The rear is a tad less sharp, so the bike will roll in just a TAD slower but I don't think it's noticeable. I was very surprised that I scraped the peg. I figured I'd be in the guard rail long before the peg touched on those tires. Keep in mind that it was the SCG though... lower with low pegs. | ||
| Glitch |
Thanks, I think I'll give 'em a try. With gas prices the way they are I'll be needing the extra miles out of tires. It's nice to know they handle well also. | ||
| Bads1 |
Deadprez08, When you say your tire pressure is right are you saying that you have them set for the tire maker?? Or do you have them set to what Buell say's they should be set at??? Follow what Buell say's. Any other and you just may get head shake. | ||
| Sgthigg |
GO AND LOOK WHERE THE BALANCING WEIGHT INSTALLED ON THE FRONT WHEEL. I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM TOO IN THE PAST. THE WEIGHT HAS TO BE ON THE ROTOR SIDE. IF ITS NOT ON THE ROTOR SIDE JUST SLIDE IT OVER. LIKE I SAID I HAD THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM AND AFTER LOOKING AT THE MANUAL IT SAYS IT MUST GO ON THE ROTOR SIDE. I SLID IT OVER HEAD SHAKE GONE. | ||
| M1combat |
Good call Sgt... I've had that problem too. | ||
| Clutchless |
+1 for what Sgt says, check all the cheap stuff that "should" be right. I balanced mine without weights which took me almost an hour longer but no shimmy. Double check your suspension settings too. Then check them again. |
