Deformed.

[Bren]

Hi lads, any opinions on this. Not enjoying my rides at the mo.

I will try to describe the symptoms of my problem clearly. I drive on the RIGHT hand side of the road, as in US.

I have a Pirelli Diablo front and a Diablo Strada rear.

1 the "centre line" of the front tyre is definetly not in the centre of the tyre, more left biased. Have read some articles on left hand side bands/wear.

2 on the right side of the tyre there is a distinct "edge/step". I can feel and see it when running my finger across, left to right, the tyre.

3 when riding straight it feels like the bike is constantly "leaning slightly left" and I must input constant correction to the right.

More noticable at slower speeds (20mph) is the dropping feeling going into right hand turns.

I did have a slow speed off, walking pace on black ice, a few years ago but suffered only some road rash and the bike felt fine afterwards. But I have had a workshop replace the fork fluid and perhaps they bodged it?

They certainly bodged other stuff, they put a long stem valve on a new rear which I failed to notice. Travelling at about 80 down a dual carriageway the valve blew out because it was constantly hitting the rear caliper. Sudden loss of pressure and crapping myself ensued. Had to drive the bike with the flat tyre to the next exit, which was about 2 miles away, at 2 ,swervy, miles per hour because there was no emergency lane only a ditch. Very worrying time with indicators on trying to alert fast moving traffic coming up behind me to "Move the F&*K out".

But back to the question. Can this be purely down to the driving on the right theory as is in another thread. Or could something be wrong with my forks or trees. Could it be the mis-matched tyres.

Answers on a postcard to here please.

[sportrider]

Assuming the forks aren't botched, are the wheels mounted correctly? Could be alignment. . ..

[chris2992]

A bad tire can cause all sorts of issues. I'd suggest changing the front tire, you might have just got a bad one.

[Rice]

Are you the first owner of the bike and do you know the history of damage?

It may have been dropped badly in the past and that may cause misalignment. This is the worst case scenario.

Alternately, it could be the misaligned forks - check that they are both protrude the same hight from the tripple. I found (thanks to the good folks here) that loosening all the bolts that hold the forks and then re-tightening them helps alignment a little.

I do not know if there is any adjustment to be made to the rear swing arm.

The only other thing I can think of is your riding posture. My friend who rides a Daytona notised that his rear tire was wearing more on the left. I watched him ride and noticed that he sits slightly to the right of the seat :offtopic:

Definitely get some new tires and take it to a good reputable shop that deals with sport bikes to check alignment.

Good luck!

[radar]

If you are worried about the possibility that the fork alignment is out out, take it as an opportunity to do fork maintenance, follow HS's how-to for a fluid a change, this should eliminate the possiblity that the problem is from you forks. I also agree with Chris that your tires could be the culprit, but the fluid change is inexpensive and should be done anyways.

[Guest]

are you resting more of your weight on the left footpeg causing the bike to run at a 2-5 degrees lean ? I catch myself doing it once in a while .. Are the front fork settings the same /oil in forks equal amount??

[Bren]

All valid thoughts.

Have been monitoring my posture to make sure I'm not leaning or weighting one side more than the other so I don't think its that.

Bad tire? Hope not as its not that old. Seems it can sometimes happen although that is generally a new topic to surface in the last year or so. Never heard of people complaining about faulty tires before then. I can believe its a genuine possibility what with manufacturer's struggling to keep up with the worldwide demand for rubber.

As the garage made a mess of other stuff on my bike I really dont believe they even touched the forks to be honest. I think over the winter I'll take them apart and have a look inside.

Cheers

Bren

[TommyHoffman]

If you had the fork oil changed, then you may have issues with the alignment of the fork/front wheel.

The cupping you describe is par for the course with VFR's but the bike shoul dnot feel like you have to constently correct it to a sraight line.

Realigning you body to the bike to compensate for tire wear? I don't buy it. No bike is perfectly balanced right to left, but the dymanics of Frame and steering geometry dictates the stability of the bike. Or better stated as the desire to go straight.

Back in the day...when I worked in Bicycle shops, we would tell people that had crashed there bikes, and had concerns about alignment, to ride with no hands. If the bike would pull immeditly to the one side or the other, it was likley they had alignment issues.

I read a story about a guy that had issues on his VFR, it sounded like the process to reset the front of the bike was simple. A matter of lossening and tightining the triple clamps. Good luck.