Odd feeling when making a left turn..what is it?

I recently changed front and rear tires on my 04 R1150RT; went from the Metzeler Z6's, to Mich. Pilot Road 2's. I replaced the rear tire 1st, and then the front tire about 1,000 miles later.

But here is the thing....

Within about 300-400 miles after changing the rear tire, I started to feel a very odd sensation. When I lean into a low speed (10-15 mph) left hand turn the bike almost feels like I have a flat tire; if this is happening while making the same sort of right hand turn, there is very, very little, if any, similar feeling. For a while, I thought it might have something to do with the old front tire as it was pretty worn on the left side (which seem to be typical...to a degree due to weight imbalance); but after I changed it out for a brand new Pilot Road 2, there was no difference. Also, if I am leaning into a left hander at a higher rate of speed, it feels normal.

I have placed the bike on the center stand (several times), and I have tried to see if there was any movement when holding the tire in the 6 and 12 position; and again at the 3 and 9 position. Nothing, nada, no movement at all! I also tried to see if I could wobble the rear wheel from side-to-side (left to right), and again no movement at all.

Both tires appears to be correctly seated, and mounted in the proper rotational direction, and there does not seem to be any unsual wear (approximately 1,500 miles on the rear tire, and 250-300 miles on the front).

I can rotate the hub (without the wheel attached), and there is a little bit resistance (bearing load resistance I assume), which I would think is normal, but there is no feeling of roughness or unusual grinding sounds. Seems normal; I think.

Lastly, I recently did a transmission and final drive change, and again there was nothing unusual, clean and clear. What I forgot to mention was, the bike has 40,700 miles on her as of today.

So, I am seeking the advice from the collective; any ideas of what this might be, and way only on the left turn/lean side??

Thanks,
1024JLC

What's your tire pressure?

Take a pencil and hold it next to various points on the tire as you rotate it. (both front and rear) Something has to hold the pencil so it doesnt move. Youre looking for irregularities in the tire ie: is it symetrical. Im thinking you may have faulty tire(s).
Alo check that the wheels were put back on the bike correctly.

Currently, the tire pressure is 38 in the rear, and 32 in the front. I have played with those a little, running them up a few pounds, and down a couple of pounds; and it does not seem to make any difference.

I have a friend in my local club who has an 03 RT, as a spare bike now since he recently bought a 1200GS. I believe that there is no difference between an 04 and an 03 RT rear wheel. I am going to see if he will let me come over and swap the rear wheel, take a test ride and then I can see if that makes any difference.

The sensation did not manifest itself until after I installed the new rear tire, so I am inclined the believe that the front has little or nothing to do with anything.

Not sure what else to do; but I will let you know how I make out with the rear wheel swap...and test.

Thanks

[I]"Also check that the wheels were put back on the bike correctly."[/I]

I rechecked both the front and rear to ensure that they were put back on correctly; as I do that part myself. The rear wheel is in place, the spacer is in place, the brake caliper is mounted properly, and there is no drag on the brake pad pin that would cause any binding of the pads. I attached and torqued (to spec) all the various fastners and bolts, and everything appears to be in order.

Is there any particular alignment of the bolt holes between the wheel, spacer and hub? I have mounted the wheels many times, and I do not believe I did anything different this time, but I will check once more.

Thanks for the input.

Rgds,
Jeff

It sounds to me like the left bead of the tire might not be fully seated on the rim. This leaves the right side and center of the tread more or less round, but the left of the tire, when leaned over, quite a bit out of round. Just a hunch.

[QUOTE=1024JLC;511282]Not sure what else to do; but I will let you know how I make out with the rear wheel swap...and test.

Thanks[/QUOTE]

Good idea. If the rear tire is somehow bad that should identify it.

Guys,

I need to reopen this old thread since it sounds almost identical to my situation. I've got a '02 R1150RT and recently replaced both tires. I went from PR2's to Z8's. I had my local dealer mount and balance the tires and then I mounted the wheels to the bike. The rear end acts like Jeff's bike in this thread, twitchy especially on grooved pavement at moderate speeds (40-60mph) but appears to be less noticeable at higher speeds. Feels like it's flat going into turns, almost like it wants to dive in.....sometimes. No play in the rear wheel at 3-9 or 6-12. I've changed the air pressure from 42 to 46 in the rear, and 40 to 42 in the front with no noticeable effect. I've taken both wheels off and retorqued them and nothing. I then took the bike back to the dealer to have them do a safety check and all they could find is a leaking fork seal. They said the suspension felt "soft" but didn't take it out on the highway. I changed the fork seals but that didn't help. Today I changed the final drive oil to see if there was anything amiss and it came out relatively clean, dark but no shiny bits with a little black fuzz on the drain plug. The bike has 62k on it and both shocks were replaced at 42k with OEM ones.

I've looked at the bead on the rear wheel and don't see anything amiss on either side. No noticeable bulges. I'm looking for ideas before I resort to just dropping it off at the dealer and telling them to figure it out. I've put about 1000 miles on it thinking I just needed to break the tires in but it just doesn't feel right.

Help! Any ideas are appreciated.

Benp
Atlanta

consider pulling the rear wheel, inspect all the metal to metal contacts for wear. If you have access to a torque wrench see how tight each lug bolt was. Then if you don't find anything wrong, reassemble it and go for a ride. Jon

well, i'd say that the 42F/46R is way too high a tire pressure, but doubt that is the cause of your handling issues. I'd back them down to 36/40 and see how they perform.
were those replacement shocks new OEM (why?), or were they installed as used take-offs?

If you're going to take the wheel off, grab the disc brake rotor and turn it using side pressure. It is much easier to feel a rough bearing this way than when the wheel is on. You can also check for 9 to 3 and 12 to 6 o'clock play this way pretty effectively.

Yes, I know the tire pressure is higher than it should be per specs but I've slowly gone up from the 36-40 to see if it helped. The stock shocks were replaced due to being worn out as evidenced by cupping on the tires that were on the bike when I got them. The shocks I replaced them with we're technically "used" take offs due to original owner of a bike swapping the shocks out for Ohlins but the bike had less than 1000 miles on it if I remember correctly. No reason to doubt them since my bike was transformed when I put the shocks on at 42k. It was smooth and vibration free!

The previous tires were worn out after 11 or 12,000 miles no noticeable cupping on the front and the rear was worn flat in the middle due to mostly highway miles.

If I spin the back wheel I get a smooth consistent turn with light even scraping of the rotor on the pads. No scientific measurement but the tire looks uneven side to side when turning it?

I've gotten the wheel off so I'm going to take it to the dealership to see if they can tell me whether the tire is out of round or misshapen in some way.

Thanks,

Ben

:lurk

My PR 2's are in the mail for first tire change since I was 20 yr old dirt rider.
Oh, first tire change on the dark side! Guess i get ready for the knuckle buster?

Please post your results bro!!
Good luck

Well....took tire to the dealer and they said it needed another 30 grams to balance in addition to the 15 grams already on there?

I got the "tires are all different and feel different" speech from the service manager. He assured me the tire wouldn't balance if it was out of shape.

Remounted wheel, torqued lug nuts according to spec, lowered air pressure to 38 psi front and 42 psi in rear. I just rode in to work this morning and it's still real twitchy on the grooved pavement.

Everything else checks out so I guess I'm going to just chalk up the handling to the switch to Z8's. I'm really missing my PR2's at this point!

Thanks for everyone's input and help on this issue!

Ben

i'd try 36/40, or maybe even 34/38. that 42 rear still sounds a bit high, unless you are on a steady diet of 2up/fully loaded riding.