Paging FOAK... 'bike feels funny'

So, I had a front wheel blow out on the XT on the way back from Norway
and then everytime I rode it it 'felt funny' from time to time and I
stopped to check if the front wheel still had air in it. I think it's
psychological.

Last time it happened was on a forty minute motorway sprint in the dark
when it felt like it was about to go into a violent wobble and spit me
off. It didn't actually do this or start weaving. When I stopped for
five minutes to kick the bike it felt better afterwards. Was a motorway
with a fucked road surface also so maybe I'd got caught in lorry tracks?

I've gone over the bike, steering head bearings are fine, suspension is
fine, wheel bearings are fine, tyres (tourances) are fine... wait a
minute rear is on the wrong way around[1].

Have changed that around and it 'feels' a little better but haven't done
a motorway session since.

Is the rear wheel being put on the wrong way around likely to make a big
difference on long, straight roads?

[1] Tyre fitter is an idiot.

 

Yes, it's unlikely to manage a long, straight road with the chain
trying to drive the brake disk.

 

wrote in :

I get the same on a FJR in the slow lane on UK motorways. You can actually
sense the bike falling into the lorry tracks and it feels just like a flat
tyre as you wobble around the groove. My solution is to go faster and stay
out of left lane as much as possible.

 

OK I'll try a sensible answer. There have been many, many reports of
dodgy Tourances on the Tiger groups. I think Metzeler sorted it a while
ago, but if whoever fitted the tyre (or their supplier) had old stock
to shift, that could well be your problem.

 

Crikey. Now you put it that way it all makes sense!

 

Well, it was one fitted to the bike when I bought it. Took it off to
put a knobbly on and then put it on the wrong way around when I took the
knobbly off.

It was fine, then it wasn't. Hoping it's a combination of healthy
self-sustaining paranoia and also ****-wittery by the fitter (me).