So, what would make a bike turn easily one way but not quite so easilythe other?

I'm talking about the Bumblebus here, not the Shedaha.

So, shaft drive, tyres in decent nick [1], no apparent accident damage,
all seems in good order, goes neatly in a straight line and brakes good
and true but steers more easily to the right than the left.

Any ideas? Or is it just a characteristic of modern boxers?

[1] Front nearing end of life

 

Do you have one very fat leg?

 

It's yer left-hand-drive camber shims, innit.

 

Are we talking minuscule differences here or massive?

That might well have something to do with it. They're rather sensitive
to tyres and wear them out in a strange pattern.

 

I've had no complaints.

I have replaced the heavier than the moon exhaust system with a
lightweight one, and that sticks out the left

 

Been in a crash and a bent frame.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Scraggy

cf: Biggles, Camel, lightning right turns, famous fighting smile, etc,
etc.

 

change the tyre

 

To which side does Sir dress?

 

We had an FJ1200 down The Workshop a few years ago with similar strangeness.

In the end we found that the steering head bearings had been slightly
indented, where the previous owner had been in the habit of bumping up the
kerb to park outside his office. The indents were offset from
straight-ahead, causing a slightly increased force to disengage, followed by
an overcorrection, when turning one way but not the other. These indents
were undetectable with the front unloaded and could only be felt by putting
a low-friction surface[1] under the wheel and turning the bars with weight
on, making sure there's someone standing each side of the bike to stop it
sliding over.

Of course, in your case it could just be the flywheel effect of the boxer
engine,.

[1] a plastic bag with a smear of grease inside.

 

misaligned rear wheel

 

Difficult to do on a shaftie, unless the swingarm is bent.
[/QUOTE]

 

.... or the bearing that holds the final drive in the paralever has
play, but I'd think that would show up fairly similar to a loose rear
wheel bearing.

 

Tyres[1], especially the front, worn unevenly due to road camber

[1] "It's the tyres. It's always the tyres."

 

Indeed, my mate with a K3 thou got utterly fucking ripped to bits by me
on my K12 at Mallory last weekend & he's normally very quick. I was
lapping him piss easy. He complained of really poor front feel, just no
proper feeling meaning he just couldnt ride like he normally would.

We had a proper look at it to find one side totally worn differently to
the other. he then 'remembered' when he last had it serviced the bloke
told him the back tyre was miles out of alignment & had been so for ages
& to get a new front tyre He forgot.

It gave me a nice feeling to lap the fucker anyway

Nige

 

yes - I've had the paralever bearing tweaked[1] a couple of times on the R-
GS. Mike, my mechanic, reckons it will be a replacment job next time it
goes a bit wobbly.

[1] about every 18k, there's an allen bolt adjuster arrangement on the
inboard side of the swing arm.

 

Tea/keyboard interface moment.

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

You sitting slightly to one side of the bike.

 

I only tend to notice it when I'm on longer trips so not pressing on too
much, so I'd say relatively miniscule, however when I notice it it
becomes far from miniscule IYSWIM. Thranshing about I tend not to
notice, but on the motorway it sticks out like a sore thumb.

I suspect replacing the worn front Avaro with a new 020 to match the
rear won't do any harm.

It's currently parked in my underground lair in London. If you fancy
swinging past on the way home tomorrow to give it the once over...

 

I wouldn't bank on that theory being correct.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19