Help needed wheel problem

[Les Wassall]

On the way to Garmish and have developed a serious bar wobble, it was a mild shake with the bike set standard and just rider, and we suspct it is the Conti Trail Attack now I have increased the tyre pressure have all the panniers on loaded and nearly full tank, it is allways at 40mph, worse on desleration the wobble nearly rips the bars out of my hands, any fonts of wisdom on the subject.

And yes I know, excelerate only and hold the bars tight

 

[TeaPig]

In the good old days when all bikes would do that to some extent, the usual causes, apart from lousy design, were rear tyre pressure low (check the front too), and/or too much wieght toward the rear. Then stuff like shot swing arm bearings/wheel bearings, steering head bearings tight or shot, or tyre not properly seated on the bead.

can you do a test ride without the panniers? If that cures it, repack with all the heavy stuff as far forward as possible

Is it a new rear tyre?

No point me saying it shouldn't wobble, so something isn't right

 

[rodders]

I take it you have checked for loose nuts .(ooh err)
You don't say if it is a new tyre/worn etc.
If new was it balanced ,has a weight come off?
when you slow down do you mean off the throttle or actually braking.

 

[Wapping]

Les, I had exactly the same symptoms when I put brand new Dunlop 607 tyres on my 1200 GSA. they had been fine on my vanilla 1200 GS. Very disconcerting in the dark on otherwise smooth roads The shaking continued as the tyres wore-in, too. After a while I could get it to shake its head to order, which was quite fun.

Despite exactly balancing and exact tyre pressures (and other pressures) it never went away. In the end I ditched the tyres and reverted to Anarkee's with no subsequent problems. There is a thread about it somewhere.

Something about the Dunlop tyres' profile / my GSA upset the balance but I never found out what it was.

 

[Hexme]

TBH Les, I'd take it to get checked professionally, might cost but safety is paramount.

Good luck

Tony

 

[Magwych]

Les, I had exactly the same symptoms when I put brand new Dunlop 607 tyres on my 1200 GSA. they had been fine on my vanilla 1200 GS. Very disconcerting in the dark on otherwise smooth roads The shaking continued as the tyres wore-in, too. After a while I could get it to shake its head to order, which was quite fun.

Despite exactly balancing and exact tyre pressures (and other pressures) it never went away. In the end I ditched the tyres and reverted to Anarkee's with no subsequent problems. There is a thread about it somewhere.

Something about the Dunlop tyres' profile / my GSA upset the balance but I never found out what it was.

I bought those tyres from Wapping, fitted them to my then 1200GS and they were fantastic Never did understand what could have been wrong with them. Something to do with mounting, balance, no idea; but they give me no probelms whatsoever.

Les, are you on a GS or GSA ?

 

[Wapping]

I bought those tyres from Wapping, fitted them to my then 1200GS and they were fantastic Never did understand what could have been wrong with them. Something to do with mounting, balance, no idea; but they give me no probelms whatsoever.

Les, are you on a GS or GSA ?

Indeed, he did. I meant to post that in the thread but could not remember the lucky Tosser who bought them.

It really was very odd, as I had used the same Dunlop tyres on my vanilla GS without a problem, including trackdays. The success on the vanilla GS was what prompted me to buy the same tyres for my GSA.

On my GSA they were horrible. At one point in the dark on the Hackney Road it was as if I had hit the curb, the speed induced shake when slowing for some lights became so bad. We were not talking about the odd shimmy (my SP1 shook its head like a b'sted, which was fine) but a full on shake, very high speed oscillation, with no prior warning. Very odd. It went away as fast as it came as soon as I changed the tyres away from the Funlops. I never did work out why they did what they did. I tried everything. Remounting both tyres. Rechecking the balance. The pressures. The suspension. The bearings. The whole nine yards but everything was spot on. Really very odd.

 

[G5RJO]

Same here...

Always ran Tourances, did have a tourance that had a shimmy but I get through tyres so fast I just went with it.

Got a batch of Trail Attacks, had the front on for about 2.5k and it has a slight shimmy on deceleration, knew about it and lived with it. Just changed a half worn set for another set of trail attacks ready for a jolly over to Italy and....

SERIOUS head shake can feel it cruising along at 30 - 35 ish then it goes. No problem really slow or when fast. Deceleration is interesting through the same speed range, a loose grip or hands off gives a good 3 - 4" oscilation through the bars.

Where did you get the tyres Les?

I got mine (4 sets) from a well known retailer that 'Busts' prices... if you get my drift.

Someone I know suggests thatv certain retailers who knock out cheap tyres buy 'B' grade stock... surely not?

Am thinking of changing the front for another before my trip as its so bad

Roger.

 

[st247]

Just thoughts but.... might be worth putting the bike on the centre stand,getting a large person to sit on the back seat (should be some near where you are ) , and checking for any play in the front end, wheel bearing, yolk pinch bolts, ball joint etc.HTH.

 

[DrFarkoff]

Brake/wheel carrier loose on back axle?

Happened to my Mates bike started off like you say then started to seriously scare the schit outta him always worse on deceleration

 

[greg12]

rearwheel

Been there had that wheel carrier problem make yr arse nip.see my earlier post

Greg

 

[Les Wassall]

Thanks for the replies, got ot sorted in the end, took it into BMW motorrad in Munchen, what a set up they were awesome, they instantly suspected the tyre (as suggested from sadjim ) and replaced it, still the same problem, so they asked me to leave it a couple of hours so they could investigate, they tried three tyres in total and the last one was spot on, turns out Conti Trail Attack have a problem with some of the Korea built tyres, not all, if they work they are fine if they wobble it will be at 40 mph, the best ones now, Conti told me at the Garmish show, are the ones marked with a Z they are German built and fine, after the new tyre the bike was faultless, just a tad expensive to change a tyre with only 3K on it, hope Conti fancy a small refund

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

How queer ....... just found this old thread after both myself and Salty experianced the same issue with our front Trail Attacks on the way to Garmisch last week. The Conti man on the Garmisch stand knew all about this issue and mentioned the Z rated tyre advising us to go with that option on our return. The Conti distributor (Cambrian Tyres) in the UK sounded surprised when I told him what the Conti man had said but has told me that he will arrange a credit (not sure for how much?) if I buy a new tyre from my local dealer and have the old tyre returned by the dealer to him

Apparently the Z rated tyre is not available in the UK

Watch this space

 

[Spanner]

Les,
Nice to know you got it sorted. I didn't think the issue could be too much weight on the rear knowing how much ballast you've fitted at the front...........

Spanner