More motorcycle advise sought

[brimic]

You sound like a virgin biker.  Do yourself a favor and take the local motorcycle safety course.  It will show you how to deal with wet pavement, gravel, left turning cagers, and how to pick up your bike when you drop it (which you will, sooner or later)

Yeppers. I'm planning on taking it next spring.

[tokugawa]

You learned something- body movement, from wind or rough pavement, can feed into the bars if you are holding them too tight.  Front tires are quite varied- ones with parallel grooves around the circumference will pick up input from road grooves, bridge grates etc and give a scary ride- feels like you are on ice. And most freeways are worn low in the tire tracks, the tire will try to climb to the high side of the groove - this can also be noted on pavement markers where they have built them up from glass sand.
 I highly recommend the book "Proficient Motorcycling" By Dave Hough", he is THE MAN when it comes to safe motorcycling.

[The Annoyed Man]

I second MillCreek's comment. On my riceburner if I loosened up the steering dampener too much it would get squirelly [sp?] like you describe. Or it could be worn bearing/s in the steering head which I imagine could tend to exaggerate every nook and cranny that you hit and make the front wheel sloppy.

If it was me, I'd want to be sure of the bike first rather than blame myself and push it into a potentially dangerous situation. Bikes are awesome when right but very unforgiving when not. If there is something wrong with it, thinking there isn't just puts you deeper in potential danger. You trying someone elses bike is good, but I'd suggest you have someone else try yours. Perhaps a qualified mechanic.

I have fond memories of my bike riding days [wild and crazy youth] so don't get discouraged.

[RichBaker]

However, I took it out on the interstate last night when there was very sparse traffic and this scared the daylights out of me. At over 60 mph it felt like I was walking a tightrope- real unstable, I had to make constant tiny corrections for air gusts and the tiny bit of wind we had..  I had had a white knuckle ride for about 6 miles and finally exited because I had enough. 

Is this something that I just have to gut out and get accustomed to  or is the bike telling me that something is wrong that might kill me?

 Have the steering head bearings checked...if they're too tight , it'll cause what you are describing...a slow weave requiring continual corrections.

[bedlamite]

I found out yesterday on a country road that I could wiggle the handlebars back and forth very slightly and make the bike wobble- not practical or something I want to do. 

Yeah, don't do that. If it oscillates out of control, that's called a tankslapper. If you find yourself in a tankslapper, your only hope is to remain loose while opening the throttle to lighten the front end until it stops. Brakes will make it worse, and if you fight it you may just end up with a broken wrist/hand.

Countersteering works because of Gyroscopic Procession. Motion of the front wheel is 90 degrees from the applied force. Try to turn the wheel to the left by pushing the right bar forward, and the wheel tips to the right, turning the bike to the right.

[Monkeyleg]

Aw, geez, Bedlamite. Why'd you have to go and get technical on us? I just always liked to think that God made motorcycles special.


Damn pagans......mumble mumble mumble

[East Texas Clinger]

My Boss owns an 883 Sportster and it's about the most irritating motorcycle I've ever ridden!

I could no WAY recommend it as a beginner bike!

THAT said if it's mechanically sound it shouldn't try to kill you any more than any other bike.

[Firethorn]

My Boss owns an 883 Sportster and it's about the most irritating motorcycle I've ever ridden!

What's so bad about it?  I'm saying this with the mind that I've actually only driven 3 styles of motorcycle - 2 of them in the MSF class, one 125cc, one 250.

Of course, the 250 didn't have double the power, as far as I could tell.

[Monkeyleg]

Another little bit of advice: in warm to hot weather such as we've been having lately, watch the asphalt patches on roads.

The American Motorcycle Association was lobbying against a certain type of asphalt patch that becomes very slippery when it heats up. I don't know if they're still lobbying on that.

Anywho, I found a community here that apparently is using that  type of asphalt patch. I was pulling out of a driveway, leaned into the turn, my front wheel hit the patch, and the front wheel slid several inches before hitting dry pavement. It caught me by surprise, but I didn't drop the bike.

I ran into that stuff years ago in Utah and other western states, usually on tight curves. When I'd tell riders back here in WI about it, they didn't believe me. It's like riding on oil, which is literally what it is.

[bedlamite]

I have to agree with you monkeyleg, tar snakes suck.

[zahc]

Some of the contraptions that you see on the roads make me wonder if the state wants to just kill all motorcyclists. Here in TX they have those giant glued-on mushroom style reflectors. Some of them are the size of half a volleyball. Then you have the temporary sheets of steel they lay on the road to cover work in progress, which are fine for cars but could seriously kill a motorcyclist that didn't know it was there (because it wasn't there yesterday), because some of them are over two inches think.

[Intune]

My favorite is the newly paved lane running next to the 2" lower old lane.  Not bad coming off of it but you had better have a serious angle on it when going back up.   

[MillCreek]

Oh, I hate those edge traps!  We have a relatively short highway construction/renovation period here in the Seattle area, since they cannot pave, etc. when it is raining.  So they try to do everything in about a five month period.  Trying to see an edge trap in new asphalt when it is dark or raining is an experience!

[brimic]

Yikes! That patch job looks scary. I've become wary of the patches in my village- they seem to be the slippery kind- on my 3rd or 4th day I had the front tire slide enough to jolt me while going around a gentle corner near my house.


Monkeyleg- any advice on measuring primary chain deflection? I changed the primary/transmission lube last night and about the only think I could fit in the inspection hole that would come even close to taking a measurement was my finger which is between 3/8 and 1/2" thick- chain seems to meet specs for a cold measurement, but I measured it hot and it might be out of spec.

The inspection covers have a slot in them that looks roughly like a chevy bowtie. I went to the local dealership last night and they were out of the tool (along with everything else due the the 105th traffic). The service guy told me the tool costs around $35, but also hinted that a piece of 1/4" flat stock would fit it perfectly. A stop at Menards, $7 piece of 1/4" flat stock, and 5 minuted of hacksaw time made me the tool that I needed

[Firethorn]

My favorite is the newly paved lane running next to the 2" lower old lane.  Not bad coming off of it but you had better have a serious angle on it when going back up.   

Yuck.  Had that recently - started out on the older, lower pavement following a pace car, then halfway through the car went up onto the new pavement.  I ended up going as far to the right as I could(away from the new pavement), then essentially swerving towards the new pavement.  Got about a 45 degree angle on it, bumped up, stabilized, swerved back.  I wonder what the car behind me thought about that.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

wait till you cross a train crossing of the "unimproved" type where the tracks cross at about a 45% angle. brings back fond memories of dsliding down the side of the road looking back at tumbling bike and trying to decide if it was catching up to me

[brimic]

I tightened up the preload on my suspension last week. Haven't had much time to ride it these last few days due to other things going on and weather. Decided to step up and ride it in to work this morning. The weather looked clear, with a little fog, no rain today, my faceshield kept fogging, but I cracked it open a bit once in awhile to clear it. 17 miles of freeway and another 15 or so miles of city streets. It was fun, nothing scary, I just let the bike do what it was going to do on the freeway except when I was caught in the draft of a semi in the next lane that I had to countersteer and lean into for awhile. Cruising along at 70 mph felt really good, I just maintained the largest following distance that I could from cars in front of me.

[The Annoyed Man]

It sounds like you have figured out your issue. Keith Code talks about survival reactions in his book Twist of the Wrist II, one of them is gripping the bars too tight. I have found that my motorcycles prefer me to maintain a very loose grip on the bars, this allows the bike to absorb bumps and follow the imperfections in the roads surface. I have done a couple trackdays and advanced riding courses and a common theme is to relax and let the bike move as it wishes. I remind myself when I am going too fast for my comfort zone by flopping my arms around and keeping my elbows bent and parrallel to the ground.
 I second or third the MSF BRC class and would plug the ERC or one of the many trackday courses to get a good grip on the mechanics of riding. A bike wants you to do things that are counter intuitive to behave itself at the limits. I would also recommend buying the stickiest rubber you can get, I am a big fan of traction over tire mileage. By the way would you be interested in some Buell cams and heads?