Adventures on the Old Girl, and with the Old Girl

[brewsky]

.
On a wide (highway) type smooth road get up to speed then let go of the bars, sit up and ride.
If you have any dampening at all you can't do this.

Push on left grip to turn left, but you do it naturally without thinking about it.

Brewsky

Yes, absolutely. The 'act' of leaning the bike actually includes that little tweak of the bars as you shift your weight.

G

True enough!....also hard if your steering bearings have worn a dimple in the races in the "straight ahead" position!

[sarals]

Good discussion, guys!

I have not checked my tire pressure since I brought the bike home last weekend, and i didn't check it prior to riding it. I don't know what the pressure is, but it's something I definitley need to look at.

The bike has handled peculiarly since I restored it. There has more than 30 years intervening from when I used to ride it regularly, so my memory of how it once handled is not sharp, but I'd recall anything it did in an unfriendly way, I think. And other than a lack of ground clearance, I don't remember anything untoward about the way it used to handle.

Since the day the Old Girl broke down, I've owned and ridden a LOT of different motorcycles. I've even spent some time on the notoriously poor handling Kawasaki's of the late '70's, and I do not recall any bike behaving like the Old Girl is right now.

Did she behave like this when I put her back on the road? Yes, she did, but not quite this bad. I thought she'd settle down with time, but she hasn't - she's apparently gotten worse (and she has less than 300 miles on her since going back on the road). As I said, she does not know where straight ahead is, and it has nothing to do with the road surface condition. She meanders. It's not an oscillation, it's not a PIO ("pilot induced oscillation"). It's a distinct lack of directional stability. She doesn't pull one way over the other under acceleration or braking. She DOES tend to "fall in" to turns, and won't hold a line in a corner at all, and that's really disturbing!

My number one culprit is tires. Number two would be something amiss with the steering head. Number three would be axles or wheel bearings or both. Number four would be poorly performing forks or shocks or both. Number five would be a combination of all of the above!

[G-Man]

Hi Sara

From what you have described I would look at :

Tire pressures.

Steering head bearings - with the bike on the stand how does the steering feel? Does it turn smoothly? Can you feel any movement if you heave on teh forks fore and aft?

Forks - Is the front axle tight? Are the pinch bolts tight? If you hold the front wheel between your knees and yank on the handlebars does it fee solid?

Swingarm - with the bike on the stand push and pull sideways on teh rear wheel. Any movement?

Wheel alignment - Using a long pice of wood, check that the wheels are in line. Place the plank against the rear wheel and check clearance against front wheel - back, front, left and right should all be the same...

Wheel spokes - are they tight? Did you rebuild them?

G

[sarals]

I'll do all, Graham.

The one thing I did not do was rebuild the wheels. When I had the tires put on them, the Honda dealer that did it trued the wheels and made sure the spokes were all tight. I'm confident they're okay.

Everything else? I'll start looking Tuesday when I have the day off!

[sarals]

I had a nice talk with LM this morning about the Old Girl's lack of poise on the road. I've yet to get to the garage to check everything, but I have checked the following:

1) Steering head - front wheel off the ground - no play in the steering head, and the forks swing left/right, right/left smoothly and easily. No noise or graunching from the steering bearings.

2) Front wheel is tight on the axle and the axle is tight in the pinch bolts. No play, and the wheel spins smoothly with no bearing noise.

3) No side to side play in the rear swingarm at all. It's tight, and it moves up and down smoothly. The rear wheel is also tight on the axle, has no side to side play, and it spins smoothly.

I have yet to check tire pressures and rear/front wheel alignment.

LM suggested I back the damper all the way off and then take a ride to see how she behaves. I'll do it tomorrow!

[jensey]

Set the rear shocks to the maximum spring preload, and see if it get worse or better.

[sarals]

Set the rear shocks to the maximum spring preload, and see if it get worse or better.

Jensey, good to hear from you! I'll try that.

I haven't had a chance to ride, yet. Perhaps today, tomorrow for sure.