First ride in 4 months, it felt GREAT! Nothing like the Warm Hawaii sun and the knowledge that you now get to ride 12months a year, instead of the short season in Connecticut. I noticed a new sensation. While braking the rear end wants to kick out to the right. Not alot but Its very annoying and has me paranoid that under heavy braking the rear might actually come out from under me. What should I check?

Andy

 

Might just be old tire/camber in the road, but one thing you could check is that the rear wheel is in line with the front. The marks on the chain adjuster are never exactly perfect, and a small misadjustment will have the rear wheel out of line with the front. Check with a long straightedge or use thread from the back to the front (tape it to the rear of the rear tire) and check that the spacing is the same on both sides of the front tire. Sounds like your adjuster for the left (chain) side of the bike could be too far in compared to the right. Just my thoughts, for what it's worth.

 

I went out on a spirited ride on some new twisties the other day and noticed that mine fishtailed under heavy breaking. But I think it was just because I was engine breaking hard as well as using the front breaks. It stopped once I started to use more rear brake instead of engine breaking. I think my situation is fairly normal though isn't it?

So yours only went to the right? Were you doing a lot of heavy engine breaking? If so, Try using your rear brakes more and see what happens. Maybe you were doing the same thing I was doing but the camber of the road pushed you to the right instead of fishtailling....I dunno.

 

How old is the back tire? How is the wear? I was having the same thing happen, and once I replaced my back tire, I was good!

 

Could be your suspension is not set up properly for the riding conditions and also try squeezing the tank real hard with your knees.

 

Are you leaning forward too much? Kinda like when we were 10 and riding our bmx bikes. If you leaned far enough forward you can spin the rear tire and do burnies.

 

are you braking more with the rear then the front? thats most peoples mistake is to much rear unless thats how you ride kinda like me.

 

^ this is what I think. try slowing down with the front and lightly engaging the rear brake. the only way that I can think of for this to happen is that you're hitting the rear too hard. if the bike was out of alignment, you would feel it while riding.

 

Ive gotten alot better at gripping the Tank with my knees, made a world of differance in my ride quality. The rear tire has maybe 1K on it. Im pretty sure that im not using to much rear brake, I Guess I could use less and see if that helps. And I dont engine brake, Had to listen to a lecture about the destructive effects of engine braking during the MSF class...

Anyways, I plan on using a straight edge and verify the wheel position, then head out for a ride and see what happens...
Thanks
Andy