I recently bought an 03 F4i about a week after my brother purchased his an 01. I finally rode his after riding mine (which is basically brand new) and noticed when I lean it over the bars turn with you into the turn whereas with mine you will just feel the bars counter steer slightly. I was wondering what would cause his bike to act like this while turning. The suspension seems to be set up about the same and the only time the bike has been down was when it was pushed over by someone. I have ridden dirtbikes for quite a while and know how they reccomend you recenter the axle and align the forks anytime the bars hit the ground. Could he need to do the same thing with his bike. Thanks for any tips and suggestions, I don't want him to have any excuses when he can't hang with me in the corners. One more thing, I was unable to detect any play in the steering stem or wheel bearings but when stopped his bars take more force to turn than mine.

 

At what speeds are you leaning it and noticing this? What happens when you are at high speeds and apply left side bar pressure and pull on the right bar? Does the bike want to steer left?

 

this is at normal riding speeds not low speed where you would be steering into the turn. I rode the bikes back to back and noticed it immediately. The bike will countersteer like it should, but when you lean over the bars seem to fall (turn) into the turn and then once they turn into the turn you can countersteer. If you initiate the turn with countersteer you will keep opposite pressure on the bar and as the bike leans the bars will turn into the turn but you will still keep opposite pressure on the bars. With my bike (03) my bars never seem to move. When I countersteer or lean over I just apply pressure but on his bike the bars move quite a bit as it starts to lean.

 

I'm at a loss. At this point I'd take it to Honda tech and see what they say.

 

I have obsolutly no idea exactly what your talking about. However new tires will make a bike handle completely different. My 99 cbr behaves like it was running on flat tires compared to when its shod with new rubber.

 

Cupping can cause it to wobble a bit but nothing like what you're talking about. Low air pressure will make it hard to turn when sitting still -- you guys checked that yet?