Wandering Rear end

I'm having some issues on my 08 with stability it seems. I have only clocked about 550 miles on it so far since buying in the middle of April but am having problems with a rear end that feels like it is wandering on me. It feels similir to running a bike with a low rear tire but its not as I have the rear at 40 and front at 38. I know alot of you run at 42 but I haven't tried that. The bike feels unstable at speed from around 50-75 and doesn't feel planted like my previous bikes did (Z1000, 929rr) I don't know if its the nature of the bike but I thought a heavier longer wheel based bike would be more stable. I'm taking it in for it's 600 mile service this weekend and going to note it to the service person but was wondering what issues it may be, i.e. unbalanced tire, loose bolt somewhere etc. Thanks for any advice and help.

Rear shock setting is?

And what psi are you running? There's not a whole lot back there that can wander around. You could check for a bad tire but other than that I don't have a clue (except upping the tire pressure).

Gen. I w/ 7,000 miles

Even at 150mph the rear wheel was planted nicely!

Might check tires as the culprit.

Rear tire is at 40 psi, and rear shock is set right in the middle of hard and soft. I haven't adjusted the suspension otherwise as I was waiting for it to settle in to adjust. My best guess is that it's out of balance since it is most noticeable between those speeds but I didn't know if it could be something else. It doesn't provide confidence because it feels like the tire is going to come loose or something.

Unless there is something new on GENII bikes, I don't beleive there is a middle setting....

Supposed to be hard or soft!

Someone with a GENII please verify that!

keithaba said:

Unless there is something new on GENII bikes, I don't beleive there is a middle setting....
Supposed to be hard or soft!

Someone with a GENII please verify that!

Click to expand...

Yup. I don't know what it would do if you tried to put it in between.

Might make the rear end wander.

You might also check your rebound. I think a lot of people run it at about 6 clicks out?

I think we may have solved your problem!

Set that puppy to hard and take her for a ride. Let us know if that helped.

Make sure your off the bike when you switch to hard also. Sometimes if there is any weight on the bike, it won't click.

Cool, I hope that is it. I'll report back after I take it out this evening.

It sounds like your rebound damping needs adjustment. I rode mine for a year and a half with the settings from the factory; pre-load set to soft and the rebound in the middle. I decided to play with it a little and left the preload alone but went 2 clicks firmer on the rebound damping. I was surprised by how much more precisely the bike tracked with just that minor adjustment. Fyi, I weigh 160; my wild guess is that if you weigh much more than 180 or so, then you might experiment with setting the preload to the hard setting.

After a few days enjoying that change, I went two clicks firmer on the front; again, I was surprised by how much that made a difference. The bike steered much more accurately.

Don't bother waiting for the suspension to "settle in"; it's never going to be as good as it is new. I just had the suspension redone on my R1 for the racetrack, including a new Penske shock. The first thing I did was have the suspension dialed in; preload, rebound damping, compression damping, everything.

Please do yourself a favor and don't fall into the trap of automatically and habitually going to the HARD rear preload setting. You own an 08, not an 04. They are not the same bike, especially the rear shocks.

Assuming you are under the 200 lb. mark, try setting your rear preload to SOFT, and rear rebound to 6-8 clicks. See the manual or better yet, talk to the dealership about it during the 600-mile service.

Definitely have the dealership check everything carefully. It's a new bike and mistakes do happen.

I'm sorry...but I am just astounded that odot hasn't chimed in. He is exhibiting great restraint today. :clapping:

If anyone can help you get your suspension setup right it's these guys! :yahoo:

They helped me and now I feel like I have a completely different bike.

wheatonFJR said:

I'm sorry...but I am just astounded that odot hasn't chimed in. He is exhibiting great restraint today. :clapping:

Click to expand...

He's off getting doilies made for the PT. It takes a while for the Chaps and Doo-rag set to make them...

Well it seems to be riding a bit better now. I did set it to Hard in the rear for when my wife and I were riding and it felt better. I then tried soft with just me and it fixed it a bit too but I think I need to go in an adjust the rest of the settings to get it completely straitened out. Thanks again.

Mine was like that after going through I95 in SC, it chewed up my rear tire, put a flat strip right in the middle. It seems to slide around back there, I have worked at getting it to transition from the flatter to the edges of the tire. It seems to have helped some, I need to run through some more curves to wear more off but maybe you have a flat strip in the tire?