Drifting left?

Was testing out my new throttle lock on my '08AE on the slab and in taking my hands of the grips noticed the bike has a slight tendency to drift to the left. Thinking it was the wind I turned around and tried the opposite direction with the same result. It made me think the painb numbness in my right palm from constantly fighting this tendency.

Any theories on why the bike would have this tendency? Anyone else notice similar behavior?

Camber on the road ?

Thought about that, but I was in the right lane and this tendency occurred for several miles.

People have talked about their forks being aligned before. Maybe something is skewed. Either front wheel, forks, or rear wheel. Who does your maintenance?

Worn swing arm bearing is another possibility.

Mine does this also. I have changed forks (tubes and all) and of course had the wheels off several times.

I'm starting to think if I ride in Australia it would drift to the right.

Chuck35 said:

Mine does this also. I have changed forks (tubes and all) and of course had the wheels off several times.I'm starting to think if I ride in Australia it would drift to the right.

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Or... You can fix your problem by taking your hands off the handle bars and just lean your body to the right. Just a thought,

+1 on the hands thing.

maybe the crown of the road induced counter steering?

More weight in the left saddle bag than the right?

Chuck35 said:

Mine does this also. I have changed forks (tubes and all) and of course had the wheels off several times.I'm starting to think if I ride in Australia it would drift to the right.

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Come on over Chuck. I'll gladly buy the first beer.

Richouse said:

More weight in the left saddle bag than the right?

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I don't think so, Richouse. My left bag is full of heavy stuff all the time. My right bag is always empty. It's never leaned to the left.

It is the crown of the road. All roads are raised in the center to drain water. A motorcycle will turn in the direction of lean. When you are verticle and the road is slightly higher on the left, it is the same as leaning to the left, which makes the bike turn to the left. Reg Pridmore demonstrates this by taking a motorcycle tire and first rolling it straight upwrite. It rolls straight. Then he tilts the tire slightly to one side and rolls it, and it turns in that direction. Then he leans it the other way and rolls it and it turns in the opposite direction.

Front tire wear... I'd bet you a cold one...

My 12 gave me the same exact feeling when the OEM front tire wore into that ugly trapezoidal shape... I mean a definite, obvious pull...if i took hands off and put one cheek on the seat, or if I leaned a little, it would go strainght... I thought maybe it was me, I have a nerve issue in my right hand(well..its pinched in my elbow or something...makes my fingers go numb)

I put on a new tire, the problem was gone gone.

Outside of it being that.. how many miles on the bike? Been hit? Dropped? Any recent work done? Have you measured your arms? Give us more info...

Swap your side box contents from one to the other and see...or just take em off..

Search for a definitive post on this subject by Fred W. He found that one of his forks was just slightly bent. He posted an easy, but painstaking fix to get everything lined up again.

Found it for ya. https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/122440-fork-alignment/page-2

Try aiming the bike a little more to the right. You're welcome.

I would try a new set of sneakers and then see if it still does it.

......darn cruise controls anyway, finding flaws

Bike is relatively new to me as second owner, and only has about 6500 miles on it. Pirelli tires that look fairly new. No knowledge of any collisions and cosmetic shape of the bike plus mileage make it seem unlikely.

As stated several times, public roads are crowned even if it isn't obvious, and the slight crown can cause mild pulling. If you can get to an industrial parking lot on a weekend try it again there, the parking lot should be pretty flat.

In any case you do not really have a problem that needs attention. If you have to apply pressure to go straight with your hands ON the handlebars you DO have a problem. After you change the tires your 'item of notice' is likely to change. Notice the omission of the word problem and the omission of the word fix, because it is not broken and will not be fixed, just changed with the new tires.