Great. My '05 developed some handling woes

The feeling is best described as the rear wanting to follow a different track than the front. It doesn't have that "cornering on rails" feeling it once had. .I also notice the rear tire wanting to follow grooves and cracks in the asphalt and unsettles the bike and makes it feel like it's squirming.

I notice it everywhere from a walking pace on up to cornering on highway off ramps.

My bike is definately not fun to ride in this condition.

Any ideas on how to proceed in resolving this?

If it helps:

it's an '05 ABS with 9,300 miles

Roadsmart 2 tires with 5,000 miles (40psi fr/ 41psi rr)

stock rear shock set at 10 clicks out

Traxxion 1.1 springs with 7.5w oil

preload set to 1 line showing

forks flush with top triple

compression at 12 clicks out

rebound at 12 clicks out

headstem bearings torqued to spec at WNY tech day

loosened fork bolts, then retorqued

steering bearing doesn't feel notchy when turning handlebar with front raised

handlebar moves very freely with front end raised

nothing feels loose in front end

It's been like this for about a week now, but felt pretty good before that.

Not really sure what to do next because I definitely don't look forward to riding it in this condition.

Assuming the tire pressure is correct (try a different gauge) I would suggest that one or both tires need to be replaced; whether or not they are worn out.

What do you see when you look closely at the tires? Pics?

I had a similar situation once. Mine was caused by a separation of the plys on the rear tire. There was nothing visibly wrong from the exterior of the tire.

But… I had also plugged the tire previously.

Not on my FJR, but I had a similar issue on my1996 Honda ST1100. I put a set of brand new Dunlops on just prior to a long trip and it wandered all over the road, following concrete grooves like a bloodhound tracking a fox. I pulled the new Dunlops off and went with some Bridgestones that fixed the problem. It's not always a worn set of tires that can be the culprit as my new ones introduced an issue that I didn't have even with a worn out set of Bridgestone. Not the cheapest fix, but my money is that new tires should fix the problem. Your other checks are well founded, but mine was resolved with a tire change.

Not to waste your time and money but have a shop spin balance the tires. Our shop has uncovered tire ply separation that way. Static balance it won't show up but on a motorized spin balancer it will. You can actually see the tread distort in a lot of cases.

Did it start just after the headstem torque? Check swingarm/rear faste ners carefully.

an '05 with less than 10K miles? Thats the problem. the bike is pissed at being neglected.

Biggest variable is tires. Are they 5 years old? they have half the bikes mileage on them.

FWIW, I had roadsmarts on mine once and didn't like the handling. I'd start with fresh rubber and see what happens.

1 line showing on Preload is likely not enough unless you weigh 110 lbs. Set it to 3 lines showing and have a test ride.

Check for a blown rear shock. If you bounce the rear does it keep bouncing? If so shock is toast. Push the rear down and it should just return to it's top spot.