Biggie_B
Junior Member
I took my bike (5k miles on odometer) to the shop the other day. There were two areas of concern:
FIRST, the rear end would sporadically become 'light' on right hand turns. It was an unnerving feeling like the rear tire was gliding. I was not flying through turns or using the back brake, and the bike was leaned over at less 45 degrees. Again nothing extreme, and never felt when making left hand turns. Odd, I know. My guess is that right hand turns generally tend to be sharper, resulting in more lean, and invariably the issue described above.
SECOND: I was driving about 55 mph down a relatively fresh paved highway and began to apply medium press sure to the front brakes to prepare for a 90 degree right hand turn off the highway. The handle bars started to wobble, which immediately made me think what would happen in an emergency stop situation.
Long story short, I took the bike to a local shop where I purchased my tires (Michelin Pilot Power 3) last summer thinking that maybe it was related. I recall having the turning issue last summer, but not the wobble. Can't recall if I had the turning issue on my old tires but in general these feel more glued to the road.
I got a call today and they tell me that they did not take the bike for a test ride yet, but when putting it up on the lift noticed that the front end was soft. "No effort to compress the front suspension and it bounces up when released." Apparently, it's supposed to slowly decompress. He said that the issue is 90% likely to be fixed with new fork fluids (oil?) and seals, which will run me $300.
A few questions:
1) Is it likely that the problems I described are linked to the front suspension?
2) If so, is it likely that changing fluids will solve my problems?
3) $300 sounds like quite a premium to change fluids. Is that a reasonable asking price based on how much work needs to be done?
Thanks!
FIRST, the rear end would sporadically become 'light' on right hand turns. It was an unnerving feeling like the rear tire was gliding. I was not flying through turns or using the back brake, and the bike was leaned over at less 45 degrees. Again nothing extreme, and never felt when making left hand turns. Odd, I know. My guess is that right hand turns generally tend to be sharper, resulting in more lean, and invariably the issue described above.
SECOND: I was driving about 55 mph down a relatively fresh paved highway and began to apply medium press sure to the front brakes to prepare for a 90 degree right hand turn off the highway. The handle bars started to wobble, which immediately made me think what would happen in an emergency stop situation.
Long story short, I took the bike to a local shop where I purchased my tires (Michelin Pilot Power 3) last summer thinking that maybe it was related. I recall having the turning issue last summer, but not the wobble. Can't recall if I had the turning issue on my old tires but in general these feel more glued to the road.
I got a call today and they tell me that they did not take the bike for a test ride yet, but when putting it up on the lift noticed that the front end was soft. "No effort to compress the front suspension and it bounces up when released." Apparently, it's supposed to slowly decompress. He said that the issue is 90% likely to be fixed with new fork fluids (oil?) and seals, which will run me $300.
A few questions:
1) Is it likely that the problems I described are linked to the front suspension?
2) If so, is it likely that changing fluids will solve my problems?
3) $300 sounds like quite a premium to change fluids. Is that a reasonable asking price based on how much work needs to be done?
Thanks!