FZ6 Light Steering

[philz]

Now it might be just me but my 2005 FZ6 seems to have overly light/twitchy steering. It's definitely much lighter than any other bike I've ever rode.

For example, if I'm riding at say 20mph and turn the bars a bit, they seem to want to turn right to lock by themselves and I almost have to stop them over rotating.

Tyres are new Metzelers (500 miles ago) and at the correct pressure, I've just had the head bearings replaced and fork oil too, rear suspension is set to 5 as I'm about 13 stone and the front forks are level with the yokes. Is this just an FZ6 trait or could something be not quite right (I've had 5-6 other bikes and none have ever felt like this).
Even after the new bits above it still feels weird. As I came into my street tonight I started to turn a bit and relaxed my grip on the bars and they continued to turn to full lock by themselves.

Any other ideas?

 

[FinalImpact]

What is your rear spring height set at? If you plus gear tips in over 200lbs i'd bump it to 4 or 5! This will transfer some weight to the front and reduce that effect!

Did you put new springs in the front by chance?

 

[motojoe122]

Where do you sit on the seat? The further back might make it a little twitchier.

 

[Erci]

Absolutely NOT normal. Light steering refers to minimal effort to initiate a turn, but handlebar continuing to stray away from center is never a good thing. It should want to find the center after you relax your grip, not turn more.
You said you just replaced head bearing. Make sure it's properly tightened.. that is too say not too tight.
If your bike has center stand, put the bike up.. have someone sit on the back and try to turn the bar.. should turn effortlessly from side to side.

 

[FinalImpact]

What is your rear spring height set at? If you plus gear tips in over 200lbs i'd bump it to 4 or 5! This will transfer some weight to the front and reduce that effect!

Did you put new springs in the front by chance?

My bad, didn't see it says 5 already. FWIW: you might just check the sag front and back. 35 mm to 40 mm would be norm for stock springs.

OK - so you did all this work, are you saying the problem was here all along and that's what you've done to try and fix it?

 

[iSteve]

Make sure the bolts on the bottom triple clamp are tight and also the front axel and pinch bolt.

 

[philz]

What is your rear spring height set at? If you plus gear tips in over 200lbs i'd bump it to 4 or 5! This will transfer some weight to the front and reduce that effect!

Did you put new springs in the front by chance?

Rear spring is set on 5 as I'm about 13 stone. Still got standard front end (but with new fork oil)

Where do you sit on the seat? The further back might make it a little twitchier.

I sit right at the front.

Absolutely NOT normal. Light steering refers to minimal effort to initiate a turn, but handlebar continuing to stray away from center is never a good thing. It should want to find the center after you relax your grip, not turn more.
You said you just replaced head bearing. Make sure it's properly tightened.. that is too say not too tight.
If your bike has center stand, put the bike up.. have someone sit on the back and try to turn the bar.. should turn effortlessly from side to side.

It was continuing to turn before the head bearings hence why I changed them but it didn't make any difference, still the same really

Looks like I'm not alone though, check here and here

 

[philz]

Make sure the bolts on the bottom triple clamp are tight and also the front axel and pinch bolt.

The forks were off to change the oil last week so I'm assuming that the bolts are tight but I'll double check. I had the wheels refurbed a few months ago and new tyres fitted so again I'd hope that the axel bolt would be tight but I'll check that too.

 

[philz]

My bad, didn't see it says 5 already. FWIW: you might just check the sag front and back. 35 mm to 40 mm would be norm for stock springs.

OK - so you did all this work, are you saying the problem was here all along and that's what you've done to try and fix it?

Yep. That's it.

When I first got the bike I noticed that it turned into corners quicker (and continued to turn) than I'd experienced on other bikes so I've been trying to eliminate it by changing all the stuff I mentioned before but it's still like that, hence why I'm asking if it's just a characteristic of these bikes.

 

[nivag]

The only time mines been noticeabley light is when I've either got a load of stuff in my top box or I'm running on vapours.

Did you keep the fork oil the same or change the weight?

 

[philz]

Same weight fork oil. Maybe should've went a little heavier, dunno?

 

[blu3]

What pressure do you run on your tires?

 

[philz]

33F and 36R.

 

[blu3]

33F and 36R.

I'm about 12 stone and I have 34f 35R-36R!

I check the tire pressure regularly, maybe twice a week. If the tire pressure is too low you will find that it does not handle right, also the wear on the front tire is more to one side due to the chamber of the roads you are on which plays a big part in cornering. Just before I replaced my front tire she would litterraly fall in to right handers but harder to do left hand corners.

I think you should go up to 34 on front and see if that makes a diference and check regularly.

One last thing, I went naked about 6 months ago and I took the handlebar weights off, WOW the diference was unreal so much lighter, azs Erci said what you are describing is not light steering.

Take the handlebar weights off and go for a test ride, it will stop the handlebars from trying to go to full lock at low speed turning. The only downside is that you will notice the vibrations on your hands.

 

[philz]

Tyre pressure in bang on, I check it weekly and it doesn't lose anything between checks. Tyres are also pretty much brand new so they're barely scrubbed in so there's no wear to be seen yet.

I do have aftermarket bar ends fitted so you might be onto something there. They're pretty light though, nowhere near as heavy as Yamaha ones. I might take them off later and see if that makes any difference.

 

[blu3]

I do have aftermarket bar ends fitted so you might be onto something there. They're pretty light though, nowhere near as heavy as Yamaha ones. I might take them off later and see if that makes any difference.

I'll cross my fingers for you :thumbup:

 

[Erci]

My next suggestion would be to have someone else who owns FZ6 ride your bike, or the other way around.. ride another FZ6 to figure out if yours behaves differently.

 

[nivag]

Defo try different bar ends.

 

[philz]

Defo try different bar ends.

Lighter bar ends yeah?

 

[blu3]

Lighter bar ends yeah?

Remove them first and see what happens.