Handling issue

[Brackk]

I am just getting back into riding again after not owning a bike for roughly 25 years. Bought a 2001 R1100s with 80k miles on it. The bike has been 100% for the 1700 miles I have put on it.

Last Sunday a guy I know hit me up to go for a ride. Tony has a 1200gs and is a fantastic rider. I pushed pretty hard to keep up with him and the fast corners brought out an issue that I am hoping you guys can help me locate.
The first time was in a left sweeping turn that I was accelerating in. The rear wheel felt as if there was a mild fishtail while under hard acceleration. The oscillation of the rear end was enough to make me say WTF and I was thinking that next stop I was going to look at tread on the rear.

The second time I was late braking into another left decreasing radius sweeper. I was breaking quite hard and the rear end was light. The bike rear end fishtailed quite violently with at least 3 oscillations. Fortunately this road had an improved shoulder as that is where I wound up while slowing down enough to get back on the pavement… (Scared the living daylights right out of me…)

Anyhow caught up with Tony and told him and we checked the bike over in his garage. Neither of us could see any evident reason for what I experienced. The front tire needs replacement but I was going to try to get another 1k miles from it. The rear tire is almost new.
Any thoughts?
kurt

[ckcarr]

Fix your tires, check the torque specs on the rear wheel and start practicing solo for a while. Your friend Tony will probably kill you.

[wswartzwel]

Paralever bearings. Raise the rear wheel grab it and twist back and forth. you will probably notice some play where the final drive attaches to the swing arm.

[Guest24]

Just how old are your tires and when were the shocks last freshened? Next, make sure the suspension is set up for you riding weight.

[KMoore]

As suggested by Bill, check the paralever bearings. Mine had noticeable movement and had to be replaced at 30,000 ks. The bike was behaving pretty much as you have described.

[Grip Fast]

Good advice on sorting your bike from others.

It is very easy to get sucked into going faster than your current experience level warrants. You may be a lot better than I was after 25 years away from biking but take care.

I took advanced rider training when I began to realised that some frights were more my fault than the bike's. It's amazing how it improved my bike's handling.

I'm not saying it's the same in your case, but at least consider the possibility that you were on the edge of you current experience.

[bradzdotcom]

on my 11s, if it's accelerating out of the corner and does that, it's usually dirt on the road and some rear wheel slippage.
technical term is "huck a buck", which is what it will do if unattended.
could also be front tire wear, but usually just crud on your line.

mine will swap going into the corners if i'm too hard on the front brake and the rear wheel is super-light. it launches and the bike goes a tad out of line, then the wheel comes back down when you're slightly sideways...big wiggle, bounce back up...rinse...repeat..

former z-boy wild-child Jose knows what it looks like. he had a near-heart attack following me when it did the dance in front of him.

all things considered, captain carr nailed it: "Your friend Tony will probably kill you."

[jaytee]

+1 to what brad said and quoted. While you should def eliminate mechanical issues and insure your suspension is setup properly, this sounds to me like riding over your head. You were probably accelerating hard out of corners and braking hard late into corners in order to keep up.

Given you are in a very unpredictable street environment this is asking for disaster. Slow down, don't try and keep up and Instead work on your line through the corner after setting corner speed early. I'm betting your buddy is carrying a lot more speed than you through the corners.

Remember, "ride your own ride."

Otherwise, yeah, "Your friend Tony will probably kill you"...

IMHO, FWIW, YMMV and all that...

JT

[ckcarr]

And for the final follow up it's a good place to plant the old The Pace" article. A good read. Although this is a motorcycle board for somewhat aggressive BMW motorcycles, we pride ourselves on the fact that there have been very, very few serious accidents through the years by the members. Part of that is because the board also emphasizes safety. Unless we are riding our Harleys, then anything goes...

The below link is a must read... Particularly when re-entering motorcycling after 25 years or so.

PACE YOURSELF

or

The Pace - Nick Ienatsch - Motorcyclist magazine

[Meeni]

All the previous advices are good.

Also consider taking the time to set your shocks correctly, fishtailing is pretty severe if you overthighten the knob under the saddle.

[SergioK]

Originally Posted by ckcarr

Your friend Tony will probably kill you.

A true friend, knowing you haven't ridden much in the past 25 years, would follow you and then give you pointers after you got to point X in the ride, not string you along and make you over ride yourself (the bike is almost always more capable than the rider).

How old are the tires on the bike? What pressure are they set to? Cold/Hot? Is the suspension properly adjusted?

[Drews323i]

My R11s did this same thing with the back stepping out when i first got it. The tires had plenty of tread but were 4yrs old. Put on a fresh set of tires and she corners like a dream.

[Brackk]

Thanks for the good advice guys. Kevin and Bill I will definitely look the telelever bearings over better.
Brad it is possible but the sensation was more of a fishtail than a momentary lift / hookup.
Sergio the front looks "old" and tread is pretty skimpy. The rear was new according to the seller. Pressure was 42 rear and 38 front right after the ride.
Guys, Tony is only a guy i met and any fault for going beyond my ability would be mine. The point was that the handling issue did not present itself prior to a more "spirited" type of riding.

[Guest24]

Brackk, you can pull the week and year of manufacture off the side of the tire. Four digits and the last two are the year.

[Dr. Curve]

And thank you CK for a voice of reason.......and lets hope this new owner/brother will take the time to "ease in slow" before he really starts to chase the curves, in that two lane world that surrounds us all. Still, the first thing, is exactly what Bill said at once.....go over all the bearing points that affect the rear end handling because that is what can cause the type of problems being described, no matter how good the rider is. This very forum has multiple threads on "what to check, and how to adjust it, when you do" and if you look them up, go ahead and start your experience with your new bike with a perspective of it being in !00% top shape concerning handling and safety. Good luck, and the rewards are there for you, but YOU as well as the BIKE must be fully in shape and at one with each other.

[Corky]

Originally Posted by ckcarr

And for the final follow up it's a good place to plant the old The Pace" article. A good read. Although this is a motorcycle board for somewhat aggressive BMW motorcycles, we pride ourselves on the fact that there have been very, very few serious accidents through the years by the members. Part of that is because the board also emphasizes safety. Unless we are riding our Harleys, then anything goes...

The below link is a must read... Particularly when re-entering motorcycling after 25 years or so.

PACE YOURSELF

or

The Pace - Nick Ienatsch - Motorcyclist magazine

Invaluable info here. I read it every now and then just to get my head in the right spot.

[R111S]

"with 80k miles on it"...um you're long overdue for replacing the OEM suspension.

Mr. Ohlins or Mr. Wilbers offer a smoother ride and variable control knobs that truly have a noticeable effect...something the worn out OEM units (Showa) could never offer even new.

[bikerfish1100]

Originally Posted by R111S

"with 80k miles on it"...um you're long overdue for replacing the OEM suspension.

Mr. Ohlins or Mr. Wilbers offer a smoother ride and variable control knobs that truly have a noticeable effect...something the worn out OEM units (Showa) could never offer even new.

my first thoughts. stockers were crapped out about 40K miles ago. if that is what you still have on there, you need to lose them. Sooner, rather than later. YSS & HyperPro offer other suitable options.

[roger albert]

All that was mentioned above was of course good.

Regardless of skill or chassis pivots condition or tires or adjustment or shape of suspension, too much throttle under the wrong conditions will spin up the rear and sometimes chuck you.

At 80k miles, the shocks are, at best, questionable. Mostly likely basically springs held in place by what were once dampers.

Also, all other things being equal, tires with 42psi in them spin up much more readily than 32-38, which are more typical pressures for aggressive riding.

There are many good shock brands. YSS are not among them, even though they LOOK vaguely *****in'

Get all that stuff check, and work solo a while, and you should be fine.

good luck, and welcome

r

[flatbutt]

Brackk...whats your locale? Some of the slower guys here would be glad to meet up and let you buy them lunch.